Memories of the Decade - College Football Edition

This decade started with Bobby Bowden coaching in his second of three straight appearances in the BCS National Championship Game and ended with Bowden spiking the Seminoles’ Spear into the turf at the Gator Bowl right before he coached the last game of his illustrious career. The past ten years have given us everything from old-fashioned (Ohio State old school football under Jim Tressel) to the new (spread offense under the direction of Urban Meyer). For the first time in BCS history, we saw a small school play in one of the biggest bowl games of the year and then later, we saw two of the four at-large choices come from the Mountain West and Western Athletic Conferences.

Reading through the series of articles on espn.com about the “everything” of the decade (player, coach program, game, etc.) I’ve decided to make a list of my favorite memories from the past ten years of college football to be followed by my memories of the decade from the National Football League and then Major League Baseball.

Before I begin, however, I must put forth a disclaimer. I was born and raised in northwestern Washington and my first memory of college football was watching the Huskies play in three straight Rose Bowls from 1991-1993 when I was just 6 years old. Ever since I have been a big fan of the Washington Huskies in specific and the Pac-10 in general.

Lastly, there isn’t really an order to these so try not to read too much into why one game was before another.

Now, on to the memories…

GAMES

September 19, 2009
Washington 16, #3 USC 13

The Huskies have a long and storied history which includes 656 wins, 15 conference titles, 20 consensus All-Americans, and 4 claimed national championships. They started the decade (more or less) with a 34-24 victory over Purdue in the Rose Bowl and that 2000-2001 season saw them finish 3rd in the polls. The program slowly slid downhill over the course of the decade, reaching rock bottom December 6th of 2008. They lost 48-7 to California to finish the season 0-12. In virtually every number, offensive, defensive, and special teams, they ranked lower than 100.

To open the 2009 season, they lost their fifteenth straight game to LSU 31-23 but they fought hard and it gave the team a lot of hope for the future of Huskies football. The next week, they broke the streak with a 42-23 win over Idaho and then they had a match-up with #3 USC in Seattle. For all of you Trojans fans out there, there are plenty of reasons why they were not as competitive in this game as they should have been. Their starting quarterback was out, several of their defensive backs were injured, and they were coming off of an emotional win over the Buckeyes in Columbus. Regardless of all of that, the Huskies got the ball back with 4:01 remaining in the game and Jake Locker took the Huskies 63 yards in 10 plays, culminating with Erik Folk kicking a 22 yard field goal with 3 seconds remaining. Huskies 16, Trojans 13.

Washington football is on its long way back.

January 5, 2005
#1 USC 55, #2 Oklahoma 19

In 2004 the Sooners were #2 from wire to wire and the Trojans were #1 from wire to wire and from the beginning of the season, they seemed destined to collide in Miami. Both teams had come close to a BCS championship the year before when USC had been left out by the BCS formula and Oklahoma had been shut down by Nick Saban’s defense in the title game. The game featured two former Heisman trophy winners (quarterbacks Jason White for OU and Matt Leinart for USC) and four of the five Heisman finalists (Leinart, White, OU running back Adrian Peterson, and USC running back Reggie Bush).

Everyone knew that it was going to be one of the all-time great games featuring some of the best players in the history of college football and two of the better teams in college football history. Instead, it was a complete and utter beat down. It was 38-10 at halftime and if it wasn’t for 9 late points by the Sooners in garbage time, the final score might have been 55-10. The reason that this game stuck out to me is because it was a very similar Oklahoma team to the year before and a very similar USC team to the year before when many thought the Trojans should have replaced the Sooners in the Sugar Bowl against LSU. It cemented USC’s place as one of the best teams of the decade, if not ever.

January 4, 2006
#2 Texas 41, #1 USC 38

Since the Associated Press started awarding a national championship in 1936, there have been ten instances where a team has won back-to-back national championships. They are:

Minnesota 1940-1941
Army 1944-1945
Notre Dame 1946-1947
Oklahoma 1955-1956
Alabama 1964-1965
Nebraska 1970-1971
Oklahoma 1974-1975
Alabama 1978-1979
Nebraska 1994-1995
USC 2003-2004

Not one time, however, not once, has a team won three straight AP National Championships. When USC played in the Rose Bowl against Texas, they had a chance to win their 35th straight game and their third straight AP National Title. The former is important because even with several players departing to the NFL after the season, it would have put them within range of Oklahoma’s record winning streak (47 games).

On the other side, the Longhorns came into the game having won 19 straight games, including a thrilling 38-37 win over Michigan in the Rose Bowl the year before. They were definitely the underdogs and one of the storylines was whether or not they would be able to get up to the level they needed to play at to beat USC after having won the Big 12 Championship, finally overcoming the stranglehold that Oklahoma had over the South Division in the first half of the decade.

The result was an instant classic that propelled Vince Young into the NFL on a video game type game (267 passing yards, 200 rushing yards) but I also remember this game for another reason. This game directly led to me despising (and no, I’m not understating that) the prevent defense. I don’t mean to undermine Young’s unbelievable comeback in this game but he could not have done it without the help of the USC defense. With the score 38-26 and 6:42 remaining in the game, it almost seemed as if the Trojans thought the game was over and they were already assured of their place in history. They dropped back into deep coverage and allowed the Longhorns to move down the field and score in just 2:39 to make the score 38-33. Then, after a failed 4th down conversion, the Longhorns again went on to a touchdown, taking just 1:50 to score the winning touchdown.

Countless times in college football and in the NFL, teams sit on a lead and drop players back in coverage, deathly afraid of giving up a big touchdown pass to allow the trailing team to get back in the game. The problem is that it allows the trailing team to put a drive together and get chunks of yards with relatively little time coming off the clock, allowing that team to get into a rhythm and become more efficient on offense. Then, when the leading team actually needs to come up and make a key stop, they can’t. Now, this doesn’t always work out that well but when the two teams are evenly matched, you absolutely cannot give the other team a chance to get some momentum together.

January 3, 2003
#2 Ohio State 31, #1 Miami 24 (2 O.T.)

Coming into the Fiesta Bowl, the Miami Hurricanes had won 34 consecutive games, including the previous year’s national championship. En route to the Fiesta Bowl, the Hurricanes played just two games that were decided by one possession (28-27 over #9 Florida State and 28-21 over Pittsburgh). On the other side, the Buckeyes won 6 of their 13 games by 7 or fewer points.

The game was what a championship game should be. It was close and hard fought and given the two teams, the defensive field-position style of play favored Ohio State.

The turning point of the game was early in the fourth quarter with the Buckeyes leading 17-14. Willis McGahee, who had run for 1,753 yards and 28 touchdowns, ran right and was taken down and out by Ohio State safety Will Allen. Even though the tackle was a clean play, Allen’s helmet hitting right on the side of McGahee’s knee tore three ligaments and changed the question about McGahee’s future from where will he be drafted in the top 10 to will he be drafted at all. Even though Ohio State was leading at the time, there was a big drop-off from McGahee to backup Jarrett Payton. It limited the effectiveness of the Miami offense and played into the hands of the outstanding Ohio State defense.

Still, the game went to overtime and in the second overtime, freshman Maurice Clarett (before he failed to get into the NFL and then was sent to prison for carrying an arsenal in the back of his vehicle) capped off a lackluster day with a 5 yard touchdown run to give the Buckeyes the lead 31-24. The Ohio State defense held and won the BCS National Championship.

First of all, this was a great game and a lot of fun to watch. Secondly, it showed that, at least in college, a good defense can beat any offense. Lastly, it signified the emphatic arrival of one of my favorite coaches in all of football, college or pro, Jim Tressel…

…and of course, his sweater vest.

January 1, 2007
#8 Boise State 43, #10 Oklahoma 42 (OT)

Following a 12-0 regular season for Boise State, they became just the second team not from the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Big East, SEC, or Pac-10 to play in a BCS Bowl (after Utah in the 2005 Fiesta Bowl). They were up against one of the so called “blue-bloods” of college football, the Oklahoma Sooners. First of all, a quick side note… This was not the Sooners juggernaut of 2003 or 2004 that played for the national title both years but it was still a 10-2 team that won the Big 12 and had Adrian Peterson back from his broken collarbone of earlier that year.

The big question was whether or not a team like Boise State could hang with a team like Oklahoma but the Broncos put that discussion to rest in the first half. Boise State quarterback Jared Zabransky threw touchdown passes of 49 and 32 yards and Ian Johnson ran for a 7 yard score to give the Broncos a 21-10 halftime lead. Midway through the third quarter Marty Tadman picked off a Paul Thompson pass and returned it 27 yards for another touchdown and a 28-10 Boise State lead.

One aspect of this game that many people overlook is the fact that after taking that 18 point lead, the Broncos got a little bigheaded and allowed the Sooners to get back into the game. Oklahoma slowly chipped away at the lead until they drew even with a 5 yard touchdown pass and then a two point conversion (after two penalties) to make the score 28-28 with 1:26 remaining. Completing the comeback was Marcus Walker who intercepted Zabransky on the first play after the touchdown by Boise state and took it 34 yards for a touchdown and a 35-28 lead.

That is where this game ceased to be just another game and entered its name into the discussion for the best games in college football history. After a pass completion, a sack, and then two incompletions, Boise State faced a 4th and 18 from midfield. Jared Zabransky, Drisan James, and Jerard Robb then executed the perfect hook and ladder play. James ran a hook route and caught the pass from Zabransky about 15 yards downfield. He then took a couple steps towards the middle of the field to draw the defense and then threw a lateral to Robb, who was coming across from the far side of the field. Robb outran the Oklahoma secondary for a touchdown that tied the game and sent it to overtime.

It became clear that Boise State’s time was running out on the first play of overtime when Adrian Peterson took the handoff and went 25 yards virtually untouched for a touchdown and a 42-35 lead. On the ensuing Boise State drive, they faced a 4th and 2 from the Oklahoma 5 yard line when Zabransky went in motion and the snap went to backup wide receiver Vinny Perretta. Instead of running behind the three receivers, he rolled right and threw a touchdown pass to draw them within 1 point, 42-41. Instead of having his tired defense faced the Sooners offense again; Chris Peterson decided to go for it. The result was a Statue of Liberty fake and handoff to Ian Johnson who went into the endzone untouched for a 43-42 victory.

Do I need to tell you why I still remember this game?

DYNASTIES

This decade was marked by one dynasty rolling into another which rolled into another. From 2000-2003, the Miami Hurricanes went 46-4, won all 4 Big East titles, won one national championship, and played for another and on top of that, they added a 34 game winning streak and a 39 game regular season winning streak. I don’t remember as much about this dynasty as the other two that will be mentioned later but if you want to know how good these teams were, just look at who went from one of those teams to the NFL. The other thing that made this team noteworthy in my mind is that they didn’t possess the brash cockiness that previous and subsequent Miami teams were known for. They were the best team in the country; they knew it, you knew it, and there was nothing you could do about it.

In the 10 years from 2000-2009, the Trojans of USC went 102-26 and if you take out their seasons in 2000 (5-7), 2001 (6-6), and 2009 (9-4), they went 82-9 over a 7 year stretch in which they won the Pac-10 title every year. However, for this discussion, we’ll focus on their run near the top of the college football landscape. From 2003-2005, they went 37-2, winning the AP national championship in 2003 and 2004 and then the BCS national championship in 2004. Finally, in 2005, they were 12-0 and were prevented from making even more history by Vince Young and Texas (see above). Still the 2004 team is widely considered to be one of the best single season teams of all time and their roster included 53 players that would go on to play in the NFL.

CONTROVERSIES

There have been many controversies over the brief 12 year history of the BCS but for the purposes of brevity (something I occasionally struggle with) I’m just going to highlight two of them.

In 2003, USC finished the season 11-1, LSU finished 11-1, and Oklahoma finished 12-0. While LSU defeated #5 Georgia 34-13 in the SEC Championship Game, Oklahoma forgot to show up for the Big 12 title game and got blown out by Kansas State 35-7. Despite being ranked #1 in both the Coach’s Poll and the AP Poll, USC was ranked #3 in the BCS and went to the Rose Bowl against Michigan.

USC defeated Michigan 28-14 in a game that wasn’t even as close as the score while LSU defeated Oklahoma 21-14 in a game where the Sooners didn’t appear to belong on the same field as the Tigers.

The other big controversy happened the next year when 5 teams finished the regular season undefeated (USC, Oklahoma, Auburn, Utah, and Boise State). While there wasn’t a ton of noise calling for Utah or Boise State to be in the National Championship Game, Auburn certainly felt they deserved to be there, having gone 12-0 in the SEC. While Auburn struggled to dispatch Virginia Tech in the Sugar Bowl, USC dominated Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl 55-19, which brought many questions as to whether or not the BCS had gotten it right.

My personal take is that the BCS wasn’t completely wrong either year. In 2003, given that LSU and USC did not play each other, it was perfect for them to share the national championship. The only way it could have been better is if they had played for the title. The following year, I’m not at all convinced that there was anyone who could have beaten USC in that game so it would have been for the honor of being in the national title game and the opportunity to get pasted by USC.

To sum up, it’s been a great decade in college football that has seen relative nobody’s on the national stage stand up and demand attention from the establishment. It has also seen traditional powers struggle at times proving that everybody must endure rebuilding years in a sport where athletes are staying at most 4 years, and more commonly 3 years. The BCS has had more than its share of detractors but it’s hard to say that it hasn’t created its share of thrilling games.

Until next September, we’ll have to dream about the decade that was and the decade that will be in college football.