Monday night’s College Football Playoff National Championship certainly lived up the hype. The game was filled with drama from beginning to end, with Alabama eventually outlasting Clemson, 45-40.
This one had everything: big plays, fearless quarterback play, gutsy play-calling and unlikely heroes. But how does it stack up against other national championship games from the BCS and College Football Playoff eras?
Here’s how we ranked them:
5. 2011 BCS National Championship: Auburn 22, Oregon 19
This was a game between the contrasting styles of Chip Kelly’s up-tempo Oregon Ducks against the bruising running game of Heisman Trophy winner Cam Newton and running back Michael Dyer.
Auburn kept Oregon’s offense in check for most of the night, including two defensive stands inside the 10-yard line, and held a 19-11 lead late in the fourth. As Newton tried to ice the win, Casey Matthews knocked the ball out of his hands on a designed QB run inside the five-minute mark.
Eight plays later, Oregon tied things up on a Darron Thomas shovel pass to LaMichael James and a completed two-point conversion to Jeff Maehl.
The most famous play of the game came on Auburn’s ensuing drive. The Tigers took over with 2:19 to go and Newton handed off to Dyer on the second play of the possession. He was wrestled down by an Oregon defender, but not all the way down.
Dyer was never ruled down, so he was able to break off a 37-yard gain. Newton and Dyer ate up yards and clock the rest of the way, setting up a walk-off 19-yard field goal from Wes Byrum, giving Auburn its first national title since 1957.
4. 2014 BCS National Championship Game: Florida State 34, Auburn 31
Auburn came out on the losing end of this one thanks to the efforts of Jameis Winston, Kelvin Benjamin and the rest of the Florida State Seminoles.
Winston, that season’s Heisman Trophy winner, wasn’t sharp for much of the game, but came up big when it mattered. After the Tigers went ahead 31-27 on a 37-yard Tre Mason touchdown run with 1:19 remaining, the redshirt freshman quarterback led FSU on a seven-play, 80-yard drive which was capped off by a two-yard touchdown pass to Benjamin with 13 seconds remaining.
That heroic drive capped off a big second half comeback. Auburn led 21-3 late in the second quarter and 21-10 at the break. Florida State chipped away at the lead in the second half and eventually went ahead 27-24 on a 100-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Levonte Whitfield with 4:31 left. Mason’s run a few minutes later gave the lead back to Auburn, but Winston was able to engineer that dramatic last-minute drive to give FSU its first national title since 1999.
3. 2016 College Football Playoff National Championship: Alabama 45, Clemson 40
Monday night’s game immediately jumps near the top of national title games. The game was compelling from start to finish – from the two touchdown catches by Clemson’s Hunter Renfrow, a former walk-on, to Alabama catching the Tigers off-guard with a gusty and perfectly executed onside kick early in the fourth.
It was one of those games you never wanted to end.
Henry, the 2015 Heisman winner, scored two first half touchdowns to match Deshaun Watson’s touchdown connections with Renfrow, setting up a 14-14 halftime tie. Alabama’s Jake Coker shook off a slow start to find overlooked tight end O.J. Howard wide open for a 53-yard score to give the Tide an early third quarter lead, but Clemson quickly responded – first on a Greg Huegel field goal, and then on a short Wayne Gallman TD run, to give the Tigers a 24-21 lead late in the third.
Alabama tied it up with a field goal of its own early in the fourth. That’s when Saban rolled the dice and gave the ball back to his offense on the onside kick.
Two plays later, Alabama had a lead when Coker found Howard behind the defense yet again for a 51-yard score.
The game was put out of reach on another special teams play – a 95-yard kickoff return by Kenyan Drake that gave Bama a 38-27 lead. Clemson cut the lead to 38-33 with 4:40 remaining on Watson’s third touchdown pass of the night, this time to Artavis Scott, but a third Henry touchdown run sealed the win for the Crimson Tide.
2. 2003 BCS National Championship: Ohio State 31, Miami 24 (2OT)
For the first three quarters, this game was highly contested, but nowhere near spectacular. The fourth quarter and subsequent overtimes are what vaults this one to the No. 2 spot on our list.
Miami, which was riding a 34-game winning streak, trailed the 11.5-point underdog Buckeyes 17-14 entering the final quarter. A huge punt return by Roscoe Parrish and a last second 40-yard field goal by Todd Sievers forced overtime. The teams traded touchdowns in the first overtime, but it wasn’t without controversy. A Ken Dorsey pass to Kellen Winslow gave Miami a lead, and the Hurricanes thought they had the national title wrapped up when a pass from OSU’s Craig Krenzel fell incomplete on fourth-and-goal from the five. However, a late pass-interference penalty was called. Miami's sideline actually flooded the field in celebration, thinking the game was over. But the flag gave the Buckeyes new life.
Three plays later, Krenzel snuck it in from a yard out to tie the score and force a second OT.
Maurice Clarett, OSU’s star freshman running back, scored from five yards out to open the second overtime. On Miami’s turn, Dorsey’s fourth-down pass fell incomplete, to seal Ohio State’s perfect 14-0 season and give the program its first national title since 1970.
1. 2006 BCS National Championship: Texas 41, USC 38.
When Clemson cut Alabama’s lead to 38-33 with under five minutes to go in Monday night’s title game, one couldn’t help but notice how it compared to Texas’ infamous comeback win over USC in the ’06 Rose Bowl.
Behind an incredible performance from quarterback Vince Young – 267 yards passing, 200 yards and 3 TDs rushing – the Longhorns overcame a 38-26 USC lead in the final 6:42 to give the Longhorns a dramatic comeback win.
Texas actually led much of the game, but USC took a 24-23 lead on a LenDale White touchdown run late in the third. A 26-yard touchdown from Reggie Bush and a 22-yard connection from Matt Leinart to Dwayne Jarrett expanded that lead to 38-26 late in the fourth, setting the stage for Young and the Longhorns’ comeback.
Young scored on a 33-yard run to cut the lead to 38-33 with just over four minutes to go. Texas then stuffed White on a fourth-and-short run on USC’s ensuing drive, leading to Young’s famous, game-winning touchdown run on fourth down from the USC 8-yard line.
Young and the Longhorns’ heroics snapped USC’s 34-game winning streak and gave Texas its first outright title in 36 years. It doesn’t get much better than that.
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