What follows is a countdown of the best New Years Day bowl games ever played...by my subjective analysis. Most of the games will be the popular games everyone discusses when talking about the greatest bowl games of all time (save for Texas v USC in 2006, which didn't make the list because it wasn't on January 1). But the first one is a personal choice. Enjoy!
8. 1971 Rose Bowl - Stanford 27 Ohio State 17
- OK, so this game isn't considered among the best bowl games in history, but I
have my reasons for starting my list with it.
First, it was a Stanford victory, led by the first and only Heisman
Trophy winner in Stanford history, Jim Plunkett. Second, it cost Ohio
State a national championship. And finally, my girlfriend's dad played in
the game! Hah! Yeah...pretty cool.
Anyways, this was actually a really good game! Ohio
State was winning for most of the
game, despite nearly boycotting the game due to dissention between the coach Woody
Hayes and the Seniors on the team who felt the coach didn't let them enjoy
their Rose Bowl experience two years earlier. Ohio
State ran almost at will with the
ball, rushing for 364 yards, but the Buckeyes couldn't make the big third-down
play and three times failed making fourth-down plays in Stanford territory. Ohio
State left the door open for Jim
Plunkett, who led two 4th quarter TD drives for the Indians offense,. The Stanford defense held tight, and the
Indians had their first Rose Bowl victory since 1941.
Jim Plunkett ended up being the only player in history to be
named MVP in both the Rose Bowl Game and the Super Bowl! Pretty cool.
7. 1979 Sugar Bowl – Alabama 14 Penn State 7 – The 1979 Sugar Bowl goes down as one of the great epic
defensive battles of the modern era of college football. The game, which pitted Bear Bryant against
Joe Paterno, was memorialized by a ‘Bama goal line stand midway through the
fourth quarter and a jarring Barry Krauss hit on Mike Guman that helped
preserve a national title and left Krauss unconscious on the Superdome
turf.
6. 1963 Rose Bowl - USC 42 Wisconsin 37 - The No. 1 ranked Trojans led the
No. 2 Badgers 42-14 in the fourth quarter on the way to an apparently easy win.
Wisconsin was able to mount an
epic comeback scoring 23 straight points in a furious comeback. Badger
quarterback Ron Vanderkelen passed for a Rose Bowl, and Wisconsin,
record 401 yards. Wide receiver (and future athletic director) Pat Richter
caught eleven passes for 163 yards with the final catch for a 19-yard touchdown
coming with 1:19 to play. The onside
kick was recovered by USC to snuff out the comeback attempt, but Wisconsin
made it one of the most exciting finishes ever. The 79 combined points were a
Rose Bowl record that stood for 28 years.
5. 2005 Rose Bowl – Texas 38 Michigan 37 – World meet Vince Young. Vince Young say hello to the world. If you had seen what he did against Michigan
in this game, you’d not have thought he could do it again in the 2006 Rose
Bowl. The Wolverines battled throughout
as the Texas defense couldn’t
stop them either. But, VY loved the bright
lights in Pasadena, well, that and
the fact that Michigan is still
trying to tackle him. Michigan WR/KR
Steve Breaston and WR Braylon Edwards were magnificent, but VY was
transcendent. This win set the tone for
the Horns historic 2005 season (and the 2006 National Championship Game Rose
Bowl...which would have made the list had it occurred on January 1).
4. 1979 Cotton Bowl – Notre Dame 35 Houston 34 – The legend of Joe Montana was
actually birthed here on an icy day in Dallas. The temperatures, the wind, a 22-point
second-half hole—none of it could keep Montana
from being, well, Montana. In a precursor to his pro career, he led the
Irish all the way back for one of the great comebacks in bowl history. The one thing most people forget is that Montana
was all levels of horrible before catching fire in the fourth quarter. The Houston
veer offense was dominating the game, but when they had to have a big fourth
down run in the fourth quarter to seal the win, the Irish shut them down. Then, Montana
and Kris Haines became Irish legends.
3. 1984 Orange Bowl – Miami 31 Nebraska 30 – The Huskers entered the game
12-0, averaging 52 points a game and generating debates whether they were the
best team of all-time. They left Miami
upset victims after a two-point attempt for the win was batted down with under
a minute left. This game began the
Hurricanes run of four national titles in nine years and what a way to kick it
off. Miami’s
Bernie Kosar shredded the Nebraska
secondary and shocked the Huskers in a way that they hadn’t seen all
season. An ankle injury slowed the 1983
Heisman Trophy winner Mike Rozier, but the Huskers had a final chance to win
the game on a two point play after a Jeff Smith touchdown run late in the
game. But, the Canes knocked down QB Turner
Gill’s throw on the two point conversion and the Canes took home the Orange
Bowl trophy and their first national championship.
2. 1987 Fiesta Bowl – Penn State 14 Miami 10
– OK, this one actually occurred on January 2 of that year, but its such a
famous game that I HAVE to put it on here!
Both teams were undefeated, but this was still one of those David vs.
Goliath deals that sells so well to the fans and media. As if the game needed more hype, the ‘Canes,
playing the role of Goliath, further polarized the two programs by arriving at
a pre-game media event sporting military fatigues. The blue collar Lions weren’t pretty that
night, but they did pick off Heisman winner Vinny Testaverde five times, the
last one by Pete Giftopoulos at the goal line with :18 to play.
1. 2007 Fiesta Bowl - Boise State 43 Oklahoma 42 - This might have been the best New
Years Day game I've ever personally witnessed. The BCS buster vs the BCS
powerhouse! And yes, I was all in on Boise
State. The Broncos built a 28-10 lead midway through
the third quarter before the Sooners came storming back. Oklahoma
ripped off three unanswered scores (and needed three attempts for a successful
two-point conversion due to penalties) to tie it, 28-28 with 1:26 remaining in the game.
After receiving the ball, Boise State quarterback Jared
Zabransky’s very next pass was intercepted and returned for a touchdown giving
Oklahoma a 35-28 lead with only 1:02 on the clock. On Boise
State’s ensuing possession, they were
faced with converting an improbable fourth-and-18 from the 50 with 26 seconds
left. Zabransky passed complete to receiver Drisan James for 15 yards and then
James lateraled the ball to Jerard Rabb to pull off the
"hook-and-ladder" play as Rabb ran the remaining 35 yards and dove
into the end zone to tie the game in jaw-dropping fashion.
In overtime, it took only one play for Adrian Peterson and Oklahoma
to get back on top, as he ran 25 yards for the touchdown. After driving to the
six-yard line the Broncos needed to convert a fourth-and-two to keep the game
going. The Boise
State coaching staff reached into
their bag of tricks once again: wide receiver Vinny Perretta had the ball
tossed to him and it appeared the play was a run until Perretta lobbed the ball
over the defense and found Derek Schouman for the touchdown.
Down 41-42, most teams would kick the extra point and send
the game into a second overtime. Not the
underdog Broncos. They lined up for a
two-point conversion to win it all. Zabransky
took the snap and faked a throw to the right side where he had three receivers
set, but instead he handed the ball off to Ian Johnson with his non-throwing
hand for an unbelievable scoring play known as the “Statue of Liberty.” Boise
State wins 43-42.
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