Still Can't Get Over This Game

By Sara Normand

Southern California versus Notre Dame on October 15, 2005, could go down as the greatest four hours in college football history. And the last three minutes could qualify it as the most controversial as well. It was a...
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[Mike]

Sara,

Wow i felt as if I was actually watching the game when I read your article. Just an outstanding read ma'am.

Those last three minutes were the most exciting in this year's college football season.

Now only if the NCAA could adapt some sort of playoff system and get rid of the BCS.

[Chris Kelley]

I come to wonder a minor question, whether a lot of brilliant college football games in history are lost amid "conflagration"...that is, the fact that the most brilliant, most outstanding, most stunning, may only be recognized if they have "dynamic importance" to national title seasons...or, in turn, are played between perenniel rivals. People remember Stanford/Cal to this day, 20-19/22-20. People called Oklahoma/Nebraska in 1970 the "Game of the Century". Here, it is between the two college teams that have the oldest rivalry in the game, the Glamour Game itself, deciding whether USC will go on to a national title (this'll likely be as close as they come to getting beat, if they win out), and in fact whether they have a run at OU's record of 47 straight.

But is it called what it is, because of who they are? To use a concept given in racing circles by many of its fans, "some of the greatest races of all time were in backlots between dirt cars, not at the high and towering spires of the great 'institutions' of the sport." And they have a point. Everyone in the auto racing world, if a true auto racing fan, remembers the great moments at locales like Monza, Monte Carlo, Spa and Silverstone, in Grand Prix racing....or, at 'Circuit Maximus', the Greatest Race Of Them All, the 1982 Indianapolis 500-Mile Race between Johncock&Mears, one word (or, in turn, the races held at Indy in 1955, '60, '77, '89, or '92, those were pretty good too). These events are remembered because they're at the Mt. Everests of sport, and everyone sees them, the atmosphere is what it is, and so forth.

Is the last game of the season between two medium-level bitter rivals, over who goes to a bowl game and who doesn't, any less, if the play is just as spectacular? I wonder. You make a brilliant case, Sara, for USC/ND/2005 being one of the greatest ever to be played, and I heartily agree. But the greatest ever? To quote a man who gave nod to the Ice Bowl in the pro's, but question the Ever status with the words "That's takin' in a LOT of games."

Maybe. The word that ever comes to mind. Especially with a game played between two teams out west having happened the same year as that one race I mentioned.

[Aveosmth]

USC-ND was no doubt a great game that had me on the edge of my seat. It was an absolute thriller.

However, I think there are a few games that edge it out. I think the Fiesta Bowl of 2002 & Cal-Stanford 1982 beat this game as far as drama & importance. If you think Leinart's fumble & sneak was crazy, how about Kevin Moen running over the Stanford band.

[jtg33]

The USC-ND game was clearly the best college football game we've had in a while, but I don't think it was better than the 2002 National Championship between Miami and Ohio State - double overtime, controversial calls, a national championship on the line. Best game I've ever seen.