100 video games that designate school soccer in 2026

In a couple of extra weeks, the 158th school soccer season will kick off. It will characteristic gamers on seven-digits-a-year contracts and coaches on eight digits a 12 months. It will end with a 12-team playoff amid a slate of 40-something bowls. It will characteristic convention video games like West Virginia-Utah, UCF-Oklahoma State and USC-Rutgers however will not characteristic Pitt-West Virginia, Oklahoma-Oklahoma State or USC-Notre Dame.

The video games stay thrilling, and Saturdays stay immaculate. But it is generally worthwhile to step again and ask, how on earth did we get right here? So with video games damaged up into key classes — from change brokers (like tactical improvements and convention realignment) to the issues that preserve us coming again (like upsets and epic endings) — listed here are 100 video games that designate school soccer within the 12 months 2026.

Jump to a theme:
Making legends | Innovations
Postseason drama
Upsets | Frustrating finishes
TV guidelines | Realignment’s results | Classic endings

Legends

The sport has seen some titanic figures and titanic performances. We’ll begin this record off with a few of historical past’s greatest gamers and their most noteworthy video games.

1. Nov. 11, 1911: Carlisle 18, Harvard 15. Jim Thorpe stays one of many sport’s most legendary legends. Playing for the Carlisle Indian Industrial School — coached at the moment by one other legend, Pop Warner — Thorpe rushed for 173 yards in opposition to a sometimes untouchable Harvard protection, and he booted 4 subject objectives as Carlisle upset the Crimson in entrance of 25,000 in Cambridge. Harvard would not lose once more till October 1915.

2. Oct. 18, 1924: Illinois 39, Michigan 14. The first sport within the historical past of Illinois’ Memorial Stadium continues to be its most well-known because of Red Grange. Against mighty Michigan — which hadn’t misplaced in three years — he returned the opening kickoff 95 yards for a landing, then scored on runs of 67, 56 and 44 yards by the top of the primary quarter. The Galloping Ghost scored a fifth landing later within the sport, then handed for one more because the Illini trounced the Wolverines.

About Grange, legendary sportswriter Grantland Rice would later write:

A streak of fireside, a breath of flame,

Eluding all who attain the clutch;

A grey ghost thrown into the sport

That rival arms might by no means contact.

3. Oct. 18, 1924: Notre Dame 13, Army 7. Of course, Rice did not write that about Grange that day as a result of he was in New York penning the last word tribute to Notre Dame’s Four Horsemen.

Outlined in opposition to a blue-gray October sky, the Four Horsemen rode once more. In dramatic lore they’re referred to as Famine, Pestilence, Destruction and Death. These are solely aliases. Their actual names are Stuhldreher, Miller, Crowley and Layden.”

You’d have thought the Irish won by 100. But beating Army, at that time, was still pretty impressive.

4. Dec. 1, 1945: No. 1 Army 32, No. 2 Navy 13. World War II was ending, but Army was still able to compile an all-star team of sorts on the gridiron. And it might have been the best team of all time. Led by Doc Blanchard and Glenn Davis (“Mr. Inside” and “Mr. Outside”), the Cadets pummeled their first eight opponents — four of which were ranked — by a combined 380-33, then finished the year by obliterating the second-best team in the country in front of 102,000 at Philadelphia’s Municipal Stadium.

5. Nov. 9, 1946: No. 2 Notre Dame 0, No. 1 Army 0. A sold-out Yankee Stadium hosted maybe the most anticipated game ever. Frank Leahy had built a war chest of his own — Notre Dame would go 36-0-2 from 1946 to 1949 — but Army still had Blanchard, Davis & Co. and entered with a 25-game winning streak. The game was a stalemate, which basically meant it was treated as a win for the Irish.

6. Oct. 4, 1975: No. 2 Ohio State 41, No. 13 UCLA 20. In less than a decade, we’ll celebrate the 100th birthday of the Heisman Trophy. Incredibly, only one person has won it multiple times to date. While Archie Griffin’s best collegiate game was perhaps his second — he rushed for 239 yards against North Carolina as a freshman — he wasn’t known just yet. But as a defending Heisman winner, he basically locked up a second win with a 21-carry, 160-yard performance against unbeaten UCLA.

7. Sept. 6, 1980: No. 16 Georgia 16, Tennessee 15. “He’s working over individuals! Oh, you Herschel Walker! My God Almighty, he ran proper by means of two males! Herschel ran proper over two males! … My God, a freshman!”

8. Jan. 2, 1996: No. 1 Nebraska 62, No. 2 Florida 24. It took Tom Osborne more than 20 years to finally win an elusive national title at Nebraska. It took only 12 months — and one of the most famous runs of all time — to win a second.

9. Jan. 4, 2000: No. 1 Florida State 46, No. 2 Virginia Tech 29. Way more than two people saw the field when Bobby Bowden’s Seminoles and Frank Beamer’s upstart Hokies faced off for the 1999 national title, but you can be forgiven if you don’t remember anyone beyond Peter Warrick and Michael Vick. Vick threw for 225 yards and rushed for 97 more as Tech charged back from 28-7 down to take a 29-28 lead into the fourth quarter. But Warrick, the 1999 Heisman front-runner until a misdemeanor arrest and brief suspension derailed his hopes, scored on a 59-yard punt return and catches of 64 and 43 yards to lead preseason No. 1 FSU to a wire-to-wire national title.

10. Nov. 19, 2005: No. 1 USC 50, No. 16 Fresno State 42. Technically, Reggie Bush was one of many incredible players for the USC dynasty that nearly won three straight national titles. His career stats (4,470 yards from scrimmage and 38 TDs) weren’t that different from those of battery mate LenDale White (3,490 and 57). But he clinched a Heisman and immortality with this single-game performance, gaining 364 yards from scrimmage, scoring two touchdowns and producing one of the best sizzle reels you’ll ever see.

11. Jan. 4, 2006: No. 2 Texas 41, No. 1 USC 38. Bush, Matt Leinart and White versus Vince Young. Maybe probably the most legendary sport of the twenty first century.

12. Nov. 26, 2010: No. 2 Auburn 28, No. 9 Alabama 27. With Auburn trailing defending nationwide champion Alabama 24-0 in Tuscaloosa, Cam Newton led the Camback, throwing three landing passes and speeding for a fourth whereas Auburn allowed 67 complete yards within the second half. The win solidified Newton’s one-year legend (and launched us to Harvey Updyke Jr.).

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Innovation

From the legalization of the ahead cross to the proliferation of run-pass choices, the best way groups attempt to rating factors — and the best way opponents attempt to cease them — has modified considerably by means of the years. Here are 13 video games that doc that change fairly effectively.

13. Oct. 20, 1906: Chicago 39, Purdue 0. In an try and open up the sport and tamp down the variety of severe accidents, the foundations of the sport have been modified to permit the ahead cross beginning in 1906. It most likely isn’t surprising that legendary coach/tinkerer Amos Alonzo Stagg was one of many first to determine easy methods to do it successfully. His Maroons led the nation in scoring that season and solely as soon as misplaced a couple of sport between 1904 and 1913.

14. Oct. 4, 1941: Missouri 21, Colorado 6. With the T formation ruling each school and professional soccer within the early Nineteen Forties, Missouri’s Don Faurot did some tinkering after shedding star quarterback Paul Christman; he inspired bigger splits between his offensive linemen and had his quarterback slide out from below heart as a substitute of pivoting. That allowed for extra deception and allowed the QB to learn defenders higher. The consequence: the Split-T formation, fashionable possibility soccer and, for at the least a 12 months, an enormous aggressive benefit. Faurot totally unveiled his new assault within the second sport of 1941, and Mizzou would win eight straight by a mean rating of 27-3.

15. Sept. 28, 1968: Texas Tech 31, No. 6 Texas 22. Texas joined the triple-option social gathering in 1968 with a cool new formation. Coordinator Emory Bellard, tasked with sprucing up a stagnant offense and maximizing a loaded Texas backfield, began with the Split-T and introduced the center again nearer to the quarterback for quicker-hitting dive performs and higher blocking. Houston sportswriter Mickey Herskowitz stated the formation appeared like a “pulley bone.” “Wishbone” ended up sticking. It wasn’t a right away hit, however after falling behind Texas Tech 21-0 within the second sport, coach Darrell Royal elected to place backup QB James Street in. The Horns almost got here again and beat Tech; they’d win their subsequent 30 video games, and after Royal kindly agreed to show Bear Bryant and Barry Switzer the methods of the wishbone, Alabama and Oklahoma would dominate the Seventies with it.

16. Jan. 1, 1988: No. 2 Miami 20, No. 1 Oklahoma 14. By the late Nineteen Eighties, it was getting tougher for the Switzers of the world to recruit elite offensive expertise to play within the wishbone — they needed to play in pro-style offenses like Miami’s and go excessive within the NFL draft. With possibility throwback Jamelle Holieway behind heart, OU received the 1985 nationwide title and went 33-3 from 1985 to 1987. Those three losses? All to Jimmy Johnson’s Miami. The Hurricanes engulfed OU’s possibility with pace and expertise, and so they wrapped up this system’s first unbeaten season and second nationwide title by holding the Sooners to 179 speeding yards and getting two landing passes from Steve Walsh.

17. Sept. 23, 1989: Iowa Wesleyan 49, Grinnell 7. Hal Mumme’s first win as a university head coach. With Mumme’s and Mike Leach’s Air Raid assault, Wesleyan threw for 408 yards and 6 touchdowns — virtually unfathomable numbers. They would change into rather more fathomable within the years to come back.

18. Dec. 11, 1993: East Central 49, Glenville State 35. During follow sooner or later at NAIA’s Glenville State, 30-year-old head coach Rich Rodriguez watched quarterback Jed Drenning bobble the snap on an inside zone handoff; when the defensive finish crashed in to sort out the working again, Drenning held on to the ball and ripped off a pleasant acquire. Rodriguez put it within the playbook, and Glenville State made a run to the nationwide title sport. Only East Central, with an incredible run sport of its personal and a younger defensive coordinator named Todd Graham, might topple the Pioneers. Within 15 years, Rodriguez was almost profitable a nationwide title with West Virginia.

19. Oct. 4, 1997: Kentucky 40, No. 20 Alabama 34. Kentucky had loved only one profitable file in 12 seasons when it rolled the cube and employed Mumme in 1997. He did not win huge (and he ultimately left this system with some NCAA sanctions), however he proved you might rating factors and win huge video games by going all-in with the cross. Tim Couch threw for 355 yards and 4 touchdowns, together with the sport winner in time beyond regulation, as Kentucky beat probably the most traditionalist of SEC packages, Alabama, for the primary time in 75 years.

20. Nov. 4, 2000: No. 21 Northwestern 54, No. 12 Michigan 51. After consulting with Rodriguez after a poor first season, Northwestern head coach Randy Walker and offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson elected to shift their energy working sport to a diffusion formation. They experimented with tempo, too. The Wildcats leaped from a hundred and tenth to tenth in scoring offense, and in opposition to conventional outdated Michigan, they rushed for 332 yards, threw for 322 and snapped the ball 90 occasions. They scored 18 fourth-quarter factors to beat the Wolverines in a thriller and snagged a share of the Big Ten title.

21. Sept. 8, 2007: Oregon 39, Michigan 7. Seven years later, Michigan was once more on the shedding finish in opposition to a peppy new offense. This time, it was new Oregon offensive coordinator Chip Kelly’s notably quick and notably read-heavy unfold. Oregon rushed for 331 yards, Dennis Dixon threw for 292, and the Ducks scored the final 36 factors in a laugher in Ann Arbor. Three years later, with Kelly as head coach, Oregon almost received the nationwide title.

22. Nov. 1, 2008: No. 6 Texas Tech 39, No. 1 Texas 33. Four verticals, three subject stormings and one legendary landing.

23. Nov. 26, 2010: No. 19 Nevada 34, No. 3 Boise State 31. As with the wishbone, somewhat formational tweak opened up a brand new world of potentialities. When Chris Ault started lining his quarterback up nearer to the road with the working again straight beside him, the pistol formation was born. It created a extra quick-hitting run sport, and with Colin Kaepernick because the pivot man, it wreaked havoc. Kaepernick threw for 3,022 yards and rushed for 1,206 in 2010, and in opposition to Boise State’s best-ever crew, he led a 17-point comeback, and an time beyond regulation win, in top-of-the-line video games of the 2000s.

24. Jan. 1, 2011: No. 3 TCU 21, No. 4 Wisconsin 19. Just as Jimmy Johnson discovered methods to get extra pace onto the sphere on protection, Gary Patterson did the identical within the 2000s, constructing a wrecking ball of a program round a 4-2-5 protection that might quickly change into commonplace. His 2010 crew might have completed main harm in a playoff however as a substitute settled for shutting down Wisconsin within the Rose Bowl to complete unbeaten.

25. Jan. 13, 2020: No. 1 LSU 42, No. 3 Clemson 25. The offensive improvements of the earlier 20 years — wider splits, extra passing, the run-pass choices that got here into vogue within the mid-2010s — all got here collectively to provide top-of-the-line offenses we have ever seen in 2019. Joe Burrow threw for 5,671 yards and 60 touchdowns — completely preposterous numbers — and LSU topped 40 factors in 12 of 15 video games, rolling to a demonstrative nationwide title. Against defending champion Clemson within the title sport, Burrow threw for 463 yards and 5 scores.

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Bowls, for higher and worse

With groups not often touring outdoors of their convention’s footprint, and with regular-season tv publicity restricted, bowls have been typically almost the one time in a season if you would possibly see the most effective gamers and groups competing in opposition to one another. They clung to their relevancy and power-broker standing for many years, heading off rising discontent concerning the absence of a playoff, however they could not maintain on endlessly.

26-28. Jan. 1, 1923: USC 14, Penn State 3; Jan. 1, 1925: Notre Dame 27, Stanford 10; Jan. 1, 1926: Alabama 20, Washington 19. In a four-year span, the Rose Bowl gave us coming-out events for 3 eventual blue-blood packages. USC received its first of 25 Rose Bowls in its first 12 months of main school soccer, then Notre Dame’s Four Horsemen led a romp over Pop Warner’s Stanford in the one bowl they’d select to take part in till 1970.

Then got here the large one: Alabama upset mighty Washington, proving that the South might compete in big-time soccer (and that it was actually, actually enjoyable to take action). It’s known as The Game That Changed the South.

29. Jan. 1, 1963: No. 1 USC 42, No. 2 Wisconsin 37. Bowls turned huge occasions within the mid-1900s — particularly the Rose Bowl — however the AP ballot was almost 30 years outdated when a bowl lastly produced a No. 1-vs.-No. 2 matchup. And it was a doozy. John McKay’s unbeaten, nationwide champion Trojans raced to a 42-14 lead early within the fourth quarter, however Wisconsin almost pulled off an all-time comeback, scoring 23 late factors.

30. Dec. 31, 1973: No. 3 Notre Dame 24, No. 1 Alabama 23. Notre Dame refused bowl invites for almost 50 years; it did not cease them from profitable 5 nationwide titles within the first 30 years of the polling period, however in 1973 the Irish received a title as a result of of a bowl.

31. Jan. 2, 1987: No. 2 Penn State 14, No. 1 Miami 10. By the top of the Seventies, the pro-playoff refrain had begun to develop as bowls more and more selected TV-friendly manufacturers over high groups and failed to provide numerous actually high matchups. But when independents Miami and Penn State each reached the top of 1986 unbeaten, the Fiesta Bowl raised its standing by securing a matchup between the 2 groups and shifting the matchup to the day after Jan. 1 bowls. It was a real nationwide title sport, and it turned probably the most watched video games ever. Penn State was a landing underdog however picked off Vinny Testaverde 5 occasions to safe the upset.

32. Jan. 1, 1993: No. 2 Alabama 34, No. 1 Miami 13. After one other 1-versus-2 matchup in 1987, bowls received in their very own means once more; not solely did we cease getting high matchups, we additionally ended up with break up titles in 1990 and 1991. The ensuing discontent (and iffy rankings) resulted within the Bowl Coalition, an try to drag collectively all main bowls (moreover the Rose) and enhance the percentages of a No. 1-vs.-No. 2 sport. It wasn’t extremely profitable general, however the components labored within the Bowl Coalition’s first 12 months. No. 2 Alabama scored an upset and gave us the best non-play in the history of the game.

33. Jan. 2, 1995: No. 4 Colorado 41, Notre Dame 24. To say the least, the Bowl Coalition nonetheless had some flaws — like, say, Notre Dame getting a Fiesta Bowl bid with a 6-4-1 file and getting drubbed in 1994. So we received a barely strengthened Bowl Alliance in 1995.

34. Jan. 4, 1999: No. 1 Tennessee 23, No. 2 Florida State 16. When the Bowl Alliance proved almost as imperfect because the Bowl Coalition — we received one other break up nationwide title in 1997 — we lastly received our assured 1-versus-2 sport because of the Bowl Championship Series in 1998. It nonetheless wasn’t a playoff, and it enhanced controversies round who ought to rank within the high two, however it was actually one thing.

35. Jan. 3, 2001: No. 1 Oklahoma 13, No. 3 Florida State 2. In simply the BCS’s third 12 months, we ended up with a serious controversy when AP No. 2 Miami, which had crushed Florida State earlier within the season, but in addition had one loss, ended up behind the Seminoles within the BCS components and was denied a shot on the title. The grumbling grew when FSU’s offense no-showed in opposition to a spicy OU protection and the Noles went down simply.

36. Jan. 4, 2004: No. 2 LSU 21, No. 3 Oklahoma 14. In the BCS’ sixth 12 months … we received one other break up nationwide title. USC, the AP’s top-ranked crew, completed third within the BCS standings, received the Rose Bowl and remained No. 1 whereas LSU claimed a share of the title by beating OU within the BCS’ title sport. As it turned out, the BCS’ greatest subject was solely getting to choose two groups. It took one other decade to rectify that.

37. Oct. 11, 2008: No. 5 Texas 45, No. 1 Oklahoma 35. With three one-loss heavyweights (Texas, Oklahoma and Florida) and an unbeaten and dominant mid-major (Utah), the 2008 season would have been good for a four-team playoff. But we have been nonetheless six years away from that. Instead, Oklahoma misplaced a pleasant Red River monitor meet however eked out a spot in opposition to Florida within the title sport because of a late-season run of scoring 60-plus factors in 5 straight video games.

38-39. Nov. 18, 2011: Iowa State 37, No. 2 Oklahoma State 31; Jan. 9, 2012: No. 2 Alabama 21, No. 1 LSU 0. The two video games that broke the camel’s again. The drumbeat for a playoff had already grown deafening by 2011, however when Iowa State upset unbeaten Oklahoma State late within the season — thanks partly to a subject aim Oklahoma State missed by a millimeter, if in any respect — Alabama ended up touchdown the No. 2 spot and getting a rematch in opposition to unbeaten LSU after a traditional 9-6 Tigers win in November. The title sport was a 60-minute sleeper maintain within the Tide’s favor, and the poor TV rankings that resulted from it satisfied the ultimate holdouts {that a} four-team playoff was a fairly good concept.

40. Jan. 1, 2018: No. 3 Georgia 54, No. 2 Oklahoma 48. In the College Football Playoff period, main bowls serve a special goal — the most important bowls are actually semifinals and, within the 12-team period, quarterfinals. But every now and then these video games can nonetheless be remembered as bowls, playoff video games and absolute classics. And the 2018 Rose Bowl was an almost good soccer sport irrespective of the stakes.

41. Dec. 2, 2023: No. 4 Florida State 16, No. 15 Louisville 6. In 2023, the final 12 months earlier than the CFP expanded from 4 to 12 groups — a transfer delayed, partly, by the ACC’s personal resistance to the thought — an unbeaten power-conference champion was denied a shot on the title. It was an all-time second of disgrace for the CFP and its choice committee. With quarterback Jordan Travis out for the season with damage, FSU received the ACC championship sport with unbelievable protection, however the Seminoles’ iffy-looking offense scared the committee, which put a one-loss Alabama of their place.

42. Jan. 9, 2025: No. 3 Notre Dame 27, No. 5 Penn State 24. In the 12-team period, probably the most profitable groups play in — and, doubtlessly, win — a number of main bowls. This traditional Orange Bowl pitted the winners of the Sugar Bowl (Notre Dame) and Fiesta Bowl (Penn State). You can replenish a trophy case awfully rapidly as of late.

Upsets

For a sport so dominated by a selected ruling class, upsets are the lifeblood. No one can ever get too comfy, and nothing can ever change into too predictable. And simply as the game’s Goliath class started to kind a century in the past, an limitless record of Davids have waited their flip to attempt one thing spectacular. And once they’ve succeeded, it has produced a few of the sport’s most good moments.

43. Nov. 27, 1926: Carnegie Tech 19, Notre Dame 0. Even teaching greats could make bone-headed errors. With his crew two video games from a second unbeaten season in three years, Notre Dame’s Knute Rockne elected to attend the Army-Navy sport in Chicago — a sport that devoted the newly opened Soldier Field — as a substitute of going together with his crew to Pittsburgh for what was certain to be a straightforward win over what’s now Carnegie Mellon. Whoops. A crowd of 45,000 witnessed a convincing efficiency by the house crew and rushed the sphere on the finish of it.

44. Sept. 18, 1953: Southern Miss 25, No. 5 Alabama 19. Southern Miss would not formally enter the world of main school soccer for one more decade, however in opposition to a Bama crew coming off a 10-2 marketing campaign in 1952 — one which Grantland Rice named because the preseason No. 1 — Mississippi Southern (because it was then known as) performed a shocking sport. Hugh Pepper scored on a pair of lengthy touchdowns, and Jim “Brick” Mason scored to offer the guests the lead halfway by means of the fourth quarter. The lead held up, and Hattiesburg was the middle of the faculty soccer universe for a weekend.

45. Nov. 16, 1957: Notre Dame 7, No. 2 Oklahoma 0. OK, not each superb upset was pulled by a David. Oklahoma misplaced to Notre Dame to start out the 1953 season, however Bud Wilkinson’s Sooners hadn’t tasted defeat within the greater than 4 years that adopted. It took the Irish — a crew that had been thumped by Navy and Michigan State in its two earlier video games, no much less — to finish OU’s unfathomable 47-game profitable streak.

46. Jan. 1, 1966: No. 5 UCLA 14, No. 1 Michigan State 12. Tommy Prothro inherited a sub-.500 UCLA crew and turned it right into a Rose Bowl champ in his first season. The Bruins had begun the season with a loss to an excellent Michigan State crew however received a shot at revenge as a two-touchdown underdog in Pasadena.

UCLA led 14-0 heading into the fourth quarter and 14-6 into the ultimate minute. State scored, however UCLA’s Bob Stiles knocked himself unconscious knocking huge Bob Apisa down in need of the aim line on the 2-point conversion.

47. Nov. 22, 1969: No. 12 Michigan 24, No. 1 Ohio State 12. Woody Hayes’ Ohio State was the defending nationwide champion and a winner of twenty-two video games in a row. Michigan was attempting to reestablish its footing below first-year coach Bo Schembechler. The Wolverines scored an upset that began what turned referred to as the Ten Year War, the height of one of many sport’s most celebrated rivalries.

48. Dec. 2, 1972: No. 9 Auburn 17, No. 2 Alabama 16. Since adopting the wishbone to start out the 1971 season, Alabama was 21-1 with a loss solely to an immortal 1971 Nebraska crew. But Auburn found out a surefire upset hack: Simply have one man (Bill Newton) block two fourth-quarter punts, and have one other man (David Langner) return each of them for touchdowns! It turned referred to as Punt Bama Punt, and it turned a 16-3 deficit into an all-time rivalry win.

49. Oct. 25, 1980: Mississippi State 6, No. 1 Alabama 3. Alabama had gone 41-2 for the reason that begin of the 1977 season, with losses solely to mighty USC and Nebraska, and the Tide introduced a 28-game profitable streak to Jackson to face an MSU crew that hadn’t crushed them since 1957. What adopted was perhaps the SEC’s best upset.

50. Jan. 2, 1984: No. 5 Miami 31, No. 1 Nebraska 30. When Miami employed Howard Schnellenberger in 1979, it was a program with out a lot of a historical past, one which had famously virtually been discontinued. Five seasons later, it was a title program. Against an all-time nice Nebraska crew, the Hurricanes pulled off a history-altering upset.

51. Sept. 2, 1989: Southern Miss 30, No. 6 Florida State 26. Bobby Bowden’s FSU went 22-2 in 1987-88, with each losses coming to epic Miami groups. But they started 1989 in opposition to Brett Favre and an upset-minded Southern Miss crew. Favre threw for 282 yards and two touchdowns, the second of which got here in the final seconds. Southern Miss has been a hell of a David by means of the years.

52. Sept. 2, 1995: Northwestern 17, No. 9 Notre Dame 15. Gary Barnett famously took the Purple to Pasadena in 1995, however the journey started in South Bend, the place the Wildcats took down the mighty Fighting Irish as 28-point underdogs. The NU protection stuffed a late fourth-down try, and the speeding of Darnell Autry (160 yards on the day) ran out the clock.

53. Jan. 1, 2007: No. 9 Boise State 43, No. 7 Oklahoma 42. Maybe probably the most well-known upset of the twenty first century …

54. Sept. 1, 2007: Appalachian State 34, No. 5 Michigan 32. … until THIS one is probably the most well-known upset of the twenty first century.

55. Oct. 6, 2007: Stanford 24, No. 2 USC 23. The 2007 season started with one of many greatest stunners on file (No. 54), however Stanford despatched issues into overdrive. Jim Harbaugh’s first Cardinal crew was a 40.5-point underdog, however Tavita Pritchard — now the college’s head coach — discovered Mark Bradford for a 10-yard, fourth-down landing within the ultimate minute, and Stanford pulled a stunner.

56. Dec. 1, 2007: Pitt 13, No. 2 West Virginia 9. The superb 2007 season reached its denouement in Morgantown, the place West Virginia discovered itself one Backyard Brawl win away from a visit to the BCS title sport. The Mountaineers have been 28.5-point favorites over 5-6 Pitt, however star quarterback Pat White was harm and ineffective, star working again Steve Slaton rushed for simply 11 yards, some man named Pat McAfee missed two subject objectives (however punted effectively, to be honest), and Pitt pulled off a devastating upset.

57. Sept. 2, 2017: Howard 43, UNLV 40. UNLV has misplaced heaps of video games by means of the years; how do the Rebels make it on this record? By shedding as a 45-point favourite. Caylin Newton — Cam’s brother — rushed for 190 yards and threw for 140, and Howard completed the sport on a 22-7 run for a stunner.

58. Oct. 5, 2024: Vanderbilt 40, No. 1 Alabama 35. Vandy was turnt.

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The sport can nonetheless (all the time) frustrate us

Close calls, unsatisfying endings, presidential interference. Without even moving into all of the ways in which millionaire boosters and message board conspiracy theorists add a gradual dose of drama to all the goings-on — and do not even get us began on convention realignment (that part’s somewhat additional down) — this sport can drive us completely batty generally.

59. Nov. 19, 1966: No. 2 Michigan State 10, No. 1 Notre Dame 10. With two unbelievable, unbeaten groups assembly late within the 1966 season, this was one of many first true Game of the Century conditions. And it resulted in a tie when Notre Dame, making do with backup quarterback Coley O’Brien after starter Terry Hanratty was injured, elected to play it secure and let the clock run out as a substitute of risking errors driving for a profitable subject aim. It was logical and intensely unsatisfying. (Sports Illustrated’s Dan Jenkins wrote that head coach Ara Parseghian selected to “tie one for the Gipper.”) And it turned much more controversial when AP voters nonetheless gave the nationwide title to the Irish over unbeaten (and untied) Alabama.

60. Dec. 6, 1969: No. 1 Texas 15, No. 2 Arkansas 14. Another of the true Game of the Century moments, this sport was a real occasion, pushed to the top of the common season for TV functions and attended by President Richard Nixon. Texas scored 15 fourth-quarter factors to win a thriller, however issues received bizarre after the sport when Nixon offered the Longhorns with a plaque declaring them nationwide champions regardless that (A) they nonetheless needed to beat Notre Dame within the Cotton Bowl and (B) Joe Paterno’s Penn State was additionally unbeaten. As Paterno would say at a graduation speech a couple of years later, “I’ve wondered how President Nixon could know so little about Watergate in 1973 and so much about college football in 1969.”

61. Oct. 15, 1988: No. 4 Notre Dame 31, No. 1 Miami 30. The greatest sport of 1988 — and the topic of a 30-for-30 — was determined by an overtly horrible name: With Miami down seven within the fourth quarter, Cleveland Gary was tackled on the Notre Dame 1 and was clearly down earlier than the ball got here free, however he was dominated to have fumbled, and the Irish recovered. Granted, that decision was evened out by a shaky late landing for Miami’s Andre Brown (it certain did not appear like he held onto the ball lengthy sufficient for it to be a catch).

People won’t all the time love replay evaluations as of late, however the lack of them certain had a big impact on an enormous sport.

62. Oct. 6, 1990: No. 12 Colorado 33, Missouri 31.

• First-and-goal: Charles Johnson spikes the ball to cease the clock.

• Second-and-goal: Eric Bieniemy rushes to the Missouri 1.

• Third-and-goal (with the down marker nonetheless exhibiting second down): Bieniemy is stuffed on the 1.

• Fourth-and-goal (down marker exhibiting third): Johnson spikes the ball to cease the clock with 0:02 left.

• Fifth-and-goal (down marker exhibiting fourth): A Johnson keeper is dominated a landing, although it is not clear that he reached the ball throughout the aim line earlier than he ought to have been dominated down.

On Missouri’s disgustingly slick Omniturf subject, Colorado received an additional right down to keep away from an upset. The Buffaloes would win a share of the nationwide title three months later.

63. Jan. 1, 1991: No. 1 Colorado 10, No. 5 Notre Dame 9. Colorado received a bit extra assist in that title bid when Rocket Ismail’s dramatic last-minute punt return landing was known as again due to a doubtful clipping penalty. Meanwhile, No. 2 Georgia Tech was caught taking part in No. 19 Nebraska within the Citrus Bowl due to doubtful (and early) bowl choice processes; the Yellow Jackets’ 24-point win was sufficient to earn the No. 1 rating within the coaches’ ballot, however all the things about how this title race performed out was unsatisfying.

64. Nov. 8, 1997: No. 1 Nebraska 45, Missouri 38. Another controversial win over Missouri, one other break up nationwide title. Nebraska was a four-touchdown favourite in Columbia and trailed within the closing seconds when Scott Frost’s fourth-down cross to Shevin Wiggins was damaged up. As it fell towards the bottom, Wiggins swept his ft round and knocked the ball into the air. A diving Matt Davison caught it, sending the sport to time beyond regulation as Mizzou followers rushed the sphere in celebration of what they thought was a win. Wiggins later admitted that he deliberately (and illegally) kicked the ball, however Nebraska remained unbeaten and ultimately break up the title with Michigan within the ultimate 12 months earlier than the BCS.

65. Jan. 3, 2003: No. 2 Ohio State 31, No. 1 Miami 24. Another fourth-down cross damaged up, one other untimely celebration. I’ll endlessly say that the cross interference name in opposition to Miami that prolonged the 2002 season’s BCS championship sport — ultimately received by Ohio State — was a good name. It was extraordinarily bodily protection. But it was additionally a painfully late name and a very painful strategy to deny Miami a second straight nationwide title and dynasty standing.

66. Nov. 26, 2016: No. 2 Ohio State 30, No. 3 Michigan 27. According to the field rating, 107 gamers noticed the sphere on this sport, as 110,045 followers watched within the stands on a blustery fall day in Columbus. And in the long run, it was determined by an virtually literal millimeter. Down 27-24 within the second time beyond regulation of a high-stakes traditional, J.T. Barrett rushed over left guard on fourth-and-1 from the Michigan 16. He both gained precisely 1 yard, or he gained about 0.99. Regardless, a primary down was given, and Curtis Samuel scored the profitable landing on the following play, denying Michigan a shot on the Big Ten title and a primary College Football Playoff berth. (The Wolverines must wait one other 5 years for each of these.) This one took “game of inches” too far.

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The siren music of tv

Fans of nearly each sport on the planet will spend hours telling you all of the ways in which tv has ruined their sport of alternative. I personally get pleasure from the truth that I can watch virtually actually any sport I would like on a given Saturday, however TV has definitely impacted the route of the game, particularly because it pertains to convention realignment. And at this level, you possibly can’t inform school soccer’s story with out tracing its TV historical past.

67. Sept. 30, 1939: Fordham 34, Waynesburg 7. From my 2025 e book, “Forward Progress“: “It’s generally accepted lore that the first network-televised football game kicked off on Sept. 30, 1939. Glenn Miller’s “In the Mood” was just beginning its run of radio dominance, “The Wizard of Oz” had debuted in theaters only a month earlier, and at Triborough Stadium on Randalls Island in New York, Fordham, home of the Seven Blocks of Granite and loser of only two games in the previous three seasons, walloped Waynesburg 34-7 to start its 1939 campaign. Thanks to an NBC camera on a tripod in the southwest corner of the stadium, some local viewers lucky enough to own a still-rare television — between 500 and 5,000, according to the NCAA — got to watch the blowout from the comfort of their own homes.”

68. Nov. 18, 1967: No. 4 USC 21, No. 1 UCLA 20. With progressive route from energetic younger government Roone Arledge, ABC Sports moved into the faculty soccer sport within the Sixties and introduced never-before-seen manufacturing worth to the desk. That lent a brand new degree of gravitas to big-game broadcasts, and it did not get any larger than this one, a rivalry sport between top-five groups — and that includes two future Heisman winners (Gary Beban in 1967, O.J. Simpson in 1968) — performed in entrance of 90,772. Simpson unleashed a weaving, 64-yard landing run early within the fourth quarter to safe a traditional win.

69. Nov. 25, 1971: No. 1 Nebraska 35, No. 2 Oklahoma 31. ABC was working manufacturing of the mom of all Games of the Century, as two rampant Big 8 rivals went toe-to-toe in one other traditional. Johnny Rodgers opened the scoring with probably the most well-known punt returns ever, a 72-yarder three minutes into the sport, however three lead modifications later, OU was on high heading into the ultimate two minutes. It took Jeff Kinney’s fourth landing run, a diving 2-yarder with 1:38 left, to safe the win — and the eventual nationwide title — for the Huskers.

70. Sept. 1, 1984: BYU 20, No. 3 Pitt 14. The Supreme Court’s 1984 choice in NCAA v. Board of Regents dominated that the NCAA could not management school soccer tv alternatives and opened the floodgates. An formidable startup by the identify of ESPN swooped in and aired a full slate of stay school soccer for the primary time in 1984. The very first sport of that season? An upset victory for a BYU crew that might go 13-0 and win perhaps probably the most shocking nationwide title ever.

71. Dec. 5, 1992: No. 2 Alabama 28, No. 12 Florida 21. Roy Kramer took an enormous danger when he elected to increase the SEC to 12 groups and create a convention title sport between two division winners. But it turned out to be a tv gold mine and all-around cash cannon. And when Gene Stallings’ Alabama fended off Steve Spurrier’s Florida within the inaugural title sport, it did not even value the league a nationwide title crew. The two-divisions-and-title-game mannequin would rapidly set the convention realignment template.

72. Nov. 13, 1993: No. 2 Notre Dame 31, No. 1 Florida State 24. The decade after the Board of Regents case was a slippery one, with monetary ups and downs and the Bowl Alliance/Coalition and convention realignment creating loads of change. But fan pleasure did not waver, and ESPN’s “College GameDay” started to harness it on a weekly foundation beginning with its first on-location shoot earlier than 1993’s huge 1-versus-2 matchup.

73. Oct. 14, 1999: No. 15 Marshall 38, Toledo 13. Granted, it was performed on a Thursday night time and never a Tuesday or Wednesday, however we’ll nonetheless depend this as the primary MACtion sport, a battle between the MAC’s two sturdiest late-Nineties packages. Chad Pennington threw for 393 yards and three touchdowns, and Gary Pinkel’s Toledo simply could not sustain with the two-time defending convention champs. Weeknight soccer would solely change into extra viable shifting ahead.

74. Oct. 8, 2011: No. 21 Virginia Tech 38, Miami 35. It can typically appear as if the faculty soccer business is, like nearly each sport, catering completely to tv viewers as a substitute of the followers who create the ambiance that makes it such an incredible TV product. But every now and then, the previous captures the latter too brilliantly for phrases. Like when “Enter Sandman” kicks up on the finish of a wild, back-and-forth sport in Blacksburg, Virginia.

75. Aug. 28, 2014: No. 21 Texas A&M 52, No. 9 South Carolina 28. The Big Ten received a head begin on the sphere by beginning its Big Ten Network in 2007, and regardless of an inauspicious debut — the primary BTN soccer sport was Michigan’s well-known loss to App State — it was so financially profitable that different conferences had no alternative however to pursue related goals. And in 2014, the ESPN-aligned SEC Network debuted, kicking off with a Week 1 convention battle. “Sandstorm” blared, after which the Aggies romped.

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Realignment

You cannot actually inform the fashionable story of tv and school soccer with out addressing convention realignment. It was incessantly pushed by the pursuit of tv {dollars}, and it each affirmed and enhanced the convention energy constructions. And waves of realignment within the early-Nineties, early-2010s and early-2020s modified the form of the game.

76. Oct. 15, 1994: No. 3 Penn State 31, No. 5 Michigan 24. The Big Ten toppled the primary domino within the early-Nineties realignment wave, asserting it was including then-independent Penn State (and formally beginning the “numbers in conference titles mean nothing” pattern that the Big 12 has since additionally taken to extremes). Joe Paterno’s Penn State gave the league one other large model, and in solely the Nittany Lions’ second Big Ten season, they produced certainly one of their all-time greatest groups, profitable eight convention video games by a mean of 27 factors and rolling over Oregon of their first Rose Bowl in 72 years. One of their few challenges got here in prime time in Ann Arbor in entrance of a crowd of 106,832.

77. Nov. 2, 1995: No. 24 Virginia 33, No. 2 Florida State 28. The ACC scored a coup when it added one other huge indie model, Florida State, beginning within the 1992 season. But the remainder of the ACC rapidly become grist for the Seminoles’ machine; FSU received its first 29 convention video games till an excellent Tiki Barber (311 all-purpose yards) and a goal-line cease of Warrick Dunn ended the streak and struck a blow for the power of the league.

78. Dec. 2, 1995: Houston 18, Rice 17. The Big 12, the primary actually new creation of the realignment wars, would start play in 1996 with all eight members of the Big 8 and half the remaining Southwest Conference becoming a member of collectively. But that left the different half of the SWC to fend for itself, and the final official SWC sport pitted Conference USA-bound Houston in opposition to a Rice crew bracing for all times within the super-sized new WAC. It was a thriller, at the least: Houston scored 15 unanswered factors within the fourth quarter, and Rice missed a 38-yard subject aim with 12 seconds left.

79. Dec. 7, 1996: Texas 37, No. 3 Nebraska 27. Though the SEC managed to have its cake (a convention title sport) and eat it too (1992 Alabama nonetheless received the nationwide title), the Big 12 championship sport instantly established a special form of vibe. It would upend its groups’ nationwide title hopes with upsets in 1996, 1998, 2001 and 2007 and almost accomplish that in 2000, 2003 and 2009 as effectively. And the chaos vibes started instantly, when a 7-5 Texas crew rode working again Priest Holmes and a shocking 61-yard cross from James Brown to order tight finish Derek Lewis to drag off an upset of two-time defending nationwide champion Nebraska.

80. Nov. 10, 2012: No. 15 Texas A&M 29, No. 1 Alabama 24. The subsequent large spherical of realignment almost killed off the Big 12 as discontentment with unequal cash distribution and Texas’ domineering presence led Nebraska to depart for the Big Ten, Colorado for the Pac-12, and Texas A&M and Missouri for the SEC. It additionally produced fast magic for the SEC when, in its first season within the league, A&M launched Johnny Manziel to the world and he led an 11-win cost and a legendary win over Alabama.

81. Nov. 4, 2023: Oklahoma State 27, No. 10 Oklahoma 24. The pursuit of manufacturers and media rights cash over geographical and historic ties led to the breaking of numerous storied rivalry video games, from the Backyard Brawl to Oklahoma-Nebraska and Missouri-Kansas. But within the 2020s, issues have gotten extra malicious as even in-state rivalries have been damaged within the super-sizing of the SEC (to 16 groups with the addition of Texas and Oklahoma) and Big Ten (to 18 with the addition of one-third of the Pac-12). The Apple Cup (Washington-Washington State) and Civil War (Oregon-Oregon State) have been relegated to early season nonconference video games, however at the least these groups are nonetheless taking part in. Oklahoma and Oklahoma State haven’t any Bedlam video games scheduled in the mean time, that means their 2023 version — a very wild one received by an OSU crew OU was abandoning — was the final for the foreseeable future. Ridiculous.

82. Oct. 25, 2024: USC 42, Rutgers 20. But hey, at the least we received a USC-Rutgers sport, kicking off at 11 p.m. ET in Los Angeles, out of the deal!

83. Oct. 11, 2025: No. 7 Indiana 30, No. 3 Oregon 20. One novelty of the newly realigned period is that unusual matchups change into large ones. Oregon and Indiana had squared off solely thrice earlier than final fall, however they performed two of the most important video games of the 2025 season. First, Indiana proved its elite bona fides by heading to Eugene and knocking Oregon from the ranks of the unbeaten in mid-October. Then, the 2 groups met within the Peach Bowl in January’s CFP semifinals, a way more comfy Indiana win. Realignment creates unusual bedfellows.

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Classic endings

No matter how exhausting it looks like we’re attempting generally — by means of convention realignment and the usually fan-unfriendly hyper-capitalism of the period — we nonetheless have not found out a strategy to mess up Saturdays. Quite the other, in truth. The sport itself all the time retains us coming again as a result of, amongst different issues, we frequently do not know the way it will finish or when we will see one thing we have by no means seen earlier than.

84. Nov. 20, 1982: Cal 25, Stanford 20. Like a lateral fest that ends with a smashed trombone.

85. Nov. 23, 1984: No. 10 Boston College 47, No. 12 Miami 45. Or a soon-to-be Heisman winner in a stomach shirt finishing perhaps the Hail Mary’est Hail Mary of all of them.

86. Nov. 16, 1991: No. 2 Miami 17, No. 1 Florida State 16. Or the most important rivalry sport within the sport ending with a subject aim that sails vast proper … after which ending the very same means the following season (and once more eight years later).

87. Sept. 24, 1994: No. 7 Colorado 27, No. 4 Michigan 26. Or a Hail Mary so superb that it made legendary broadcaster Keith Jackson’s voice crack.

88. Nov. 9, 2002: No. 16 LSU 33, Kentucky 30. Or a Hail Mary catch-and-run after a untimely Gatorade tub.

89. Oct. 27, 2007: Trinity 28, Millsaps 24. Or a greater than minutelong lateral fest.

90-91. Nov. 16, 2013: No. 7 Auburn 43, No. 25 Georgia 38; Nov. 30, 2013: No. 4 Auburn 34, No. 1 Alabama 28. Or back-to-back dwelling miracles for a crew that rattling close to received the nationwide title.

(We miss you, Rod Bramblett.)

92. Dec. 24, 2014: Western Kentucky 49, Central Michigan 48. Or a Hail Mary/hook-and-ladder combo (adopted by an terrible 2-point conversion try).

93. Oct. 17, 2015: No. 7 Michigan State 27, No. 12 Michigan 23. Or bother with the snap!

That one additionally birthed a legendary “Surrender Cobra.”

94. Oct. 31, 2015: Miami 30, No. 22 Duke 27. Or perhaps the wildest (and undoubtedly most unlawful) lateral fest but? (Seems just like the refs simply determined this one was too cool to nullify.)

95. Sept. 10, 2016: Central Michigan 30, No. 22 Oklahoma State 27. Or a Hail Mary-and-lateral on an untimed down that should not have occurred.

96. Oct. 1, 2016: No. 11 Tennessee 34, No. 25 Georgia 31. Or a second-TD-in-10-seconds Hail Mary that occurs on the identical day as completely chaotic endings in Clemson, Ames, Tallahassee, Fort Worth and State College (and the day after one of many wildest monitor meets of the century).

97. Jan. 8, 2018: No. 4 Alabama 26, No. 3 Georgia 23. Or an all-timer of a nationwide title sport that ends on second-and-26.

98. Dec. 31, 2022: Georgia 42, Ohio State 41. Or an all-timer of a semifinal sport that ends on a subject aim that goes into the air in a single 12 months and lands within the subsequent.

THIS SYNCED PERFECTLY 😳

Ohio State-Georgia completed virtually precisely because the 2023 ball dropped 🤯 pic.twitter.com/aMb8TW6dBp

— ESPN (@espn) January 1, 2023

99. Nov. 25, 2023: Alabama 27, Auburn 24. Or a rivalry sport that ends on a fourth-and-31 play known as Gravedigger.

100. Jan. 5, 2026: Montana State 35, Illinois State 34. Or a smaller-school nationwide title sport that goes to time beyond regulation after a blocked subject aim and ends on a fourth-and-long lob.

We’re by no means, ever going to cease watching this wonderful nonsense. And that explains school soccer higher than something.