BCS National Championship: 10 Best Games Played At University of Phoenix Stadium
Since the University of Phoenix Stadium was built in 2006, it has been the home of some tremendously exciting football games, both from the college ranks and the NFL. From Fiesta Bowls to NFC playoff games, it's difficult to pick which ones were the best.
But that's exactly the aim here. To follow are the 10 best football games ever played at the University of Phoenix Stadium. There is sure to be debate about over this list with so many dramatic climaxes playing out already in the young venue.
If all expectations come true, Monday's BCS National Championship Game could bump one of these 10 off this list.
No 10: 2008 Fiesta Bowl--Okalahoma Sooners vs. West Virginia Mountaineers
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This marked the high point for West Virginia football in the BCS era, as the Mountaineers topped the Oklahoma Sooners 48-28. Pat White and Steve Slaton combined to be one of the most dynamic quarterback/running back duos in the history of college football that season, but Slaton left the game after only one carry with a hamstring injury.
In stepped freshman Noel Devine, who thrashed the Sooner defense for 108 yards rushing and two scores. White totaled 326 yards of total offense and Oklahoma failed to slow down West Virginia at all.
The magnificent performance by the Mountaineers came after coach Rich Rodriguez left the team for Michigan. Interim head coach Bill Stewart was made the permanent head coach after the game.
No. 9: 2008-09 NFC Wild Card Game--Atlanta Vs. Arizona
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The rookie Matt Ryan led the Atlanta Falcons into the University of Phoenix Stadium to play veteran Kurt Warner and the Arizona Cardinals. It was Arizona winning in its first playoff game since 1947, 30-24 en route to a Super Bowl XLIII appearance.
Warner was terrific, hooking up with Larry Fitzgerald on a 42-yard flea-flicker touchdown and then with Anquan Boldin for a 71-yard score. But it was the Cardinals' defense that came up big, notching a safety in the fourth quarter and pretty well shutting down the Falcons for the entire second half.
No. 8: 2008-09 NFC Championship--Philadelphia Eagles vs. Arizona Cardinals
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The Eagles and the Cardinals met in a back-and-forth shootout that eventually saw Arizona advance to Super Bowl XLIII. Donovan McNabb once again had the Eagles on the brink of the big game and played well, throwing for 375 yards and three touchdowns, but once again couldn't get his team over the hump.
The game capped an amazing ride for the Cardinals, who entered the playoffs at 9-7 and used home field advantage in two out of three games to get to the Super Bowl. Larry Fitzgerald caught 9 passes for 152 yards and three touchdowns.
Arizona scored with 2:53 left to play to go ahead for good.
No. 7: 2006--Chicago Bears vs. Arizona Cardinals
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Arizona Cardinals coach Dennis Green will never live this game down. Actually, he'll never live his post-game press conference down. Distraught, frustrated and just mad, Green provided a post-game rant that is now used as a benchmark for all rants that follow. "They are who we thought they were! And we let 'em off the hook!"
Green's boil over stemmed from his team's unfathomable collapse. Up 23-3, the Cardinals watched as the Bears came back and won using two defensive touchdowns and an 83-yard Devin Hester punt return touchdown.
The Bears had six turnovers and three points from their offense...and won.
No. 6: 2010 Fiesta Bowl--TCU Horned Frogs vs. Boise State Broncos
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It was the matchup that neither team really wanted. Both non-automatic BCS qualifiers had raced through their schedules unscathed, busting into the top eight of the BCS standings, looking to prove themselves against a team from a BCS conference.
Instead, they were tucked away in the desert, asked to play each other for the second year in a row and never complained once. The end result was Boise State avenging its Poinsettia Bowl loss from a year ago with 17-10 win.
In the fourth quarter from its own 33 yard-line, Boise State called "The Riddler," a fake punt on which punter Kyle Brotzman completed a 30-yard pass to Kyle Efaw, which set up the game-winning touchdown.
No. 5: 2008--Dallas Cowboys vs. Arizona Cardinals
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The Arizona Cardinals have a flair for the dramatic at the University of Phoenix Stadium. That was no different on Oct. 12, 2008,as the Cardinals blocked a punt and returned it for a touchdown to beat the Dallas Cowboys in overtime.
After attaining a 24-14 lead, Arizona let Dallas tie the game on a Nick Folk 52-yard field goal as time ran out in regulation. But Sean Morey blocked Dallas' punt and Monty Beisel took it three yards into the end zone for the game-winning score.
It was the first NFL game to end on a blocked punt.
No. 4: 2009-10 NFC Wild Card Game--Green Bay vs. Arizona
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Aaron Rodgers had two bad plays. He threw an interception on the game's first play. On its last, Karlos Dansby raced into the end zone with Aaron Rodgers' fumble in overtime, winning the shootout 51-45 for the Arizona Cardinals. Rodgers was otherwise spectacular in his playoff debut, passing for 423 yards and four touchdowns.
The problem was that his counterpart, Kurt Warner, was equally as masterful. Warner carved up Green Bay's porous defense for 379 passing yards and five passing scores.
No. 3--2009 Fiesta Bowl--Ohio State Buckeyes vs. Texas Longhorns
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The Ohio State defense had used blitzing all game long to keep Texas' potent offense in check. The Longhorns were getting yards, but the Buckeyes were getting them off the field. That was, until Texas' final drive.
Texas got the ball at its own 22 yard-line down four with 2:02 left to play. McCoy started chipping away, moving the ball down the field but seemingly not fast enough. Then, two plays after converting a fourth-down-and-three, Ohio State got caught in man coverage while blitzing and McCoy hit Quan Cosby for a 26-yard touchdown on a simple slant pattern.
With only 16 seconds left, Ohio State saw another BCS game go awry, losing 24-21.
No. 2: Super Bowl XLII--New York Giants vs. New England Patriots
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The New England Patriots entered the game 18-0 and looking to make history. The Patriot offense, led by Tom Brady, Randy Moss and Wes Welker, had played at a historic level. They had throttled pretty much every opponent that got in their way.
Needless to say, the Giants were giant underdogs. And that's why they play the games.
New York used a ferocious pass rush to raze the New England offense. Then, it was Eli Manning using Houdini-esque maneuvering to escape the Patriot defense before throwing a prayer to David Tyree, who made quite possibly the most memorable catch in Super Bowl history, pinning the ball against his head as Rodney Harrison ripped at it.
Just moments later, Manning hooked up with Plaxico Burress for a touchdown, completing an enormously incomparable upset with a final score of 17-14.
No. 1: 2007 Fiesta Bowl--Boise State vs. Oklahoma Sooners
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This is one of those sports moments that most people can remember exactly where they were when they saw it. It was the manifestation of every David vs. Goliath cliche ever used. Boise State did the unthinkable, defeating Oklahoma 43-42, and did so in an even more unthinkable way.
Oklahoma rallied from a 28-10 third-quarter deficit to take the lead with a 1:02 left on an interception return touchdown. It looked as if Boise State had flushed away its upset opportunity. But with only seconds left on the clock, Boise State ran a hook-and-lateral play that Jerard Raab took 35 yards for score. A successful extra point forced overtime.
Adrian Peterson raced 25 yards for a touchdown on Oklahoma's first play in overtime. Faced with a fourth-and-two, Boise State dialed up another trick play, with wide receiver Vinny Perretta passing a six-yard touchdown to Derek Schouman. Boise State elected to go for a two-point conversion and the win rather than play another overtime period.
Jared Zabransky dropped back to pass, faked a throw to the right and handed the ball off behind his back to Ian Johnson, who strode in for the conversion and the win on the now-legendary Statue of Liberty play.
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