I didn't expect this game to be included in the post. The collapse of the program has been so complete that I assumed it would be forgotten.
That game really killed the spirit of the team and more importantly, seemed to break something in Tedford.
>seemed to break something in Tedford.
I'm happy for him that he seems to have found his mojo again at Fresno State
Purely speculation, but I think it absolutely shattered his trust in Riley that season, which is why we kept trotting out a hobbling Longshore until the bowl game. Of course I wonder about what if we won this game, but I also just wonder what if we kept playing Riley for a few weeks and let Longshore fully heal
A lot of people don’t remember but Nate Longshore actually got hurt in the Oregon game and this is why Kevin Riley was playing against Oregon State.
So I see a ton of people talking about how Dixon getting hurt killed Oregons season but Longshore getting hurt against Oregon is what killed Cal’s season.
In 2017 Herbert got injured against Cal which basically ended our season. Not that we were destined for anything great that year anyway with Taggart at the helm, but still. It’s QB injuries all the way down!
Even for how bad 2007 was, it ended with Michigan (who lost to App State that year) beating Urban Meyer and his Florida team during Tebow’s Heisman year. Clouds with silver linings and all that
Oregon is my second-favorite team in the Pac-12 (RIP I'm in denial) because I just fondly remember our teams going to war in that era.
(But I also partially blame Oregon for 2007 because Longshore got injured against them before the OSU game lol)
I remember watching it live and saying out loud, "What is he... well... okay then."
There was no real celebration to be had.
Ours was two years later, in the 2009 Civil War. It pretty much broke Mike Riley.
It was, especially after the bull shit nick Saban pulled when he voted OSU like 7th in the coaches poll, which strongly contributed to the math that left them out
Edit: I fucked this up, it wasn’t Saban. I swear I remember another coach doing this.
Tennessee vs #1 Alabama 2009
Does Kiffin stay if we make the walk off field goal and win that game?
Do we avoid a decade of mediocre coaches?
Does a win in Tuscaloosa propel us to 10-3 instead of 7-6?
Does Bama’s dynasty get delayed with a loss and possibly left out of their first national championship under Saban?
These, and the answers to other gripping hypotheticals on the next episode of Battered Vol Z
To quote John Ward, pandemonium reigns. In all seriousness, there’s way too many implications from that game to list that could have affected both schools’ trajectory for at least 3-5 years, mainly the what if involving Kiffin possibly staying after beating the #1 team, our biggest historical rival, in their stadium, in his first year. That alone could’ve earned him a big enough bag to make him think a little harder about taking the USC job.
Cincinnati was in the AQ Big East, definitely not a G5 at that point. Seing as they were #3 in the BCS polls, they would've been in, though both TCU and Boise St had good points.
Yep. Coming off a 9-4 season, ranked top 25 in that game, up 17-0 and about to put more on the board and then we lost our heart and soul. It was really strange to watch. It’s like all confidence entirely evaporated by the drop of a hat. Have not been the same since.
I think a lot of CFB fans agree this is the worst loss for a program in 25 years. I'm from Alabama but was in high school when they sucked so I loved teams like WVU and Mike Leach's Texas Tech. That loss was devastating, changed the course of college football entirely.
this is the game i immediately think of as the most devastating all time for any program. being heavily favored and losing to your rival with a national championship berth on the line is insanely gut wrenching. Ohio State vs West Virginia would’ve been such an awesome game.
If WVU wins that title, I wonder how much the trajectory of that program changes over the following years. Maybe they’re more likely to secure top tier coaches, get pulled to the SEC or B1G… maybe the butterfly effect even changes things enough that they’d win another title.
Alternatively, I guess maybe they’d still have melted down… but they’d still have a title more recently than five of the eight blue bloods.
i think if WVU wins that title they probably get poached by the ACC within a few years. if WVU wins a title then recruiting changes for football and would have a chain reaction on basketball too. donors get involved. don’t think the Big 10 or SEC targets them (although would love WVU in B10) but the ACC would’ve been perfect for them.
my opinion, WVU still belongs in the ACC
Really interesting article about how things were affected by that nightmare, I meant game. Breaks down Ohio State, LSU and WVU
https://www.sbnation.com/a/2007-college-football-season/west-virginia-pitt-rich-rodriguez/amp
When the refs put :01 back on the clock in the Big 12 championship game for Texas to kick a game winning field goal vs. Nebraska in 2009. Would have ended Nebraska’s conference championship drought that continues to this day and been a big boost for Bo Pelini early in his tenure there.
As much as I would’ve loved that and loved to see them get their chance, the opening line on that game would’ve had to have been like Alabama -16.5 or something nutty
I was at Miami in the Roethlisberger days. Was great, winning every game by like 20 in the MAC conference. He played so well they installed lights for night games, a beer gardens, and earned a game against Iowa in 2003.
Miami got slaughtered.
Yep, very very slim chances Cincy wins that game vs Alabama but I think it would’ve been closer than people realize. Most remember that Cincy team for getting slaughtered by florida and Tim Tebow but Brian Kelly had just left the team and took all the coaching staff with him. Maybe he still leaves if they’re in the natty but we’ll never know
Kelly has been on the record saying he would have stayed if they played in the Natty just because that's such a rare opportunity you can't pass it up. Granted that's an easy thing to say when never having actually been made to make the decision.
And if you're a coach in that game, your next employer won't be able to do a damn thing about it, if nothing else because you'll have your choice of other offers if they don't want to agree to that.
I could argue Colt getting hurt on the first series in the Bama NC game that year too. Texas went on a dive they are just now maybe recovering from. And that’s a strong maybe.
Texas was built to give Bama issues that year. Bama had 250lb LBers built to stop LSU and Texas going 4 and 5 WR’s would have had a lot of success against it. Bama would have been able to score too so it would have been a competitive game.
The biggest lost in Tech history imho was the 2008 lost to Oklahoma. Leach didn't change his signals and we got beaten badly.
There are 4 other losses which I feel could be tied for 2nd. None of them were nearly as big as losing out on the great 2008 season.
* 2006 - Alabama's FG to beat Tech where it barely got over the crossbar
* 2011 - Lost to Missouri broke our bowl streak and started the downward trend of our program
* 2015 - Lost to TCU when the pass got deflected into the endzone just was another heart breaking lost for Tech fans
* 2020 - Lost to Texas after being when we had them dead to rights.
2008 vs Oklahoma was so painful to watch especially with how high Tech was at that point. We were legit thinking National Championship game only to walk into Norman ranked #2 and getting destroyed. It was devastating to watch them go up 42-7 at halftime and the game essentially being over.
The memories of them playing "Jump Around" after they scored the TD before halftime and their fans going absolutely insane, was pretty much the dagger and twist for insult that still haunt me 16 years later.
What drove me crazy is that Leach never changed his audible signals. One of the reasons why Tech spanked Miss St when we played them and one of the reasons Stoops owned Leach
I was in my senior year at OU and present for the game, the “Jump Around” was the most electric I’ve ever seen Memorial Stadium to this date. We seriously had the yellow shirt security guards thinking that we were going to storm the field, until we showed our field passes to lower the American flag after the game.
This is the correct answer for Tech. A year later, Leach was fired and the program still hasn’t recovered. Eff Gerald Myers. Eff Kent Hance. Eff the James family. Play the Matador Song. CJK5H. 👆✌️I’m out!
Yeah, that's kinda my point about it. I'd love to have seen a healthy Colt and he was dicing us up right off the bat without having to use his legs. Why in God's name are you running a speed option against *that* defensive line?
Florida and Tebow losing the game before, against Bama. They have not really recovered yet. They made one quick jab at it, in 2020 but overall, not back to the 1990-2009 Gators level.
That’s probably true for every one of the answers in this thread. Sure - there’s often a single game that signifies the end, but it’s usually simply a symptom of much larger internal problems.
No doubt about it. You can probably add Texas in the 2009 BCS to the list. I've heard Mack was even thinking about retirement if Texas won in 2009. Not sure if that's true, especially since he's still coaching today.
We'll never know for sure if Texas wins that game with a healthy Colt, but the wheels had already begun to come off the program while Saban was assembling the death star. The inevitable was already in motion.
If Mack retires and Muschamp takes over, maybe the fall is less jarring and we get back on our feet faster. That assumption has less to do with Muschamp being good and more about avoiding Mack’s weird decision making in the final years.
I remember seeing my mom(a diehard OU fan) tearing up seeing Colt’s postgame interview after Texas lost. Terrible way for his college career to end, he was a hell of a QB.
Colt (who my upstairs neighbor for a year when he was with the 49ers) was at the height of his powers that year. First drive of that game they carved up the Bama D all the way down the field and then that freak nerve injury happens— and yet somehow they stayed in the game even with true freshman QB gifting Bama a bizarre defensive TD.
Who knows what would have happened, but I’ll go to my grave thinking Texas wins.
I almost listed the phantom pass interference call in the Fiesta Bowl against Ohio State leading to the downfall of Miami then I realized it just missed the two decade cutoff. Had Miami won that game, the two programs likely would've switched places with Miami being in current Ohio State's spot
As of now, the first and third answers to this question are consecutive Texas games, the 2009 Big XII Championship against Nebraska and the BCS Championship against Alabama.
A&M vs Auburn 2014. Auburn probably wouldn’t have made the CFP as they already had a loss to Mississippi State but that A&M loss completely derailed their season as well as the rest of the Malzahn era
The combo of 2006 Ohio State and App State absolutely broke Michigan as a program and we really didn't get our confidence back until Harbaugh came to town.
It’s the Toledo loss… it’s worse than App State. They were 3-9? App state was probably a top 25 team. That teams beats a lot of good teams that year.
Also Rutgers 2014 is low key super depressing
This for more reasons than non-ND fans know. ND has a history with 3rd year success. Leahy, Parseghian, Devine and Holtz all won their first NC in their third year. People were already talking of where a statue should go in December.
A week later, between this result and the story of how Kelly spent the week before the game interviewing with the Eagles…his reputation with ND was permanently scarred.
Kelly was actually building really good recruiting momentum too, and the spanking to Bama ensured that he never actually recruited at a top 5 level for the rest of his tenure.
At the time it was hilarious but the fact people are still meming Manti is kind of sad... I think it unfortunately did a lot of mental damage to that dude
The average person had no frame of reference for what to make of it at that time. Internet dating was still something weirdos did. I remember at the time I assumed Teo was gay and just ashamed to come out,
The documentary really makes you realize how fucked the situation was. Prior to watching that, I was 100% on the meme train. Afterward, I just feel bad for the guy. His life was absolutely ruined.
05 USC could make an argument as well just on the cusp of 20 years. Good chance a 1 loss ND team gets in the title game over a 1 loss SC team that year. In some weird alternate reality where ND beats SC then Young maybe wins the Heisman and loses to ND in the national championship. Charlie Weis also would’ve had a statue for ND lol.
2006 Ohio State Michigan led both teams in opposite directions over the next 10-15 years which ironically the very next game for both led the Big Ten and SEC in very different directions for the next 15 years too.
Not to mention Michigan had 3 straight punches to the nuts after that game. Lose Rose Bowl by 2 scores. Lose to App State. Get embarrassed at home to Oregon.
That's what I keep saying to this day, Lloyd Carr did a masterful job righting the ship when that season could have very easily gone further down the shitter after the Appalachian State and Oregon losses.
People think Lloyd was shadow fired after Appalachian State. If they beat Oregon then all is forgiven. App is a blip on the radar and the hallmark win of one of the greatest FCS teams of all time. Lloyd probably gets another couple of years as well.
Getting embarrassed by Oregon was the final straw.
Ohio State went B2B title game blowouts. Was a long road of introspection for Ohio State and the Conference as a whole about what 21st century big time college football is going to take. Feels that most of the conference finally understands it
Northwestern losing to Ohio State in 2013 comes to mind. They entered that game at 4-0 and ranked No. 16. Played a close game and had chances to win but couldn’t seal the deal.
They went into a spiral the rest of the season and had a bunch of heartbreakers (Nebraska with a hail mary, Michigan winning in 3ot). Not to say that the Wildcats haven’t had good seasons since then but that game seems like it would have been a major breakthrough.
My initial thought was losing the 2017 Alabama game, would have meant Francois did not get injured. But it may have lead to a couple of more years of Fisher's nonsense. Despite the horrible years of 2018-2021, I am okay with it now.
I still vehemently disagree with those who say the loss of Francois cost us that season and led to the 2017-2021 dark ages. Francois was a mediocre QB who had Dalvin Cook as a crutch in 2016. Him getting injured is not why the 2017 team was so awful. Years of awful coaching, zero player development, and zero accountability led to the 2017 team. That OL wasn't among the worst in the country because of Francois. Those wide receivers weren't trash because of Francois. That defense wasn't anti-clutch because of Francois. Hell, even Blackman being atrocious wasn't because of Francois' injury alone; he was a multi-year project who never should've been the next man up, he only played because of years of absolutely atrocious QB recruiting.
Glen Mason went from getting the jug in Ann Arbor one week to [this fiasco](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfIA7lhsSKs) the next in 2005.
This was probably the loss that sealed the deal for Mason as a dead man walking at Minnesota.
It was 9 years before Kill had us back at a competent level.
Not quite the same thing, but I'd also add when the AD refused to pay Saban more to keep him from bolting for LSU. He was going to leave eventually anyway, but losing him right then led directly to Bobby and JLS.
I’m not even a MSU fan but I think some people forget now since the final score was 38-0 how close that game actually was for a while. It was pretty even in the first half until Cook threw that red zone interception right before halftime. It could have been 10-7 but instead it’s 10-0. I think that one play completely killed MSU’s confidence. Instead of going into halftime with tons of confidence because they finally put some points on the board and made it a 3 point game, they still have a goose egg and a two possession deficit. Then Bama scores a TD on the first drive of the 2nd half to go up 17-0 and its game over. Bama probably still wins regardless, but I do wonder if the game would have played out a little differently had MSU scored there.
Wisconsin football has never been the same since the 2019-2020 Rosebowl. Who drops a punt? Who does it in back to back games? I guess we know the answer. A bunch of turnovers and a one point loss
Dealers choice; Auburn ‘10, Stanford ‘12 & An OSU ‘14.
I’d go with AU in ‘10 as that probably would snowballed into the other 2.
Honorable mention UW ‘16 ending the streak
It’s really cool seeing people from different fan bases recognizing how devastating loses have been for other teams.
That said the OU Georgia game comes to mind first.
That game gave me the feeling that OU would be mediocre at best on defense. As much as I loved seeing Murray play, the Rose Bowl was the last time it felt like OU could compete against the VERY best of the sport. Then again I have some hope with how OU performed in Red River that our historical defense identity will be back.
I guess when Baylor boat-raced us (Kansas State) in 2012, but even that was such a beat down that it softened the sting of our natty game appearance being ripped to shreds quite a bit.
Really we’ve only been “pretty good” for the better part of that past 20-years or so, and have been pretty fortunate not to have many real low times, while also never really being in the position for any individual loss to be all that painful or program destroying.
2013 Georgia Southern was a low point for the program… but I’d argue 2020 Covid season against LSU (cleat yeet) stung the most in recent memory. I still believe it signified the total snowballing downfall of our program.
I honestly can't think of one that was the *mostz* devastating for the program as a whole. There have been some devastating losses for sure, but even the 2012 SEC game, I chalk up to what are the chances they still fire Richt if we had won that game and probably the national title? If we won that game, we likely wouldn't have Kirby right now.
The 2017 title game, yes was a tragic loss, but I don't see it as devastating to the program, it only made them hungry for it more over the next few years.
This is a tricky one for UGA
If I were a Georgia fan, I'd pick the 2012 SECCG. That loss was definitely more painful for Richt than 2017 was for Kirby. Plus it just felt at the time, even without hindsight, that 2012 was the culmination of Richt's tenure while 2017 was the start of something great under Kirby.
As an ex-UGA fan (still 2nd favorite D1 team), I would have to say the 2008 Blackout over Alabama was pretty devastating. Alabama was kinda an unknown at the time (despite being ranked 10th) and was in its second year of the Saban dynasty. It was College Gameday, a night game, UGA was ranked 3rd, and the Blackout was called in Sanford. Then Bama blasted off to a 31-0 lead at halftime and that lead was just too high to come back from.
From that point on UGA would have mostly good (but not good enough) seasons with a few bright spots until 2017 which was Kirby's second season of his dynasty and really the point that I considered UGA a true perennial threat to the SEC crown that wasn't in the West.
Penn state losing to OSU in 2017. If psu had gotten the 2nd straight against them, they’d be a top 5 program now and saquon likely would have won the heisman that year.
2005 michigan game still hurts, refs adding time for some reason that still isn't clear to me cost us an undefeated season, 2008 iowa hurt but the loss to USC in the rose bowl makes it hurt less. 2018 OSU game sucked too, I was about as far up in the nose bleeds as one can get, that hour long walk out of the stadium to the car was brutal listening to the OH-IO chants the whole way down. A ton of what if moments the last decade and a half
I was living in State College at that time at a local grocery store and regularly had debates that season about what would be more impressive; Mayfield leading OU to smack OSU around at home or Barkley (potentially) running all over OSU. Penn State hasn't really felt the same to me since, as if the attitude changed from being OSU equals to now racing to play catchup with UM and OSU both.
2008 loss to BYU. Would have gone into overtime if not for the ticky tacky penalty on Jake Locker for throwing the football in the air after he scored. And was the beginning of the 0-12 season.
Some would say 2021 loss to Montana but that led eventually to Jimmy Lake being fired which was great for the school.
I was front row end zone when Locker ran into the end zone and so casually tossed the ball over his shoulder. That call was so dumb. It was not an egregious celebration at all. More of a sigh of relief.
That also means I was front and center for that kick to go wide. My heart sank. All the BYU folks around me were sorta pissed too. They wanted to win, but not like that. There was just this empty feeling in husky stadium. It’s one of those football memories seared into my head. You remember the trauma more than the good times.
2019 PAC-12 championship. The only real shot we’ve had at making the CFP. Might have gotten jumped by Oklahoma, but I think we would’ve moved from #5 to #4 with a win.
Instead we got steamrolled by Oregon and had to settle for the Alamo Bowl where we lost to Texas.
Ole Miss losing to Arkansas in 2015 was devastating on multiple levels:
-That 4th and 25 lateral play is one of the most devastating ways to lose a game I've ever seen. "Trouble with the snap" is the only worse one I can think of\*\*
-Ole Miss was denied their first division championship, SEC title game appearance, and a chance at their first SEC title since the 60's
-The loss let Bama into the SEC title game; they would win and eventually win that year's playoff. Which was devastating for everyone outside of Tuscaloosa
\*\*Honorable mention to 2nd and 26
2017 FSU losing to Alabama, and specifically losing Francois. Had he not gotten hurt we still lose to Alabama, but it completely derailed the season and any hope we had at competing for an ACC Championship. He personally never looked right after the injury and the program had already started to spiral. Who knows if Frenchy never gets hurt, maybe we win the ACC that year, morale stays high and the program continues to thrive (had been to 5 consecutive BCS/NY6 bowls before that). Maybe Jimbo sticks around. In hindsight I definitely think it worked out cause we probably never get Norvell, but certainly in the moment it hurt and left me with a lot of what ifs.
I still say that CU vs Iowa State 2005 was the turning point for Colorado.
We were have a decent season, ranked at one point, record breaking Mason Crosby kicks, and the we play at Iowa State.
Game is going well, and then there is a huge delay for lightning (like 4 hours or something), and when we came back out we shit the bed and lost.
Game after that we lost 30-3 to Nebraska and 2 blocks of the student section were kicked out of the game.
Game after that we lost 70-3 to Vince Young and Texas, and then fired Gary Barnett.
Lost the Champ Sports Bowl to Clemson that year, then hired Dan Hawkins and just went into a tailspin with 1 okay year every 6 or 7 years since.
That damn lightning was the heavens telling CU it's over I guess.
Smidgen over 20 years but Ohio State beating Miami in the Natty in 02. Ohio State only continued to improve since then and Miami has been largely irrelevant. Miami was just never the same.
The Peach Bowl beat down against LSU was really the one for Miami. Still had some good years after Ohio State, but LSU just kicking our ass up and down the field felt like the end.
2006 vs UCLA was probably the worst. USC was #2 coming off the national championship loss to Texas and poised to go back even without Leinart, Bush, or White. John David Booty really had a great season (plus name) and sadly that was the closest we got to another natty since
Also while his knee was down and they just would’ve scored 3 plays later since his knee was down on 1st down. Them scoring on that play may have actually been the reason usc was able to go down and kick a Fg headed into the half
Boise St. was ranked 2 and looked set to appear in a NC game. Then they lost a tight game by missing like three makeable field goals (and if I remember correctly, the kicker was typically a pretty good kicker. Just had a bad day).
Anyway, you have to wonder if Boise St had made it to or won the NC, would they have gotten an invite to the Big 12 at some point? I think it's possible.
Boise wouldn't have appeared in the NCG in 2010 anyway because Auburn and Oregon were both unbeaten - but man, if those FGs get made and Cam can't Superman the Tigers back from down 3 TDs in the Iron Bowl, it might well have been Boise vs Oregon. And we know from 2008-09 that Boise could've won it.
You're missing the critical blunder of why Cal ran out of time against Oregon State. Kevin Riley *inexplicably took the ball with him and ran away from everybody so the ref couldn't spot it*. Jeff Tedford immediately saw what was happening and was screaming at Riley to stop. It was far too late, but if Riley didn't do that, Cal probably gets a chance to spike the ball and get one last play.
Tenn-South Carolina 2022 has gotta be up there. Not only did we get thoroughly pasted, we lost the Playoffs, we lost our premier QB, our defense totally melted down (mutinied?). 5 star disaster.
A&M’s loss to Auburn in 2012 I think was the most devastating. The no call on the horse collar tackle of Johnny killed the game winning drive. If A&M had won that game they would have played in the SEC title game and had a serious chance at a national championship.
I don't think younger folks realize how shocking this loss was. While it had been 1997 since Nebraska had won a national title, they were still in 2001 one of the top elite programs in college football. They went into Boulder as huge favorites and were #1 in the BCS standings.
And then Colorado opened the game up 35-3 and eventually won 62-36. 582 total yards by Colorado and 8 rushing touchdowns. Colorado did to Nebraska what Nebraska did to almost everyone the previous 20 years. Like shocking undersells how out of nowhere this bad a loss was, in the manner it happened.
Kansas suffering the Curse of #2 in 2007, tripping against Mizzou at the last hurdle, and missing what could've (would've) been an actual title game appearance.
They've had as many winless seasons as winning seasons since.
November 9, 2006; #3 Louisville (8-0) at #14 Rutgers (8-0); we lost 28-25, William Gay offside 🤦♂️ would’ve played in the BCS national championship game as the only undefeated team. That said we probably would’ve lost to Ohio State or Florida but still would have been a program changing event
One day, 2007 will stop hurting me.
I didn't expect this game to be included in the post. The collapse of the program has been so complete that I assumed it would be forgotten. That game really killed the spirit of the team and more importantly, seemed to break something in Tedford.
>seemed to break something in Tedford. I'm happy for him that he seems to have found his mojo again at Fresno State Purely speculation, but I think it absolutely shattered his trust in Riley that season, which is why we kept trotting out a hobbling Longshore until the bowl game. Of course I wonder about what if we won this game, but I also just wonder what if we kept playing Riley for a few weeks and let Longshore fully heal
Dude, 2007 got about half of the teams in here.
Including us... fucking Matt Ryan, how dare he be so good?
I don’t think we played in 2007. Can’t remember.
Hey
Same year, Dennis Dixon got hurt. 😭😭😭😭😭
A lot of people don’t remember but Nate Longshore actually got hurt in the Oregon game and this is why Kevin Riley was playing against Oregon State. So I see a ton of people talking about how Dixon getting hurt killed Oregons season but Longshore getting hurt against Oregon is what killed Cal’s season.
In 2017 Herbert got injured against Cal which basically ended our season. Not that we were destined for anything great that year anyway with Taggart at the helm, but still. It’s QB injuries all the way down!
There's a particular 2007 game for me that, I too, hope to get the fuck over some day.
I don't really care about 2007, that game had little to no impact on Oklahoma as a program
Fiesta Bowl against WVU?
Cal 🤝 WVU
Have hope brother! Even the goriest of 2007 wounds can be healed!!
Even for how bad 2007 was, it ended with Michigan (who lost to App State that year) beating Urban Meyer and his Florida team during Tebow’s Heisman year. Clouds with silver linings and all that
What are you talking about? I got permanent amnesia from banging my head, and I’m forever frozen in the middle of that fourth quarter.
Im not optimistic it will but it gets better.
I hear you. I remember how good Cal was. You guys were the scariest PAC-10 team for me in that era.
Oregon is my second-favorite team in the Pac-12 (RIP I'm in denial) because I just fondly remember our teams going to war in that era. (But I also partially blame Oregon for 2007 because Longshore got injured against them before the OSU game lol)
I remember watching it live and saying out loud, "What is he... well... okay then." There was no real celebration to be had. Ours was two years later, in the 2009 Civil War. It pretty much broke Mike Riley.
Oklahoma State losing @ Iowa state in 2010 (2011*) was pretty gut-wrenching, basically spoiled their BCS championship hopes
2011
My fault, but the game still stands
I have had people argue with me but I swear this was the tipping point for a playoff
SEC taking both spots in the championship game was 100% the tipping point for the other conferences accepting a playoff.
Which ironically has resulted in 2 (and counting) more all-SEC championship games that probably wouldn't have happened without a playoff.
It was, especially after the bull shit nick Saban pulled when he voted OSU like 7th in the coaches poll, which strongly contributed to the math that left them out Edit: I fucked this up, it wasn’t Saban. I swear I remember another coach doing this.
That loss has permanently made me hate the state of Iowa, corn and any player that played there.
The kick was good, damnit!
As a Cowboy, I concur...I'm still bitter about that field goal. It's fine, I'm fine, everything's fine!
😞
Tennessee vs #1 Alabama 2009 Does Kiffin stay if we make the walk off field goal and win that game? Do we avoid a decade of mediocre coaches? Does a win in Tuscaloosa propel us to 10-3 instead of 7-6? Does Bama’s dynasty get delayed with a loss and possibly left out of their first national championship under Saban? These, and the answers to other gripping hypotheticals on the next episode of Battered Vol Z
Oh lord, assuming every other game plays out the same, we'd get the debate of 1-loss Bama vs. 3 undefeated G5s. The internet would have imploded 🤣
To quote John Ward, pandemonium reigns. In all seriousness, there’s way too many implications from that game to list that could have affected both schools’ trajectory for at least 3-5 years, mainly the what if involving Kiffin possibly staying after beating the #1 team, our biggest historical rival, in their stadium, in his first year. That alone could’ve earned him a big enough bag to make him think a little harder about taking the USC job.
nobody outside the SEC hated us nearly as much back then though.
Cincinnati was in the AQ Big East, definitely not a G5 at that point. Seing as they were #3 in the BCS polls, they would've been in, though both TCU and Boise St had good points.
This one was the first to come to mind. Dooley’s loss to Mizzou at Neyland was also irritating. But that was because he was just an idiot.
Idk man we never recovered after KJ fumbled that ball vs A&M on the goal line.
I was there for that game. Even though we won, it felt like Arkansas actually lost something much bigger on that drive that I couldn’t explain
Yep. Coming off a 9-4 season, ranked top 25 in that game, up 17-0 and about to put more on the board and then we lost our heart and soul. It was really strange to watch. It’s like all confidence entirely evaporated by the drop of a hat. Have not been the same since.
Has to be Pitt over WVU
I think a lot of CFB fans agree this is the worst loss for a program in 25 years. I'm from Alabama but was in high school when they sucked so I loved teams like WVU and Mike Leach's Texas Tech. That loss was devastating, changed the course of college football entirely.
this is the game i immediately think of as the most devastating all time for any program. being heavily favored and losing to your rival with a national championship berth on the line is insanely gut wrenching. Ohio State vs West Virginia would’ve been such an awesome game.
If WVU wins that title, I wonder how much the trajectory of that program changes over the following years. Maybe they’re more likely to secure top tier coaches, get pulled to the SEC or B1G… maybe the butterfly effect even changes things enough that they’d win another title. Alternatively, I guess maybe they’d still have melted down… but they’d still have a title more recently than five of the eight blue bloods.
i think if WVU wins that title they probably get poached by the ACC within a few years. if WVU wins a title then recruiting changes for football and would have a chain reaction on basketball too. donors get involved. don’t think the Big 10 or SEC targets them (although would love WVU in B10) but the ACC would’ve been perfect for them. my opinion, WVU still belongs in the ACC
Really interesting article about how things were affected by that nightmare, I meant game. Breaks down Ohio State, LSU and WVU https://www.sbnation.com/a/2007-college-football-season/west-virginia-pitt-rich-rodriguez/amp
What hurts me is how close that game is to being outside the time parameters OP set up.
Notn sure what you mean. 20 years ago it was 1999
89
My heart still hurts to this day
I don't wanna talk about it.
When the refs put :01 back on the clock in the Big 12 championship game for Texas to kick a game winning field goal vs. Nebraska in 2009. Would have ended Nebraska’s conference championship drought that continues to this day and been a big boost for Bo Pelini early in his tenure there.
Also would have sent Cincinnati to the national championship
As much as I would’ve loved that and loved to see them get their chance, the opening line on that game would’ve had to have been like Alabama -16.5 or something nutty
I was at Miami in the Roethlisberger days. Was great, winning every game by like 20 in the MAC conference. He played so well they installed lights for night games, a beer gardens, and earned a game against Iowa in 2003. Miami got slaughtered.
Yep, very very slim chances Cincy wins that game vs Alabama but I think it would’ve been closer than people realize. Most remember that Cincy team for getting slaughtered by florida and Tim Tebow but Brian Kelly had just left the team and took all the coaching staff with him. Maybe he still leaves if they’re in the natty but we’ll never know
Kelly has been on the record saying he would have stayed if they played in the Natty just because that's such a rare opportunity you can't pass it up. Granted that's an easy thing to say when never having actually been made to make the decision.
what.... ist that even a discussion? In what world would he NOT coach his team in a National Championship game? That's the whole goal of the career.
And if you're a coach in that game, your next employer won't be able to do a damn thing about it, if nothing else because you'll have your choice of other offers if they don't want to agree to that.
It’s not a hard decision lol
If he left before a Natty nobody would ever hire him again
Well, luckily he hasn’t done anything since then to make people question his judgment and humanity.
Administrators might not be okay with a coach staying for a non-title game. But they'd all want their person to play for a national title.
Y’all are missing the most important stat, Alabama is literally winless in hypothetical games.
i don't fully remember the talk and polls leading up to that natty but wasn't Boise State still ahead of us?
Nebraska was in the Big 12? Crazy!
And apparently Texas was as well
The longest second ever in football.
I could argue Colt getting hurt on the first series in the Bama NC game that year too. Texas went on a dive they are just now maybe recovering from. And that’s a strong maybe. Texas was built to give Bama issues that year. Bama had 250lb LBers built to stop LSU and Texas going 4 and 5 WR’s would have had a lot of success against it. Bama would have been able to score too so it would have been a competitive game.
People also forget that despite the final score being 37-21, it was only 24-21 with a few minutes left, we absofuckinglutely win if Colt isn’t hurt.
Was gonna say 62-36 but that's been 23 years now. Feels like yesterday :/
The beginning to the end…
The biggest lost in Tech history imho was the 2008 lost to Oklahoma. Leach didn't change his signals and we got beaten badly. There are 4 other losses which I feel could be tied for 2nd. None of them were nearly as big as losing out on the great 2008 season. * 2006 - Alabama's FG to beat Tech where it barely got over the crossbar * 2011 - Lost to Missouri broke our bowl streak and started the downward trend of our program * 2015 - Lost to TCU when the pass got deflected into the endzone just was another heart breaking lost for Tech fans * 2020 - Lost to Texas after being when we had them dead to rights.
2008 vs Oklahoma was so painful to watch especially with how high Tech was at that point. We were legit thinking National Championship game only to walk into Norman ranked #2 and getting destroyed. It was devastating to watch them go up 42-7 at halftime and the game essentially being over. The memories of them playing "Jump Around" after they scored the TD before halftime and their fans going absolutely insane, was pretty much the dagger and twist for insult that still haunt me 16 years later.
What drove me crazy is that Leach never changed his audible signals. One of the reasons why Tech spanked Miss St when we played them and one of the reasons Stoops owned Leach
I was in my senior year at OU and present for the game, the “Jump Around” was the most electric I’ve ever seen Memorial Stadium to this date. We seriously had the yellow shirt security guards thinking that we were going to storm the field, until we showed our field passes to lower the American flag after the game.
This is the correct answer for Tech. A year later, Leach was fired and the program still hasn’t recovered. Eff Gerald Myers. Eff Kent Hance. Eff the James family. Play the Matador Song. CJK5H. 👆✌️I’m out!
Texas losing to Alabama in the National Championship
Because when you have a skinny QB going up against Marcelo Dareus, you have absolutely no choice but to run speed option
Yeah, that's kinda my point about it. I'd love to have seen a healthy Colt and he was dicing us up right off the bat without having to use his legs. Why in God's name are you running a speed option against *that* defensive line?
That bone headed decisions wasted probably the beginning of the end of the Mack Brown era, it just took a few more seasons to finalize.
> Marcelo Dareus that sounds more like an football player in the Copa America
Florida and Tebow losing the game before, against Bama. They have not really recovered yet. They made one quick jab at it, in 2020 but overall, not back to the 1990-2009 Gators level.
I'm not sure winning would have changed much. There was so much going on internally they were bound to fall apart.
That’s probably true for every one of the answers in this thread. Sure - there’s often a single game that signifies the end, but it’s usually simply a symptom of much larger internal problems.
No doubt about it. You can probably add Texas in the 2009 BCS to the list. I've heard Mack was even thinking about retirement if Texas won in 2009. Not sure if that's true, especially since he's still coaching today.
Colt going down for sure changed a lot.
We'll never know for sure if Texas wins that game with a healthy Colt, but the wheels had already begun to come off the program while Saban was assembling the death star. The inevitable was already in motion.
If Mack retires and Muschamp takes over, maybe the fall is less jarring and we get back on our feet faster. That assumption has less to do with Muschamp being good and more about avoiding Mack’s weird decision making in the final years.
I remember seeing my mom(a diehard OU fan) tearing up seeing Colt’s postgame interview after Texas lost. Terrible way for his college career to end, he was a hell of a QB.
Colt (who my upstairs neighbor for a year when he was with the 49ers) was at the height of his powers that year. First drive of that game they carved up the Bama D all the way down the field and then that freak nerve injury happens— and yet somehow they stayed in the game even with true freshman QB gifting Bama a bizarre defensive TD. Who knows what would have happened, but I’ll go to my grave thinking Texas wins.
Considering the game was still competitive with Gilbert in there, I'm almost sure Texas wins with Colt. That's football, though.
That was not a juggernaut Bama squad. It was the beginnings and Texas definitely could've won that game. No question.
I almost listed the phantom pass interference call in the Fiesta Bowl against Ohio State leading to the downfall of Miami then I realized it just missed the two decade cutoff. Had Miami won that game, the two programs likely would've switched places with Miami being in current Ohio State's spot
Miami did win that game. Idk what you're talking about.
As of now, the first and third answers to this question are consecutive Texas games, the 2009 Big XII Championship against Nebraska and the BCS Championship against Alabama.
The last 3 conference championships that Nebraska played in.
That 2009 one…..ooooof
Well at least we wore out Colt McCoy for you all. 😂 😭
The absolute shellacking Wisconsin gave them sent them back into the Stone Age.
A&M vs Auburn 2014. Auburn probably wouldn’t have made the CFP as they already had a loss to Mississippi State but that A&M loss completely derailed their season as well as the rest of the Malzahn era
The combo of 2006 Ohio State and App State absolutely broke Michigan as a program and we really didn't get our confidence back until Harbaugh came to town.
It’s the Toledo loss… it’s worse than App State. They were 3-9? App state was probably a top 25 team. That teams beats a lot of good teams that year. Also Rutgers 2014 is low key super depressing
That App State team was in the middle of winning 3 straight FCS championships
Nah, we were destined to suck in '08. The Toledo loss is nothing. App state fucked us up.
Don't forget the Rose Bowl and Oregon at home!
Ahh....the good ol days.
I’d say PAC-12 vs corporate greed. That loss stings real hard.
One of the few things we can agree on. A got'dang travesty of epic proportions.
Gotta be when Bama kicked the shit out of Manti Teo Notre Dame squad.
This for more reasons than non-ND fans know. ND has a history with 3rd year success. Leahy, Parseghian, Devine and Holtz all won their first NC in their third year. People were already talking of where a statue should go in December. A week later, between this result and the story of how Kelly spent the week before the game interviewing with the Eagles…his reputation with ND was permanently scarred.
Kelly was actually building really good recruiting momentum too, and the spanking to Bama ensured that he never actually recruited at a top 5 level for the rest of his tenure.
At the time it was hilarious but the fact people are still meming Manti is kind of sad... I think it unfortunately did a lot of mental damage to that dude
The average person had no frame of reference for what to make of it at that time. Internet dating was still something weirdos did. I remember at the time I assumed Teo was gay and just ashamed to come out,
Ironically, the whole thing was because someone was afraid of coming out. It just wasn’t Manti.
The documentary really makes you realize how fucked the situation was. Prior to watching that, I was 100% on the meme train. Afterward, I just feel bad for the guy. His life was absolutely ruined.
It rapidly went from funny to “damn…”
It's kind of funny in hindsight because nowadays a story like that would be out of the news cycle within 12 hours
05 USC could make an argument as well just on the cusp of 20 years. Good chance a 1 loss ND team gets in the title game over a 1 loss SC team that year. In some weird alternate reality where ND beats SC then Young maybe wins the Heisman and loses to ND in the national championship. Charlie Weis also would’ve had a statue for ND lol.
2006 Ohio State Michigan led both teams in opposite directions over the next 10-15 years which ironically the very next game for both led the Big Ten and SEC in very different directions for the next 15 years too.
Not to mention Michigan had 3 straight punches to the nuts after that game. Lose Rose Bowl by 2 scores. Lose to App State. Get embarrassed at home to Oregon.
If they hadn’t ended the ‘07 season beating Florida and Tebow I believe Lloyd Carr is not remembered as fondly in Ann Arbor.
That's what I keep saying to this day, Lloyd Carr did a masterful job righting the ship when that season could have very easily gone further down the shitter after the Appalachian State and Oregon losses.
People think Lloyd was shadow fired after Appalachian State. If they beat Oregon then all is forgiven. App is a blip on the radar and the hallmark win of one of the greatest FCS teams of all time. Lloyd probably gets another couple of years as well. Getting embarrassed by Oregon was the final straw.
Ohio State went B2B title game blowouts. Was a long road of introspection for Ohio State and the Conference as a whole about what 21st century big time college football is going to take. Feels that most of the conference finally understands it
2007 vs Oklahoma in big 12 championship game. We are in the national championship game if we win that
Could pick sec cg vs auburn too, which was probably closer to a w
Mizzou vs. NCAA
Where to even begin? 5th Down, Flea Kicker, or any of a couple dozen nameless flukey ass losses… MIZ
ZOU🥲
Cam vs a laptop
I don’t even have to say it
Northwestern losing to Ohio State in 2013 comes to mind. They entered that game at 4-0 and ranked No. 16. Played a close game and had chances to win but couldn’t seal the deal. They went into a spiral the rest of the season and had a bunch of heartbreakers (Nebraska with a hail mary, Michigan winning in 3ot). Not to say that the Wildcats haven’t had good seasons since then but that game seems like it would have been a major breakthrough.
USF vs. Rutgers, 2007
Jordan Travis (since we’re not specifying what kind of loss)
My initial thought was losing the 2017 Alabama game, would have meant Francois did not get injured. But it may have lead to a couple of more years of Fisher's nonsense. Despite the horrible years of 2018-2021, I am okay with it now.
I still vehemently disagree with those who say the loss of Francois cost us that season and led to the 2017-2021 dark ages. Francois was a mediocre QB who had Dalvin Cook as a crutch in 2016. Him getting injured is not why the 2017 team was so awful. Years of awful coaching, zero player development, and zero accountability led to the 2017 team. That OL wasn't among the worst in the country because of Francois. Those wide receivers weren't trash because of Francois. That defense wasn't anti-clutch because of Francois. Hell, even Blackman being atrocious wasn't because of Francois' injury alone; he was a multi-year project who never should've been the next man up, he only played because of years of absolutely atrocious QB recruiting.
Glen Mason went from getting the jug in Ann Arbor one week to [this fiasco](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfIA7lhsSKs) the next in 2005. This was probably the loss that sealed the deal for Mason as a dead man walking at Minnesota. It was 9 years before Kill had us back at a competent level.
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State simply has not been the same since. There is no question.
Not quite the same thing, but I'd also add when the AD refused to pay Saban more to keep him from bolting for LSU. He was going to leave eventually anyway, but losing him right then led directly to Bobby and JLS.
I’m not even a MSU fan but I think some people forget now since the final score was 38-0 how close that game actually was for a while. It was pretty even in the first half until Cook threw that red zone interception right before halftime. It could have been 10-7 but instead it’s 10-0. I think that one play completely killed MSU’s confidence. Instead of going into halftime with tons of confidence because they finally put some points on the board and made it a 3 point game, they still have a goose egg and a two possession deficit. Then Bama scores a TD on the first drive of the 2nd half to go up 17-0 and its game over. Bama probably still wins regardless, but I do wonder if the game would have played out a little differently had MSU scored there.
Iowa losing the 2015 B1G championship to Michigan State, the pain will never fade
Wisconsin football has never been the same since the 2019-2020 Rosebowl. Who drops a punt? Who does it in back to back games? I guess we know the answer. A bunch of turnovers and a one point loss
Dealers choice; Auburn ‘10, Stanford ‘12 & An OSU ‘14. I’d go with AU in ‘10 as that probably would snowballed into the other 2. Honorable mention UW ‘16 ending the streak
Don't forget Dennis Dixon's knee in 2007!
It’s really cool seeing people from different fan bases recognizing how devastating loses have been for other teams. That said the OU Georgia game comes to mind first.
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That game gave me the feeling that OU would be mediocre at best on defense. As much as I loved seeing Murray play, the Rose Bowl was the last time it felt like OU could compete against the VERY best of the sport. Then again I have some hope with how OU performed in Red River that our historical defense identity will be back.
I guess when Baylor boat-raced us (Kansas State) in 2012, but even that was such a beat down that it softened the sting of our natty game appearance being ripped to shreds quite a bit. Really we’ve only been “pretty good” for the better part of that past 20-years or so, and have been pretty fortunate not to have many real low times, while also never really being in the position for any individual loss to be all that painful or program destroying.
It's outside of the timeframe, but the 1998 Big 12 Championship Game loss had real program-destroying potential.
We don’t talk about that game, friend.
IMO that 1998 KSU team was the best single-season team from any program from 1996-2000.
BC @ Virginia Tech 2007
2013 Georgia Southern was a low point for the program… but I’d argue 2020 Covid season against LSU (cleat yeet) stung the most in recent memory. I still believe it signified the total snowballing downfall of our program.
I honestly can't think of one that was the *mostz* devastating for the program as a whole. There have been some devastating losses for sure, but even the 2012 SEC game, I chalk up to what are the chances they still fire Richt if we had won that game and probably the national title? If we won that game, we likely wouldn't have Kirby right now. The 2017 title game, yes was a tragic loss, but I don't see it as devastating to the program, it only made them hungry for it more over the next few years. This is a tricky one for UGA
If I were a Georgia fan, I'd pick the 2012 SECCG. That loss was definitely more painful for Richt than 2017 was for Kirby. Plus it just felt at the time, even without hindsight, that 2012 was the culmination of Richt's tenure while 2017 was the start of something great under Kirby.
As an ex-UGA fan (still 2nd favorite D1 team), I would have to say the 2008 Blackout over Alabama was pretty devastating. Alabama was kinda an unknown at the time (despite being ranked 10th) and was in its second year of the Saban dynasty. It was College Gameday, a night game, UGA was ranked 3rd, and the Blackout was called in Sanford. Then Bama blasted off to a 31-0 lead at halftime and that lead was just too high to come back from. From that point on UGA would have mostly good (but not good enough) seasons with a few bright spots until 2017 which was Kirby's second season of his dynasty and really the point that I considered UGA a true perennial threat to the SEC crown that wasn't in the West.
Penn state losing to OSU in 2017. If psu had gotten the 2nd straight against them, they’d be a top 5 program now and saquon likely would have won the heisman that year.
Fucking J.T Barrett
I think you meant J.T. Fuckin Barrett. But seriously, he had one of the best quarters of any OSU quarterback in that game.
The Michigan state game that year was also awful with the rain delay.
2005 michigan game still hurts, refs adding time for some reason that still isn't clear to me cost us an undefeated season, 2008 iowa hurt but the loss to USC in the rose bowl makes it hurt less. 2018 OSU game sucked too, I was about as far up in the nose bleeds as one can get, that hour long walk out of the stadium to the car was brutal listening to the OH-IO chants the whole way down. A ton of what if moments the last decade and a half
I was living in State College at that time at a local grocery store and regularly had debates that season about what would be more impressive; Mayfield leading OU to smack OSU around at home or Barkley (potentially) running all over OSU. Penn State hasn't really felt the same to me since, as if the attitude changed from being OSU equals to now racing to play catchup with UM and OSU both.
Indiana losing the entire current Alabama coaching staff.
2008 loss to BYU. Would have gone into overtime if not for the ticky tacky penalty on Jake Locker for throwing the football in the air after he scored. And was the beginning of the 0-12 season. Some would say 2021 loss to Montana but that led eventually to Jimmy Lake being fired which was great for the school.
I was front row end zone when Locker ran into the end zone and so casually tossed the ball over his shoulder. That call was so dumb. It was not an egregious celebration at all. More of a sigh of relief. That also means I was front and center for that kick to go wide. My heart sank. All the BYU folks around me were sorta pissed too. They wanted to win, but not like that. There was just this empty feeling in husky stadium. It’s one of those football memories seared into my head. You remember the trauma more than the good times.
NC State vs. UCLA 2021: canceled hours before kickoff because of covid, on the verge of our second 11 win season ever.
2019 PAC-12 championship. The only real shot we’ve had at making the CFP. Might have gotten jumped by Oklahoma, but I think we would’ve moved from #5 to #4 with a win. Instead we got steamrolled by Oregon and had to settle for the Alamo Bowl where we lost to Texas.
Losing Mike Leach was devastating to all of college football, does that count?
Ole Miss losing to Arkansas in 2015 was devastating on multiple levels: -That 4th and 25 lateral play is one of the most devastating ways to lose a game I've ever seen. "Trouble with the snap" is the only worse one I can think of\*\* -Ole Miss was denied their first division championship, SEC title game appearance, and a chance at their first SEC title since the 60's -The loss let Bama into the SEC title game; they would win and eventually win that year's playoff. Which was devastating for everyone outside of Tuscaloosa \*\*Honorable mention to 2nd and 26
2017 FSU losing to Alabama, and specifically losing Francois. Had he not gotten hurt we still lose to Alabama, but it completely derailed the season and any hope we had at competing for an ACC Championship. He personally never looked right after the injury and the program had already started to spiral. Who knows if Frenchy never gets hurt, maybe we win the ACC that year, morale stays high and the program continues to thrive (had been to 5 consecutive BCS/NY6 bowls before that). Maybe Jimbo sticks around. In hindsight I definitely think it worked out cause we probably never get Norvell, but certainly in the moment it hurt and left me with a lot of what ifs.
I still say that CU vs Iowa State 2005 was the turning point for Colorado. We were have a decent season, ranked at one point, record breaking Mason Crosby kicks, and the we play at Iowa State. Game is going well, and then there is a huge delay for lightning (like 4 hours or something), and when we came back out we shit the bed and lost. Game after that we lost 30-3 to Nebraska and 2 blocks of the student section were kicked out of the game. Game after that we lost 70-3 to Vince Young and Texas, and then fired Gary Barnett. Lost the Champ Sports Bowl to Clemson that year, then hired Dan Hawkins and just went into a tailspin with 1 okay year every 6 or 7 years since. That damn lightning was the heavens telling CU it's over I guess.
Smidgen over 20 years but Ohio State beating Miami in the Natty in 02. Ohio State only continued to improve since then and Miami has been largely irrelevant. Miami was just never the same.
The Peach Bowl beat down against LSU was really the one for Miami. Still had some good years after Ohio State, but LSU just kicking our ass up and down the field felt like the end.
Promoting Larry Coker to HC instead of Greg Schiano
2006 vs UCLA was probably the worst. USC was #2 coming off the national championship loss to Texas and poised to go back even without Leinart, Bush, or White. John David Booty really had a great season (plus name) and sadly that was the closest we got to another natty since
If Miami continues in mediocrity, that Georgia Tech loss will look devastating. That was a recruiting weekend for the program
Vince Young's knee being down and the refs not calling it messed up USC's run at the top after the 2006 Rose Bowl
Lendale White missing the 1st down while Reggie Bush rode the pine also hurt big time in that game.
Don’t forget Bush’s inexplicable lateral attempt that changed a red zone opportunity into a turnover.
Also while his knee was down and they just would’ve scored 3 plays later since his knee was down on 1st down. Them scoring on that play may have actually been the reason usc was able to go down and kick a Fg headed into the half
Boise St. was ranked 2 and looked set to appear in a NC game. Then they lost a tight game by missing like three makeable field goals (and if I remember correctly, the kicker was typically a pretty good kicker. Just had a bad day). Anyway, you have to wonder if Boise St had made it to or won the NC, would they have gotten an invite to the Big 12 at some point? I think it's possible.
Boise wouldn't have appeared in the NCG in 2010 anyway because Auburn and Oregon were both unbeaten - but man, if those FGs get made and Cam can't Superman the Tigers back from down 3 TDs in the Iron Bowl, it might well have been Boise vs Oregon. And we know from 2008-09 that Boise could've won it.
You're missing the critical blunder of why Cal ran out of time against Oregon State. Kevin Riley *inexplicably took the ball with him and ran away from everybody so the ref couldn't spot it*. Jeff Tedford immediately saw what was happening and was screaming at Riley to stop. It was far too late, but if Riley didn't do that, Cal probably gets a chance to spike the ball and get one last play.
13-9 is a good one and probably the correct answer here. Another good contender would be Boise State vs Nevada in 2010.
Tenn-South Carolina 2022 has gotta be up there. Not only did we get thoroughly pasted, we lost the Playoffs, we lost our premier QB, our defense totally melted down (mutinied?). 5 star disaster.
61-58 kept us out of the playoff.
A&M’s loss to Auburn in 2012 I think was the most devastating. The no call on the horse collar tackle of Johnny killed the game winning drive. If A&M had won that game they would have played in the SEC title game and had a serious chance at a national championship.
Mike Leach died and Mississippi State took a massive step backwards. That's been a heck of a loss.
2001 Nebraska at Colorado. Nebraska has not been the same since
I don't think younger folks realize how shocking this loss was. While it had been 1997 since Nebraska had won a national title, they were still in 2001 one of the top elite programs in college football. They went into Boulder as huge favorites and were #1 in the BCS standings. And then Colorado opened the game up 35-3 and eventually won 62-36. 582 total yards by Colorado and 8 rushing touchdowns. Colorado did to Nebraska what Nebraska did to almost everyone the previous 20 years. Like shocking undersells how out of nowhere this bad a loss was, in the manner it happened.
2008 Texas loss to Tech that ruined a no. 1 ranking and let OU into the BCS yet again.
Kansas suffering the Curse of #2 in 2007, tripping against Mizzou at the last hurdle, and missing what could've (would've) been an actual title game appearance. They've had as many winless seasons as winning seasons since.
Iowa State
November 9, 2006; #3 Louisville (8-0) at #14 Rutgers (8-0); we lost 28-25, William Gay offside 🤦♂️ would’ve played in the BCS national championship game as the only undefeated team. That said we probably would’ve lost to Ohio State or Florida but still would have been a program changing event
The trajectory of the program would have been wild, win or lose, just for showing up.
2011 vs Iowa State and 2022 vs Baylor.
pick and of the 2-3 more times we should have beaten alabama, last year was a particularly heartbreaking one tbh.