The 20 Best Bowl Games of the 2000s: 10-1

You saw 20-11 on my list of best bowl games of the decade but here come the heavy hitters. The real water cooler games that have produced some of college football's best memories this decade and, in some cases, ever.

10. 2000 Independence Bowl- Miss State 43, Texas A&M 41 OT
While it was almost ten years ago, I actually remember watching this game. I was still kind of young, trying to stay up on New Year’s Eve and watch a new millennium begin; oh the excitement! This snow-filled affair in Shreveport (yeah, Shreveport and snow) helped keep me up, despite how difficult it was to see the Mississippi State players wearing all white. A couple unique bits...Mississippi State’s blocked PAT returned for 2 points in OT followed by Wayne Madkin scoring the last TD of the 20th century to win the game.



9. 2001 Holiday Bowl- Texas 47, Washington 43
After a scoreless first quarter, an air show broke out in the 2001 Holiday Bowl. Texas and Washington threw the ball 109 times and completed 69 passes. Major Applewhite threw for 473 yards and 4 TDs. Washington led 36-17 before Applewhite and the Longhorns stormed back with 23 unanswered points. Willie Hurst gave the Huskies a three-point lead with just 1:38 left but again Texas would come back. Applewhite brought the Longhorns down the field on a game-winning seven play, 80-yard touchdown drive to cap another Holiday Bowl shootout.

Highlights

8. 2005 Alamo Bowl- Nebraska 32, Michigan 28
A matchup between two storied programs produced a near-classic finish at the Alamo. The game was a good, yet relatively normal contest until down 32-28, Michigan had one last chance at the win...and Cal-Stanford part II almost broke out. It’s hard to explain all the details of the seven-lateral shuffle down the field...just watch what could have been "The team is on the field."



7. 2006 Orange Bowl- Penn State 26, Florida State 23 3 OT
College football’s two winningest coaches, Bowden and Paterno, squared off but it took awhile for either to get a win. Four missed kicks and five hours later, it was coach Paterno who walked out of the Orange Bowl a winner, as Kevin Kelly kicked a game-winning FG in the 3rd overtime. It was a sloppy game with lots of penalties (21 combined) and missed opportunities but still a tense, memorable one between two historic coaches.



6. 2009 Fiesta Bowl- Texas 24, Ohio State 21
It was fitting that the last laugh would go to a Texas receiver named Cosby. Although the Longhorns were controversially left out of the National Championship Game in favor of Oklahoma, they still got a BCS shot. The underdog Buckeyes trailed 17-6 going into the 4th quarter but scored 15 straight points, including the much-maligned quarterback Todd Boeckman throwing a TD to the freshman who took his spot on the depth chart, Terrelle Pryor. Ohio State held a 21-17 with 2:05 left, too much time for Colt McCoy to work with. With 28 seconds to go, McCoy connected with Quan Cosby, who jolted free into the end zone. Ohio State inexplicably had no defenders playing deep when all that could beat them was a touchdown.



5. 2005 Rose Bowl- Texas 38, Michigan 37
The granddaddy of them all was not the traditional Pac-10/Big 10 matchup but it sure was exciting. In a prelude to future triumph at the Rose Bowl, Vince Young took over the game. He had four TD runs and one TD pass. Young gained 192 yards on the ground and 180 passing. There was offense all around with Michigan’s Chad Henne, Steve Breaston and Braylon Edwards doing their best to match Young. Michigan took a two-point lead with 3:04 to go but Texas’ Dusty Mangum snuck a winning 37-yard FG over the crossbar and inside the right upright as time expired.



4. 2005 Capital One Bowl- Iowa 30, LSU 25
You might be wondering why this game is ranked so high. It wasn’t a national championship game or even a BCS one. But it was a New Year’s Day contest and it had an awesome final few minutes. It was Nick Saban’s last game as LSU coach (before going to the NFL) and his team was on the brink of sending him away a winner. Freshman JaMarcus Russell came off the bench and sparked the Tigers, throwing two TD passes to bring them from down 24-12 to up 25-24 with only 48 seconds left. But then the Hawkeye magic ensued. Last play of the game, 56 yards, and all you have to say in Iowa is Tate-to-Holloway, as the underdog Hawkeyes win on the unbelievable bomb.



Now before reading this top three let me just preface it by saying it is incredibly difficult to rank these next three games. It’s like trying to rank Huntington pizza places; they’re all really good in different ways. But here’s my best go at it...

3. 2003 Fiesta Bowl- Ohio State 30, Miami 23 2OT
In its fifth year, the BCS finally produced a classic championship game. Miami was an 11.5 point favorite and stocked with stars...Winslow, McGahee, Vilma, Wilfork, Sean Taylor, Andre Johnson, D.J. Williams, Devin Hester. A squad riding a 34-game win streak. The opponent, the underdog Buckeyes, with Jim Tressel and his sweater vest, in just his second year as Ohio State head coach. The drama was at a fever pitch in this game. There was Maurice Clarett’s strip, McGahee blowing out his knee, Miami’s comeback and Todd Sievers’ 40-yard FG as time expired…and that was just regulation. In the first overtime, Miami scored on its possession then thought it had the game won when Craig Krenzel’s 4th down pass fell incomplete, until a flag came out...a controversial pass interference on Miami. Ohio State tied it at 23 and then scored another TD in the second OT to take a 30-23 lead. On Miami’s possession, Ken Dorsey came out with an injury and then back in. But on 4th and goal at the 1, Cie Grant pressured Dorsey and his desperation heave fell to the Tempe grass.



2. 2006 Rose Bowl- Texas 41 USC 38
Perhaps the greatest college football championship game ever played, the 2006 Rose Bowl was the second BCS championship game to feature two undefeated teams. Vince Young returned to the Rose Bowl where he matched his impressive performance from a year ago. The game was close throughout, as USC took the biggest lead at 38-26 in the fourth. But like it has many times in this decade, the Longhorns came back in a bowl game, this time for a title. A pivotal moment came on 4th and 2 at the Texas 45 with just over two minutes to play. The Texas defense stopped LenDale White short and got the ball back, down five.

Just like the previous year against Michigan, Young led a game-winning drive in Pasadena. On 4th and 5, with the title on the line, Young darted into the end zone for the winning score. While White, Matt Leinart, Reggie Bush and Dwayne Jarrett all put up good numbers for USC, Young’s performance is one of the greatest in college football history. 30/40, 267 yards passing; 19 carries, 200 yds, 3 TD; for the night, 467 total yards. An unbelievable performance on the sport’s biggest stage.



1. 2007 Fiesta Bowl- Boise State 43, Oklahoma 42
David vs. Goliath was not for a national championship but it was chock-full of meaning. Utah had beaten Pittsburgh in the BCS two years before, but Pitt does not have the same national prestige of Oklahoma, a team that had been in the title game two of the three years prior to 2007. Boise State was the ultimate little guy, seen by many as just a horse-and-pony show on the smurf turf in Idaho.

The 2007 Fiesta Bowl saw the Broncos jump out to a first quarter lead that they would maintain until a Jared Zabransky pick was returned for a TD and Oklahoma took a TD lead with 1:02 remaining. It was over; the underdog had finally succumbed, right?

Wrong.

What makes this game the best of this decade and one of the best I’ve ever seen is a series of three unbelievable Boise State plays. First, the hook-and-lateral on 4th and 18 to send the game to overtime. Then, in OT, WR Vinny Perretta’s TD pass on 4th and 2 and finally the game-winning two-point conversion Statue of Liberty by Ian Johnson. And if that wasn’t enough drama, Johnson then proposed to his girlfriend, a Bronco cheerleader, in the postgame. This game is number one for the scrappiness and craftiness of the underdog to outsmart the big dog Sooners not once, not twice but three times. Games and moments like this are why we sit through hours and hours of sports.





So, yes, I still hate the BCS. Yes, college football still needs a playoff system. But in spite of all that, the 2000s have been home to some unforgettable bowl games and moments.