Ranking the 25 best college football games of the 2000s: Where do Texas-USC, Kick Six rank?

New York Times

22-05-2025

Editor's note: All week, The Athletic is looking back at the best of the first 25 years of the 2000s in college football. Read the top 25 teams, top 25 players and coaches and check back for the best programs on Friday.
College football has changed more in the last 25 years than at any previous point of its history.
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But those magical Saturdays haven't changed. Narrowing the best games in that span meant juggling three key metrics: quality of the game, indelible moments within the game and the stage that the game was played on. Balancing that isn't easy, but the games that had all three floated to the top of this list.
Here are the 25 best games of the past 25 years in college football.
In Nick Saban's final game — though we didn't know it at the time — Jim Harbaugh and Michigan broke through to reach the national title game with a thrilling victory in overtime. Alabama led late, but Michigan marched 75 yards to tie the score with 94 seconds left, highlighted by a fourth-down pass from J.J. McCarthy to Blake Corum. Michigan scored in two plays — both Corum runs — in its overtime possession. Alabama then overcame some snapping issues and advanced the ball to the 3-yard line on a Jalen Milroe to Jermaine Burton pass. But on fourth down, the Michigan defensive front stuffed Milroe to seal the win.
The first game ever on Big Ten Network provided one of the most memorable moments in college football history and a monumental FCS over FBS upset. The No. 5 Wolverines struggled with the nation's No. 1 FCS team and its spread offense, falling behind 28-14 in the first half. Michigan adjusted in the second half and led 32-31 with 4:36 to play after Mike Hart broke loose for a 54-yard score.
App State quarterback Armanti Edwards was picked off on the next play, but Michigan was unable to capitalize and had a 43-yard field goal blocked. App State then drove 69 yards and went ahead on a 24-yard kick with 26 seconds remaining. Michigan QB Chad Henne hit Mario Manningham for a 46-yard completion that set up a potential 37-yard game winner, but Corey Lynch blocked the kick to seal the win and historic upset.
College football, meet Jim Harbaugh.
Stanford's impossible upset as a 41-point underdog in a conference game was the beginning of the end of the Trojan empire, too. It's the biggest FBS vs. FBS upset in history. USC led 23-14 in the fourth quarter, but the Cardinal rallied and scored the game's final 10 points. On the go-ahead touchdown drive, quarterback Tavita Pritchard connected with Richard Sherman, who switched to cornerback later in his career, on fourth-and-20 from the USC 29-yard line.
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Undefeated West Virginia was a 28-point favorite at home and on the doorstep of playing for a national title in the wildest college football season perhaps ever. Instead, Pitt defensive coordinator Paul Rhoads and head coach Dave Wannstedt grounded a prolific offensive attack, keeping WVU scoreless in the second half, in part because of two missed Pat McAfee field goals.
Pitt took the lead in the third quarter and never gave it back. Panthers tailback LeSean McCoy ran for 148 yards on 38 carries, while WVU's Steve Slaton and Pat White managed just 52 yards on 23 carries, with White injuring his thumb late in the first half. He was barely able to play for most of the second half, and Pitt handed its hated rival one of the most damaging losses in college football history. West Virginia native Rich Rodriguez left for Michigan two weeks later, and WVU hasn't won 11 games in a season since.
This game served as the catalyst for college football to change its overtime rules to the widely reviled two-point conversion contest. The two teams were never separated by more than seven points in the second half, and the Aggies forced overtime when QB Kellen Mond found Quartney Davis for a contested, 19-yard score in the back of the end zone as time expired. Five of the seven overtimes featured touchdowns, but LSU quarterback Joe Burrow couldn't convert a two-point conversion in the seventh overtime. Mond did, finding Kendrick Rogers for the win.
USC led by two touchdowns on three separate occasions in the first half. Then Penn State surged in the third quarter, leading by two touchdowns twice, highlighted by a 79-yard touchdown run from Saquon Barkley and a 72-yard tipped catch touchdown by Chris Godwin. Sam Darnold, Juju Smith-Schuster and the Trojans rallied, outscoring Penn State 17-0 in the fourth quarter, mounting touchdown drives of 83 and 80 yards.
Leon McQuay III picked off Penn State QB Trace McSorley with 27 seconds left and returned it 32 yards to set up a game-winning 46-yard field goal from Matt Boermeester at the gun.
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The Greatest War on I-4 Ever Played kicked off with UCF's perfect season at stake. The Knights led 21-7, but USF quarterback Quinton Flowers and the Bulls answered with 27 of the game's next 34 points to take the lead. UCF reclaimed the lead midway through the fourth, but the two teams combined for three touchdowns in the game's final 2:30, highlighted by Mike Hughes taking a kick 95 yards to the house with 1:28 left to send UCF on its way to a 13-0 season and a claimed national title that is celebrated at The Bounce House.
The No. 1 vs. No. 2 Showdown is one of several games in the last 25 years that has been coined a Game of the Century. The matchup lived up to the hype. Michigan rallied from a double-digit deficit to trim the Ohio State lead to four early in the fourth quarter and then forced a turnover from Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Troy Smith on the next possession. The Wolverines went three-and-out and never got the ball with a chance to take the lead again. Michigan cut the lead to three with a late touchdown but failed to recover the onside kick.
Many people clamored for a BCS national title rematch, but instead the Buckeyes went on to lose to Florida.
The matchup between eventual Big 12 co-champions and co-College Football Playoff snubs was a classic in the moment, and it grew in significance as the season progressed. Marcus Mallet's pick six gave TCU a 58-37 lead with 11:38 to play in a Waco track meet. The Bears answered with three touchdowns, two on drives longer than 90 yards, to tie the game. The defense stiffened, forcing two punts and a turnover on downs to set up Chris Callahan's game-winning 28-yard kick.
Vince Young is best remembered for his heroics in the 2005 Rose Bowl, but people forget how special he was a year earlier in the same game. Young opened the second half with a 60-yard touchdown run, but Michigan scored the game's next 17 points to take a 31-21 lead. Young added two more touchdown runs in the fourth quarter and also set up Dusty Mangum's 37-yard, game-winning kick on the game's final play. Young finished with 180 yards passing and a touchdown and 192 rushing yards with four scores.
Boise State began the season ranked No. 3 and entered the rivalry with a 10-0 record and riding a 24-game winning streak. A BCS bowl game was a near-certainty and playing for a national title was a possibility. Instead, it was a nightmare trip to Reno in a showdown of top-20 teams led by two of the nation's top quarterbacks in Colin Kaepernick (Nevada) and Kellen Moore (Boise State).
Boise threatened to roll, jumping to a 24-7 halftime lead. Nevada rallied to tie the game twice, but Moore found Titus Young for a 53-yard completion to the Wolf Pack 9 with two seconds left. Kyle Brotzman pushed a 26-yard attempt from the middle of the hashes wide right. In overtime, Brotzman pulled a 29-yard kick left from the center of the field. Nevada's Anthony Martin hit a 33-yarder in the Wolf Pack's OT possession to crush Boise's dream season that eventually ended in the Las Vegas Bowl.
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Top-ranked Texas went to Lubbock to face Mike Leach's top-10 team that featured a pair of Heisman contenders in QB Graham Harrell and wide receiver Michael Crabtree. The Red Raiders scored the game's first 19 points and led 29-13 late in the third quarter after Colt McCoy threw a pick six. But McCoy hit Malcolm Williams for touchdown passes of 37 and 91 yards to help the Longhorns take a 33-32 lead with 1:29 left.
With eight seconds left, Horns safety Blake Gideon appeared to intercept a tipped pass in the red zone, but replay showed he dropped the easy pick. Harrell found Crabtree deep down the right sideline on the next play, but instead of going out of bounds, he wrestled out of Chykie Brown's grasp and scored to give Texas Tech one of its biggest wins in school history.
Heavily favored Texas led 17-3 at halftime and 24-8 midway through the fourth quarter. ASU's first trip into the end zone didn't come until running back Cam Skattebo launched a halfback pass downfield for a 42-yard score to Malik McClain. Ninety-one seconds later, ASU struck again, sparked by an interception and a 62-yard catch and run from Skattebo. The game went to overtime after some late controversy when Texas was not flagged for an apparent targeting penalty that would have extended an Arizona State possession. Another Skattebo score put ASU on the board in the first overtime.
Facing a fourth-and-13, Texas QB Quinn Ewers launched a 28-yard TD pass to Matthew Golden in the back of the end zone to keep Texas' season alive. The Horns scored in the second overtime, and Andrew Mukuba picked off Sam Leavitt to clinch the win for Texas.
Tennessee jumped to a 28-10 lead over the Crimson Tide in a top-10 showdown at Neyland Stadium. Alabama rallied to tie the game at 28 early in the third quarter. The teams traded scores and were tied at 42 when Alabama linebacker Dallas Turner scooped up a mishandled exchange and returned it 11 yards to put the Tide up seven midway through the fourth quarter. Tennessee answered with a 75-yard drive capped by Jalin Hyatt's fifth touchdown catch of the night.
Alabama reached Tennessee's 32 with 34 seconds left, but after three incomplete passes, Will Reichard missed a 50-yard field goal attempt. Tennessee didn't settle for overtime, and Hendon Hooker threw a pair of long completions to set up a tipped, wobbly, 40-yard game-winning kick from Chase McGrath to set off a party on Rocky Top celebrating the end of Alabama's 15-game winning streak in the series.
With Alabama trailing 13-0 at halftime, Nick Saban did the unthinkable: He benched starter and future Super Bowl champion Jalen Hurts for Tua Tagovailoa, a five-star freshman whose only experience was in garbage time. It worked. Tagovailoa ignited the offense for four scoring drives against Georgia's elite defense to force overtime. Rodrigo Blankenship drilled a 51-yard field goal to put Georgia on top, and then Tagovailoa took a horrific 16-yard sack on the first play of Alabama's OT possession. That set up one of the greatest moments in program history: a 41-yard rainbow toss on second-and-26 from Tagovailoa to future Heisman winner DeVonta Smith to win Saban's fifth national title at Alabama.
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Ohio State reached the College Football Playoff despite a rivalry loss to Michigan, and the Buckeyes — a touchdown underdog — led Georgia 21-7 early in the second quarter. The Bulldogs tied the game in less than five minutes and later added a field goal to grab the lead, but Ohio State surged ahead and led 38-24 entering the fourth quarter. Bulldogs quarterback Stetson Bennett hit Arian Smith for a 76-yard touchdown and found AD Mitchell for a 10-yard score to give the Bulldogs a 42-41 lead with 54 seconds to play. Justin Fields quickly got OSU to midfield, but the drive stalled at Georgia's 31, and Noah Ruggles' 50-yard attempt went wide left as the clock struck midnight.
Undefeated Auburn found itself trailing rival Alabama 24-0 in Tuscaloosa midway through the second quarter. Then, Cam Newton happened. Touchdown passes of 36 and 70 yards got the Tigers back in the game. Then scoring drives of 75 and 67 yards put the Tigers up for good in the fourth quarter, capped by a 7-yard pass to Philip Lutzenkirchen. The CamBack was the crown jewel of one of the greatest individual seasons in college football history. Newton won the Heisman Trophy and led his team to the SEC title and national championship.
First-year coach Gus Malzahn and his Tigers led quarterback Jameis Winston and undefeated FSU 21-3 midway through the second quarter of the final BCS game. FSU scored the next 17 points and took its first lead when Kermit Whitfield returned a kick 100 yards for a go-ahead score with 4:31 to play. Auburn's Tre Mason broke loose for a 37-yard score to wrestle the lead back with 1:19 left. Winston marched the Seminoles 80 yards in seven plays (highlighted by a 49-yard completion to Rashad Greene) and found Kelvin Benjamin in the back of the end zone for a 2-yard TD with 13 seconds left that gave Florida State its first national title since 1999.
Alabama, the defending national champion and a team that eventually had 19 of 22 starters drafted, led 24-14 entering the fourth quarter of a rematch of the previous year's title game. But Clemson rallied and an 88-yard drive that ended with a Wayne Gallman 1-yard run with 4:38 put the Tigers in front for the first time. Alabama answered, with Jalen Hurts skating through Clemson's elite defense for a 30-yard touchdown to recapture the lead with 2:07 to play. Deshaun Watson led Clemson back and found Hunter Renfrow on a goal-line rub route to win the program's first national title since 1981.
Miami entered the clash undefeated and riding a 34-game winning streak. Thirty-seven of the players who started the game became NFL Draft picks, including 18 first-rounders. Ohio State led 17-7 in the third quarter, but Miami rallied and forced overtime on a 40-yard field goal from Todd Sievers on the final play of regulation. Miami scored to open overtime, and then OSU quarterback Craig Krenzel converted a fourth-and-14 with a 17-yard pass to Malcolm Jenkins to keep the Buckeyes' OT drive alive.
A few plays later, OSU needed to convert a fourth-and-3 from the 5-yard line. Krenzel's pass bounced off Chris Gamble's hands, and Miami rushed the field to celebrate a national title. However, field judge Terry Porter threw a late, controversial pass interference flag on Miami's Glenn Sharpe. Ohio State capitalized and scored, and Maurice Clarett scored in double overtime to give the Buckeyes the lead. Miami, on its next possession, had a first-and-goal at the 2, but OSU repeatedly stuffed the Hurricanes at the goal line, and Ken Dorsey's pass on fourth down at the 1-yard line fell incomplete to give the Buckeyes the victory.
Georgia, the SEC champs, trailed Heisman winner Baker Mayfield and first-year coach Lincoln Riley 31-14 late in the second quarter. Georgia scored the game's next 24 points, but the Sooners rallied, tying the game at 38 and taking the lead on a 46-yard scoop and score off a Sony Michel fumble with 6:52 left. Bulldogs tailback Nick Chubb tied the game with 55 seconds remaining, and Riley controversially elected to settle for overtime. After the teams traded field goals in the first OT, Oklahoma's Austin Seibert missed a 27-yard attempt, and Michel sent Georgia to the title game with a 27-yard scamper on Georgia's second offensive snap of double overtime.
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Two-time national champions brought a 27-game winning streak to Notre Dame Stadium for a top-10 showdown that lived up to the hype. Notre Dame took a 31-28 lead on a Brady Quinn 5-yard run with 2:04 to play that capped an 87-yard drive. USC responded, and QB Matt Leinart floated a perfect ball over the top to single-covered Dwayne Jarrett for a 61-yard gain on fourth-and-9 to get the Trojans into the red zone.
USC had no timeouts, and on first-and-goal from the 3-yard line with eight seconds left, Leinart dived for the pylon, but a helmet on the ball forced it out of bounds at the 4. The clock ran out, and fans rushed the field to celebrate the win. But the officials huddled and correctly put seven seconds back on the clock, spotting the ball at the 1-yard line.
Leinart decided to sneak it, an attempt that was initially stoned before he spun to his left and Reggie Bush pushed him over the goal line. The play should have been illegal, but it gave the Trojans a massive rivalry win in a game that will forever be remembered by the Bush Push. More than 10 million people watched it, the largest audience for a regular-season game in almost a decade.
Two words define the most famous chapter of one of college football's most intense rivalries: Kick Six. Auburn rallied from a 21-7 deficit to tie the game, and then tied it again at 28 with 32 seconds left on a 39-yard touchdown pass from Nick Marshall to Sammie Coates. On the ensuing possession, Nick Saban turned to freshman Adam Griffith to attempt a 57-yard field goal.
The kick was well short, and Chris Davis caught it in the back of the end zone and returned it 109 yards mostly untouched. The play ended Alabama's campaign for a three-peat, put Auburn into the SEC title game and, after an Ohio State loss a week later, propelled the Tigers into the final BCS National Championship Game, where they lost to Florida State.
Adrian Peterson and the Sooners fell behind 14-0 and 28-10 but rallied and took a touchdown lead with a pick six with just over a minute left. Boise answered, converting a hook-and-ladder on fourth-and-18 for a game-tying, 50-yard score with seven seconds left. The Broncos used a halfback pass to score in overtime and provided a signature moment by converting a two-point conversion with a Statue of Liberty play to Ian Johnson for the win. Johnson capped his night by proposing to his girlfriend.
USC had two Heisman winners in its backfield and was riding a 34-game winning streak, eyeing a three-peat as a touchdown favorite. The back-and-forth battle ended with Vince Young skating inside the pylon on fourth-and-5 to put the Longhorns up with 19 seconds left. Young finished with 267 yards passing and 200 yards rushing and a trio of touchdowns.
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USC coach Pete Carroll called it the greatest individual performance he'd ever seen. It was also the highest-rated BCS game ever and was Keith Jackson's final game in the ABC booth. It is the standard by which all other games in this century are judged.
(Illustration: Dan Goldfarb / The Athletic; Sean M. Haffey, Robert Beck / Sports Illustrated, Kevin C. Cox, Steve Grayson / WireImage / Getty Images)