College football’s 150th anniversary: The 150 best moments that stood the test of time

102. Bowden Outduels Osborne for First National Title (1994)

As the calendar turned over to 1994, Florida State was already well known for suffering kicking woes after several field goals had traveled Wide Right in recent years. Bobby Bowden, their longtime head coach, had been thwarted by these gaffes in his quest to claim Florida State’s first national title in school history.

Tom Osborne was in a similar boat in 1994, still striving after more than two decades at the helm of the Cornhuskers to find his own first elusive national championship. Nebraska had come close several times in the 1980s under Osborne, but never could get quite over the hump and match the achievements of his predecessor Bob Devaney.

The two legendary coaches and their powerhouse squads met in the 1994 Orange Bowl with the Coalition national championship on the line. The Seminoles and Cornhuskers played a defensive battle, as Florida State relied on six field goals and Nebraska managed the only touchdown of the game. With one second left on the clock, the Cornhuskers had a chance to win. But a 45-yard field goal attempt sailed wide left, giving Florida State their first crystal pigskin and exorcising some of the kicking woes that had befallen the Seminoles in the early 1990s.

101. USC Beat Bama in Birmingham but Split Title with Tide (1978)

One of the most legendary intersectional battles of the 1970s was the September 1978 battle between USC and Alabama in Birmingham. The Trojans and Crimson Tide played several notable contests against one another during the decade, but this showdown proved at once critical and inconsequential in the national championship picture at the end of the season.

Alabama came into the contest ranked No. 1 in the country. USC was hovering in the rearview mirror at No. 7 in the polls. But the Trojans came out on top in the contest, as Charles White ran for 199 yards and USC exploded for a 24-14 victory. Three weeks later, though, the Trojans fell on the road to Arizona State for their only loss of the season.

While USC recovered to close out the year on an eight-game winning streak, capped with a Rose Bowl win over No. 5 Michigan, they were forced to split the national title with an Alabama team they knocked off handily on the gridiron. That was because Bear Bryant’s squad also went on to run the table after the Trojans loss, including a takedown of top-ranked Penn State in the famed Goal Line Stand at the 1979 Sugar Bowl.

100. Irish Edge Tide for National Title (1973)

The University of Alabama first started playing football in 1892, when they went 2-2 in a season that opened with a 56-0 drubbing of high schoolers in Birmingham and ended with a 32-22 loss in the first-ever Iron Bowl against the school now known as Auburn. Notre Dame played their first game five years earlier, a season consisting of three straight losses against Michigan.

For the next eight decades, Alabama and Notre Dame evolved into national powerhouses without ever meeting one another on the gridiron. That finally changed in the 1973 Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, the penultimate edition of the bowl game held at Tulane Stadium before the move to the Superdome. The two teams were ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in the country, setting up a de facto national championship in the AP Poll. (The UPI poll did not yet release a post-bowl ranking.)

Al Hunter ripped off a 93-yard kick return for the Irish, the third of seven lead changes in the contest. Bob Thomas chipped through a 19-yarder inside of the final five minutes to put Notre Dame up for good in the 24-23 instant classic.