Livescore
There has been one constant throughout the College Football Playoff era: blowouts. That’s the unfortunate nature of college football. It also makes us appreciate when we do have an absolute banger, and it certainly makes them stand out.
In the 12-team playoff, there will be more lopsided scores, but Texas and Arizona State showed us that there are still gems no matter what the pregame spread shows. Let’s take a trip through memory lane with the five best CFP games of all time.
1. 2018 Rose Bowl: Georgia 54, Oklahoma 48 (2OT)
This is the standard by which all other playoff games should be judged. No, it wasn’t for a national championship, but it was an absolutely box-office football game in the most picturesque setting the sport has to offer. Lost in the ending is the fact that Georgia had to mount a furious comeback down 31-17 at halftime to an Oklahoma offense that was dog-walking UGA up and down the field. Besides one substantial drive in the first half, the saving grace for Georgia was a 75-yard Sony Michel touchdown run that was truly keeping them within shouting distance.
Georgia erased the deficit in the second half, ripping off 21 unanswered points, and the game entered a frantic fourth quarter tied. The teams scored two touchdowns apiece, including a scoop-and-score by Oklahoma, and headed to overtime, where Michel put the game to bed with a 27-yard touchdown run that will go down in history.
For all of Baker Mayfield’s Heisman heroics on the season, Rodney Anderson’s 201 yards on the ground paced the Sooners. Georgia’s 11 carries for 181 yards from Michel and 14 carries for 145 yards from Nick Chubb were the shining moments from one of the great backfield tandems of the CFP era.
2. 2016 National Championship Game: Clemson 35, Alabama 31
This was really the only classic game of the Bama-Clemson battles between 2016 and 2019. You might forget that the others were largely stinkers. Jalen Hurts should have gone into college football history for one of the most epic touchdown runs you will ever see with just over two minutes left.
Instead, to Deshaun Watson went the spoils after he drove the Tigers down in response and scored with one second left to win Clemson’s first national championship since 1981 with a rollout pass to Hunter Renfrow (we hear you about offensive pass interference, Bama fans). It was the night that finally “Clemsoning” was put to bed, and the Tigers summited the college football mountaintop.
3. 2018 National Championship Game: Alabama 26, Georgia 23 (OT)
Down 13 points at halftime, Nick Saban did the improbable when he benched Hurts, his starting quarterback, to insert a highly-touted-but-quite-green freshman named Tua Tagovailoa. He steadied the ship and brought Bama back.
Tagovailoa almost wasn’t the hero as Andy Pappanastos missed a game-winning 36-yard field goal with three seconds left, but when the kick missed, the CFP title game went to OT for the first time.
Needing to score to keep the game going in the second half of the first overtime period, Tagovailoa took a sack that he later said is the most upset he’d ever seen Nick Saban — even after he more than made up for it on second-and-26 with the connection to DeVonta Smith to win the national title.
For Georgia, it was yet another heartbreak as the long wait for another national championship seemed like it might never end.
4. 2022 Peach Bowl: Georgia 42, Ohio State 41
Georgia’s quest to repeat as national champions almost ended in the semifinals. Despite Marvin Harrison Jr. leaving the game with an injury, Ohio State found itself up 38-24 heading into the fourth quarter.
After a long touchdown from Stetson Bennett to AD Mitchell, the Dawgs drove for a go-ahead score with 54 seconds left. C.J. Stroud pulled off the third-longest scramble of his career to get Ohio State into range for a long field goal. And at exactly the stroke of midnight, the Buckeyes’ title dreams were dashed as the 51-yarder hooked left while the ball dropped in Times Square.
5. 2025 Peach Bowl: Texas 39, Arizona State 31 (2OT)
Recency bias be damned, the Peach Bowl had so many twists and turns. The Longhorns got up 14-3 almost immediately. It looked like Texas was on the way to another laugher in a 12-team format that had seen exclusively blowouts. Rest was looking like rust for the Sun Devils, but Arizona State battled back, knocking at the door repeatedly only to be turned away by Texas in the red zone multiple times.
Cam Skattebo’s 284 all-purpose yards included a 42-yard touchdown pass, and the do-everything back left it all on the field (literally, considering he vomited on the sideline at one point). Clearly gassed, he, quarterback Sam Leavitt, and a swarming defense bowed up and willed the Sun Devils back into the game and eventually to overtime, but it eventually wasn’t enough as the much-maligned Quinn Ewers showed up when it mattered most to take Texas to the semifinals.
MORE: Quinn Ewers needed two throws to save Texas’ season and seal his legacy
Read the full article here
Discussion about this post