The 10 best college football games of the 2018 season

There aren’t many things more fun to watch than college football, but let’s be honest: Not all games are created equal. The likes of Week 1’s Savannah State at UAB contest (a 52-0 drubbing by the Blazers, for those keeping score) don’t carry the same gravitas as, say, the Red River Shootout (which we got twice this year, huzzah!). Luckily, even when marquee matchups don’t live up to the hype — I’m looking at you, Michigan/Ohio State — the college football gods typically giveth, and giveth aplenty. With the regular season behind us, it’s time to look back on the most exciting games of the year.

Sept. 23: No. 7 Stanford vs. No. 20 Oregon

Games like this are the reason that you never leave early, and you never turn the TV off prematurely. Those who gave up after halftime (when the Ducks led 24-7) missed one of the best finishes of the year. A scoop-and-score is fun under any circumstances, and in this case, Joey Alfieri’s fumble recovery for an 80-yard touchdown turned the tide; the first of 14 unanswered points the Cardinal scored in the third quarter. Throw in the game-tying field goal to send it to overtime and the end-zone interception to put the game to bed, and Stanford’s comeback win was full of theatrics befitting the “Pac-12 After Dark” brand.

Sept. 29: No. 4 Ohio State vs. No. 9 Penn State

This may not be the best top-to-bottom team the Buckeyes have ever fielded, but my, have they been fun to watch on occasion — and no less so than in this fourth-quarter comeback win over the Nittany Lions. A record-setting performance from PSU QB Trace McSorley (461 total yards of offense) wasn’t enough to quell Ohio State’s rally. Trailing 26-14 in the fourth, Dwayne Haskins engineered back-to-back touchdown drives, and Ohio State’s defense came through on Penn State’s final try. For the second straight year against the Buckeyes, the Nittany Lions failed to quash a double-digit, fourth-quarter rally.

Sept. 29: Hawaii vs. San Jose State

Before there was LSU and A&M’s seven-OT extravaganza (more on that later), there was this five-OT Mountain West clash for the ages. Unlike the slugfest in College Station, this was a tale of missed opportunities in Silicon Valley. The Rainbow Warriors trailed by a score in the fourth quarter and tied it in the final minutes. In the first extra period, each team scored a touchdown. That’s when things deteriorated. The kickers took turns missing field goals for a while, and then they each connected through the uprights in the fourth OT. Finally, San Jose kicker Bryce Crawford missed his third field goal of the extra sessions, and the game was over. Not the prettiest finish in history but edge-of-seat-worthy nonetheless.

Oct. 6: No. 19 Texas vs. No. 7 Oklahoma

In a year where the aforementioned football gods were kind enough to issue two editions of the Red River Rivalry, this one took the cake. After the end of the first quarter, the Longhorns never trailed. Early in the fourth quarter, Tom Herman’s club led by as many as 21 points —but then Heisman finalist Kyler Murray found his groove. The Sooners QB threw three touchdown passes in six minutes. Three TDs in six minutes! That tied the game with less than three minutes left on the clock, and overtime seemed imminent. That’s when Texas QB Sam Ehlinger kicked it into high gear. The sophomore ran a masterful two (and-a-half) minute drill, driving downfield and eating up clock to get the ‘Horns in field-goal range. With just nine seconds on the clock, Cameron Dicker sent one through the uprights and won it for Texas. Even a Big 12 Championship game rife with playoff implications couldn’t compete with this regular-season thriller.

Oct. 6: Syracuse vs. Pittsburgh

Those who stuck with this contest through an hour-plus weather delay witnessed one that felt like anyone’s game throughout. The tide turned almost too many times to count: The Orange went up 14-0 in the first 10 minutes and then gave up 20 unanswered points, until kicking a field goal to close out the first half. The Panthers followed that up by scoring on their first drive of the second half, and they maintained a 10-point lead throughout most of the third quarter…until Syracuse turned it on, scoring on four straight drives to take a lead with under six minutes to play. The Panthers tied things up with eight seconds on the clock to force overtime and made short work of the Orange in the extra session.

Oct. 20: Old Dominion vs. Western Kentucky

Can a game between two below-.500 Conference USA squads really be one of the best of the year? When it gets this crazy, absolutely. The Hilltoppers thought they’d scored the game-winner with 1:37 left on the clock. What ensued was a comedy of errors that included a game-tying Monarchs touchdown with seven seconds remaining, two shorted field-goal attempts called back on unusual penalties and a face mask penalty that led to an untimed down for Old Dominion with 0:00 on the clock, which it used to kick the winning field goal. There’s no metric for measuring weird endings, but if there were, this would certainly take the cake.

Nov. 3: No. 13 West Virginia vs. No. 17 Texas

In a back-and-forth affair between two Big 12 teams on the rise, it was a quarterback keeper that made the difference. The Mountaineers and the Longhorns went shot for shot throughout the game. Texas scored with 2:34 to play, hoping to put the contest away. But with just 16 seconds on the clock, WVU QB Will Grier completed a 33-yard touchdown pass to Gary Jennings, Jr. Instead of kicking the extra point to tie it, Dana Holgorsen opted to go for two, and Grier ran it in for the win.

Nov. 23: Virginia vs. Virginia Tech

Crazy finishes are what we all live for, especially in a rivalry game. The Cavaliers were looking for their first win in the series since 2003, and up by a touchdown with 2:41 left in regulation, it appeared they might have it. Then, a strange sequence of events: 1. Hokies QB Ryan Willis completed a 45-yard pass to Dalton Keene on third down to keep the drive alive and put VTU in scoring position; 2. Hokies RB Steven Peoples fumbles just yards shy of the end zone; 3. Hokies WR Hezekiah Grimsley recovers the loose ball in the end zone for a touchdown. Tie ballgame. In overtime, Virginia Tech would kick a field goal and Virginia QB Bryce Perkins would fumble on the ensuing drive, ending the Cavaliers’ chances and setting off a massive Hokies celebration.

Nov. 24: No. 7 LSU vs. No. 22 Texas A&M

Seven overtimes? Check. Highest-scoring football game in FBS history? Check. Yep, this one was an instant classic. It appeared the Tigers were the victors in regulation after a dagger interception — Ed Orgeron had to coach through those seven overtimes soaked in Gatorade from a premature celebration — but after review, Aggies quarterback Kellen Mond was ruled down by contact prior to the throw. And it didn’t get any less wild from there. In the end, it was a failed two-point conversion that did in LSU; the Tigers missed in the seven^th overtime, and Texas A&M was able to convert on its subsequent try. This one kept folks up late in SEC country, but what better reason to sacrifice sleep than overtime football?

Dec. 1: Alabama vs. Georgia

Suddenly, a series that had been mostly dormant or lopsided in the last decade is becoming an epic rivalry. It started, of course, in last season’s all-SEC edition of the National Championship Game, an OT thriller that made stars out of its young quarterbacks. In this SEC Championship edition with a Playoff berth on the line for Georgia, Bama QB Jalen Hurts (he who was benched last year in the aforementioned natty) came in to replace an injured Tua Tagavailoa, and he made magic. Trailing by a touchdown, Hurts led an 80-yard drive to tie it, and after Georgia failed on an ill-advised fake punt, Hurts ran in another touchdown with just over a minute to go. That one, the game-winner, clinched a pretty-much-already-guaranteed Playoff spot for his team, simultaneously kissing Georgia’s hopes goodbye.