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View Full Version : Best College Football Game of 2010?



JBHuskers
12-06-2010, 02:23 PM
What is your pick? This is from Ryan McGee on ESPN Insider:

http://a.espncdn.com/i/mag/blog/2010/1206boise_576x324.jpg

First Down -- Five best games of 2010

Now that the 2010 regular season is indeed in the books and the bowl bids have been handed out, let's take a moment and reflect back on the wild and wacky season that was. There have been 1,454 games played in NCAA FBS football so far and, in my humble opinion, these were the five best games of the bunch.

5. Boise State Broncos 33, Virginia Tech Hokies 30, Sept. 6
Three months (not to mention Nevada and James Madison) later, it's easy to forget how great of a game this opening weekend showdown was. The then-10th ranked Hokies recovered from a brutal first half to erase a 17-point deficit and take the lead late in the third quarter. Boise took it back and then Tech took it back again.

The Hokies added a field goal with 7:41 remaining in the game and carried a 30-26 lead into the final two minutes of the game, but Kellen Moore capped a 38-second, five-play, 56-yard drive with a 13-yard TD strike to Austin Pettis. Then they stuffed Tech on four plays and the game ended, officially starting a "How good is Boise, really?" argument that went on to dominate most of the regular season.

4. Auburn Tigers 27, Clemson Tigers 24 OT, Sept. 18
With all due respect to Auburn's historic Iron Bowl comeback against Alabama, there was no bigger bone-crusher of a contest played this season than the one between the Tigers and the Tigers down on The Plains. At the time no one had any inkling of what Cam Newton would become by season's end, let alone Auburn. Looking back, that night was their coming out party.

Clemson played every bit like an old-school SEC team, bolstered by quarterback Kyle Parker's gutsy, groggy, injury-filled performance in which he had to ask the refs to keep an eye on him in case he started "acting crazy."

Auburn rallied from 17 down to push the game into overtime. In the extra period Auburn kicked a field goal and Clemson answered with one of its own, but it was nullified by a procedure penalty when the long-snapper double-clutched. (We bang on the officials for missed calls, but this was one of the most heads-up flags I've ever seen.) Clemson missed the do-over and Auburn won. Neither team was the same from that game forward. Auburn hasn't lost while Clemson has struggled to 6-6.

3. Wisconsin Badgers 31, Iowa Hawkeyes 30, Oct. 23
Entering the game in Iowa City, many experts believed that these two teams were almost entirely equally matched. Turns out they were right. The Badgers' vaunted O-line cracked hats with Iowa's celebrated D-line in three hours of classic Big Ten trench-digging.

Wisconsin, coming off an upset of top-ranked Ohio State, had to come from behind late, going 3-for-3 on fourth-down conversions, including a breathtaking 17-yard dash that kept the final drive alive and set up the game-winning touchdown with 1:14 remaining. Iowa's one-point losing margin was made more painful by the fact the Hawkeyes had missed a field goal and an extra point.

2. Oklahoma Sooners 47, Oklahoma State Cowboys 41, Nov. 27
Calling it Bedlam has never been more appropriate. With a trip to the Big 12 championship game on the line, the fourth quarter alone was better than most entire games. During one 90-second sequence the Sooners and Cowboys exchanged two touchdowns each. OSU scored with 4:11 to go on a 15-yard TD pass, which Oklahoma answered with an 85-yard TD pass, which OSU answered with an 89-yard TD return on the ensuing kickoff, which OU answered with a 77-yard TD pass.

Whew.

1. Nevada Wolf Pack 34, Boise State Broncos 31 OT, Nov. 26
Unfortunately for the folks in the Sooner State, everyone on that Saturday was still talking about the game that had taken place the night before, 1,600 miles away in Reno. The Boise-Nevada game was so good that it kept East Coasters up until after 2 a.m., filling press boxes with sleep-deprived sports writers the next day.

It was worth it.

The Broncos led 24-7 at the half and appeared to be on their way to another blowout WAC win and their 25th straight victory overall. But the Wolf Pack rushed for 239 yards in the second half and came back to tie it at 24 with 5:17 remaining. Then Kellen Moore hooked up with Doug Martin for a 79-yard TD to retake the lead 31-24. Nevada answered and tied it up at 31 with only 17 seconds remaining, but another Moore bomb landed in the red zone and set up a 26-yard field goal attempt with two seconds left.

Then, as you may recall, Kyle Brotzman missed a kick. In the first overtime period he missed again.

Nevada did not miss, as Anthony Martinez, who'd had an earlier attempt blocked, stroked a 34-yarder that turned college football -- and the entire state of Idaho -- on its ear.

Boise may have been knocked out of the BCS title hunt, but in typical Broncos fashion, they went down in one of the most spectacular games in recent memory. And for my money, the best game of 2010. So far.

Rudy
12-06-2010, 05:56 PM
Michigan vs Illinois was a blast. Notre Dame vs. MSU and the way that game ended was pretty darn good and Auburn vs. Alabama has to be in there.

JeffHCross
12-06-2010, 11:02 PM
Nevada / Boise, hands down.

psuexv
12-07-2010, 09:46 AM
Not that it was a high profile game but that Arizona/Arizona State game was wild. Anytime you have a blocked XP to take the game into OT and then another blocked XP to get the win it's a crazy game.