This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.
The original was posted on /r/cfb by /u/2Pollaski2Furious on 2024-08-11 15:33:28+00:00.
Into the Top 50 we go!
50: WASHINGTON STATE COUGARS (lost to California 60-59) [2014]
During this offseason, I’ve seen many memes memorializing Pac-12 After Dark, and fittingly, several of them involved this game. And make no mistake- this game was a treat to experience. It didn’t start too insane- Wazzu led 10-0 after the first quarter and just 24-13 at halftime. But all hell broke loose in the third quarter with a whopping EIGHT touchdowns being scored in just over 12 minutes. Jared Goff threw for 527 yards and 5 TDs, but was out-done by Connor Hallady, who chucked an astonishing 70 passes, racking up an FBS record 734 yards. Unfortunately, Halladay’s heroism would go to waste. With fifteen seconds to go and Wazzu facing a third down on the Cal 2, coach Mike Leach elected to just kick the winning field goal- which was horrifically shanked, letting the Bears escape Pullman with the win. Even worse- when Leach tragically passed away in 2022, his career winning percentage was .596- just short of the .600 required for Hall of Fame eligibility. Had that kick gone through the uprights, Leach would have exactly .600. You can (and should) argue that the .600 threshold is stupid to begin with, but as it stands, one shanked 19-yard field goal has kept the innovative, beloved Pirate of the Palouse out of the Hall of Fame.
49: NOTRE DAME FIGHTING IRISH (lost to Oklahoma State 37-35) [2021]
There’s no denying that Notre Dame remains one of the premier brands in all of college football- not many schools could command enough clout to score their own television contract without the benefit of a conference. But there’s also no denying that when it comes to big games, the Irish tend to fall short. Most notoriously, the Irish have not won a major bowl (BCS/NY6 level) since beating Texas A&M in the 1993 Cotton Bowl. Nine times the Irish had stepped up, and nine times they were knocked down. But hope began to emerge when Notre Dame took a 28-7 lead late in the first half of the 2021 Fiesta Bowl. But Oklahoma State came alive, scored in just thirty-six seconds to cut the lead to two touchdowns, and then proceded to dominate the game, scoring the next thirty points. By the time Notre Dame found the end zone again to cut the lead to two, it was too little, too late- only 65 seconds remained, and the Cowboys ran out the clock to extend the Irish futility to ten games.
48: BAYLOR BEARS (lost to West Virginia 41-27) [2014]
The Bears were ranked #4 and 6-0 when they headed into Morgantown for this mid-October showdown. The week before, they had come back from 20 points down to best TCU 61-58 in what might be the greatest edition of the Revivalry ever played. Unfortunately for the Bears, they might have been a bit hungover in the aftermath, and West Virginia stood toe to toe with them through three quarters with the score tied at 27 entering the final frame. From there, the Bears offense shut down, netting just 75 yards across four posessions, and Clint Trickett came through with two late touchdown passes to stun the Bears. The game ended up changing history- when the season ended, Baylor, TCU, and Ohio State all sat at one loss fighting for the final playoff spot. In a move thought controversial at the time, Ohio State was given the nod, jumping the two Texas schools, and went on to upset Alabama en route to beating Oregon for the title. Had Baylor not fallen apart in Morgantown, that final spot would have easily been theirs, and the 2014 National Champion would never have even had the opportunity.
47: TEXAS LONGHORNS (lost to BYU 40-21) [2013]
After going 9-4 the year before, the Longhorns entered the 2013 season with decent expectations, and were ranked #15 when they traveled to Provo for a second-week matchup with the Cougars. After a slow start- BYU scored a field goal and then both teams punted three times in less than ten minutes- the two teams exchanged touchdowns, then Texas capitalized on a BYU interception to take a 14-10 lead. Except one teensy problem was brewing- the Cougars were slowly starting to realize that Texas had zero clue how to defend the option, and they exploited it. Egregiously. By the time it was over, the Cougars had stampeded the Horns for a whopping 550 yards of rushing- 259 by quarterback Taysom Hill. The humiliation was enough to cost defensive coordinator Manny Diaz his job after just two games, and set the stage for what would prove to be Mack Brown’s final season in Austin. Texas would have a chance for revenge the next year in Austin, but the Cougs won that one 41-7. On the bright side they only got 248 yards of rushing this time!
46: TEXAS A&M AGGIES (lost to Appalachian State 17-14) [2022]
If the Midnight Yell held the night before was any indication, the Fightin’ Texas Aggies were fairly confident entering this week two matchup. And why wouldn’t they be? The Ags were LOADED, having famously assembled a million dollar recruiting class, netting so many prime prospects that El Diablo himself had felt compelled to complain about it. And besides, its not like those redneck hillbillies from one of the Carolinas (who cares which) had ever actually beaten anyone before right? But those no-good (pose), dirty (pose), cowardly Mountaineers-who had surrendered over 600 yards in a thriller of a loss to North Carolina the week before- didn’t get the memo (probably because half of them were too stupid to read the nameplates on their jerseys). App State suffocated the Aggies, holding them to just 180 yards on the day, and made the entire college football world sit up when they took the lead with just over 8 minutes left. The Aggies drove, and attempted their own field goal five minutes later, but the kick went wide right, and the Mountaineers ran out the clock to complete the monster upset.
TOMORROW: Worst. Rematch. EVER. And hey, a Washington game that DOESNT make me want to set fire to my computer!