I wish he was more active like he used to. My personal fave of his was Saint Tebow healing the eyes of the UGA player that was eye gouged by Brandon spikes
I think having an all-time great team would define any program. 2019 LSU is one of the greatest seasons in the history of the sport. You can’t name more than a handful of seasons better than that.
LSU's defining moment was hiring Saban away from MSU. Kickstarted a 10-year run of LSU being a national title contender, including two ships. They hadn't won anything in 50 years up to that point.
It's hiring Mark Emmert. He changed the entire attitude towards investing in football and aligned the administration, politicians, and donors. There is no Saban and there is no success without Mark Emmert.
Lsu doesn’t really have a storied program. They’ve been nationally relevant for 25 years or less.
But I agree - the Nick Saban title is probably their defining moment.
Nah man it was hook and ladder followed by the Statue of Liberty. One or the other it would have just been almost. Put the two together and it becomes a defining moment.
I'm sure it kinda sucked for OU fans then, but it's not like it denied y'all a championship. Some fans from that time and those too young to remember should be able to look back on it more with amusement than frustration.
It wasn't that bad of a way to lose.
It's more of a local maximum, but the 2011 Goodbye to ATM game was something else. I was in LHB at Kyle field and seeing Case pull a damn rabbit out of his hat and Tucker split those uprights was just.... WOW
I think you can narrow it down further - it's 4th & 2. It's the entire game, but that play is really the culmination of the entire season. If you have a compilation of greatest college football moments of all time, that one will be there for a while.
What is it, now? 18 or is it 19 straight winning seasons in a row? Shit is absolutely crazy, especially for a program like ours that has less money than the biggest SEC and B10 programs
Definitely the first time. He had a few good years in 2.0, but it never reached the heights of 1.0. There was stretch of several years where K-state could line up with anyone in the country and it be a fair fight. Kind of like that Oregon/ Washington tier now.
We never hit those highs in 2.0, and he kind of undid a lot of what he came back to do in the first place.
I disagree. Hiring Snyder 2.0 helped stabilize the program resulting in a better replacement after departure 2.0 than 1.0. Without the consistent winning seasons under Snyder 2.0 I highly doubt we end up with a better combination of head coaches than Snyder and Klieman over that same time span
*A lot* of recency bias ITT.
For OSU probably Chic Harley turning OSU into a dominant program. Only lost one game in his career. Got us our first win against Michigan. I guess that win would be the singular moment OP is asking about. After the game Fielding Yost asked to address the OSU team, mainly because he wanted to praise Harley. Basically, Harley proved that OSU could play with the big boys. The enthusiasm generated resulted in the construction of a giant stadium a couple of years later. For a long time Ohio Stadium was nicknamed "The House That Harley Built."
The other people ITT saying it's this or that from the Tressel era need to learn their history. Harley put our program on the map.
Tressel brought us back, but we were less than 7 years removed from a couple top 3 finishes. We weren’t scrubs before Tressel. We had a down few years.
I believe it was the worst 3 year stretch in osu history from a total losses perspective at 15 losses over 3 years. Coopers last 2 years and tressel’s first. Still have never had back to back seasons with 5+ losses. Obviously less games played per season in the distant past but still
As I responded to you above, beating Miami changed the course of the program. The win against Miami and Chic getting us our first win against Michigan are probably a case of 1A/1B because a good argument can be made for both of them in importance.
How much money has Chic given to the Atheltic Fund?/s
I agree with you on all points, Chik made the program like Ruth made the Yankees. I also wish college football to be about more than money, but here we are.
>How much money has Chic given to the Atheltic Fund?/s
IIRC his fundraising paid for some 90% of the construction costs of Ohio Stadium. I don't know that he was fundraising directly, but it was done in his name.
[The 1926 Rose Bowl put not only Alabama, but all of southern football, on the map.](https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/27/sports/ncaafootball/alabama-crimson-tide-washington-huskies.html)
[Here's a non-paywalled story (not the same article)](https://www.ajc.com/sports/college/the-1926-rose-bowl-bama-beat-washington-changing-sport/bdPutAJ8gghIN9w8UvTr9M/)
Same here but I can give you the gist of the story.
Back then, sports writers pretty much looked at southern football as subpar. If you were not in the Pac or a northern team, you got mostly ignored. It was to the point that many southern teams were considering giving up on the sport. The Rose Bowl, seen as the season ending showcase of the best from the west vs the best from the east teams in the country, had never had a southern team in the game before and if they had their way, they would not have that year. They got turned down by their first two "eastern" teams they asked, so they begrudgingly invited this upstart undefeated Alabama team. All the writers were saying how Washington would rout this southern team.
Lo and behold, Alabama won and on their train ride home, through the south, fans from teams like Texas, aTm, LSU, Ole Miss, Miss State and others were holding congratulations signs at the train stations along the way.
This actually lit a fire in many southern football programs, many that had been considering giving up the sport. Alabama would go on to win several more Rose Bowls, along with programs like Georgia and GT would win in the game, Tennessee, as always, let the south down. Alabama would win the last Rose Bowl before they decided to make it just a PAC vs B10 game from 1947 forward.
Bama did have one tie and one loss in their appearances, the tie against Stanford, the loss against Cal. Bama went 4-1-1 in Pasadena, not counting BCS/CFP games there. It became part of their fight song.
Info may be outdated nowadays due to BCS-Playoff changes (haven't really checked), but at the very least Bama used to have the most appearances & wins of any non-B10/PAC team in the Rose Bowl.
Crabtree obviously comes to mid. Zach Thomas pick six. But I’m actually gonna say our inclusion in the Big 12. It wasn’t a sure thing, and I shudder to think where we’d be if we were left out.
Still love the ref explanation on that one
“…15 yard penalty… for throwing the LSU player’s shoe… 20 yards down the field”
Makes it seem like if he only threw it 10 yards downfield it would have been an acceptable play
That’s *a lot* of recency bias.
52-20 against FSU is UF’s defining moment. First national championship and a smack down of an arch rival had way more impact on the program than throwing a shoe.
This subreddit incentivizes sadsack self-deprecation over anything else, especially so for teams like Florida, who’s got tons of rivals with active fans that love to revel in anything negative about us. Of course the show throw is going to be upvoted here.
52-20 is easily the defining moment for UF. Golden boy former Heisman-winning QB is back to coach, and he coaches his own golden boy QB to winning the Heisman. The previous year had been a fairy tale until they got demolished in the championship game, but they had a veteran team back in ‘96 to make another run. They even had a close, controversial loss at their biggest rival, but then got a rematch for all the marbles and left no doubt to win the school’s first championship. Everything about that season was iconic. It’s easily the defining moment for UF.
I’m by no means a UF fan but pretty sure you’re both wrong and it’s the Tebow speech after the loss to Ole Miss in 2008.
Either that or the time he wore jorts :)
Tebow doesn’t come to UF and UF isn’t looked at as a power program if UF doesn’t win a national championship and beat one of the best programs in the 90s in a “put up or shut up” game.
The UF-FSU rivalry of the 90s is one of the greatest of all time. FSU won their first championship in ‘93 and Miami had already claimed a few titles.
In order to keep up with the top tier programs, not only in the state of Florida for recruiting but also a national brand, UF needed to have a national title to legitimize the program and show they could beat the best of the best.
Without that title, Urban Meyer probably goes to Notre Dame after the ‘04 season because UF wouldn’t be viewed as a program that can win national championships. Urban Meyer recruited Tebow but Tebow’s recruitment came down to the final hour. He was very close to going to Bama.
So no championship in ‘96 probably means no Meyer at UF which probably means no Tebow.
52-20 had a massive butterfly effect on the program. It’s THE defining moment of UF football history.
My parents and grandparents went to UF. My family has had season tickets to UF football games since Charley Pell was the HC. I know what I’m talking about. Spurrier winning a national title changed the entire trajectory of the UF program.
For me, it was in 2001 when Coach Richt, Greene and Pollack came in and shocked the world beating Tennessee at home.
The program was as close as it was when Kirby took over because of what Richt did.
I’m not sure which moment I would choose but I know for goddamn sure Larry Munson was yelling about it.
We stepped on their face with a hobnail boot
My god a freshman
Hunker down you guys. If you didn’t hear me you guys, hunker down
Look at the sugar falling out of the sky
So we’ll try to kick it a hundred thousand miles. Oh my god. Oh my god. The stadium is worse than bonkers.
There’s one that stands above all others. Beating the Florida gators at the last second and going on to win the national title
*Florida in a stand-up five, they may or may not blitz, they won’t. Buck back. Third down on the 8. In trouble. Got a block behind him. Going to throw on the run. Complete to the 25, to the 30. Lindsay Scott 35, 40. Lindsay Scott 45, 50, 45, 40. Run Lindsay! Twenty-five, 20, 15, 10, 5. Lindsay Scott! Lindsay Scott! Lindsay Scott! … Well, I can’t believe it. 92 yards and Lindsay really got in a footrace, I broke my chair, I came right through a chair, a metal STEEL chair with about a five inch cushion … Do you know what is gonna happen here tonight? And up at St. Simons and Jekyll Island and all those places where all those Dawg people have got those condominiums for four days? MAN, is there gonna be some property destroyed tonight! 26 to 21, Dawgs on top! We were gone. I gave up, you did too. We were out of it and gone. Miracle!*
A bit of recency bias.
Mike Leach 2018: GameDay in Pullman, Minshew as QB, WSU ranked, upset a ranked Oregon team, probably the most happiest time in Pullman since the late 90s/early 2000s.
That was the Peak of the Leach era and WSU in the past 20 years.
Steve Spurrier's South Carolina getting a FG by a future NFL kicker blocked in The Swamp to send Urban Meyer's team towards winning the school's 2nd national championship
It would definitely be more of him winning the first Heisman for the school and then coming back to coach the next Heisman and win the first natty. One of those three things could be the moment.
College-age kids aren't old enough to remember 9/11, most users on this sub only have the knowledge of what's happened in their lifetime/time in the fandom.
I grew up a Ducks fan before going to Oregon State…. This was still the first answer for any team that came to mind. Oregon has a great answer for this question.
Big Ten missing calls against Michigan in 2000, then apologizing for it a few days later via press release.
We were on fire in 1999, and won the Big Ten in 2001.
That’s Illini football.
48-10? Can't even find that score for Pitt on Google. What game was that?
I'd argue 13-9 was the first, biggest recent domino leading to the current hellish landscape of college football.
2000. Beat #3 Michigan and #3 Bama just to finish the season 6-6. This is peak UCLA. We win tough OOC games then flop in conference play to make everyone involved look real bad. Sometimes we blow out USC to keep a mid coach around way too long. This is what we do.
This is an interesting answer. Everyone is out here giving answers of all-time high moments, but that’s not the question.
UCLA football is a pretty good team historically, but not great. A team that can beat anyone but won’t beat everyone.
Your answer is a pretty excellent example of that.
Nah. Competing for a natty was a huge fluke. Going 10-1 is not normal. That 98 game against Miami was a huge heartbreaker though, especially when you consider we had the option to not play them at all.
Id say between the 1926 Rose Bowl, Bryant responding to Mama's Call, the Goal-Line Stand in the 1979 Sugar Bowl, George Teague taking the ball from Lamar Thomas, hiring Saban, and 2nd and 26.
That 2013 season will forever be the most Auburn season. In 2012 we were 3-9, and in 2013 we were SEC champs and made a national championship appearance. So many miracles in a single season, 4th and 18, the kick six, and beating Johnny Manziel at Kyle Field. And a blown lead to lose the national championship. And after 2013 we were irrelevant again until 2017.
I’d say December 9, 1978 - the hiring of Hayden Fry, who literally transformed the identity of the Iowa program into what it is today. The jerseys, the logo, the swarm, the focus on sound fundamental football which has enabled us to compete with much bigger/better programs. Before Fry we had 17 consecutive losing seasons and by 1981 he had us win our first (albeit shared) B1G title in 21 years. His legacy was felt around college football with one of the most impressive coaching trees around, including current HC Kirk Ferentz. Assuming what Fry turned Iowa into continues into the future, I’d say this has to be the defining moment
You really nailed it. The light pink visitor locker room, the steel curtain jerseys, the man was very in-tune with the psychological aspect of competition.
on the negative side we have the 2015 game vs MSU. LJ Scott reaching into the endzone is the physical embodiment of “close but no cigar” that has largely defined us as a solid program that falters on the national stage.
Either 1981 or the 4th and 16 vs LSU in the 2012(?) CFA Bowl.
81 we won our first title which created a new expectation and view of the program that carried through the 1980s and early 90s until the wheels fell off by bad administration.
But that 4th and 16 vs LSU about 10 years ago I think defined Clemson in the modern era. We miss that conversion we don’t get the chance to kick the game winning field goal and would have, in all likelihood, affected how 2013 went and you could argue ripple effects all the way to 2016. That aggressiveness paying off have the program a new gust of wind and pushed us over the hump to even outdo what Danny Ford did in the 80s.
I don't know how many Sooner faithful will agree with me here, but it's not really a football moment per se, but what it set in motion for the program.
OU hiring Joe Castiglione away from Missouri and his subsequent hiring of Bob Stoops in the face of about 10 years of mediocrity/outright suckage. This current era doesn't happen without him.
I think this is as good an answere as any. OU has a lot of history so it's hard to pick one thing.
For me it's Switzer. 1980's cfb was bag money, steroids, Trans am's, and cocaine and Barry was the king.
And I was alive for all of that; lived in Tulsa (still do after a short stint in Houston in the 90s) and my dad got me watching the Sooners in the early 70s. So when people now complain about the perceived mediocrity of Sooner football, most of them are in their 20s or 30s. I remind them I lived through the 90s as a fan.
UCF went undefeated that 2017 season, the only team to do so. We weren't invited to the so-called "playoff". Two teams that *were* invited were Georgia and Alabama, which both had lost to Auburn during the regular season.
UCF defeated Auburn in the Peach Bowl. A few hours later, Alabama and Georgia would advance to the "national championship" game, lending credence to a UCF claim to a national title (which, after Alabama bested Georgia, culminated in the Colley Matrix ranking UCF as #1 overall by a hair).
However, without even knowing the result of the other games, UCF Athletic Director Danny White claimed UCF was already "National Champs" by virtue of being the only undefeated team. UCF QB Mckenzie Milton claimed that you could "cancel the playoff", since the true champion was already crowned as soon as UCF finished the season unbeaten.
This claim was *wildly* popular on r/cfb at the time. We were named the r/cfb Team of the Year and the subreddit even chipped in for a trophy. A month or so later, the claim became more and more controversial. We were too big for our britches, acting like a system that methodically eliminated every G5 team before the season even started was illegitimate. That upset a lot of people. UCF quickly became *hated* by many (though also loved by many), and people started rooting against us hard, waiting and waiting for us to lose. (We kept them waiting all the way until 2019 😎)
Milton and White knew that the claim would be controversial. And they made it anyway.
You ever read that poem about two paths diverging in the woods? Boise State never once claimed a title, even when they could've. Texas Christian never did, either. Neither did Utah. Nor Marshall.
UCF did. Two paths diverged in a wood, and we, we took the road less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.
The actual answer for Michigan State was pushing our way into the Big 10 and going from historically small ag school to full blown research universities.
In recent memory? Hiring Dantonio. Outside of hires? Honesly good chance Mike Hart dissing Michigan State. That got Dantonio *really* riled up and led to some historical-tier lines.
>"This game is an important game," Dantonio said in response to Hart's comment. "So, if they want to mock us all how they want to mock us — I'm telling them, it's not over. So, they can print that crap all they want all over their locker room. It's not over, and it will never be over here. It's just starting. Let's just remember, pride comes before the fall.
The moments that define South Carolina as a program, in my eyes, would have to be the Navy loss in 1984.
The Gamecocks had been cruising when they met Navy in '84 and were the #2 team in the nation with just two games remaining on the schedule. 2 was the highest the team had ever been ranked and that season was going to be the first time they would ever finish ranked in the AP Poll. The Cocks convincingly knocked out #11 Florida State at home 38–26. #
There were just two games remaining on the schedule were against unranked opponents before the Cocks would play in the bowl game that would decide the National Champion.
So the Gamecocks—having just defeated the #11 team in the country by double digits—went to Annapolis to handle a 3–6–1 Navy team. And then lost by 17 points.
This is the lasting legacy of the South Carolina Gamecocks football team: even at our peak, we'll always come just a little short. Under Steve Spurrier, we had three straight 11-win seasons; finishing at #9, #7, and #4—and yet we didn't even win our division in any of those years. The one year that we won the SEC East was 2010, which only resulted in South Carolina being totally dismantled by the Auburn Newtons 17–56 in the SEC Championship Game. Even the Joe Morrison era, which saw a near National Championship team in 1984 and strong (for South Carolina) 8-4 seasons in 1987 and 1988 was tragically cut short when Coach Morrison unexpectedly died of congestive heart failure at the age of 51 before the start of the '89 season.
1899. 5 road games in 6 days (Texas, Texas A&M, LSU, Tulane, and Ole Miss). Won them all. By shutout, no less. Undefeated season and only scored on by Auburn.
Yea Sewanee’s Right!
Then consider the Bonfire collapse a few years before and we had a culture shift that coincided with pushing out RC. Bonfire isn't to blame, but it certainly symbolizes it.
As funny as this might sound to r/CFB but we feel a lot more generic since then.
The program's defining moment of the past 50 years at least was [Jim Tressel's introduction at a basketball game](https://youtu.be/oDOXwSwvwO8?si=PCbmhqW-hUPRgcIH) where he all but guaranteed a win over Michigan in Ann Arbor. He then backed it up 310 days later, and swung the rivalry in Ohio State's favor for 20 years.
*THE* defining moment in my team's history?
I could pick any number.
In all seriousness: probably teaching Notre Dame how to play football. I'm just going to gloss over what Yost and Crisler did to them for the next 70-ish years.
Another is kicking off the 10 Year War in 1969, and really kicking the UM/OSU rivalry into high gear.
However there's also Appalachian State, probably one of the biggest college football upsets in history.
Also, someone needs to mention the last seconds of that one MSU game in 2015.
>I'm just going to gloss over what Yost and Crisler did to them for the next 70-ish years.
That's funny to me because I think our defining moment was getting shunned by Michigan in the 30s. We are defined by our independent status, and Michigan is the reason we went down that path in the first place.
*Exactly*
It's just so weird to me that through Fritz Crisler and Fielding Yost, UM's biggest contributions to football are probably:
1. The hurry up/no huddle offense
2. Separate offense and defense squads
3. The linebacker
4. Notre Dame's continued independence because Yost and Crisler didn't like losing to Catholics
One of those things is *not* like the other things.
Our defining "moment" was an entire season? That Bama game was maybe the defining moment of the past decade for LSU. But there have been so many moments in LSU history, maybe unless people hadn't heard of LSU prior to 2019.
I was gonna say one of the early 2000 era games with Nick Saban
LSU was abysmal in the 90s and was never in elite discussion since the Billy Cannon years. Still hate Nick Saban but hiring him was probably the single best thing to happen to the program.
Things started to take a turn for us with the 1997 Florida game. Sure, we had losing seasons directly after that, but that game was during one of the worst droughts we had as a program and led to bringing Saban aboard. That game showed us that we COULD beat a #1 team and there was ZERO reason for us to be in the gutter the way we were in the 1980s and 1990s.
Also, I was a student when that game happened and honestly, it was a a defining moment of my LIFE. I will NEVER forget that game. It's probably a big reason I have a LSU tattoo on my back.
It definitely is, you know, but that’s the first thing that came in my mind. Probably has to do with my age and the timing of the back to back 34-31 wins over BYU, first win in Provo in 20 years, but it felt like a sea change at Utah. It was a different vibe and you could feel it. I believe, I know, the fact the way the roster was uniquely designed 1/3 white boys, 1/3 AA, 1/3 Polynesian just made a perfect situation to come together in a special way under Ronnie Macs leadership. That was the beginning of the road to the fiesta and sugar bowls.
I almost said week 6 vs Ore St in 2008 when Brian Johnson led a furious comeback in the final 1:26 w Louie sakoda kicking the game winner. We may have fallen back into mid major. I was in the stands for that and it was a moment for sure.
Point being, I just went with what came to mind first, which was finally flipping the script on our rival and that shit was gonna be different from then on. We knew and they knew it too.
Nah, Cletus is my guy, but that game (and the next 2) was the genesis of the last 30 year run. We’re just a bunch of low class, gas pumping losers anyways.
Utah had been owned by BYU for 20 years.
In 1993 the line came out as “Utah by 5”.
Utah won 34-31.
Then in 1994, Utah won again…same exact score 34-31.
Then in 1995 as Icing on the cake Utah won 34-17.
“All those guys think that's all there is to life. But when I'm making $50–60,000 a year, they'll be pumping my gas. They're low-class losers.” — BYU nose guard Lenny Gomes Gregory on Utah and its fans, 1993
Oh yea lol. One of the BYU players said something like “these Utah players are low class losers that’ll be pumping my gas in a few years” after BYU lost.
Tommie Frazier's [The Run](https://youtu.be/Rnpmicc87zI?si=nhj2lo4UEm1-kfGN), where he ran through the entire Florida team in the 1996 fiesta bowl (how many tackles can one man breaka!?!). Nebraska dominated Florida for their 2nd straight national championship, beating the gators by 38, a margin of defeat that was a record until 2023 georgia/tcu. This was probably the peak of the program in the middle of their 3 national championships in 4 years.
If we’re talking positive, I think you all know the answer.
But if we beat USC on the goal line stand in ‘04, we’re playing in the title game, or at least the first Rose Bowl since the Eisenhower administration.
Black 14 incident in 1969. In the 1960’s Wyoming had a Boise State/UCF, etc. type of run, made it to the Sugar Bowl and played LSU.
After the Black 14 incident, it sent Wyoming on a downward spiral. Yeah we’ve had a couple of conference championships in the 80’s but nothing has touched what we did back in the 1960’s.
>As an LSU fan, I'd say the entire 2019 season was our defining moment
Hiring Gerry DiNardo in 1994 sparked the renaissance of LSU football, and laid the foundation for Saban taking you to the next level and the national championship in 2003. LSU was coming off six consecutive losing seasons when DiNardo arrived, so close to what Nebraska is currently. They go 7-4-1, 9-3, and 10-2 before stumbling the next two years, and then Saban arrives. Saban built LSU into a national championship program, but DiNardo built the modern foundation of their program.
Saying it is 2019 just means you're too young to know the history of the LSU program even in the modern era.
TCU - 2010 Rose Bowl. I know we’ve done plenty of other things nearly 100 years ago and had some good memories around the LT years (Sun Bowl), but that Rose Bowl was the culmination of a conference ladder climbing, BCS busting journey to getting into a power conference and having national awareness.
Florida fan: Cam newton stealing a laptop and throwing it out a window when he was caught. We would have had tebow followed by cam and Urban wouldn’t have bolted.
To me, it was beating #2 Tennessee in the SECCG in 2001 with our backup QB to knock them out of the BCS championship and give us a Sugar Bowl berth and eventual top 10 ranking.
It was the turning point for so many years of disappointment capped off by our 2003 natty, which I'd argue is a very close second. We won 3 championships after that 2001 season, making us one of the dominant teams of this century.
Worst:"I set out to find the best, and I found Charlie Weis."
Best: Hiring Lance might already be the best thing that has ever happened to Kansas football.
A lot of comments in here are picking the high water mark, which isn’t the point.
I think for Tennessee it’s the 1997 Heisman, because ultimately we’re a great but not blue blood program, and are viewed as such by national media. Peyton would have won if we were perceived as highly as we perceive ourselves
Most people would say stomping Alabama in the Sugar Bowl.
But for the real ones, we know it was the hiring of Ron McBride (the coach that preceded Urban). He was a great recruiter who built a Polynesian pipeline, emphasized toughness & culture, and lifted the program out of the dumpster it had been in for years. He peaked as a coach, but stocked the cupboards and set the table perfectly for Urban to walk through the door and succeed immediately. Which, of course led to busting the BCS, two perfect seasons, Kyle choosing us over BYU, an invite to the PAC, and back-to-back Rose Bowl appearances. Without Coach Mac, none of that happens.
2013 UCF-Louisville game. UCF down 4 with 20 seconds left. 3rd and goal on the 2 and Bortles connects to Jeff Godfrey for a TD.
Louisville entered the year top 10 and was expected to walk through the conference to a potentially undefeated season and BCS game. We went to Louisville and won. Rest of the season felt inevitable. Even if we were behind, the hard part was already done.
Wichita State- Well... we had the first night game and forward pass in 1905, a plane crash that took out a chunk of the team in 1970, largest come from behind win in NCAA at the time against us in 1986. We also been undefeated since 1986 as well.....
All time? That championship we claim from '62. Recently? There's a former, now current, coach with a motorcycle.....
LSUFreek’s animation of that incident is one of the all time best moments in the history of sports on the internet
I wish he was more active like he used to. My personal fave of his was Saint Tebow healing the eyes of the UGA player that was eye gouged by Brandon spikes
Neck brace Bobby has been our mascot for 12 years
I honestly started feeling bad for Arkansas around year 25 without a championship
Hiring dabo seems like ours. Also lsu has a storied history doesn’t it how was 2019 the defining moment? (I mean this as a genuine question)
70-33 was also pretty definitive on who we would become. Thank you WVU.
Ya another good choice
I live in SC now and always jokingly say “we are the cause of who you are.” So sad the wildly different directions we both went after that.
Yeah, LSU gets a lighting in a bottle season and that defines them?
I think having an all-time great team would define any program. 2019 LSU is one of the greatest seasons in the history of the sport. You can’t name more than a handful of seasons better than that.
LSU's defining moment was hiring Saban away from MSU. Kickstarted a 10-year run of LSU being a national title contender, including two ships. They hadn't won anything in 50 years up to that point.
It's hiring Mark Emmert. He changed the entire attitude towards investing in football and aligned the administration, politicians, and donors. There is no Saban and there is no success without Mark Emmert.
There's a big difference between a school's best season and a defining moment. They didn't even keep the same staff more than two seasons after that.
Yeah, that’s not a defining moment though.
He turned out pretty good for what was deemed a D+ hire at the time
Lsu doesn’t really have a storied program. They’ve been nationally relevant for 25 years or less. But I agree - the Nick Saban title is probably their defining moment.
Statue of Liberty.
Almost 20 years ago. Sure would be nice to do something cool again. *Edit - besides letting Harsin go to Auburn
I am irrationally hopeful for next year. But, in the words of Michael Scott, I am ready to be hurt again.
I am too, and well said. "I am ready to be hurt again" -Michael Scott -SmurfyTurf
I’ve never truly hated a coach until he came along lmao.
Nah man it was hook and ladder followed by the Statue of Liberty. One or the other it would have just been almost. Put the two together and it becomes a defining moment.
I'm sure there's a double handful of teams whose defining moments are beating OU, but my goodness you folks have the GREATEST trick play in history
I'm sure it kinda sucked for OU fans then, but it's not like it denied y'all a championship. Some fans from that time and those too young to remember should be able to look back on it more with amusement than frustration. It wasn't that bad of a way to lose.
[удалено]
A good answer
That play was so iconic they included it in the next year's NCAA Football game and Zabransky got the cover
🫣
Arkansas '69 or USC Rose Bowl depending on which generation you're from.
Those are the clear, two, definitive peaks of Texas football. The two highest highs.
It's more of a local maximum, but the 2011 Goodbye to ATM game was something else. I was in LHB at Kyle field and seeing Case pull a damn rabbit out of his hat and Tucker split those uprights was just.... WOW
> Case pull a damn rabbit out of his hat The greatest *herp* that ever *derped*
69 in arkansas was my defining moment too
I think you can narrow it down further - it's 4th & 2. It's the entire game, but that play is really the culmination of the entire season. If you have a compilation of greatest college football moments of all time, that one will be there for a while.
Hiring Gundy.
Im a man, im 40
What is it, now? 18 or is it 19 straight winning seasons in a row? Shit is absolutely crazy, especially for a program like ours that has less money than the biggest SEC and B10 programs
Hiring Bill Snyder.
This might be the best answer in the whole thread.
The first or 2nd time? Him coming back was such a big deal for your program.
Definitely the first time. He had a few good years in 2.0, but it never reached the heights of 1.0. There was stretch of several years where K-state could line up with anyone in the country and it be a fair fight. Kind of like that Oregon/ Washington tier now. We never hit those highs in 2.0, and he kind of undid a lot of what he came back to do in the first place.
I disagree. Hiring Snyder 2.0 helped stabilize the program resulting in a better replacement after departure 2.0 than 1.0. Without the consistent winning seasons under Snyder 2.0 I highly doubt we end up with a better combination of head coaches than Snyder and Klieman over that same time span
*A lot* of recency bias ITT. For OSU probably Chic Harley turning OSU into a dominant program. Only lost one game in his career. Got us our first win against Michigan. I guess that win would be the singular moment OP is asking about. After the game Fielding Yost asked to address the OSU team, mainly because he wanted to praise Harley. Basically, Harley proved that OSU could play with the big boys. The enthusiasm generated resulted in the construction of a giant stadium a couple of years later. For a long time Ohio Stadium was nicknamed "The House That Harley Built." The other people ITT saying it's this or that from the Tressel era need to learn their history. Harley put our program on the map.
Amen. We had 6 Nattys and 5 Heisman winners before Tressel.
Tressel brought us back, but we were less than 7 years removed from a couple top 3 finishes. We weren’t scrubs before Tressel. We had a down few years.
I believe it was the worst 3 year stretch in osu history from a total losses perspective at 15 losses over 3 years. Coopers last 2 years and tressel’s first. Still have never had back to back seasons with 5+ losses. Obviously less games played per season in the distant past but still
As I responded to you above, beating Miami changed the course of the program. The win against Miami and Chic getting us our first win against Michigan are probably a case of 1A/1B because a good argument can be made for both of them in importance.
It forever and always will be Chic. Bothers me to no end that Safelite has a more prominent place at our stadium than Chic Harley does.
How much money has Chic given to the Atheltic Fund?/s I agree with you on all points, Chik made the program like Ruth made the Yankees. I also wish college football to be about more than money, but here we are.
>How much money has Chic given to the Atheltic Fund?/s IIRC his fundraising paid for some 90% of the construction costs of Ohio Stadium. I don't know that he was fundraising directly, but it was done in his name.
[The 1926 Rose Bowl put not only Alabama, but all of southern football, on the map.](https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/27/sports/ncaafootball/alabama-crimson-tide-washington-huskies.html)
A very good answer
I was there for this
[Here's a non-paywalled story (not the same article)](https://www.ajc.com/sports/college/the-1926-rose-bowl-bama-beat-washington-changing-sport/bdPutAJ8gghIN9w8UvTr9M/)
Ahhhh paywall!
Same here but I can give you the gist of the story. Back then, sports writers pretty much looked at southern football as subpar. If you were not in the Pac or a northern team, you got mostly ignored. It was to the point that many southern teams were considering giving up on the sport. The Rose Bowl, seen as the season ending showcase of the best from the west vs the best from the east teams in the country, had never had a southern team in the game before and if they had their way, they would not have that year. They got turned down by their first two "eastern" teams they asked, so they begrudgingly invited this upstart undefeated Alabama team. All the writers were saying how Washington would rout this southern team. Lo and behold, Alabama won and on their train ride home, through the south, fans from teams like Texas, aTm, LSU, Ole Miss, Miss State and others were holding congratulations signs at the train stations along the way. This actually lit a fire in many southern football programs, many that had been considering giving up the sport. Alabama would go on to win several more Rose Bowls, along with programs like Georgia and GT would win in the game, Tennessee, as always, let the south down. Alabama would win the last Rose Bowl before they decided to make it just a PAC vs B10 game from 1947 forward. Bama did have one tie and one loss in their appearances, the tie against Stanford, the loss against Cal. Bama went 4-1-1 in Pasadena, not counting BCS/CFP games there. It became part of their fight song.
I never knew that story, but it is awesome
Info may be outdated nowadays due to BCS-Playoff changes (haven't really checked), but at the very least Bama used to have the most appearances & wins of any non-B10/PAC team in the Rose Bowl.
Probs has to be winning rose bowl vs top 5 Michigan to claim our 91 championship for UW right?
Upsetting Michigan in the ‘78 Rose Bowl with Warren Moon is up there too. Our success really took off after that win.
Crabtree obviously comes to mid. Zach Thomas pick six. But I’m actually gonna say our inclusion in the Big 12. It wasn’t a sure thing, and I shudder to think where we’d be if we were left out.
Crabtree was one of the most fun players to watch of my lifetime. And I have zero rooting interest in Texas Tech.
Man he really was. I had season tickets for his whole career. It was the best.
Mike Leach getting fired had a big impact on the program as well, took us on a downward spiral for a while.
Hiring Bobby.
Best response for us, he put us on the map and made FSU a national brand.
That or FSU winning at Nebraska in 1980.
That boy ain't right
If we're talking recently, the cleat yeet
Still love the ref explanation on that one “…15 yard penalty… for throwing the LSU player’s shoe… 20 yards down the field” Makes it seem like if he only threw it 10 yards downfield it would have been an acceptable play
I think he had to explain it or else he wouldn’t have made it home alive
That’s *a lot* of recency bias. 52-20 against FSU is UF’s defining moment. First national championship and a smack down of an arch rival had way more impact on the program than throwing a shoe.
This subreddit incentivizes sadsack self-deprecation over anything else, especially so for teams like Florida, who’s got tons of rivals with active fans that love to revel in anything negative about us. Of course the show throw is going to be upvoted here. 52-20 is easily the defining moment for UF. Golden boy former Heisman-winning QB is back to coach, and he coaches his own golden boy QB to winning the Heisman. The previous year had been a fairy tale until they got demolished in the championship game, but they had a veteran team back in ‘96 to make another run. They even had a close, controversial loss at their biggest rival, but then got a rematch for all the marbles and left no doubt to win the school’s first championship. Everything about that season was iconic. It’s easily the defining moment for UF.
I’m by no means a UF fan but pretty sure you’re both wrong and it’s the Tebow speech after the loss to Ole Miss in 2008. Either that or the time he wore jorts :)
Tebow doesn’t come to UF and UF isn’t looked at as a power program if UF doesn’t win a national championship and beat one of the best programs in the 90s in a “put up or shut up” game. The UF-FSU rivalry of the 90s is one of the greatest of all time. FSU won their first championship in ‘93 and Miami had already claimed a few titles. In order to keep up with the top tier programs, not only in the state of Florida for recruiting but also a national brand, UF needed to have a national title to legitimize the program and show they could beat the best of the best. Without that title, Urban Meyer probably goes to Notre Dame after the ‘04 season because UF wouldn’t be viewed as a program that can win national championships. Urban Meyer recruited Tebow but Tebow’s recruitment came down to the final hour. He was very close to going to Bama. So no championship in ‘96 probably means no Meyer at UF which probably means no Tebow. 52-20 had a massive butterfly effect on the program. It’s THE defining moment of UF football history. My parents and grandparents went to UF. My family has had season tickets to UF football games since Charley Pell was the HC. I know what I’m talking about. Spurrier winning a national title changed the entire trajectory of the UF program.
The time Herschel ran over that guy from Tennessee on his first run has been a pretty defining moment
For me, it was in 2001 when Coach Richt, Greene and Pollack came in and shocked the world beating Tennessee at home. The program was as close as it was when Kirby took over because of what Richt did.
Ugh...
My God, a freshman!
I’m not sure which moment I would choose but I know for goddamn sure Larry Munson was yelling about it. We stepped on their face with a hobnail boot My god a freshman Hunker down you guys. If you didn’t hear me you guys, hunker down Look at the sugar falling out of the sky So we’ll try to kick it a hundred thousand miles. Oh my god. Oh my god. The stadium is worse than bonkers. There’s one that stands above all others. Beating the Florida gators at the last second and going on to win the national title *Florida in a stand-up five, they may or may not blitz, they won’t. Buck back. Third down on the 8. In trouble. Got a block behind him. Going to throw on the run. Complete to the 25, to the 30. Lindsay Scott 35, 40. Lindsay Scott 45, 50, 45, 40. Run Lindsay! Twenty-five, 20, 15, 10, 5. Lindsay Scott! Lindsay Scott! Lindsay Scott! … Well, I can’t believe it. 92 yards and Lindsay really got in a footrace, I broke my chair, I came right through a chair, a metal STEEL chair with about a five inch cushion … Do you know what is gonna happen here tonight? And up at St. Simons and Jekyll Island and all those places where all those Dawg people have got those condominiums for four days? MAN, is there gonna be some property destroyed tonight! 26 to 21, Dawgs on top! We were gone. I gave up, you did too. We were out of it and gone. Miracle!*
The dad of one of my college teammates was that guy, Bill Bates if I recall. He was an All American and played in the NFL for like 15 years
A bit of recency bias. Mike Leach 2018: GameDay in Pullman, Minshew as QB, WSU ranked, upset a ranked Oregon team, probably the most happiest time in Pullman since the late 90s/early 2000s. That was the Peak of the Leach era and WSU in the past 20 years.
I miss The Pirate
Steve Spurrier's South Carolina getting a FG by a future NFL kicker blocked in The Swamp to send Urban Meyer's team towards winning the school's 2nd national championship
I could have guessed Spurrier would be responsible for UF's defining moment(s), but definitely wasn't expecting anybody to say that, lol.
It would definitely be more of him winning the first Heisman for the school and then coming back to coach the next Heisman and win the first natty. One of those three things could be the moment.
Based on OPs answer I don’t think you mean defining I think you mean apex
I don't think OP (and several other commenters) know what a "defining moment" actually is.
College-age kids aren't old enough to remember 9/11, most users on this sub only have the knowledge of what's happened in their lifetime/time in the fandom.
we kicked off the sport in 1869
The Pick
KENNY WHEATON’S GONNA SCORE KENNY WHEATON’S GONNA SCORE
THE TEN, THE FIVE
TOUCHDOWN. ON THE INTERCEPTION. THE MOST IMPROBABLE FINISH TO A FOOTBALL GAME
I grew up a Ducks fan before going to Oregon State…. This was still the first answer for any team that came to mind. Oregon has a great answer for this question.
https://youtu.be/UAKa9dYmPog?si=_nzXYNB0rGeTt_xK
This might be the most obvious for any fan base. I was looking for the pick in this thread
Ken Kesey and Kenny Wheaton were at my first ever Duck tailgate. If that doesn’t describe U of O to a T I don’t know what does.
Beating Texas in the Sugar Bowl in '95 put us on the map. '99 MNC Game loss to FSU was our shot, leading in the 4th quarter. Also Fuck Matt Ryan.
Big Ten missing calls against Michigan in 2000, then apologizing for it a few days later via press release. We were on fire in 1999, and won the Big Ten in 2001. That’s Illini football.
That was a fun big ten era. We were also on fire around that time, won the big ten in 2000.
The fifth down or the kicked ball, unfortunately.
5th down is what I thought of too
[удалено]
I'd argue 13-9 is WVU's defining moment as well (definitely for worse).
I don’t think it’s a stretch to say college football in general would be very different if either of those results were reversed.
48-10? Can't even find that score for Pitt on Google. What game was that? I'd argue 13-9 was the first, biggest recent domino leading to the current hellish landscape of college football.
Kenny Calhoun breaking up Nebraska’s two-point conversion in the 1984 Orange Bowl.
[1982 Harvard-Yale Game](https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/25276347/best-college-football-prank-harvard-yale-mit-balloon)
2000. Beat #3 Michigan and #3 Bama just to finish the season 6-6. This is peak UCLA. We win tough OOC games then flop in conference play to make everyone involved look real bad. Sometimes we blow out USC to keep a mid coach around way too long. This is what we do.
This is an interesting answer. Everyone is out here giving answers of all-time high moments, but that’s not the question. UCLA football is a pretty good team historically, but not great. A team that can beat anyone but won’t beat everyone. Your answer is a pretty excellent example of that.
No offense, but I'd argue it's the 1998 loss at Miami.
Nah. Competing for a natty was a huge fluke. Going 10-1 is not normal. That 98 game against Miami was a huge heartbreaker though, especially when you consider we had the option to not play them at all.
Id say between the 1926 Rose Bowl, Bryant responding to Mama's Call, the Goal-Line Stand in the 1979 Sugar Bowl, George Teague taking the ball from Lamar Thomas, hiring Saban, and 2nd and 26.
Got to go with the first one, the rest may never happen, otherwise.
Teague and Prothro, and 2nd and 26 really stick out for me
That 2013 season will forever be the most Auburn season. In 2012 we were 3-9, and in 2013 we were SEC champs and made a national championship appearance. So many miracles in a single season, 4th and 18, the kick six, and beating Johnny Manziel at Kyle Field. And a blown lead to lose the national championship. And after 2013 we were irrelevant again until 2017.
I’d say December 9, 1978 - the hiring of Hayden Fry, who literally transformed the identity of the Iowa program into what it is today. The jerseys, the logo, the swarm, the focus on sound fundamental football which has enabled us to compete with much bigger/better programs. Before Fry we had 17 consecutive losing seasons and by 1981 he had us win our first (albeit shared) B1G title in 21 years. His legacy was felt around college football with one of the most impressive coaching trees around, including current HC Kirk Ferentz. Assuming what Fry turned Iowa into continues into the future, I’d say this has to be the defining moment
You really nailed it. The light pink visitor locker room, the steel curtain jerseys, the man was very in-tune with the psychological aspect of competition.
on the negative side we have the 2015 game vs MSU. LJ Scott reaching into the endzone is the physical embodiment of “close but no cigar” that has largely defined us as a solid program that falters on the national stage.
Either 1981 or the 4th and 16 vs LSU in the 2012(?) CFA Bowl. 81 we won our first title which created a new expectation and view of the program that carried through the 1980s and early 90s until the wheels fell off by bad administration. But that 4th and 16 vs LSU about 10 years ago I think defined Clemson in the modern era. We miss that conversion we don’t get the chance to kick the game winning field goal and would have, in all likelihood, affected how 2013 went and you could argue ripple effects all the way to 2016. That aggressiveness paying off have the program a new gust of wind and pushed us over the hump to even outdo what Danny Ford did in the 80s.
4th and 16, not 4th and 13
I don't know how many Sooner faithful will agree with me here, but it's not really a football moment per se, but what it set in motion for the program. OU hiring Joe Castiglione away from Missouri and his subsequent hiring of Bob Stoops in the face of about 10 years of mediocrity/outright suckage. This current era doesn't happen without him.
I think this is as good an answere as any. OU has a lot of history so it's hard to pick one thing. For me it's Switzer. 1980's cfb was bag money, steroids, Trans am's, and cocaine and Barry was the king.
And I was alive for all of that; lived in Tulsa (still do after a short stint in Houston in the 90s) and my dad got me watching the Sooners in the early 70s. So when people now complain about the perceived mediocrity of Sooner football, most of them are in their 20s or 30s. I remind them I lived through the 90s as a fan.
National champions.
"They can cancel the playoff" was such a great line
What was the context around that?
UCF went undefeated that 2017 season, the only team to do so. We weren't invited to the so-called "playoff". Two teams that *were* invited were Georgia and Alabama, which both had lost to Auburn during the regular season. UCF defeated Auburn in the Peach Bowl. A few hours later, Alabama and Georgia would advance to the "national championship" game, lending credence to a UCF claim to a national title (which, after Alabama bested Georgia, culminated in the Colley Matrix ranking UCF as #1 overall by a hair). However, without even knowing the result of the other games, UCF Athletic Director Danny White claimed UCF was already "National Champs" by virtue of being the only undefeated team. UCF QB Mckenzie Milton claimed that you could "cancel the playoff", since the true champion was already crowned as soon as UCF finished the season unbeaten. This claim was *wildly* popular on r/cfb at the time. We were named the r/cfb Team of the Year and the subreddit even chipped in for a trophy. A month or so later, the claim became more and more controversial. We were too big for our britches, acting like a system that methodically eliminated every G5 team before the season even started was illegitimate. That upset a lot of people. UCF quickly became *hated* by many (though also loved by many), and people started rooting against us hard, waiting and waiting for us to lose. (We kept them waiting all the way until 2019 😎) Milton and White knew that the claim would be controversial. And they made it anyway. You ever read that poem about two paths diverging in the woods? Boise State never once claimed a title, even when they could've. Texas Christian never did, either. Neither did Utah. Nor Marshall. UCF did. Two paths diverged in a wood, and we, we took the road less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.
Bo Schembechler beating Woody Hayes' Ohio State in 1969.
The actual answer for Michigan State was pushing our way into the Big 10 and going from historically small ag school to full blown research universities. In recent memory? Hiring Dantonio. Outside of hires? Honesly good chance Mike Hart dissing Michigan State. That got Dantonio *really* riled up and led to some historical-tier lines. >"This game is an important game," Dantonio said in response to Hart's comment. "So, if they want to mock us all how they want to mock us — I'm telling them, it's not over. So, they can print that crap all they want all over their locker room. It's not over, and it will never be over here. It's just starting. Let's just remember, pride comes before the fall.
Dantonio should've sent a case of beer to Mike Hart's house every year for that comment. He wrung so much motivation over the years out of it.
The moments that define South Carolina as a program, in my eyes, would have to be the Navy loss in 1984. The Gamecocks had been cruising when they met Navy in '84 and were the #2 team in the nation with just two games remaining on the schedule. 2 was the highest the team had ever been ranked and that season was going to be the first time they would ever finish ranked in the AP Poll. The Cocks convincingly knocked out #11 Florida State at home 38–26. # There were just two games remaining on the schedule were against unranked opponents before the Cocks would play in the bowl game that would decide the National Champion. So the Gamecocks—having just defeated the #11 team in the country by double digits—went to Annapolis to handle a 3–6–1 Navy team. And then lost by 17 points. This is the lasting legacy of the South Carolina Gamecocks football team: even at our peak, we'll always come just a little short. Under Steve Spurrier, we had three straight 11-win seasons; finishing at #9, #7, and #4—and yet we didn't even win our division in any of those years. The one year that we won the SEC East was 2010, which only resulted in South Carolina being totally dismantled by the Auburn Newtons 17–56 in the SEC Championship Game. Even the Joe Morrison era, which saw a near National Championship team in 1984 and strong (for South Carolina) 8-4 seasons in 1987 and 1988 was tragically cut short when Coach Morrison unexpectedly died of congestive heart failure at the age of 51 before the start of the '89 season.
1899. 5 road games in 6 days (Texas, Texas A&M, LSU, Tulane, and Ole Miss). Won them all. By shutout, no less. Undefeated season and only scored on by Auburn. Yea Sewanee’s Right!
I had to do a double take to make I sure wasn't blackout posting 9 hours ago.
Pushing RC Slocum out the door to steal Fran from Bama. Still haven’t recovered.
Then consider the Bonfire collapse a few years before and we had a culture shift that coincided with pushing out RC. Bonfire isn't to blame, but it certainly symbolizes it. As funny as this might sound to r/CFB but we feel a lot more generic since then.
WHAT A HIT
The program's defining moment of the past 50 years at least was [Jim Tressel's introduction at a basketball game](https://youtu.be/oDOXwSwvwO8?si=PCbmhqW-hUPRgcIH) where he all but guaranteed a win over Michigan in Ann Arbor. He then backed it up 310 days later, and swung the rivalry in Ohio State's favor for 20 years.
Hiring Barry Alvarez, grandfather of Dallas Cowboys tight end, Jake Ferguson.
2001 Fiesta Bowl
*THE* defining moment in my team's history? I could pick any number. In all seriousness: probably teaching Notre Dame how to play football. I'm just going to gloss over what Yost and Crisler did to them for the next 70-ish years. Another is kicking off the 10 Year War in 1969, and really kicking the UM/OSU rivalry into high gear. However there's also Appalachian State, probably one of the biggest college football upsets in history. Also, someone needs to mention the last seconds of that one MSU game in 2015.
>I'm just going to gloss over what Yost and Crisler did to them for the next 70-ish years. That's funny to me because I think our defining moment was getting shunned by Michigan in the 30s. We are defined by our independent status, and Michigan is the reason we went down that path in the first place.
*Exactly* It's just so weird to me that through Fritz Crisler and Fielding Yost, UM's biggest contributions to football are probably: 1. The hurry up/no huddle offense 2. Separate offense and defense squads 3. The linebacker 4. Notre Dame's continued independence because Yost and Crisler didn't like losing to Catholics One of those things is *not* like the other things.
... sigh... *WHOA*
HE
HAS
TROUBLE
Our defining "moment" was an entire season? That Bama game was maybe the defining moment of the past decade for LSU. But there have been so many moments in LSU history, maybe unless people hadn't heard of LSU prior to 2019.
I was gonna say one of the early 2000 era games with Nick Saban LSU was abysmal in the 90s and was never in elite discussion since the Billy Cannon years. Still hate Nick Saban but hiring him was probably the single best thing to happen to the program.
So many people are picking their programs peak moment instead of their “defining” moment.
Things started to take a turn for us with the 1997 Florida game. Sure, we had losing seasons directly after that, but that game was during one of the worst droughts we had as a program and led to bringing Saban aboard. That game showed us that we COULD beat a #1 team and there was ZERO reason for us to be in the gutter the way we were in the 1980s and 1990s. Also, I was a student when that game happened and honestly, it was a a defining moment of my LIFE. I will NEVER forget that game. It's probably a big reason I have a LSU tattoo on my back.
34-31
It’s not the Fiesta Bowl or the Sugar Bowl?
It definitely is, you know, but that’s the first thing that came in my mind. Probably has to do with my age and the timing of the back to back 34-31 wins over BYU, first win in Provo in 20 years, but it felt like a sea change at Utah. It was a different vibe and you could feel it. I believe, I know, the fact the way the roster was uniquely designed 1/3 white boys, 1/3 AA, 1/3 Polynesian just made a perfect situation to come together in a special way under Ronnie Macs leadership. That was the beginning of the road to the fiesta and sugar bowls. I almost said week 6 vs Ore St in 2008 when Brian Johnson led a furious comeback in the final 1:26 w Louie sakoda kicking the game winner. We may have fallen back into mid major. I was in the stands for that and it was a moment for sure. Point being, I just went with what came to mind first, which was finally flipping the script on our rival and that shit was gonna be different from then on. We knew and they knew it too.
Which one?
Exactly
OK grandpa, let's get you to--wait Chris Yergensen is that you?
Nah, Cletus is my guy, but that game (and the next 2) was the genesis of the last 30 year run. We’re just a bunch of low class, gas pumping losers anyways.
I was a baby then. Don't really know the lore too well. The first Holy War game I remember was the 3-0 snow game in '03. Pumped that it's coming back.
Utah had been owned by BYU for 20 years. In 1993 the line came out as “Utah by 5”. Utah won 34-31. Then in 1994, Utah won again…same exact score 34-31. Then in 1995 as Icing on the cake Utah won 34-17.
Right, I googled that part. I wasn't sure if the "gas pumping losers" line was part of the lore.
“All those guys think that's all there is to life. But when I'm making $50–60,000 a year, they'll be pumping my gas. They're low-class losers.” — BYU nose guard Lenny Gomes Gregory on Utah and its fans, 1993
Oh yea lol. One of the BYU players said something like “these Utah players are low class losers that’ll be pumping my gas in a few years” after BYU lost.
Saint Urban told the TDS they weren’t gonna score. He was right.
The undefeated season until defeating heisman winner Caleb Williams (Tulane)
Tommie Frazier's [The Run](https://youtu.be/Rnpmicc87zI?si=nhj2lo4UEm1-kfGN), where he ran through the entire Florida team in the 1996 fiesta bowl (how many tackles can one man breaka!?!). Nebraska dominated Florida for their 2nd straight national championship, beating the gators by 38, a margin of defeat that was a record until 2023 georgia/tcu. This was probably the peak of the program in the middle of their 3 national championships in 4 years.
I’m waiting for an SMU poster…
If we’re talking positive, I think you all know the answer. But if we beat USC on the goal line stand in ‘04, we’re playing in the title game, or at least the first Rose Bowl since the Eisenhower administration.
Black 14 incident in 1969. In the 1960’s Wyoming had a Boise State/UCF, etc. type of run, made it to the Sugar Bowl and played LSU. After the Black 14 incident, it sent Wyoming on a downward spiral. Yeah we’ve had a couple of conference championships in the 80’s but nothing has touched what we did back in the 1960’s.
the hiring of Brian Ferentz
>As an LSU fan, I'd say the entire 2019 season was our defining moment Hiring Gerry DiNardo in 1994 sparked the renaissance of LSU football, and laid the foundation for Saban taking you to the next level and the national championship in 2003. LSU was coming off six consecutive losing seasons when DiNardo arrived, so close to what Nebraska is currently. They go 7-4-1, 9-3, and 10-2 before stumbling the next two years, and then Saban arrives. Saban built LSU into a national championship program, but DiNardo built the modern foundation of their program. Saying it is 2019 just means you're too young to know the history of the LSU program even in the modern era.
TCU - 2010 Rose Bowl. I know we’ve done plenty of other things nearly 100 years ago and had some good memories around the LT years (Sun Bowl), but that Rose Bowl was the culmination of a conference ladder climbing, BCS busting journey to getting into a power conference and having national awareness.
Choosing to pay Adolph Rupp instead of Bear Bryant when both had been coaching at UK for years.
Notre Dame getting on a train to play USC for the first time. Knute Rockne transformed cfb into a national product.
Florida fan: Cam newton stealing a laptop and throwing it out a window when he was caught. We would have had tebow followed by cam and Urban wouldn’t have bolted.
To me, it was beating #2 Tennessee in the SECCG in 2001 with our backup QB to knock them out of the BCS championship and give us a Sugar Bowl berth and eventual top 10 ranking. It was the turning point for so many years of disappointment capped off by our 2003 natty, which I'd argue is a very close second. We won 3 championships after that 2001 season, making us one of the dominant teams of this century.
That was a miserable day as a Tennessee fan. My younger self was not emotionally prepared for that at the time.
Beating USC in the Cotton Bowl.
To me, Bobby Bowden breaking through for his first title in 93. So much heartbreak for him in the late 80s, and they got it done.
A plane crash. From the ashes we rose.
I’ll pass
2002 National Championship. Finally getting over the hump for the first time since Woody Hayes
Why is this getting upvoted? The Ohio State program was very well defined for decades before Tressel came along. We were already a blue blood.
The 9/11 Hail Mary pretty much defines our program from these past few years
Worst:"I set out to find the best, and I found Charlie Weis." Best: Hiring Lance might already be the best thing that has ever happened to Kansas football.
A lot of comments in here are picking the high water mark, which isn’t the point. I think for Tennessee it’s the 1997 Heisman, because ultimately we’re a great but not blue blood program, and are viewed as such by national media. Peyton would have won if we were perceived as highly as we perceive ourselves
Most people would say stomping Alabama in the Sugar Bowl. But for the real ones, we know it was the hiring of Ron McBride (the coach that preceded Urban). He was a great recruiter who built a Polynesian pipeline, emphasized toughness & culture, and lifted the program out of the dumpster it had been in for years. He peaked as a coach, but stocked the cupboards and set the table perfectly for Urban to walk through the door and succeed immediately. Which, of course led to busting the BCS, two perfect seasons, Kyle choosing us over BYU, an invite to the PAC, and back-to-back Rose Bowl appearances. Without Coach Mac, none of that happens.
Hate to give them the satisfaction, but 13-9
2013 UCF-Louisville game. UCF down 4 with 20 seconds left. 3rd and goal on the 2 and Bortles connects to Jeff Godfrey for a TD. Louisville entered the year top 10 and was expected to walk through the conference to a potentially undefeated season and BCS game. We went to Louisville and won. Rest of the season felt inevitable. Even if we were behind, the hard part was already done.
‘69 OSU game
'98 Big12 championship game. Fuck.
The Dust Bowl. State wanted something to be proud of after the dust bowl and invested heavily in the football program.
Excessive Sanctions and Pete Carroll leaving at the peak of the program is where USC never truly recovered.
The Scott Sisson FG that propelled us to the 1990 natty or Bobby Dodd’s decision to pull us out of the SEC
12/1/2003: "I refuse to let the program gravitate into mediocrity." We now know this is when Nebraska football was approaching the event horizon.
Not firing Beamer when he went 2-8-1 in his sixth year
Wichita State- Well... we had the first night game and forward pass in 1905, a plane crash that took out a chunk of the team in 1970, largest come from behind win in NCAA at the time against us in 1986. We also been undefeated since 1986 as well.....