Who doesn't love a good upset?
From David and Goliath to the Miracle on Ice, there's something about an underdog story that gets our juices flowing.
Upsets happen in all shapes and sizes. It can be Appalachian State beating Michigan at the Big House or Boise State tricking its way past Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl.
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But there's something more special about an upset in a national championship game. It doesn't happen too often: after all, title games are meant to feature the two best teams in the land.
Still there have been huge shockers in the final game of the season over the past quarter century or so.
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The Sporting News details the eight biggest title game upsets since 1998, the first year of the BCS title game, listed in chronolgical order. Because there's nothing like a good end-of-the-year surprise to leave fans wanting more.
Biggest upsets in college football national championship games since 1998
2001: No. 1 Oklahoma 13, No. 3 Florida State 2
The Seminoles entered the 2001 Orange Bowl as 11.5-point favorites. One glimpse at their roster, and it was easy to see why: Chris Weinke won the Heisman and formed a formidable duo with wide receiver and burgeoning star Anquan Boldin.
But things didn't work out for Bobby Bowden and Co. that night. Bob Stoops' Sooners held Florida State's offense scoreless. The Seminioles' only points came via a safety in the final minute after a bad snap on a punt.
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2003: No. 2 Ohio State 31, No. 1 Miami 24 (2 OTs)
The Hurricanes were unbeatable for much of the early 2000s, and while they captured the national title in 2001, their 2002 squad may have been even better. Led by Heisman finalist Ken Dorsey and future NFL superstars Andre Johnson, Frank Gore, Vince Wilfork and Sean Taylor, Miami entered the 2003 Fiesta Bowl with dreams of cementing its status as one of the greatest teams in college football history.
But it was the Buckeyes who hoisted the trophy when all was said and done. The 11.5-point underdogs got a boost when Hurricanes star Willis McGahee shattered his knee on the fourth quarter tackle. The 'Canes struggled to recover, and Maurice Clarett's 5-yard score in the second overtime proved to be the difference, after a controversial pass intereference call on Miami in the first OT led to a game-tying OSU TD.
TSN ARCHIVES: Jim Tressel, Maurice Clarett and Ohio State's title-winning 2OT thriller (Jan. 13, 2003, issue)
2006: No. 2 Texas 41, No. 1 USC 38
The 2006 Rose Bowl featured two of the most dominant programs of the 2000s: USC and Texas. And they didn't disappoint under the Pasadena moon.
The Trojans, led by Heisman winners Matt Leinart and Reggie Bush, were putting the finishing touches on one of the most dominant stretches in college football history: after falling in double overtime to Cal in 2003, USC had reeled off 34 straight victories.
They met their match in the Longhorns. Led by Vince Young, Texas pulled off one of the great late-game rallies in college history. Young's 14-yard scamper to the end zone on fourth-and-5 capped off what is widely regarded as the greatest college football game ever. Horns up.
2008: No. 2 Florida 41, No. 1 Ohio State 14
This wasn't the biggest upset of the 2007-08 bowl season: that belonged to Boise State, which used a series of trick plays to vanquish Adrian Peterson and Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl.
But Tim Tebow's demolition of the Buckeyes' vaunted front line certainly caught some by surprise. The Buckeyes were a buzzsaw; they climbed to the top of the AP rankings in an undefeated campaign. They outpaced Michigan, the No. 2 team in the nation for much of the year, in a 42-39 barnburner.
But Ohio State didn't have an answer for Tebow, Urban Meyer, an Co. The Gators raced out to a 20-point edge in the second quarter and wouldn't relinquish it. They snatched the diamond-encrusted football from the seven-point favorites with relative ease.
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2012: No. 2 Alabama 21, No. 1 LSU 0
This national championship game featured two fearsome defenses. Alabama's crimson-clad giants proved superior under the Superdome in New Orleans.
The Tide kept LSU out of the end zone for the second time in as many games that season and held the Tigers to just 92 yards of total offense. Courtney Upshaw captured Defensive Player of the Game honors, AJ McCarron found the end zone and Nick Saban's squad got sweet revenge on LSU, which claimed a gutsy 9-6 win over the Tide earlier in the year.
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2015: No. 4 Ohio State 42, No. 2 Oregon 20
Prior to TCU's shocking victory over Michigan in the 2022 College Football Playoff semifinals, it's hard to argue that there was a much bigger underdog in the playoff era than the 2014 Buckeyes. OSU lost ugly to Virginia Tech in its second game of the season. If not for a 59-0 demolition of Wisconsin in the Big Ten championship game — coupled with shaky showings by TCU and Baylor — the Buckeyes could well have been on the outside looking in heading into the inaugural playoff.
That didn't happen. Rather, Ohio State ran the table, shocking No. 1 Alabama in the semis before handing Heisman winner Marcus Mariota a defeat in his final collegiate game and becoming the first team to hoist the CFP championship trophy.
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2019: No. 2 Clemson 44, No. 1 Alabama 16
Sometimes, it's not the lower-ranked team winning so much as it is the nature of the beatdown. Such was the case when Clemson boat-raced Alabama in this title game. It wasn't as if the Tigers weren't loaded: It was bolstered by an explosive offense that featured future NFLers Trevor Lawrence, Travis Etienne and Tee Higgins.
But 'Bama is 'Bama, and after wins over three ranked opponents in the regular season — including back-to-back victories over teams ranked No. 4 in the country (first Georgia, then Oklahoma) — it looked as if the Crimson Tide were headed for, at minimum, a close game.
Dabo Swinney's team had other ideas. With its dominant victory, it became the first team to finish 15-0 in over a century.
