Alabama’s 45-40 win over Clemson in Monday’s national title game was a blast. Such a blast, in fact, that it got me thinking where the Tide’s win would rank in the annals of title-game history.
So I decided to do the math, and here’s the result: A comprehensive ranking of every college football contest ever played that could honestly purport to be a national championship game, including the failed Bowl Coalition (1992-1995), the failed Bowl Alliance (1996-1998), the failed BCS (1998-2013), and the College Football Playoff, which hasn’t failed yet. Thousands of Saturday hours spent on the couch have all led to this.
(all years in parentheses refer to the dates of the regular season, not the year of the actual championship game; for instance, the first game here was played on Jan. 4, 2005, but capped the 2004 season)
TIER 4: THE BLOWOUTS
24. USC 55, Oklahoma 19 (2004)
Rarely has such an impressive collection of skill-position talent been gathered on the same field: This one featured the previous two winners of the Heisman Trophy (USC QB Matt Leinart and Oklahoma QB Jason White), plus four of the 2004 season’s five Heisman finalists (Leinart, White, USC RB Reggie Bush and Oklahoma RB Adrian Peterson). Instead of an all-time classic, though, the result was the second-most lopsided game in championship game history — the Trojans led 38-10 at the half and kept rolling from there. They eventually vacated the title in the wake of the Bush Brouhaha, which doesn’t exactly add to this game’s lasting impact. As forgettable as they come.
23. Nebraska 62, Florida 24 (1995)
22. Nebraska 42, Tennessee 17 (1997)
Here’s one where the phrase “national championship game” is a bit of a misnomer: Michigan and Nebraska finished the season 1-2, but because the Bowl Coalition didn’t include the Rose Bowl, the Wolverines went to the Pasadena to beat the heck out of Washington State instead of pairing up with the Cornhuskers in a true title game. That left Nebraska to throttle the Vols in Peyton Manning’s final game, clinching at least a share of the national title for the third time in four seasons.
21. Miami 37, Nebraska 14 (2001)
All the pre-game talk was whether the Cornhuskers deserved a title shot after falling 62-36 to Colorado in their final game of the regular season (spoiler alert: they didn’t). No matter the opponent, though, nobody was beating these Hurricanes, who featured 38 future NFL players (including eleven who made multiple trips to the Pro Bowl) and a backfield made up of Clinton Portis, Willis McGahee and Frank Gore. All three are now in the top forty on the NFL’s all-time rushing list.
20. Alabama 42, Notre Dame 14 (2012)
The lopsided nature of this matchup in Miami left play-by-play commentator Brent Musburger plenty of time to drool over Katherine Webb, the girlfriend of Alabama quarterback A.J. McCarron. A week later, we all learned that the dead girlfriend of star Notre Dame LB Manti Te’o was neither a) dead, b) his girlfriend, nor c) a real person.
19. Florida 41, Ohio State 14 (2006)
If a couple votes in the AP poll or a couple calculations in the BCS algorithm played out differently, this Fiesta Bowl would have been a rematch between two teams who played an instant classic during the final week of the regular season — the Buckeyes topped Michigan, 42-39, in a No. 1 vs. No. 2 meeting that many wanted to see repeated (including yours truly). The way the Gators rolled over OSU, though, left little doubt the BCS got it right. And thus began a decade of “S-E-C speed” memes.
18. Florida 52, Florida State 20 (1996)
Here was a year when college football playoff actually got to see a rematch from the season’s final week to decide the national title: The Seminoles had snuck past the Gators in the final game of the regular season, 24-21, to hand Florida its first loss of the year, setting the stage for a potentially epic second act. But Danny Wuerffel and Co. had other ideas. FSU kept it close for a half, kicking a field goal early in the third quarter to make it a 24-20 game, only for the Gators to score four straight touchdowns and close things out.
17. Alabama 21, LSU 0 (2011)
The year SEC fever hit its peak, and the only time in the past quarter-century that one conference has accounted for both teams in the national championship game. The Tigers defeated the Crimson Tide in the regular season, 9-6 — a picture of that box score should be in the dictionary under “slobberknocker,” if only that were a real word — but ‘Bama proved too much the second time around, recording the only shutout in title-game history.
16. Alabama 34, Miami 13 (1992)
Inspired in no small part by split national titles the previous two years (Colorado-Georgia Tech and Miami-Washington), the powers-that-be birthed the Bowl Coalition to, hopefully, pit the No. 1 team against the No. 2 team each Jan. 1. The first year, at least, it was a roaring success, as two unbeaten teams squared if New Orleans and the Crimson Tide rode a dominant defense to a significant upset, handing the ‘Canes their first defeat since Oct. 20, 1990, a span of more than 25 months. I was four months old when this game was played, and thus can’t offer much first-person insight.
TIER 3: FUN BUT FORGETTABLE
15. Oklahoma 13, Florida State 2 (2000)
The final margin was close, sure, but this was the lowest-scoring title game of them all and certainly one of the dullest. The only touchdown didn’t happen until the fourth quarter. Let’s just move on.
14. Alabama 37, Texas 21 (2009)
On paper, this one had all the makings of a classic — the undefeated Tide against the undefeated Longhorns, Texas QB Colt McCoy and WR Jordan Shipley (who were roommates, as every broadcaster in the 2009 season made sure we knew) against the stalwart Alabama defense. But the air was let out of the balloon when McCoy went down with a shoulder injury five plays into the game. The Crimson Tide took a 24-6 lead into halftime and never looked back. The Texas program went into the gutter and still hasn’t recovered (41-35 in the six seasons since).
13. LSU 38, Ohio State 24 (2007)
Our only two-loss national champion of the title-game era was a fitting result from one of the craziest college football regular seasons ever. With one week of action left, Missouri and West Virginia sat in the Nos. 1 and 2 spots in the BCS rankings. But Mizzou lost to Oklahoma, the Mountaineers fell to Pittsburgh, and suddenly the Tigers and Buckeyes were left playing for it all. OSU led 10-0, so there was for a time some drama, but the Matt Flynn-led LSU offense turned unstoppable and reeled off thirty-one straight points, including a five-yard TD toss to Early Doucet (whose delightful name I really wanted to work in here). Overall quality of play is a factor here, though, and I can’t help but think that either of teams would have been little more than cannon fodder for some of the other champions from the new millennium’s first decade. This was a poor vintage.
12. Florida 24, Oklahoma 14 (2009)
The Sooners entered as the most prolific offense in college football history, but it became apparent early the Gators were the superior team. Percy Harvin, the Pouncey twins, Riley Cooper and Aaron Hernandez may not be a great bunch of role models, but they could sure ball. Florida’s game against Oklahoma was competitive, tied 7-7 at the half, but excitement matters at this point in the rankings, and this one was lacking — which was a serious surprise considering the firepower on the field for both teams.
11. LSU 21, Oklahoma 14 (2003)
For the first time in the BCS era, the BCS title game did not decide the national champion. USC finished third in the final computer rankings but was No. 1 in the AP poll, and when the Trojans trounced Michigan in the Rose Bowl, No. 1 they remained. So this game loses a little luster. That the Tigers’ defense was able to carry a starting backfield of Matt Mauck and Justin Vincent to the title is seriously impressive, though.
TIER 2: MODERN CLASSICS
10. Ohio State 42, Oregon 20 (2014)
The general excitement for the first year of a playoff probably gives this one a boost — although the action on the field wasn’t exactly absent, including a monster 246-yard, four-touchdown performance by Buckeyes RB Ezekiel Elliott. This was also the epoch of the short-lived Cardale Jones era, as OSU’s third-string quarterback who runs like a moose capped a jaw-dropping postseason in style before promptly returning to the Buckeye bench in 2015. Oregon hung around for three quarters, but Marcus Mariota wasn’t as perfect as he had been for the rest of his career, and an early-game injury to Devon Allen proved one too many to key skill-position players for the Ducks to withstand. Schadenfreude may also play a role in this ranking.
9. Florida State 46, Virginia Tech 29 (1999)
FSU’s margin of victory belies ones of the most purely entertaining games on this list. That’s usually what happens when Michael Vick is involved. He’d been the most exciting player in the country all year, and it was no different in New Orleans, where the freshman threw for 225 yards and a touchdown and ran for another 97 yards, somehow giving the underdog Hokies a 29-28 fourth-quarter lead. Those numbers aren’t all that impressive in 2015, when DeShaun Watson just put up a 4,000-1,000 season, but in the context of how football was played in 2000, not too bad — particularly against one of the nastiest defenses in the country, and considering the rest of the Virginia Tech offense wasn’t exactly teeming with future pros. Peter Warrick added some fireworks for the Seminoles, with 163 yards receiving and three total touchdowns, including a lengthy punt return. He was a lot of fun. Vick was a lot of fun. This game was a lot of fun.
8. Nebraska 24, Miami 17 (1994)
The Cornhuskers wrapped up the first of three national titles by scoring the final fifteen points of the game, handing the Hurricanes their second championship-game defeat in the three years of the Bowl Coalition. In retrospect, this was the end of the great Miami dynasty of the 1980s and 90s — Dennis Erickson left the program shortly after the game to coach a little team called the Seattle Seahawks, and six months later Sports Illustrated published a cover story arguing the school should drop the sport “to salvage the school’s reputation.” That’s usually a bad sign.
7. Tennessee 23, Florida State 16 (1998)
Like the Oregon-Ohio State contest that began the playoff era, the very first BCS championship game receives an inevitable excitement boost. The game lived up to the hype, too, with the thunderous left foot of Sebastian Janikowski keeping the Seminoles in the game for all four quarters against the undefeated Vols. How impressive was Janikowski’s performance? A few months later, Oakland picked him in the first round of the NFL draft. Al Davis was insane, but still.
6. Alabama 45, Clemson 40 (2015)
The game that inspired this post marks a fitting the entrance to our upper quartile. It was the second-highest scoring title game of the past twenty-four years (trailing by one point the Nebraska-Florida bloodbath from ’95), featured standout performances from Heisman winner Derrick Henry and the aforementioned DeShaun Watson, came down to the final seconds, and featured a game-changing onside kick. That’s really all I can ask for in a football game. Interestingly, this is by far the best title game of the five Alabama has played in. The Crimson Tide seem to have a penchant for blowing people out.
TIER 1: THE ALL-TIMERS
5. Florida State 18, Nebraska 16 (1993)
The final 78 seconds of this one were downright Shakespearean. First, Byron Bennett drilled a short field goal to give the Cornhuskers a 16-15 lead. Then Heisman winner Charlie Ward marched the Seminoles 62 yards in less than a minute to set up a chip-shot field goal with 21 seconds to go. When Scott Bentley split the uprights, FSU understandably went nuts — so nuts, though, that they were flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct, forcing a kick-off from the 20-yard line instead of the 35. Starting its drive near midfield, Nebraska got all the way down to the 28-yard line on its final possession before the clock hit triple zeros. The ‘Noles again thought the game was won (again understandably), but the referees intervened once more, this time putting a second back on the clock. Bentley’s field goal missed wide left, though, and the third FSU celebration of the night continued for the next eight months.
4. Auburn 22, Oregon 19 (2010)
The indelible image from this one occurred on the game’s final drive: Auburn RB Michael Dyer appearing to be tackled for a short gain and the action coming to a near-complete stop, only for Dyer to leap back to his feat and continue running for another thirty yards, putting the Tigers in range for the easiest game-winning field goal you’ll ever see. Contrary to what the low score may indicate, this one had plenty of action, with 968 yards of offense combined between the two attacks. With the offenses of Guz Malzahn and Chip Kelly churning up yards on the game’s biggest stage, this was also the national announcement that the hurry-up spread was here to stay.
3. Florida State 34, Auburn 31 (2013)
When Auburn is in the title game, exciting things happen. What a game this was, with the Tigers taking a 21-10 lead into the half only for the Seminoles to storm back, including one of the most memorable kick returns in college football history when Kermit Whitfield raced 100 yards up the left sideline to put FSU on top 27-24. Auburn responded, and then Jameis Winston did the same, marching the ‘Noles back down the field one final time and hitting Kelvin Benjamin for the game-winner with 13 seconds to go. As far as overall talent on the field, this one’s tough to top — all 22 FSU starters are in the NFL as of this writing.
2. Ohio State 31, Miami 24 (2002)
a) That pass interference call was probably B.S.
b) Maurice Clarett’s strip of Sean Taylor was one of the most impressive plays in any sport I’ve ever seen
c) Maurice Clarett’s freshman season was one of the most impressive I’ve ever seen
d) Yes, Craig Krenzel quarterbacked a team to a national championship
e) And yes, he did it against a defense including Jonathan Vilma, D.J. Williams, Sean Taylor, Antrel Rolle, and Vince Wilfork
f) Thirty seven of the forty three players who started in this game were later NFL draft picks
g) Fifty-eight players from this game went on to the NFL
h) This was the only championship game to ever go to overtime, and it went to double overtime
i) If there’s another game higher than this one on the list, that one must have really been amazing.
- Texas 41, USC 38 (2005)
Duh.