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

27. Nixon Declares National Champion (1969)

Whether fans like it or not, politics and football have always mixed. Popular pastimes provide great public opportunities for politicians to preen to the populace. And politicians, just like many other Americans, love pastimes for the sheer sake of the game. When it comes to college football, few presidents in American history loved the game quite as much as Richard Nixon.

Nixon’s love affair with the game came into stark view in 1969, when he traveled to Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville to witness No. 1 Texas take on No. 2 Arkansas in a Southwest Conference thriller. The Longhorns and Razorbacks each sported 9-0 records entering the contest, and the result would determine which team won the conference and earned the league’s bid into the Cotton Bowl.

A late Texas interception preserved a 15-14 Longhorns win. After the game, Nixon awarded Texas a plaque declaring them the national champions. This, of course, was controversial in its own right, as Darrell Royal’s team went on to beat Notre Dame in the Cotton Bowl but did not end the year as the only unbeaten squad. Penn State also capped an undefeated 1969 campaign but was left behind at No. 2 as the polls concurred with the presidential opinion on the matter.

26. Sam “Bam” Cunningham Stars in Birmingham (1970)

Marquee season-opening intersectional matchups have been a staple of college football for decades. One of the most famous season openers featuring a pair of powerhouses took place in 1970 when Southern California traveled east to face Alabama at Legion Field in Birmingham. The result would help change perceptions about black athletes in the south in a period when the color barrier was starting to fall throughout the region in the wake of the Civil Rights Movement.

USC dominated the Crimson Tide on the road, romping to a 42-21 win that marked the nadir of Bear Bryant’s tenure in Tuscaloosa. What made the result particularly astounding, though, was not the final score but the significance of the Trojans roster. All six touchdowns were scored by African-American players against an all-white Alabama squad.

The star for USC on that September day was Sam “Bam” Cunningham, a sophomore fullback playing in his first varsity game for the Trojans. Cunningham gashed the Crimson Tide defense for 135 yards and two of the six USC touchdowns on just a dozen carries. In the process, his exploits helped speed the pace of integration across college football.

25. “Tie One for the Gipper” (1966)

At the time that Notre Dame headed to East Lansing for a showdown against Michigan State in 1966, the top two teams in the AP Poll had only met nine times previously in the 30-year history of the poll. The 10th meeting of No. 1 and No. 2 left many dissatisfied with the result, a 10-10 tie that left Notre Dame atop the polls and snapped the door on unbeaten and untied Alabama in the national championship race.

Michigan State went up 10-7 in the first half, and the Fighting Irish remained behind by a field goal through the third quarter. Joe Azzaro kicked a 28-yard field goal on the first play of the fourth quarter to tie the game, and it appeared that momentum had returned to the Notre Dame sideline.

Azzaro missed a 41-yard kick later in the fourth quarter that could have won the game for the Irish. When Notre Dame got the ball back with 1:10 remaining, though, coach Ara Parseghian opted to run out the clock instead of risking a turnover to the Spartans. Strategically it was a shrewd move that secured the national championship, but it led many (such as Sports Illustrated’s Dan Jenkins, the source of the title quote) to grumble over the lack of resolution.