BCS Championship: Power Ranking The Best BCS Championship Games Ever Played
The BCS has been around for 13 years, and thus far there have been 12 BCS National Championship games played.
Some of them have been good, some have been bad, some have been classic games, some have had classic individual performances. Either way there is always something great to take away from the BCS National Championship game.
As controversial as the BCS has been, and will continue to be, it has given fans of college football something to talk about. This power ranking of all the BCS title games will give you something else to talk about.
Presented in order from worst-to-best, every BCS Championship game played so far ranked for your viewing and reading pleasure.
12. 2005 Orange Bowl: Oklahoma Vs USC
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The game was close after the first quarter with USC leading 14-7. Next thing you know the wheels fell off for the Sooners and the game was over by halftime.
The Trojans would go on to win the national championship 55-19. Plus, if the game wasn't bad enough, there was the halftime debacle featuring Ashley Simpson lip-synching (and doing a horrible job of it) and getting booed off the stage by the fans in attendance...and those watching at home.
11. 2002 Rose Bowl: Miami Vs Nebraska
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A controversial matchup because Nebraska was blown out by Colorado in their final regular season game, 62-36 and didn't even get to compete for the Big XII Championship. The BCS kept Nebraska as the #2 team and gave us this matchup between a loaded Miami team and an overmatched Nebraska Cornhuskers team.
This game was over long before it started and don't be fooled by that 37-14 score, this game was not that close at all. Miami was all over the Cornhuskers and captured their first BCS title.
10. 2007 BCS Title Game: Florida Vs Ohio State
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It seemed like a mismatch on paper, Florida was a solid, yet unspectacular team. They were able to win the SEC and got to play for the BCS title.
On the other side was Ohio State, the top ranked team in the country all year. They had a great offense, fast defense and the Heisman trophy winner, QB Troy Smith.
So what happens?
Ohio State WR Ted Ginn returns the opening kickoff to give the Buckeyes a 7-0 lead right out of the gate. Unfortunately, that was as good as it would get for Ohio State. Florida would outscore the Buckeyes 41-7 from that point, en route to a 41-14 slaughter of the Buckeyes to capture their first national title since 1996.
9. 2000 Sugar Bowl: Florida State Vs Virginia Tech
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Two undefeated teams, one expected to be there [FSU] , the other came out of nowhere Va. Tech], led by freshman QB Michael Vick.
Florida State had one of the great offenses in the country, led by QB Chris Weinke and WR Peter Warrick. Virginia Tech had a very good defense and Vick brought an explosiveness to the offense that made them a force to be reckoned with.
For three quarters the game was a good back-and-forth battle between two high-octane teams. Virginia Tech led 29-28 after the third quarter. Florida State took control in the fourth and scored 18 unanswered points to win 46-29.
8. 2008 BCS Title Game: LSU Vs Ohio State
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A game where no one knew what would happen until the day it was announced. Missouri and West Virginia were the top two teams in the BCS going into conference championship weekend. Both teams lost, Missouri to Oklahoma in the Big XII title game, and West Virginia was stunned by arch rival Pitt.
So who would get to compete for the national title?
It came down to the computers and they liked Ohio State and LSU.
Ohio State looked good early, leading 10-3 after the first quarter. LSU would pound the Buckeyes en route to a 21 point second quarter and the Bayou Bengals never looked back. They captured their second BCS title with a 38-24 victory.
7. 1999 Fiesta Bowl: Tennessee Vs Florida State
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The first BCS championship game was between Tennessee and Florida State. The concept was to create a system that would matchup the first and second ranked teams in the country and avoid split national champions (which ended up happening a few years later anyway).
The game was quite compelling. Tennessee took a 23-9 lead early in the fourth quarter. Florida State tried to mount a comeback, cutting the lead to 23-16. They got the ball back after a turnover and had a chance to tie the game, but Tennessee DB Steve Johnson intercepted a pass late in the game and sealed the Vols first national championship since 1951.
6. 2010 BCS Title Game: Alabama Vs Texas
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Last year's title game was a matchup of two heavyweights: The undefeated, SEC champion Alabama Crimson Tide and the undefeated, Big XII champion Texas Longhorns.
Things did not start off well at all for Texas, starting QB Colt McCoy was knocked out on the Longhorns first drive and freshman QB Garrett Gilbert was thrown into the fire.
Gilbert was obviously nervous and had no experience at all. Alabama took a 24-6 lead at the half and hope appeared lost for Texas.
In the second half, the Longhorns came out and put up 15 unanswered points to get to within 3 points at 24-21. They had all the momentum on their side. But a fumble deep in their own territory and a touchdown run by Heisman winner Mark Ingram would seal the deal and give Alabama their first title in 17 years.
5. 2004 Sugar Bowl: LSU VS Oklahoma
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One of the most controversial BCS title games (I know, you can say that about almost all of them), LSU won the SEC and was clearly one of the two best teams in the country. Oklahoma had been one of the best teams all year long, up until the Big XII championship.
The Sooners were completely overmatched by Kansas State and lost 35-7. Conventional wisdom would have had USC, which was 11-1 and won the Pac-10, playing LSU. But this is the BCS and they don't use conventional wisdom.
LSU's defense was all over Oklahoma's high powered offense all game long. The Sooners had averaged over 460 yards per game in the regular season. They were held to 154 yards by LSU.
The game was close at the end, but LSU had clearly dominated the game and deserved to be crowned national champions.
Interesting sidenote: USC was voted the number one team in the AP poll at the end of the year after beating Michigan in the Rose Bowl, meaning that there were co-national champions. When the BCS was designed, it was to have the two best teams play each other and prevent having split national champions.
4. 2009 BCS Title Game: Florida Vs Oklahoma
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This was the season that Tim Tebow gave his passionate speech after a loss against Mississippi. His team took that speech to heart and would roll the rest of the year en route to winning their second BCS title in three years.
The Gators held Sooner QB Sam Bradford to 256 yards passing and the defense smothered the Sooners high powered offense all game long. It was a great team performance and the Gators would win the game 24-14.
3. 2001 Orange Bowl: Oklahoma Vs Florida State
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The single most dominating defensive performance that any BCS title game has ever seen. The Sooners came out of nowhere to be put in position to compete for a national title. They started the year ranked #20 and moved all the way up to the top spot in the polls by going 11-0 and winning the Big XII.
This was the first year of controversy for the BCS. Most analysts and pundits figured that Miami, not Florida State, deserved to compete with the Sooners for the national title. The computers disagreed and Miami had to settle for the Sugar Bowl.
This game was a great clash of styles. Oklahoma had a great defense and an offense that was good enough, but made a lot better because of that D. Florida State had the high octane, high flying offensive attack.
On this day, Oklahoma and their defense would not be denied.
They put together a great gameplan and the execution was absolutely perfect. The only blemish on Oklahoma's game was a safety when a snap on a punt went out of their own endzone, giving the Seminoles their only 2 points of the game.
Oklahoma would win 13-2.
2. 2006 Rose Bowl: Texas Vs USC
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The top two games on the list could honestly be put in any order and it wouldn't matter.
In the 2006 Rose Bowl, Vince Young played the single greatest game that I have seen from any college athlete. He threw for 267 yards and ran for another 200 with three rushing touchdowns. A great back-and-forth battle between two juggernauts. Texas would score and USC would answer and back-and-forth it would go.
In such a high-scoring game, it was a defensive stop by the Longhorns that turned the game around. It was fourth-and-2 for USC with about 2 minutes to play. LenDale White was given the handoff and the Texas defense stopped him inches short of a first down.
If USC gets that, they win. They didn't and Vince Young was able to get the go ahead TD run on fourth down with less than 20 seconds to play.
A great performance in one of the great college football games of all time.
1. 2003 Fiesta Bowl: Ohio State Vs Miami
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Miami was the most dominant team in college football for three years, from 2000-2002 they won 33 of 34 games. They were blowing teams out, and were churning out record numbers of NFL players every year.
Ohio State was a very good team, but a bit unspectacular, though they made plays when they had to. They put together a perfect regular season, going 12-0. A lot of people felt that they should be happy just playing in this game because there was no way Miami would lose to anyone.
The game kicked off and something happened, Ohio State was shutting down Miami's offense and was able to stay in the game. They weren't dominating but they were able to make key stops at key times.
They were up 17-14 going into the fourth quarter.
Miami got the ball back to start the quarter and were putting together a drive to try and take the lead. In one of the most gruesome knee injuries that you will ever see, Miami RB Willis McGahee was given a handoff and Ohio State DB Will Allen came up and led with his shoulder, McGahee was in the air and his knee was bent in a way that it shouldn't have been.
Miami did get a game-tying field goal at the end of regulation to send the game into overtime tied at 17.
Both teams exchanged touchdowns in the first overtime. Tied at 24-24 going into the second overtime.
Ohio State got the ball first and scored on a Maurice Clarett touchdown run.
It was all on Miami now. The big, bad Hurricanes had to go 25 yards to tie the game and send it to a third overtime. They faced a fourth-and-3 but were able to get a seven yard completion from QB Ken Dorsey to Kellen Winslow. After a couple Ohio State penalties, the Hurricanes had the ball on the Ohio State 2 yard line with four downs to play with. This game was going to get tied.
First play, nothing. Second play, nothing. Third play, one yard.
Fourth-and-1.
Dorsey dropped back. Ohio State came with a blitz and Dorsey was getting wrapped up by an Ohio State linebacker. Desperate, the ball was flung into the air and dropped to the ground. Ball game.
Ohio State shocks the world and wins their first national title in 32 years.
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