The ultimate goal of any incoming college football player is to have a chance to play for a championship and possibly get drafted in the NFL. In order to look ahead, we must all take a brief glance at recent history. Here are the BCS National Championship teams and key moments from the last ten years:
2000 Oklahoma over Florida State 13-2
Site: Orange Bowl
Key play: The Decision, by Peter Warrick
Oklahoma awarded Bobby Bowden and the Seminoles a safety in the fourth quarter. Otherwise, Florida State doesn't score at all. Senior linebacker Torrance Marshall won MVP. The Miami native went on to win the same title in the Senior Bowl, then a career in the NFL with the Green Bay Packers.
2001 Miami (FL) over Nebraska 37-14
Site: Rose Bowl
Key play: 50-yard TD pass to start the route
Named "Greatest College Football Team of All Time", what else needs to be said? Revisit the blog entitled, "U Serious?", for the depth chart at key positions. Sophomore wide receiver Andre Johnson caught seven passes for 199 yards and two touchdowns. Enough, already.
2002 Ohio State over Miami (FL) 31-24 (2OT)
Site: Fiesta Bowl
Key play: First overtime in which Ohio State threw an incompletion on fourth down, behind 24-17, then the official tosses a late penalty flag
Take your pick with this game for pivotal plays. Any of the four turnovers, leading up to the point when Willis McGahee suffered a triple-ligament rupture in his knee in the fourth quarter. Roscoe Parrish's fumble after catching a 34-yard pass (5 total TO's) with under five minutes left is a worthy candidate. Perhaps head coach Larry Cocker lost confidence after such an obvious call, as well as his team. The Hurricanes have not been quite the same since.
2003 LSU over Oklahoma 21-14
Site: Sugar Bowl
Key play: Marcus Spears interception return for a score in the 3rd quarter
Heisman trophy winner quarterback Jason White of Oklahoma could not stay upright long enough to generate the smallest amount of offense. The other half of the time, he was watching LSU tailback Justin Vincent skew the Sooner defense for 117 yards and a touchdown. Head coach Nick Saban departed for the NFL soon after capturing the 2003 BCS National Championship.
2004 USC over Oklahoma 55-19 *
Site: Orange Bowl
Key play: Each time Oklahoma quarterback Jason White walked to the line of scrimmage
Bob Stoops' offense proved to be a bit too predictable and could not mask the playmaking deficiencies of his quarterback. Whenever White ran plays under center, this was a marshmallow of a tip for a hand off to freshman running back Adrian Peterson. Also like clockwork, each time White was planning to pass, he was lined up in shotgun formations. Between Matt Leinart (5 TD), tailbacks LenDale White and Reggie Bush, and receivers Dwayne Jarrett and Steve Smith (3 TD), the scoreboard screamed of USC's 38-10 dominance - at halftime. Although USC was forced to vacate their entire 2004 season, no one can change what happened on the field in south Florida.
2005 Texas over USC 41-38
Site: Rose Bowl
Key play: 1st and 10 with 6:42 left in the game - Texas down by twelve (Enter stage right, Vince Young)
The Texas playmaker single-handedly manufactured eighteen fourth quarter points to bring the Longhorns its third national championship. Young passed for 267 yards and rushed for 200 more with three touchdowns, almost effortlessly. Some often forget that Selvin Young and Jamaal Charles were running backs on this particular team. The 2005 Rose Bowl Game went down as one of the most exciting bowl games in college football history.
2006 Florida over Ohio State 41-14
Site: Fiesta Bowl
Key play: Chris Leak's 14-yard TD to Dallas Baker after OSU's Ted Ginn, Jr.'s game-opening kickoff TD return
The Gators very next drive proved to resemble boiling water, fast and easy, ending with a four yard rushing touchdown by Percy Harvin. The Floridian scoring thunderstorm slowed for the remainder of the first quarter. Unfortunately for the Buckeyes, the proverbial skies reopened vastly in the second quarter with scores from DeShawn Wynn (2-yd rush), Antonio Pittman (18-yd rush), Andre Caldwell (1-yd catch), and two scores from freshman QB Tim Tebow (1 run, 1 pass). This would end up being the second BCS title for the Southeastern Conference in four seasons.
2007 LSU over Ohio State 38-24
Site: Sugar Bowl
Key play: LSU kicker Colt David's 32-yard field goal to stop the bleeding, down 10-3 in the 1st quarter
The 'Bayou Bengal' Tigers were forced to quickly recover from a 10-0 deficit, and convert to shootout mode, in which they succeeded triumphantly. After a 65-yard touchdown run by Beanie Wells on the opening drive and 25-yard field goal on the second drive, quarterback LSU Matt Flynn composed roux on the field in the form of a 14 play drive that led to a Colt David field goal, the Tigers' first points of the game. LSU settled in under the Cajun dome and prevailed, recording back-to-back BCS titles for the SEC.
2008 Florida over Oklahoma 24-14
Site: Orange Bowl
Key play: Percy Harvin's 47-yard run with 12:08 left in the 4th quarter (tied 14-14)
Sam Bradford and the Sooners offense had scored over sixty points in five consecutive games, leading up to the National Championship. This particular night in south Florida, however, was not what coach Bob Stoops had in mind. The Gators rode Tim Tebow and his two touchdown passes, with Percy Harvin and his 121 rushing yards to their second title in three seasons, and Southeastern Conference's third in a row.
2009 Alabama over Texas 37-21
Site: Rose Bowl
Key play: Marcell Dareus' interception of a Garrett Gilbert shovel pass, returned for a TD with 0:03 until halftime
Some may have trained themselves to believe the play in which senior quarterback Colt McCoy got injured was pivotal, but freshman quarterback Garrett Gilbert led the Longhorns back to trail only by a field goal, 24-21, in the 4th quarter. The lack of defensive intensity on Texas' behalf was a greater factor than McCoy being knocked out, however neither was key nor pivotal to the outcome to last season's version of the Rose Bowl Game - even though Mack Brown's defensive unit yielded 100-plus-yard performances from Alabama tailbacks Mark Ingram (116) and Trent Richardson (109).
2010 Auburn over Oregon 22-19
Site: Fiesta Bowl
Key play: Michael Dyer's 37-yard gain after landing on top of an Oregon defender in the final drive of the game
Heisman finalist LaMichael James was held to 49 rushing yards, as the 'Prettiest Little School on the Plains' ground out a hard fought sixty minutes against the Ducks of Oregon. Many anticipated a high-scoring affair as both defenses settled in while the offenses sputtered. The result was Auburn giving the state of Alabama its second consecutive national championship, an accomplishment only one other state can claim (Texas), in victory. This also marked the fifth straight BCS title for the SEC. Perhaps Alabama and the Southeastern Conference should give some other school a chance to win it all, or does everyone just need to catch up?
What will the next decade of collegiate football at its top level bring? More of the same?
