The 2020-21 college football season was arduous and frustrating for any number of reasons. But it still produced its share of incredible games and truly college football moments. Let's relive them by taking a look at the rest of the top 50 games of this strange season. (Here's Nos. 50-26.)
25. USC 34, Arizona 30 (Nov. 14)
24. USC 28, Arizona State 27 (Nov. 7)
23. USC 43, UCLA 38 (Dec. 12)
USC milked the most possible drama out of a short season, saving its backside with late scores in each of its first two games, then its main rivalry game to boot.
In the Pac-12's first 9 a.m. kickoff, the Trojans found themselves trailing Arizona State late, 27-14. But Bru McCoy caught a deflected 26-yard score on fourth-and-13 with 2:52 left, then recovered the ensuing onside kick. Quickly facing another fourth down, Kedon Slovis turned to the monstrous Drake London, who capped a 125-yard day with the go-ahead score.
Say hello to the lead!
— USC Football (@USC_FB) November 7, 2020
USC 28 | ASU 27
📺@CFBONFOX#FightOn✌️ pic.twitter.com/SwJWPTNJI4
A week later, the Trojans took a 27-23 lead on a 6-yard Slovis-to-Erik Krommenhoek pass, but a spirited Arizona responded with a 6-yarder from Grant Gunnell to Stanley Berryhill III with 1:35 left. However, four passes to Amon-Ra St. Brown set up the Trojans at the Arizona 8, and Vavae Malepeai scored the game winner with 25 seconds left.
How do you one-up that? By beating your crosstown rival with 16 seconds left. USC trailed UCLA 14-0 in the second quarter, 28-10 in the third and 35-23 in the fourth before touchdowns by Malepeai and London gave the Trojans their first lead. The reeling Bruins took the lead back with Nicholas Barr-Mira's 43-yard field goal with 52 seconds left -- evidently that was too much time.
Gary Bryant returned the ensuing kickoff into UCLA territory, and Slovis found Tyler Vaughns for an immediate 35-yard gain. On the next play, it was St. Brown's time to play hero, scoring on an 8-yarder to move USC to an unlikely 5-0.
22. Stanford 48, UCLA 47 (Dec. 19)
A week after the USC loss, the Bruins got even more creative, erasing a 20-3 deficit with a 31-0 charge to lead by 14 with three minutes left. A Simi Fehoko touchdown brought Stanford to within seven, but UCLA recovered the ensuing onside kick. Game over? Nope. Chase Griffin fumbled with 1:38 left, and Fehoko scored again with 18 seconds left to force overtime.
In the second OT possession, UCLA pulled off a miracle -- Griffin to Kyle Philips for a touchdown on fourth-and-18 -- and decided to go for two points and the win. Brittain Brown was stuffed short of the end zone.
21. Texas 63, Texas Tech 56 (Sept. 26)
An old-school Lubbock track meet. Texas held a 31-21 advantage at halftime, but a 28-3 run, capped by a 75-yard SaRodorick Thompson touchdown, gave Tech a seemingly insurmountable 56-41 lead with 3:13 left.
"Seemingly" is the operative word. Texas drove 59 yards in 34 seconds to make it 56-48, then recovered a nutty onside kick that bounced 23 yards downfield. Sam Ehlinger hit Joshua Moore for a touchdown, then Brennan Eagles for the 2-point conversion. In OT, Moore scored again, and on fourth-and-long, Caden Sterns picked off Alan Bowman for a stunning win.
20. Oregon State 41, Oregon 38 (Nov. 27)
We missed out on a lot of rivalry games this year, but the Civil War tried its best to make up for the deficiency. Down 31-19 in the fourth quarter, OSU's Tristan Gebbia scored to cut the lead to five, then Nahshon Wright picked off Tyler Shough. Two plays later, the Beavers had the lead. Oregon responded with an easy TD drive, then stopped OSU on downs with 2:18 left.
Game over? Not so much. The Ducks went three-and-out, and after a drive that featured 10 plays, three replay reviews, multiple injury timeouts and approximately eight hours of real time (slight exaggeration), OSU's Chance Nolan came in for an injured Gebbia and, in the first snap of his career, sneaked in on fourth down to beat the Beavers' biggest rival.
19. North Carolina 59, Wake Forest 53 (Nov. 14)
Sometimes you want a tactical, knife's-edge thriller with great offensive and defensive play. But sometimes you just want explosions.
Wake Forest and UNC combined for 1,348 yards and 60 first downs in this "Con Air" remake of a football game. The Demon Deacons went on a 31-7 run to take a three-score lead in the third quarter, but the Tar Heels responded with an even more ridiculous 35-0 run over 17 minutes. Wake scored a touchdown in the final minute, but UNC recovered the onside kick to seal the win.
These teams have played basketball games with fewer points.
18. Oklahoma 53, Texas 45 (Oct. 10)
Lincoln Riley's conservatism almost cost the Sooners in this nutty rivalry game -- OU opened the game by kicking a field goal from about the 1.5-yard line, tried to kill the clock with runs for virtually the entire fourth quarter, and then attempted a 31-yard field goal on second down in overtime. (It missed.) But when he was forced to trust struggling QB Spencer Rattler in OT, it worked out: He threw two touchdown passes and rushed for a third. And as with the ISU title game, Tre Brown ended this one with an interception in the fourth overtime period.
17. Tulsa 30, Tulane 24 (Nov. 19)
Some games are great because of the number of odd plot twists they feature. Others are great because of the ending. Sometimes you get both. Tulsa lost two quarterbacks to injury against Tulane in this Thursday night affair, but third-stringer Davis Brin threw for 266 yards, all in the second half. Still, Tulsa trailed 21-14 with one play left in regulation.
Then this happened.
And then this happened.
16. Coastal Carolina 30, Louisiana 27 (Oct. 14)
15. Coastal Carolina 42, Troy 38 (Dec. 12)
As with Ole Miss, USC and others, it felt like every game Coastal Carolina played was worthy of this list.
The Chanticleers' first thriller of the year came against eventual Sun Belt West champion Louisiana. Neither team held a lead of more than seven points throughout, and whenever one team took a lead, the other responded almost immediately. Luckily for the Chants, their last lead came when there wasn't enough time to respond: Massimo Biscardi's 40-yard field goal with four seconds left made the difference.
Their last win of the year was even wilder. Coastal seemingly iced the game with a Grayson McCall touchdown with five minutes left, but Troy responded quickly to cut a 12-point lead to five, then picked off McCall -- basically the freshman's only mistake of the game -- with 2:36 left. Seven plays later, the Trojans suddenly led 38-35.
Five plays after that, Coastal was back ahead. McCall and Jaivon Heiligh connected for a 23-yard score with 35 seconds left, and Troy couldn't get off a last-second Hail Mary.
14. Liberty 38, Virginia Tech 35 (Nov. 7)
13. Liberty 37, Coastal Carolina 34 (Dec. 26)
Liberty: yet another "so many games were sheer madness" team. With eight seconds left in a tie game at Virginia Tech, the Hokies blocked Alex Barbir's 58-yard field goal attempt and returned it for a touchdown. The problem: Tech head coach Justin Fuente had called timeout right before the snap.
Given a second chance, Liberty elected to throw a quick pass to the sideline for 8 yards to set up a shorter 51-yarder. Barbir nailed it.
Relive the moment @LibertyFootball defeated Virginia Tech with 'the kick' from @Alex_Barbir and the radio call from @LUFlamesVoice.
— Liberty Flames (@LibertyFlames) November 9, 2020
Plus, see where the Flames rank in the latest AP Top 25 on today's Flames Minute.#RiseWithUs pic.twitter.com/UKwM1zMHLL
It was only fitting, then, that two chaos teams -- Liberty and Coastal -- finished the season against each other. Coastal trailed by double digits on three occasions but charged back to tie the game with three minutes left. Liberty drove inside the Chants' 10 in response, but instead of kneeling to set up the winning field goal, Hugh Freeze asked RB Joshua Mack to kill time before falling instead. Coastal tried to pull him into the end zone so it could get the ball back ... and he fumbled millimeters short of the goal line. Coastal ball. Overtime.
In OT, Barbir won the game anyway. He nailed a 44-yarder, and Liberty blocked Coastal's 42-yard response, killing the Chants' perfect season.
12. WMU 41, Toledo 38 (Nov. 11)
Come for the perfect tag-team onside kick, stay for the fake-spike touchdown.
Glorious.
11. Texas A&M 41, Florida 38 (Oct. 10)
After a sketchy 1-1 start that featured a narrow win over lowly Vanderbilt and a blowout loss to Alabama, Texas A&M finally got itself together, and just in time to potentially wreck another contender's title path. In a game that featured 945 yards and only two punts, the Aggies tied the game with Kellen Mond's 51-yard strike to Caleb Chapman with 4:30 left, forced a Malik Davis fumble, ran down the clock and nailed a 26-yard field goal for the win.
They wouldn't lose again in 2020.
10. Memphis 50, UCF 49 (Oct. 17)
UCF was cruising 35-14 midway through the third quarter when Memphis made its move. The Tigers scored on five of their last six possessions and kept charging despite a 93-yard Dillon Gabriel-to-Ryan O'Keefe touchdown for UCF.
Calvin Austin's 4-yard score gave Memphis its first lead of the game with 1:08 left, but while UCF quickly moved into scoring position in response, Daniel Obarski's 40-yard attempt sailed wide left as the Tigers held on.
9. UTSA 51, Texas State 48 (Sept. 12)
Texas State nearly erased an early 17-point deficit, trailing 34-28 in the fourth quarter and driving with under four minutes left. But Rashad Wisdom stepped in front of a Tyler Vitt pass and took it 81 yards for a score.
Game over? No. Vitt found Marcell Barbee for a 20-yard score, and the Bobcats quickly forced a punt ... which Jeremiah Haydel took 91 yards for a touchdown with 1:16 left. Suddenly TXST was a PAT away from the lead.
Game over? No. Alan Orona missed the PAT, and the game went to overtime. After the teams traded TDs in their first possessions, TXST elected to kick a field goal on fourth-and-goal from the UTSA 3. Poor Orona missed again.
Game over? Yes. Finally. Hunter Duplessis' 29-yarder sealed the deal for UTSA. Special teams giveth, special teams taketh away.
8. Ohio State 42, Indiana 35 (Nov. 21)
Despite a series of mistakes and Indiana haymakers, Ohio State took a 35-7 lead over the spirited Hoosiers early in the second half. The Buckeyes appeared to just be too good.
Then Indiana scored on a 63-yard touchdown pass from Michael Penix Jr. to Ty Fryfogle and forced a three-and-out after fumbling on an interception return. Fryfogle scored again from 33 yards out.
Shaun Wade took a pick-six 36 yards to return OSU's lead to 21, but IU kept charging. David Ellis scored, then Fryfogle struck from deep again. Ohio State turned the ball over on downs inside the Indiana 10, and IU got two chances at capping the miracle comeback. But the Hoosiers couldn't quite pull it off, and OSU survived with national title hopes intact.
7. LSU 53, Ole Miss 48 (Dec. 19)
From a favorites piece I wrote earlier in January:
Favorite game: LSU 53, Ole Miss 48
The temperature was in the mid-50s, and it rained about an inch during the game. And in these conditions and circumstances, the Rebels and Tigers put on a show.
LSU raced to a 17-7 lead, but Jerrion Ealy's 100-yard kickoff return brought Ole Miss back to within three. Two Kayshon Boutte touchdowns helped to increase LSU's advantage to 37-21, then Ole Miss went on a 27-3 run over the course of 15 minutes. Down eight, LSU drove 75 yards for a score but missed the 2-point conversion. The Tigers then forced only the Rebels' third punt of the night, and first since the first quarter, then took the lead with 1:34 left on Boutte's third touchdown (the freshman had 14 catches for 308 yards). Ole Miss quickly moved into Tigers territory, but Ali Gaye stripped the ball from Matt Corral, and JaCoby Stevens pounced on it for the win.
You know how opponents of playoff expansion always talk about how such expansion would diminish the importance of the regular season? There might not have been a less important power conference game this season, but these two rivals pulled off a banger all the same. When my Top 50 Games of 2020 list comes out in the days following the national championship, this won't be No. 1. But it was my favorite all the same.
6. Georgia 24, Cincinnati 21 (Jan. 1)
Georgia was missing key players to injury but desperately wanted to prove itself following a snub in the CFP rankings and had a chance to build for 2021. This was a damn dogfight. Cincinnati turned a 10-7 deficit into a 21-10 lead with a touchdown in the closing seconds of the first half and a 79-yard Jerome Ford explosion in the first few minutes of the second. Behind a magnificent defense, the Bearcats milked that lead for all it was worth.
Georgia made it 21-16 after a fumble and short-field touchdown drive, then crawled to within two points with 6:43 left. With the clock ticking down and a chance to ice the game with a first down, however, a deep Desmond Ridder pass to Michael Young on third down missed its mark. Georgia got the ball back with 88 seconds left and drove to the Cincinnati 36, where, with three seconds left, first-year starter Jack Podlesny bombed in a 53-yard game winner for the win. The Dawgs added a safety on the final play for good measure.
5. Notre Dame 47, Clemson 40 (Nov. 7)
Like Cincinnati, Notre Dame watched a double-digit lead dissipate in the second half against a national power. Down 23-10 late in the first half, Clemson, playing without star quarterback Trevor Lawrence, went on a 23-3 run and took its first lead of the game on a Travis Etienne touchdown with 3:33 left. Down to its last gasp, though, Notre Dame unleashed a perfect, 91-yard touchdown drive to save the day. Ian Book and Avery Davis connected for the tying touchdown with 22 seconds left to force overtime.
Both teams scored easily in their first overtime possessions, but after Kyren Williams put Notre Dame up in the second, the Irish defense came up big, sacking D.J. Uiagalelei twice, then recovering a fumble on fourth-and-forever. The Irish notched the win that would get them into the CFP.
4. Alabama 52, Florida 46 (Dec. 19)
Florida nearly pulled a rope-a-dope routine on the eventual national champs.
Alabama used three second-quarter touchdowns to take a 35-17 lead into halftime, but the unstoppable Bama offense came out sluggish in the second half. Florida's Trevon Grimes scored on a 50-yard pass, then Nay'Quan Wright cut the Bama lead to four. Bama seemingly took control again with a 10-point spurt, but the Gators forced the Tide to keep scoring. They cut the lead to 45-38, then 52-46 with 2:07 left. Bama had to punt one last time with 16 seconds left, and Florida couldn't pull off a miracle finish.
All told, the game produced 1,067 yards, 59 first downs and a collection of brilliant individual performances: 418 passing yards for Mac Jones, 408 for Kyle Trask, 245 rushing and receiving yards for Najee Harris, 184 for DeVonta Smith, 168 for Kadarius Toney and 129 for Kyle Pitts. Bama had survived its stiffest test.
3. Coastal Carolina 22, BYU 17 (Dec. 5)
Thursday, Dec. 3: Liberty announces that, due to positive COVID-19 tests and contact tracing, it will not be able to play its Dec. 5 game against Coastal Carolina.
Saturday, Dec. 5: BYU and Coastal play one of the best games of the year instead. The Cougars and Chants quickly arranged a meeting with both teams in need of a strength-of-schedule boost. College GameDay was in town for Mormons vs. Mullets.
My man @taylordiveley and his twin brother whipped up these t-shirts at the last minute and they are selling like crazy, in both Coastal and BYU colors! #BYUvsCCU pic.twitter.com/A2V4UQilFx
— Ryan McGee (@ESPNMcGee) December 5, 2020
This wasn't the highest-scoring game of the year, but it was both one of the most joyous and one of the nastiest, and it came down to the final play. Down five and 18 yards from victory, BYU's Zach Wilson connected with Dax Milne ... for 17.
(Saturday, Dec. 26: Liberty and Coastal finally play each other in the Cure Bowl, and it's also one of the best games of the year. Win-win-win.)
2. Indiana 36, Penn State 35 (Oct. 24)
For 58 minutes, this was merely a very good football game. A 17-0 Indiana run bought the underdog Hoosiers some time, but Penn State took a 21-20 lead with 2:30 left, then forced a four-and-out to all but ice the win. On the ensuing Penn State drive, though, running back Devyn Ford was allowed to run free toward the goal line, only realizing at the last second that he was making a mistake and falling into the end zone. It put the Nittany Lions up eight points, but it gave IU one last chance. And with 22 seconds left, Michael Penix Jr. scored, then completed a 2-point conversion, to force overtime.
It didn't get any less wild from there. Sean Clifford and Parker Washington connected to put PSU up 35-28, but after Penix threw a TD pass to Whop Philyor, IU went for two points and the win. And got it. Maybe. Possibly. We'll never be totally sure.
1. LSU 37, Florida 34 (Dec. 12)
The most statistically unlikely win of the season was also the season's best game. A lot of things had to go wrong for Florida just for this game to be tied late in regulation -- a fourth-and-goal stuff, a 68-yard pick-six, a red zone interception, a fumble that set up a late-Q2 field goal, etc. And that was all before the final minute.
The 60th minute of the game featured a season's worth of glorious nonsense. Florida made a key third-down stop to potentially get the ball back and score, only Marco Wilson tossed Kole Taylor's shoe after the play, drawing the silliest unsportsmanlike conduct penalty you'll ever see. Five plays later, Cade York knocked in a 57-yard cannon shot to give the Tigers a 37-34 lead. Florida quickly drove the other way in time to set up a 51-yard attempt for the equally awesome Evan McPherson, but it sailed wide left. Somehow, someway, LSU won this game.
The 2020 season might have been loaded with off-the-field bickering and shoddy leadership, and it didn't feature nearly as many games as normal. But it still gave us plenty of the glory, and glorious nonsense, that drew so many of us to the sport to begin with. Here's to a far less ... unique 2021 season.