Game of the Century (college football)

The phrase "Game of the Century" is a superlative that has been applied to several college football games, usually regular-season matchups between two teams that are considered among the best that season. It is a subjective term applied by sportswriters to describe the most notable games of the period.Reineking, Jim - College football's 'Games of the Century' NFL.COM November 13, 2013

Reuse of title The phrase "Game of the Century" is sometimes placed in quotation marksFighting Irish Win Game of the Century The Tech (MIT newspaper) Mike Duffy and Andrew Heitner. Volume 113, Issue 59 : Friday, November 19, 1993 to indicate the irony or emphasize the incorrectness of the term as it applies to college football games.Happens Every Year Top-Ranked Ohio State and No. 2 Michigan Play Today, But the 'Game of the Century' Moniker Has Been Trotted Out for Decades The Washington Post College Gameday, Adam Kilgore. November 18, 2006

What makes the phrase subjective is that sportswriters and fans list the games that they remember or attended. Games that were played before radio and television broadcasts are only preserved in print. Working sportswriters have a history that goes back at most to the middle of the 20th century. Television and the Internet have made broadcasts of more recent games available to all. Unlike the "Game of the Century" in college basketball, or the 1958 NFL Championship Game, which is commonly called "The Greatest Game Ever Played", no specific college football game has changed the sport as dramatically. On a list of historically significant college football games, the games listed below have stood out.

Criteria

The primary criterion for being a "Game of the Century" is for the game to be billed as such by the football press.

No. 1 vs No. 2 Some of the games were a No. 1 vs No. 2 in the AP Poll, and then later to the BCS rankings and now College Football Playoff rankings, which happened only 31 times in the 20th century.Games Where #1 Faced #2 (kiko13.com) Quite often a winning streak is on the line and the winner goes on to win the national championship. The prospect of two juggernaut teams on a roll, or "the irresistible force meets the immovable object", creates a high-interest spectacle.

Not all No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchups are a "Game of the Century", as seen in a numerous 20th-century games listed below.

While the Bowl Championship Series was created to produce a matchup of the top two teams in the nation at the end of the year, a BCS championship game does not automatically constitute a "Game of the Century". Otherwise, every year's championship game would be such.

Unexpected outcome The "Game of the Century" is not always a decisive win. Occasionally, the title is applied to games where the outcome is in doubt until the game is played.

Some matchups are "Game of the Century" before being played because of what's on the line. Some become "Game of the Century" because people can't believe what they saw. –David Leon MooreUSC takes defensive tack By David Leon Moore, USA TODAY. November 23, 2006

20th century

In each listing, the visiting team is listed first unless the game was played at a neutral site, in which case the teams are listed in alphabetical order. All rankings are from the AP Poll.

1935 Notre Dame vs. Ohio State

November 2, 1935: A then Ohio Stadium record crowd of 81,018 witnessed what was billed as The Game of the Century, the first ever meeting between Ohio State and Notre Dame. Ohio State led 13–0 heading into the fourth, but Notre Dame rallied with three fourth-quarter touchdowns and fed off several OSU miscues to pull out an 18–13 win. Notre Dame's Bill Shakespeare, a Cincinnati native, threw the game-winning 19-yard pass to Wayne Millner with 32 seconds left. Tickets for this game sold for $50 each ($1,177 in 2025) and there were widespread reports of counterfeit tickets. OSU officials said they could have sold 200,000 tickets for the game if they had room. The Ohio State-Notre Dame game was the most covered and most popular game of 1935.

1935 SMU vs. TCU

November 30, 1935: Before a crowd of up to 42,000, the undefeated and untied TCU Horned Frogs (10–0) hosted the SMU Mustangs (10–0) in a late-season matchup that noted sportswriter Grantland Rice called a "Game of the Century". The conference championship for the Southwest Conference was on the line, as was a possible invitation to the Rose Bowl, which would be the first time a team from Texas participated. The game was the first in the state to be broadcast nationally on radio and noted sportswriters from across the country traveled to see it. While the Mustangs established a 14–7 lead in the first half, a touchdown pass by TCU's Sammy Baugh tied the score early in the fourth quarter. The Mustangs' Bob Finley responded with a fake punt play that resulted in a touchdown pass to Bob Wilson, with the Mustangs winning 20–14. While the Mustangs went on to lose in the Rose Bowl, the Horned Frogs won their Sugar Bowl game against the LSU Tigers, with both teams finishing with an identical record of 12–1 and both claiming a mythical national championship for the season.

1945 Army vs. Navy

December 1, 1945: Heading into the final game of the season both Army (8–0) and Navy (7–0–1) were undefeated and ranked No. 1 and No. 2 respectively, and with both teams buoyed by the recent victory in World War II, this game had all the earmarkings of a potential classic. President Harry S. Truman even decided to attend. However, the match-up did not live up to its pre-game "Game of the Century" billing as West Point would go on to win in a rout. A three touchdown, 20-point first quarter gave Army a lead they would not yield, going on to win 32–13.

1946 Army vs. Notre Dame

November 9, 1946: The Army Cadets, then ranked Number 1 in the Associated Press college football poll, played the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, of South Bend, Indiana, ranked Number 2, at Yankee Stadium in New York City.

This matchup, with the national attention it got in the era before the service academies ceased to be major football powers, was usually played at a neutral site, often in New York City. The 1924 game between the schools, a Notre Dame victory at the Polo Grounds, was the game at which sportswriter Grantland Rice christened the Fighting Irish backfield—quarterback Harry Stuhldreher, halfbacks Jim Crowley and Don Miller, and fullback Elmer Layden – the "Four Horsemen." The 1928 edition, with Notre Dame trailing Army at halftime at Yankee Stadium, was the game where Notre Dame coach Knute Rockne delivered his "Win one for the Gipper" speech, resulting in a comeback win for the Fighting Irish.

Both teams were undefeated going into the 1946 game at Yankee Stadium. Both teams averaged over 30 points per game. Army had a 25-game winning streak over four years, last losing to Notre Dame in 1943 (26–0), but had won the last two contests between the schools by scores of 59–0 and 48–0. Army had the defending Heisman Trophy winner, Doc Blanchard, also known as "Mr. Inside", the man who would win it that year, Glenn Davis, also known as "Mr. Outside", and one of the nation's top quarterbacks in Arnold Tucker. Notre Dame had the quarterback who would win the Heisman the next year, Johnny Lujack. Both Tucker and Lujack were also outstanding defensive backs at a time when football players, college as well as professional, usually played both offense and defense. Just the previous year, in a game also labeled the "game of the century" before it was played, Army defeated a 7–0–1 Navy team 32–13. Navy's lone tie was against Notre Dame.

Despite the high-scoring and much-hyped offenses, the game ended in a scoreless tie, with each school's best chance at a scoring drive coming back-to-back: Tucker intercepting Lujack, and Lujack then making a touchdown-saving tackle on Blanchard a few plays later. Notre Dame's defense did something no other team had ever done — it held the famous "Touchdown Twins", Blanchard and Davis, to a total of 79 yards. As an indication of how the defense of both teams dominated, seven linemen in that game were nominated for Lineman of the Week honors in the weekly Associated Press poll. Joe Steffy, an Army guard who helped shut down the Notre Dame running game, won the honor, followed closely by Notre Dame right tackle George Sullivan and freshman lineman Jim Martin who helped stifle Army's running attack and dropped Davis on consecutive plays for losses totalling 17 yards. Both Notre Dame coach Frank Leahy and Army coach Earl Blaik called the game "a terrific battle of defenses."

Both team finished the season undefeated with this one tie, but it was Notre Dame that was awarded the national championship by the Associated Press, with Army coming in second. Neither school accepted bowl bids during that era, although a bowl loss would not have affected the national championship outcome since these were named before the postseason bowls in this era. Army declined an invitation to play in the 1947 Rose Bowl. The Army Black Knights / Cadets / the Corps Football media guide lists the 1946 team as national champions.2008 Army West Point Football Media Guide. PDF copy available at http://www.goarmysports.com

With Blanchard, Davis and Tucker having graduated, Army's winning streak would be broken the next year, by Columbia University. Notre Dame would not lose until early in the 1950 season. Sporting News named the 1944–45 Army Black Knights / Cadets / the Corps and 1946 Fighting Irish the second and fifth greatest teams of the 20th century respectively.Hoppel, Joe., Zesch, Steve., Nahrstedt, Mike. College Football's Twenty-five Greatest Teams. United States: Sporting News Publishing Company, 1988.

1962 USC vs. Wisconsin

The 1963 Rose Bowl was the 49th edition of the college football bowl game, played at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California on Tuesday, January 1, at the end of the 1962 season. The top-ranked USC Trojans defeated the Wisconsin Badgers, 42–37. This was the first #1 versus #2 match-up in a bowl game. The quarterbacks, Ron Vander Kelen of Wisconsin and Pete Beathard of USC, were named co-Players of the Game.

Down 42–14 in the fourth quarter, Vander Kelen put together a number of drives to score 23 unanswered points and put the Badgers in position to win the game. Due to the historic #1 versus #2 bowl match-up, the number of Rose Bowl records set, and the furious fourth quarter rally by Wisconsin, this game frequently appears on lists of "greatest bowl games of all time."

1966 Notre Dame vs. Michigan State

November 19, 1966: Notre Dame Fighting Irish vs. Michigan State Spartans, at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing, Michigan. Notre Dame, which had not won a national championship since 1949, was ranked No. 1 in one poll and No. 2 in the other. Defending National Champion Michigan State entered the game ranked No. 2 in one poll and No. 1 in the other. This was the first time in 20 years that a college football game was given the "Game of the Century" tag by the national media.CRIPPLED SPARTANS BUMPED OFF BY IRISH IN 'REMATCH'. Los Angeles Times, October 29, 1967. With rookie fullback Jeff Zimmerman scoring three touchdowns, Notre Dame trounced crippled Michigan State, 24–12, Saturday in a pale rematch of last year's "game of the century".

The game was not shown live on national TV. The agreement between the NCAA and ABC in effect at the time limited each team to one national television appearance and two regional television appearances each season. Notre Dame had used their national TV slot in the season opening game against Purdue. ABC executives did not even want to show the game anywhere but the regional area, but pressure from the West Coast and the South (to the tune of 50,000 letters) made ABC air the game on tape delay.