History of No. 1 vs No. 2 in NCAA College Football!

[Phil C]

This is a list of the times when it happened and several of them were considered Game of the Century! Please remember when I write something like1943 Season that it covers the time period of Sept 1, 1943 to Jan. 31, 1944 to include post regurlar season bowl games. Unless otherwise noted the winner won the Mythical National Championship for that year. The polls considered were the AP, UPI and BCS. I thought it might be useful to have this post here in case someone was ever interested in the history.

1943

Oct. 9, 1943 No. 1 Notre Dame 35 Michigan 12
Nov. 20, 1943 No. 1 Notre Dame 14 No. 2 Iowa Pre-Flight 13

1944

Dec. 2, 1944 No. 1 Army 23 No. 2 Navy 7

1945

Nov. 10, 1945 No. 1. Army 48 No. 2 Notre Dame 0
Dec. 2, 1945 No. 1 Army 32 No. 2 Navy 13

1946

Nov. 9, 1946 No. 1 Army 0 No. 2 Notre Dame 0 (tie)

Army had won the MNC in 1945 and 1946 but with this tie Notre Dame moved into No. 1 even though Army outplayed them. Notre Dame had an easier time with their remaining schedule and Army just barely beat Navy in their last game so ND was voted No. 1. Unfortunately for many years as long as Notre Dame or a Big 10 school was undefeated and untied no one else had a shot at the MNC no matter what their record was.

1962

Jan. 1, 1963 No. 1 USC 42 No. 2 Wisconsin 37

1963

Oct. 12, 1963 No. 2 Texas 28 No. 1 Oklahoma 7
Jan. 1, 1964 No. 1 Texas 28 No. 2 Navy 6

1966

Nov. 19, 1966 Notre Dame 10, Michigan State 10 (tie)

Notre Dame awarded the MNC even though in last minute they opted to run the clock out instead of try at least one long pass to set up a field goal to win. ND was criticized much for this decision even though they were awarded the MNC.

1968

Sept. 28, 1968 No. 1 Purdue 37 No. 2 Notre Dame 22

Purdue later lost their only game of the year to Ohio State 13 to 0. Ohio State used this win to get the MNC.

Jan. 1, 1969 No. 1 Ohio State 27 No. 2 USC 16

1969

Dec. 6, 1969 No. 1 Texas 15 No. 2 Arkansas 14

1971

Nov. 25, 1971 No. 1 Nebraska 35 No. 2 Oklahoma 31
Jan. 1, 1972 No. 1 Nebraska 38 No. 2 Alabama 6

1978

Jan. 1, 1979 No. 2 Alabama 14, No. 1 Penn State 7
AP chose Alabama that year, UPI chose USC

1981

Sept. 26, 1981 No. 1 USC 28 No. 2 Oklahoma 24

USC would later lose a game and Clemson won the MNC.

1982

Jan. 1, 1983 No. 2 Penn State 27 No. 1 Georgia 23

1985

Oct. 19, 1985 No. 1 Iowa 12 No. 2 Michigan 10

Iowa would later lose a game and Oklahoma would win the MNC.

1986

Sept. 27, 1986 No. 2 Miami 28 No. Oklahoma16 See next entry
Jan. 2, 1987 No. 2 Penn State 14 No. 1 Miami 10

Penn State wins MNC in 1986

1987

Nov. 21, 1987 No. 2 Oklahoma 17 No. 1 Nebraska 7 See next entry
Jan. 1, 1988 No. 2 Miami 20 No. 1 Oklahoma14

Miami wins MNC in 1987

1988

Nov. 26, 1988 No. 1 Notre Dame 27 No. 2 USC 10

1989

Sept. 26, 1989 No. 1 Notre Dame 24 No. 2 Michigan 19
Notre Dame would later lose and Miami would win the MNC.

1991

Nov. 16, 1991 No. 2 Miami 17 No. 1 Florida State 16

AP chose Miami as MNC, UPI Choose Washington

1992

Jan. 1, 1993 No. 2 Alabama 34 No. 1 Miami 13

1993

Nov. 13, 1993 No. 2 Notre Dame 31 No. 1 Florida State 24

This was a strange year. ND later loses and Florida State goes into the Orange Bowl No. 1 and

Jan. 1, 1994 No. 1 Florida State 18 No. 2 Nebraska 16


1995

Jan. 2, 1996 No. 1 Nebraska 62 No. 2 Florida 24

1996

Another strange year.

Nov. 30, 1996 No. 2 Florida State 24 No. 1 Florida 21

Actually Florida would win the MNC in a strange twist of fate. Florida State would probably have played Nebraska but Nebraka got beat by Texas in the Big 12 Championship Game so Florida State had to play a rematch with Florida in the Sugar Bowl and Florida won the rematch 52 to 20 and got the MNC. A strange ending indeed.

1998

The BCS comes into being

Jan. 4, 1999 No. 1 Tennessee 23 Florida State 16

1999

Jan. 4, 2000 No. 1 Florida State 46 No. 2 Virginia Tech 29

2000

Jan. 3, 2001 No. 1 Oklahoma 13 No. 2 Florida State 2

Controversy over No. 2. Some thought Miami should have been in that game since they beat Florida State during the season but the BCS formula said otherwise.

2001

Jan. 2, 2002 No. 1 Miami 37 No. 2 Nebraska 14

More controversy between the polls on No. 2 Again. Oh well.

2002

Jan. 3, 2002 No. 2 Ohio State 31 Miami 24 At last no controversy


2003

Jan. 4, 2004 No. 2 LSU 21 No. 1 Oklahoma 14 The controversy here was that USC was left off. AP gave its' MNC to USC.

2004

Jan. 4, 2005 No. 1 USC 55 No. 2 Oklahoma 19 There was controversy over Auburn being left off with its' perfect record but the polls were unanamous in selected USC as its' MNC.

2005

Jan. 4, 2006 No. 2 Texas 41 USC 38 No controversy this year.

This last one in my opinion is the greatest of them all. The game was exciting and lived up to the hype and was well played by both teams and wasn't decided until the last play was over. UT Scored the winning TD with 19 seconds left but even afterward if USC had made a big play on the last play and got a 15 yard pass to the sidelines and ran it out of bounds with a second or two left a field goal would have sent it overtime but the USC QB was rushed out of the pocket and lost valuable seconds and time ran out as he threw the ball out of bounds. Also the game had two Heisman Trophy winners and one runner up. There were other players that won awards such as Michael Huff who got the Thorpe Award. Many players on these teams will no doubt go on to successful pro careers.

In conclusion we will await until No. 1 plays No. 2 again with many thrills and much excitement to come in the future. But they have their work cut out for them to match or bypass the 2006 Rose Bowl.

[Buccaneer]

2002

Jan. 3, 2002 No. 2 Ohio State 31 Miami 24 At last no controversy

There was plenty of controversy about the officiating in this game! Miami got robbed!

[sahen]

i thought one of those years w/ Crouch, OU played Nebraska and it was 1 vs. 2 in Lincoln....cant remember which year but i remember it was the game when Crouch caught a TD pass and the OU QB had tried to run the same play earlier and dropped a sure one....i thought they were 1 vs. 2 then.....maybe it was 1 vs. 3....cant remember, all i remember is Nebraska won and it was a really good game....

it was in the middle of the year of course, not a bowl...

[sahen]

and in 1943.....Iowa Pre-Flight? what is that? a school i havent heard of or does it have something to do w/ WWII?

[Maroon87]

Originally posted by sahen
i thought one of those years w/ Crouch, OU played Nebraska and it was 1 vs. 2 in Lincoln....cant remember which year but i remember it was the game when Crouch caught a TD pass and the OU QB had tried to run the same play earlier and dropped a sure one....i thought they were 1 vs. 2 then.....maybe it was 1 vs. 3....cant remember, all i remember is Nebraska won and it was a really good game....

it was in the middle of the year of course, not a bowl...

That was 2000 Oklahoma/Nebraska...NU was #1, OU #2. The game was @ OU.

[Leopards,class of 75]

Originally posted by Maroon87
That was 2000 Oklahoma/Nebraska...NU was #1, OU #2. The game was @ OU. I was at that game in Norman, Ok. It was nationally televised by A.B.C. sports and Nebraska went up 14-0 early. O.U. ended up winning the game and later the national championship. I had a cousin that played for Nebraska and he got me the tickets with the Nebraska football players parent section. That was collge football at it's best that day with the crowd really into it.

[sahen]

actually im refering to the 2001 game....it was in Lincoln and College gameday was there....i actually think now that yall mention it the 2000 game was also a 1 vs. 2 matchup between OU and NU, it was followed the next year by a 1 vs. 2 matchup between OU and NU in Lincoln....the difference was in 2000 Nebraska was number 1 and in 2001 OU was number 1....also in 2000 OU won (31-14) and went on to win the National title while in 2001 NU won (20-10) and went on to be destroyed in the title game by Miami....the 2001 game was an intense game if i remember right and was on ABC as well.....sry for the confusion...

[pantherpop]

I'll never forget the 1969 game with Texas beating Arkansas. I was just 12 at the time but it was the best college game I ever saw untill last weeks Texas win over USC.