ESPN Top 60 College Football Games Since 2000
Bill Connelly posted a list of the top 61 CFB games of the 2000s. List is paywalled on ESPN+ so here's Michigan's along with the top 25 pasted from the comments on Reddit. Michigan was a part of 5 (and of course was 1-4 in them).
41. Michigan 35, Alabama 34 (Jan. 1, 2000)
32. Ohio State 42, Michigan 39 (Nov. 18, 2006)
24. Texas 38, Michigan 37 (Jan. 1, 2005)
12. Northwestern 54, Michigan 51 (Nov. 4, 2000)
10. Appalachian State 34, Michigan 32 (Sept. 1, 2007)
Honestly expected to see 2016 OSU but I only started following closely after 2008 so didn't watch any of the Michigan games on the list. Here's the top 15. Rest can be found here if you don't have ESPN+: https://www.reddit.com/r/CFB/comments/svk82z/espn_college_footballs_60_best_games_of_the_2000s/
15. Arkansas 53, Ole Miss 52 (Nov. 7, 2015)
14. Auburn 28, Alabama 27 (Nov. 26, 2010)
13. Cincinnati 45, Pitt 44 (Dec. 5, 2009)
12. Northwestern 54, Michigan 51 (Nov. 4, 2000)
11. Ohio State 31, Miami 24 (Jan. 3, 2003)
10. Appalachian State 34, Michigan 32 (Sept. 1, 2007)
9. Alabama 32, Georgia 28 (Dec. 1, 2012)
8. Alabama 26, Georgia 23 (Jan. 8, 2018)
7. Nevada 34, Boise State 31 (Nov. 26, 2010)
6. Boise State 43, Oklahoma 42 (Jan. 1, 2007)
5. Texas Tech 39, Texas 33 (Nov. 1, 2008)
4. Auburn 43, Georgia 38 (Nov. 16, 2013)
3. Auburn 34, Alabama 28 (Nov. 30, 2013)
2. Georgia 54, Oklahoma 48 (Jan. 1, 2018)
1. Texas 41, USC 38 (Jan. 4, 2006)
February 19th, 2022 at 4:32 AM ^
Boise St Oklahoma 2007 deserves a top five.
February 19th, 2022 at 7:35 AM ^
I've yet to see a better game
February 19th, 2022 at 9:25 AM ^
I only saw the thread title and immediately thought about this game.
No dog in the fight while watching it obviously, but yet when people would come in the room, we were saying "SHHHHH......SIT DOWN" because we were that into it.
February 19th, 2022 at 10:04 AM ^
Definitely agree! It was a fantastic game and the ability of David V Goliath with David winning! The game itself was incredible and the backstory was too.
February 19th, 2022 at 12:35 PM ^
Hook and Ladder, the Statue of Liberty, the marriage proposal at the end... that game was amazing.
February 19th, 2022 at 7:01 PM ^
It wasn't just that though. Yes, the ending was surreal, but it was so much more than that. Boise State's opening big play TD and pushing the lead to 14. The inevitable OU comeback to pull within 4 before the 2-minute drill by BSU before the half. BSU's pick six early in the 3rd puts them up by 18. And then OU's grinding comeback including a ridiculous 13 yard 2 pt conversion to tie it up at 28. OU's pick six puts them up by 7 and then the ending of endings with the 4th and 19 hook and ladder and the two OTs.
There have been better played games. There have been more important games in college football history. But when Boise scored to go up 7-0 early, I'm not sure there's been a more riveting football game from start to finish like this one. These are games that make you a college football fan for life.
February 19th, 2022 at 4:32 AM ^
Boise St Oklahoma 2007 deserves a top five.
Ugh! First ever double post.
February 19th, 2022 at 4:35 AM ^
So let's add these up. Boise St. Oklahoma 4014 deserves top ten.
February 19th, 2022 at 4:52 AM ^
I guess he Blue it.
February 19th, 2022 at 6:11 AM ^
42-27 will always be #1 for me.
February 19th, 2022 at 8:30 AM ^
Same here, plus many who have been around college football a long time said it was the best college football game environment that they had ever seen.
February 19th, 2022 at 1:51 PM ^
February 19th, 2022 at 2:00 PM ^
It certainly brought us all great joy.
In terms of high stakes and competitiveness I was a little surprised that:
- 2006 UMvOSU (#1 v #2 even though the ending sucked) and
- 2016 UMvOSU (we won but.....yeah refs) and
- the 2005 Rose Bowl UM v Texas (which was certainly an exciting game eventough...yeah that sucked)
weren't higher.
February 19th, 2022 at 7:06 AM ^
ESPN Top 10 list flooded with Alabama, Georgia, Auburn, and future SEC Texas. It's almost as if ESPN only watches the SEC network. Hard to imagine
February 19th, 2022 at 7:25 AM ^
Connolly is pretty balanced. Some of those ratings might be a bit inflated, but they were excellent games with high stakes. It’s a pretty good list.
February 19th, 2022 at 11:42 AM ^
I agree that Connolly is generally well balanced, but the bias give away is that the Appalachia State game is the best Big 10 game. No way. It was very poorly played and not many people saw it happen. How does that game even make the list other than as a plant? Is #12 on there because Michigan couldn't play defense and featured a horrific fumble?
February 19th, 2022 at 4:39 PM ^
Respectfully disagree that it’s a pretty good list. And it’s not just because of the Michigan/B1G treatment.
Consider the Pac-12. There are 3 intraconference Pac-12 games on the whole list, the highest at #30 (which save for the Horror was the upset of this century).
Look at it this way: How is the ‘07 Pitt-WVU upset ranked 31st but the ‘06 UCLA upset of USC not on the list at all? Both games involved a mediocre underdog knocking a #2-ranked archrival out of the title race on the last weekend. They even had the same score (13-9)!
February 19th, 2022 at 9:28 AM ^
Clemson over Alabama 2017 was a top 10 game that they conveniently left out
February 19th, 2022 at 10:21 AM ^
Not that I defend ESPN, because they lost me when they got Disney-ized, but I don't picture that game as one of the Top 10.
February 19th, 2022 at 8:12 AM ^
What, no 2010 Illinois game? 67-65!
February 19th, 2022 at 9:28 AM ^
This is among my favorite games for it's absurdity. I love the fact that basketball teams frequently score less.
February 19th, 2022 at 11:42 AM ^
And no M00N game?
February 19th, 2022 at 8:23 AM ^
He got #1 right. That game was amazing.
February 19th, 2022 at 12:32 PM ^
Greatest football game and greatest individual performance I've ever seen on a football field at any level. Denard 2010 vs. Notre Dame comes close in terms of performance but you have to adjust for the stakes. To do that in a National Championship game is unreal.
February 19th, 2022 at 8:24 AM ^
Really surprised to see the 2000 Northwestern game on there over 2016 OSU and 2011 Notre Dame. The NW game was memorable (even though we lost) but nowhere near as memorable as the other two.
February 19th, 2022 at 8:38 AM ^
I agree. That 2000 NW game was more about defensive ineptitude than offensive brilliance. Speaking of which, Connelly doesn't seem to appreciate low-scoring games dominated by defenses. Too bad.
If the 2007 Appalachian State game is on the list (no argument here) there should be a place for the Stanford upset of USC. (But not for the 2008 Toledo game, no matter how much MGoBloggers want to make it more significant than the Appalachian State game.)
February 19th, 2022 at 9:36 AM ^
The App State game was a competitive game of football that Michigan came out on the wrong end of. Obviously it had the historic implications and a lot of pointing and laughing focused on Michigan.
The Toledo "game" (my freshman year) had me questioning what my purpose was. That whole football experience was brutal. App State was surely painful- being ranked 5 and having a wakeup call like that- but man watching them miss that 26 yard field goal on a game where Toledo had a career long field goal doink in and that 90+ yard interception return and yeah- that game was miserable.
February 19th, 2022 at 11:23 AM ^
Agreed. For me, if not all Michigan fans, that Toledo game was the worst as Michigan should have won on willpower and talent alone. Win by just not screwing up. It was so bad I gave the OSU alumnus guy in my department the joke that MIchigan didn't make it to the OSU game because they couldn't get past Toledo.
February 19th, 2022 at 11:32 AM ^
I'd never argue that the Toledo game wasn't a cavalcade of misery. It was. But MAC teams beat Big Ten teams almost every year. That's why it washed out of the sports news cycle pretty quickly.
How many times has an FCS team beaten a Top 5 FBS team? There's a reason the App State game is still remembered.
Toledo was a lousy (2-6) MAC team in 2008, but their worst losses that year don't compare to App State's worst (Wofford, Georgia Southern) in 2007.
Michigan had good talent on defense that year but it was (of course) incompetently managed. On offense they had a historically untalented team, especially at QB. Toledo winning was an upset, but not as huge as App State the year before.
The Schembechler regime had nearly forty years to figure out running QBs and they never managed to do it.
February 19th, 2022 at 7:01 PM ^
Great points. I would distinguish between great upsets and great games. For me, if the game was a display of errors and ineptitude then it is not a great game. Against Appalachia State, Michigan misfired on offense while the defense failed to play defense with long plays caused by defensive backs trying to make plays that weren't there. Appalachia State was a haven for SEC players that found a way to become academically ineligible and people that were grey shirted by Auburn or Alabama. If I recall correctly, they had 7 players on offense that were expected to be invited to pro football camps (the ones than ran by Michigan's DBs.)
February 19th, 2022 at 9:06 AM ^
They just didn't know where to spot the 2016 OSU v. UM game.
February 19th, 2022 at 11:24 AM ^
He ranked the 2016 game short.
February 19th, 2022 at 8:27 AM ^
Noticing Bill C may be a ND hater? Kind of surprised to not see UTL on there and the Bush Push game. Maybe too early in the season?
February 19th, 2022 at 6:04 PM ^
Bush Push didn't even make it? That is crazy to me. National broadcast at a time when games were far less accessible and it was a really good watch. I have vivid memories of that game, and I honestly can't recall what some of these Bama games in the top ten even were.
February 19th, 2022 at 8:39 AM ^
Just dumb how Alabama heavy it is.
a few more UM that should be there:
-2003 Michigan at Minnesota
-2004 Michigan vs Michigan State (Braylonfest)
-2004/05 Rose Bowl vs. Texas( essentially the same game as the #1 game, lol)
-2006 Michigan at OSU
2011 Michigan vs Notre Dame UTL
February 19th, 2022 at 9:13 AM ^
February 19th, 2022 at 9:24 AM ^
Couldn't agree more! They definitely leaned heavy into SEC schools.
February 19th, 2022 at 11:12 AM ^
The Rose Bowl vs. Texas was my senior year and it was amazing. My favorite loss I've attended. That's on the list though in the top 20.
February 19th, 2022 at 12:31 PM ^
I was at that Rose Bowl vs. Texas and I remember just shaking my head thinking "what are you gonna do? Vince Young gonna Vince Young." A year later, lots of USC fans in my shoes.
February 19th, 2022 at 9:09 AM ^
Braylonfest is still the most fun game I've ever watched - and yes, I watched 42-27 multiple times. Was in a country roadside bar during pheasant season in Michigan's Thumb. By the end, the entire bar was polarized and screaming. What a game, what an awesome environment that bar became!
February 19th, 2022 at 12:44 PM ^
I was in the student section at that game and other than the amazing Braylon catches I remember I checked the weather forecast before the game and told my gf "we better bring jackets" even though it was very warm at kickoff (everyone was in short sleeves).
Sure enough, the temperature fell off a cliff in the second half, like literally about 30 degrees, and the rest of the crowd was freezing while I smugly enjoyed the Braylonfestivities in my down alternative Polar Explorer, available in beige and taupe only in the J. Peterman catalog.
February 19th, 2022 at 9:23 AM ^
Seems to me they're trying to make Georgia vs Alabama a bigger thing than it is
February 19th, 2022 at 9:39 AM ^
100%
Transparently designed by ESPN to pump the SEC tires (and future SEC teams) since that is their major college football broadcast rights package going forward. Yes Bill Connelly but he obv works for ESPN his editors had more than a bit of input guiding this. Don’t think for a second it wasn’t calculated. Yes it’s not really a big deal since this doesn’t mean anything but just shapes their narrative more about how great the SEC is.
Not a single B1G matchup in the top 10 and the highest B1G team is us at 10 in the horror rather speaks for itself. The listed games were obviously good games. Just can’t tell me not a single one of those listed in the comments above weren’t worthy of slotting in here somewhere.
February 19th, 2022 at 10:31 AM ^
They're just normal football games with normal football scores.
If the names and uniforms were different nobody would care about these games even if they played out the exact same.
February 19th, 2022 at 11:38 AM ^
I thought the horror was a poorly played game. (Very poorly played.) M defense was young and mistake prone. Offense misfired. I think Henne's shoulder was injured in fall camp and throwing an interception on 1st down is nuts. Was the game fun to watch for anyone not hating against Michigan? Does anyone every re-watch that game? Nope. No way. No one watched (nationally.) No one enjoyed (hyperbolically.)
February 19th, 2022 at 9:50 AM ^
Agree with #1 times a thousand. That game was incredible down to the last second
February 19th, 2022 at 10:27 AM ^
Id bet money that 1/2 of those games werent even the "best" game played that day.
This is just another espn-SEC marketing ploy.
February 19th, 2022 at 10:40 AM ^
Well I was at two of those games. 2005 Rose bowl and…. The horror. Both heartbreaking in completely different ways.
February 19th, 2022 at 11:33 AM ^
15. Arkansas 53, Ole Miss 52 (Nov. 7, 2015)
This game featured one of the two crazy plays in CFB that kept OSU out of the playoff in 2015. If Arkansas does not convert the first down on this play, Ole Miss goes to the SEC title game instead of Bama.
The other crazy play...well, shall not be named on this website.
If both of those plays are reversed (neither game being played by either Alabama nor OSU), I still contend that Alabama likely would have been out and OSU probably in, with a good chance to repeat.