Until college football comes up with some sort of a playoff, whether it's a "plus-one" game after the bowls or an eight-team playoff, we're stuck with the lyrically named BCS National Championship Game, which this year will be contested Thursday between Oklahoma and Florida in Miami.
This is the third time an additional bowl game has been played to determine the national champion (allegedly, anyway). In the previous eight seasons, BCS-determined title matchups were rotated among existing bowls.
We're stuck with this system for at least another six years. So here is one opinion of the top five BCS title games:
-- 5. TENNESSEE 23, FLORIDA STATE 16 (Fiesta Bowl, Jan. 4, 1999): Notable primarily for two reasons: The Volunteers shut down Florida State star Peter Warrick and Tee Martin won a national title when Peyton Manning couldn't.
-- 4. LOUISIANA STATE 38, OHIO STATE 24 (BCS National Championship Game, Jan. 7, 2008): The previously undefeated Buckeyes, looking to atone for their dismal performance a year earlier against Florida, jumped to a 10-0 lead only to be overwhelmed by the speed of yet another SEC team as LSU became the first two-loss team to win a national title in almost 50 years.
-- 3. OKLAHOMA 13, FLORIDA STATE 2 (Orange Bowl, Jan. 3, 2001): In only two seasons, Bob Stoops restored Oklahoma as a national power, culminating in this defensive demolition of Heisman Trophy winner Chris Weinke and the Seminoles.
-- 2. TEXAS 41, SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 38 (Rose Bowl, Jan. 4, 2006): Vince Young's NFL career has stalled, but he'll always have Pasadena. He threw for 267 yards and ran for 200, including an 8-yard TD scramble with 19 seconds left that was the game-winner as the Longhorns ended USC's 34-game winning streak. Reggie Bush won the Heisman battle, but Young won the war.
-- 1. OHIO STATE 31, MIAMI 24 (Fiesta Bowl, Jan. 3, 2003): The ex post facto exposure of Maurice Clarett as a sleaze and the perpetual style penalty on Jim Tressel's sweater vest don't take away from this double-overtime duel, which had everything from a questionable pass-interference call in the first overtime to a boatload of future NFL stars (Andre Johnson, Willis McGahee, Chris Gamble, Michael Jenkins, Kellen Winslow and the late Sean Taylor).
(Contact Luke Decock at luke.decock@newsobserver.com.)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
Must credit The News & Observer of Raleigh, N.C.
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