16 Best College Football Games from 2016 Season
It's hard to believe, but the 2016 college football regular season is all but over. The College Football Playoff and bowl matchups are set. The Heisman Trophy will be awarded to one of five finalists Saturday night. Only one regular-season game remains: No. 25 Navy vs. Army in Baltimore on Saturday afternoon.
Like it or not, but it's time to reflect, look back and celebrate the season that was.
2016's regular season brought us some tremendous games. Some were meaningful for stunning upsets. Some featured eyebrow-raising finishes. And some were overtime games, full of points and excitement, that were just plain fun to watch. It's hard to narrow them down to the 16 best games of the season, but that's what we tried to do.
Here's a look at the top 16 games of 2016, ranked by impact, excitement level and overall fun. Agree? Disagree? Let us know in the comments.
16. Auburn 18, LSU 13
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At LSU, Les Miles made a career of off-the-cuff plays and living dangerously. On Sept. 24, he finally fell off for good. It's only fitting that Miles' final game with the Tigers was decided on the final offensive play, which was shrouded in controversy and, afterward, reflection.
Both LSU and Auburn badly needed wins when they met at Jordan-Hare Stadium. LSU was 2-1; Auburn was 1-2. With 2:56 left, Auburn held a tenuous 18-13 lead, but LSU had one last rally left. It drove inside the Auburn 20-yard line with under five seconds left, and an illegal-shift penalty left the Bayou Bengals with one last play.
Danny Etling converted with D.J. Chark for an apparent game-winning 15-yard touchdown, but after review, officials concluded that time had expired before LSU snapped the ball. Game, and as it turned out, Miles' LSU career was over.
15. Texas 50, Notre Dame 47 (2 OT)
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The first week of the college football season has a way of creating recency bias. With no track records aside from the previous season and the (increasingly meaningless) preseason Top 25 polls, games are sometimes assigned far more importance and impact than they should, with Twitter serving as an echo chamber.
But that doesn't mean that they can't be fun. Notre Dame-Texas is a perfect example. The Fighting Irish entered Austin as the nation's No. 10 team, and Longhorns head coach Charlie Strong badly needed a signature win after two mediocre seasons with the team. For a night, it appeared he had it.
Under a national spotlight, the teams played a wild back-and-forth game. Notre Dame rallied from a 31-17 third-quarter deficit and tied the game on a blocked two-point conversion return with under four minutes to play.
But the Longhorns wouldn't be denied. In double overtime, quarterback Tyrone Swoopes blasted six yards for a touchdown, giving Texas a wild (and seemingly significant) 50-47 win. Did it matter? Not really. The Longhorns finished 5-7. Strong was fired. Notre Dame wound up 4-8. But for four hours on Labor Day weekend, they played a highly entertaining game.
14. Arkansas 41, TCU 38 (2 OT)
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Bret Bielema entered 2016 in need of a marquee nonconference win following some slow starts with Arkansas. TCU was exactly the kind of target Bielema and the Razorbacks needed. They'd get it, but it would be a lot of fun to watch along the way.
Arkansas led 20-7 after three quarters before Kenny Hill rallied the Horned Frogs. TCU scored 21 points in the fourth quarter, with Hill's five-yard touchdown run giving TCU a 28-20 lead with 2:05 remaining. But the Hogs weren't done. Austin Allen put together a quick four-play, 58-yard drive, finishing it with a 16-yard touchdown pass to Keon Hatcher. The same duo hooked up for a two-point conversion, tying the game at 28 with 1:03 left.
After the teams traded touchdowns in overtime, Arkansas held TCU to a field goal. This time, Allen finished the game with a five-yard touchdown run for a comeback win in double overtime.
13. Texas A&M 45, Tennessee 38 (2 OT)
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Over the first half of the season, Tennessee made a habit of timely comebacks. The Volunteers erased second-half deficits in four of their first five games and carried a 5-0 record into an Oct. 8 matchup between Top 10 teams at Texas A&M. On this day, however, the Vols' clutch façade began to crack.
A&M led 35-21 with 3:22 left, but Tennessee, right on cue, had one rally left. Joshua Dobbs' 18-yard touchdown pass to Alvin Kamara tied the game at 35 with 41 seconds remaining, forcing overtime. The teams exchanged field goals in the first overtime, and following Trevor Knight's one-yard touchdown run, Armani Watts intercepted Dobbs to end the game. It was the beginning of a three-game losing streak that sunk UT's hopes of an SEC East title.
12. North Carolina 37, Florida State 35
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Head coach Jimbo Fisher has restored Florida State as a national power, and one key factor in that rise has been home-field dominance. The Seminoles carried a 22-game home win streak into their Oct. 1 meeting with North Carolina and were the clear favorites to extend that streak to 23. But Mitch Trubisky and the Tar Heels weren't awed by Doak Campbell Stadium's environment.
The Heels led 28-14 after three quarters, and Trubisky's 34-yard touchdown pass to Thomas Jackson gave UNC a 34-28 lead with 2:31 left. Deondre Francois and FSU had a response; the former's two-yard touchdown run gave FSU a one-point lead with 23 seconds left.
But Trubisky got the Heels in position for kicker Nick Weiler, who nailed a 54-yard field goal as time expired for a wild 37-35 victory that all but ended FSU's hopes of winning an ACC title.
11. Clemson 37, Florida State 34
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Clemson-Florida State is always meaningful in the ACC race. Lately, it has taken on importance in the College Football Playoff picture, too. When the Tigers and Seminoles met in late October, a pair of FSU losses had robbed the game of some of its significance. But that didn't stop the rivalry tilt from turning into an instant classic.
Florida State erased an early 14-0 Clemson lead and led 28-20 after three quarters. A Wayne Gallman touchdown and a Greg Huegel field goal gave the Tigers a one-point lead with 5:25 remaining, but FSU had one final push. The Seminoles struck back with an eight-play, 80-yard touchdown drive, capped off by Dalvin Cook's eight-yard touchdown run with 3:23 left.
That was too much time for Deshaun Watson and Clemson, however. He led a five-play, 75-yard drive that finished with a 34-yard touchdown to tight end Jordan Leggett, and the Tigers held on for a tense 37-34 victory.
10. Texas State 56, Ohio 54 (3 OT)
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The opening weekend of the 2016 season featured a number of marquee matchups that attracted national attention. Ohio-Texas State? Well, let's just say a season-opening MAC-Sun Belt matchup didn't exactly attract fans' fancy. Too bad, as it was a fantastic game that featured back-and-forth action, 110 points and three overtimes.
The final 51 seconds alone were whiplash-worthy: With Ohio leading 31-28, Texas State quarterback Tyler Jones finished a 50-yard drive with a three-yard touchdown pass to Tyler Watts for a 35-31 lead. Ohio needed just one play to retake the lead, thanks to Greg Windham’s 75-yard touchdown pass to Papi White. Texas State responded by tying the game on regulation's final play with Marcus Ripley's 27-yard field goal, sending it to overtime at 38 apiece.
In triple overtime, Texas State took the lead on a double pass from Jones to L.G. Williams and back to Jones for a 23-yard touchdown and converted the two-point try for a 56-48 lead. Windham responded with an 18-yard pass to Elijah Bell, but Ohio's subsequent try failed, and Texas State had a crazy win.
Texas State won just one more game the rest of the way and finished 2-10, but this was memorable.
9. Wyoming 34, San Diego State 33
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The Mountain West Conference has a tendency to operate outside of college football's main orbit. The "Group of Five" league often plays out of the spotlight, but that doesn't mean the games aren't meaningful or well-played. Ask those who caught Wyoming and San Diego State's matchups. The resurgent Cowboys and Aztecs split two excellent games, but we'll spotlight the first back-and-forth game here.
On Nov. 19, the Cowboys didn't lead through the first three quarters and trailed San Diego State 27-20 with 10:45 left. Josh Allen's 29-yard touchdown pass to C.J. Johnson gave Wyoming its first edge, 34-27, with 1:07 to play.
The Aztecs had one push remaining. Starting on their 1-yard line with 1:07 left and two timeouts, SDSU drove to the Wyoming 23. With one second left, Christian Chapman connected with the awesomely named Quest Truxton for a 23-yard touchdown, cutting the lead to 34-33 with no time left on the clock after a long review turned an incomplete pass into a score.
San Diego State head coach Rocky Long went for the win, but Antonio Hull batted away Chapman's two-point pass, preserving the win. However, the Aztecs got the last laugh, coming back to Wyoming two weeks later and emerging with a 27-24 Mountain West Conference Championship Game win.
8. Ohio State 30, Wisconsin 23 (OT)
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When you have a young, talented team, sometimes you need a little adversity to help forge your squad and help it realize its potential. That was the case for Ohio State on Oct. 16 at Wisconsin. In a Top 10 battle, little went right for the youthful Buckeyes in the first half, with the No. 8 Badgers building a 16-6 lead.
But behind junior quarterback J.T. Barrett, Ohio State rallied after halftime, grabbing a 20-16 lead on Barrett's eight-yard touchdown run with 14:09 to play. Wisconsin's Austin Ramesh bulled in on a four-yard run with 7:54 left for a 23-20 Badgers lead, but Ohio State tied the game on Tyler Durbin's 31-yard field goal with 3:57 left.
That forced overtime at raucous Camp Randall Stadium, and the Buckeyes were up to the task. Barrett found Noah Brown for a seven-yard touchdown, and OSU's defense sacked Wisconsin's Alex Hornibrook on 4th-and-goal from the 4-yard line to seal the win. The Buckeyes had a win that held up nicely on their playoff resume.
7. Iowa 14, Michigan 13
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In August, Michigan's Nov. 12 visit to Iowa looked like one of the best games of the season at Kinnick Stadium. A talented Wolverines team against the defending Big Ten West champions in prime time? Sign us up. But by mid-November, the game had lost some luster. Sure, No. 3 Michigan was 9-0, but Iowa limped in at 5-4 following a lifeless 41-14 defeat at Penn State. This game had rout written all over it.
Michigan jumped to an early 10-0 lead, but a safety sparked Iowa, and the Hawkeyes trailed 13-11 with under two minutes left.
The Wolverines breathed a little easier after Channing Stribling intercepted C.J. Beathard with 1:54 left, but Iowa held, and a facemask penalty gave the Hawkeyes excellent field position at the Michigan 40. On the game's final play, freshman Keith Duncan nailed a 33-yard field goal for a 14-13 Iowa win, sending Hawkeyes fans spilling onto Kinnick's turf in celebration.
It was a wild night that shook up the College Football Playoff picture and played a huge role in keeping a talented Michigan team out of the playoff.
6. Pitt 43, Clemson 42
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This fall, Clemson made a habit of edge-of-your-seat victories. Call Dabo Swinney's Tigers the Cardiac Cats; six games were decided by a touchdown or less. Play with fire that much, however, and you're bound to get burned eventually. Clemson found that out the hard way at home on Nov. 12 against Pitt.
The No. 2 Tigers hadn't lost to an unranked foe since November 2011, but a combination of mistakes, poor defense and untimely penalties caught up with them against the scrappy Panthers.
Even with quarterback Deshaun Watson throwing for an ACC-record 580 yards, Clemson couldn't put Pitt away, with its biggest lead being eight points. Pitt closed to 42-40 on James Conner's 20-yard touchdown run with 5:17 left, and the Tigers just had to run out the clock. But the Panthers stuffed Wayne Gallman on 4th-and-1 from their 35 with 58 seconds left, giving themselves one more chance.
Pitt quickly got into field-goal position, and the aptly named Chris Blewitt nailed a 48-yard field goal on the game's final play, lifting the Panthers to a shocking 43-42 upset. Clemson still made the College Football Playoff, but Pitt and head coach Pat Narduzzi had a win they'll never forget.
5. Central Michigan 30, Oklahoma State 27
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On the surface, Central Michigan-Oklahoma State didn't get much attention from national pundits. Why should it? Oklahoma State was a returning 10-win team, but the Cowboys were hosting what looked like an average Central Michigan team in Week 2 of the regular season.
The Chippewas were a returning postseason team, but this appeared to be just another ho-hum nonconference game. It was anything but. The ending was one of the season's wildest and most controversial endings, with Central Michigan escaping with a stunning, disputed 30-27 victory.
With four seconds left and holding a 27-23 lead, Oklahoma State attempted to kill the clock by throwing the ball away. But quarterback Mason Rudolph was whistled for intentional grounding by the MAC crew, which ruled, incorrectly, that the game couldn't end on an accepted live-ball penalty.
So Central Michigan got one final chance from its own 49, and quarterback Cooper Rush threw a Hail Mary pass to Jesse Kroll. Kroll was nearly taken down inside the OSU 10, but he pitched to Corey Willis, who doubled back across the field and reached the end zone as time expired.
Officials later admitted that time should have expired. The MAC suspended its officials for two games, and the Big 12 suspended its replay crew for a game and banned it from postseason play. But that didn't erase the result, which left Oklahoma State with a stinging defeat.
4. Penn State 24, Ohio State 21
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College football is a fickle, funny game. Sometimes things happen that you just can't explain, making you realize that maybe victory wasn't meant to be. That happened to No. 2 Ohio State on Oct. 23. For three quarters, the Buckeyes were cruising toward 7-0, leading Penn State 21-7.
It all fell apart in stunning fashion. Tyler Davis' 34-yard field goal cut the lead to 21-17 with 9:33 left, but the Buckeyes had a chance to extend their lead with under five minutes left.
But Tyler Durbin's field goal was blocked, with Grant Haley racing 60 yards for a stunning touchdown and a 24-21 lead. That held up, and Penn State had an upset win that propelled the Nittany Lions to the Big Ten title game and a league championship.
3. Tennessee 34, Georgia 31
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A much-anticipated 2016 season ended in disappointment for Tennessee—8-4 and second place in the SEC East left head coach Butch Jones declaring his team had won "the championship of life," per Rocky Top Insider, after it failed to win, you know, actual championships. But the Volunteers made it interesting along the way.
Take, for example, the team's Oct. 2 matchup at Georgia, which featured one of the craziest three-minute spans of the season. Tennessee trailed the Bulldogs 24-14 after three quarters, but when Corey Vereen fell on a Jacob Eason fumble in the end zone with 2:56 left, the Vols had a shocking 28-24 lead. But Georgia wasn't finished. Eason led the Bulldogs right back into position, throwing a 47-yard touchdown pass to Riley Ridley with 10 seconds remaining for a 31-28 UGA lead.
Georgia's excessive-celebration penalty and Evan Berry's 20-yard return gave Tennessee one last chance from the UGA 43. Quarterback Joshua Dobbs dropped back and heaved the ball into the end zone, where Jauan Jennings hauled in the Hail Mary for an improbable 34-31 win. The Vols improved to 5-0, but it was the season's peak; they finished the regular season 3-4.
2. Clemson 42, Louisville 36
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Sometimes, Top 5 matchups fail to live up to their billing. They're blowouts—decided long before the final horn. Or maybe they're slogs, where points are at a premium, and turnovers are prevalent. That wasn't the case with Clemson-Louisville. The No. 5 Tigers and No. 3 Cardinals put on a show that the 80,000-plus in attendance at Memorial Stadium will likely never forget.
At halftime, it appeared that the quarterback showdown between Clemson's Deshaun Watson and Louisville's Lamar Jackson was one-sided on Watson's behalf, with the Tigers holding a 28-10 lead. But Jackson was just getting started, leading a Cardinals rally with his arm and legs that spanned 22 minutes in the third and fourth quarters for a 26-0 run and a 36-28 Louisville edge with 7:52 left.
The Tigers and Watson struck back, with Watson leading a pair of touchdown drives, the second ending with a 31-yard Jordan Leggett catch-and-run score for a 42-36 lead with 3:14 remaining. Jackson led one final drive inside the Clemson 15, and on 4th-and-12, he found James Quick. But one yard short of the first down, Quick was forced out of bounds, and Clemson hung on for a wild 42-36 win and a huge feather in its College Football Playoff push.
1. Ohio State 30, Michigan 27 (2 OT)
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Michigan-Ohio State is one of college football's best rivalries. It has a storied history—from Bo Schembechler and Woody Hayes to the emerging matchups between Jim Harbaugh and Urban Meyer—and it takes a lot to be considered one of the series' best games. Their Nov. 26 meeting lived up to the hype.
With a potential berth to the Big Ten title game and a College Football Playoff spot on the line, the Buckeyes and Wolverines put on a truly memorable show inside Ohio Stadium. The teams fought out a gritty, defense-dominated game that was controlled initially by Michigan and later on by the Buckeyes.
The Wolverines put together a 17-7 third-quarter lead, but Ohio State scored the final 10 points of regulation, including Tyler Durbin's game-tying 23-yard field goal with one second left on the clock.
The teams traded touchdowns in overtime, and Kenny Allen's 37-yard field goal gave Michigan a 27-24 lead. Then things got strange. On 4th-and-1 from the Michigan 16, J.T. Barrett barely gained the yard needed to extend the game (which was upheld by replay). On the next play, Curtis Samuel sprinted 15 yards for the game-winning touchdown, which vaulted the Buckeyes into the College Football Playoff and dashed Michigan's playoff hopes, leaving Harbaugh to complain vociferously about the officials.
"There wasn't a first down," Harbaugh said, per Kenny Ducey of Sports Illustrated. "I thought there were some outrageous calls, including the one that would have ended the game. I was bitterly disappointed with the officiating."
It didn't matter. The Buckeyes took the victory and wrote another thrilling chapter in the rivalry's history.
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