Go and take it! Inside the World Series champs’ Texas-sized turnaround
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Bradford Doolittle, ESPN Staff Writer
PHOENIX — There is no one way to rebuild a baseball team, and there is no one way to exit that rebuild and ramp up to contention. There is perhaps a sentiment common to the start of any such project, though, one expressed nine months ago in four words by the general manager of baseball’s newest champions, the Texas Rangers.
“We’re sick of losing,” Chris Young said at spring training in Arizona, answering a reporter’s question about how and why the Rangers took an aggressive stance to free agency the winter before.
Nine months later, that sickness has been cured.
The road between that statement in February and Wednesday night’s pileup at Chase Field in downtown Phoenix — only 37 miles away from the spring training facility where it was spoken — was long, meandering and filled with potholes.
In the end, though, those four words were profound enough to point the way to a new destination for the Rangers — the domain of World Series champions.
“Everybody wants to be a winner,” Texas reliever Will Smith said. “That’s what you want to be known for, is a guy who wins. … It’s a whole lot better than losing.”
Smith, incidentally, knows a thing or two about winning. He has now been on the roster of three straight championship teams — the Atlanta Braves (2021), the Houston Astros (2022) and now the Rangers.
“It’s something I don’t take for granted, for sure,” Smith said.
He shouldn’t. Winning the World Series is hard. Entering the 2023 season, six of the 30 existing MLB franchises had never won a World Series. The Rangers, who began their existence with 11 lackluster seasons as the neo-Washington Senators, had played about 1,300 more games than any of the other titleless teams. In fact, if you zoom in on the 51 campaigns Texas played in Arlington before this season, it represents the longest wait any American League fan base has ever endured for that first World Series title.
That wait, as of Wednesday, is over.
You don’t think of the Rangers as perennial losers. They’ve employed several of the more larger-than-life managers we’ve ever had in baseball, from Ted Williams to Billy Martin to Whitey Herzog to Bobby Valentine, Ron Washington, Buck Showalter and, especially, their current skipper, four-time champion Bruce Bochy. Some of the biggest stars of the past half-century have played for the Rangers, including Ivan Rodriguez, Nolan Ryan, Jose Canseco, Alex Rodriguez, Adrian Beltre, Frank Howard (who died during this World Series at age 87) and Ferguson Jenkins. Heck, one of their former owners used to be president of the United States.
Yet, somehow, until Wednesday, these elements had never coalesced into championship form. And until, well, not very long before Wednesday, there had been little evidence that would change any time soon. Entering this season, the Rangers’ five-year winning percentage (.417, or 67.5 wins per 162 games) was the franchise’s worst since 1974, its third season after the move from Washington.
Now, after all of those requited summers baking in the hot Arlington sun, that title thirst has finally been quenched. In the aftermath of seasons with 102 and 94 losses, the Rangers are champs. How did this Texas-sized turnaround happen so fast?
Winter 2021
Starting with the 2021-22 offseason signings of Corey Seager, Marcus Semien and Jon Gray by former lead exec Jon Daniels, the Rangers had, in essence, started to put the finishing touches on a work in which the outlines were not yet clear.
Certainly, there was hope that the player development system was going to start yielding key contributors, and it has. But when Seager and Semien committed to the Rangers, they were being sold on a vision, not a track record.
Daniels was calling the front office shots at the time, with Young his top lieutenant, but even as the previous rebuild was faltering, a newer, quicker and, let’s face it, more expensive version was well underway.
“Meeting the Texas Rangers and listening to Chris Young, it definitely aligned with what I wanted to do as a player,” Semien told ESPN in September. “He said he wanted pitching too. He has done everything he said, and Ray Davis, our owner, has been on board too. When you play for an organization that is moving forward and wanting to win, that’s exactly where you want to be.”
If there is a takeaway for other teams from the Rangers’ sudden success, it’s that if you believe in your system, you don’t have to wait to invest in the roster.
“To some extent, it was to accelerate the rebuild,” Young said in September. “In a market this size, I think that our fans deserve that. They shouldn’t have to go through a five-, six-, seven-year rebuild.
“Part of it was because we felt very good about our player development system and the group of players that we had on the cusp of the big leagues, and we felt like accelerating their development would be facilitated by having the right veteran players around.”
Winter 2022
Despite 94 losses in 2022, the Rangers had in place the makings of a solid offense, in large part because of Seager and Semien’s success. Texas finished eighth with 198 homers and scored runs at a clip safely above the MLB average — and those two players set examples for the younger Rangers coming through the system.
“When your best players, the players you’re counting on the most like Seager and Semien, work extremely hard and they care deeply, your team always has a chance to reach its ceiling,” said Rangers senior advisor of baseball operations Dayton Moore, architect of a Kansas City Royals title-winning team. “Semien and Seager are as committed as players as I’ve ever been around. Watching them throughout the season, their work ethic is unbelievable.”
On the pitching side, Young’s club needed more T.L.C., where the Rangers were a bottom-10 team by ERA+. In response, Young dealt for righty Jake Odorizzi early in the offseason. Then, with the blessing of Davis, Young went hard in free agency in the spring, landing, in order, Jacob deGrom, Andrew Heaney and Nathan Eovaldi. That quartet, along with 2022 holdovers like Gray, Martin Perez and Dane Dunning gave the Rangers one of the deepest and most accomplished core rotations in the majors.
“We went into the offseason knowing that we needed to improve our starting pitching,” Young said during the AL Championship Series. “It was a big limitation for us last year. We knew that we had scored runs and we were going to have pretty much the same offensive team back. So the key to us being a good team was going to be to improve our starting pitching. We obviously were very active in the free agent market.”
Based on those acquisitions alone, the Texas baseline win projection moved into the .500 range — and that was without considering the late October news that Bochy had signed on to return to the dugout and guide the team.
The biggest splash on the acquisition list was deGrom, arguably the best pitcher in baseball when he’s able to stay on the mound. Since the beginning of the 2018 season, deGrom has a composite 2.08 ERA with 290 strikeouts per 162 games. That’s not merely ace material, that’s Cooperstown stuff.
The Rangers hit spring training with their brand-new rotation and their legendary manager — and then the depth chart began to thin before the season even began. Odorizzi went down with a bum shoulder that ended up requiring season-ending surgery.
It was only the first such challenge for the Rangers.
Spring 2023
Losing Odorizzi stung, but the Rangers still had good rotation depth as the season began. They still had a dream October one-two punch in deGrom and Eovaldi — as long as they could get to October.
Then, on April 28, during a win over the New York Yankees, deGrom threw his last pitch of the season, leaving early because of two dreaded words: forearm tightness. He tried to work his way back, throwing a bullpen session in late May. In June, he underwent Tommy John surgery.
DeGrom had been the latest marquee free agent to be wooed by not just Davis’ dollars but also Young’s plans to build a sustainable contender. He was a big part of that plan, an irreplaceable component, if lost, from any team’s rotation.
Even when the roster-building plan is perfect, things go wrong. The ineffable quality of a championship team is something else, something more elusive. That something can be called clubhouse chemistry or team culture or what the players might call the “next-man-up mentality.” How you create it or how you even define it is hard to say, but invariably, a championship team is going to have it.
So how did the Rangers respond? By June 12, the date of deGrom’s surgery, Texas owned the second-best rotation ERA in baseball (3.38), leading all teams in innings from starters and ranking fourth in quality starts.
All of those measures remained strong through the All-Star break, partially because Eovaldi and Gray were pitching like All-Stars and because Dunning, who stepped into deGrom’s place in the rotation, owned a sub-3.00 ERA.
“A few guys go down, but you’ll have to face a little adversity in the season to have success,” said Eovaldi, a key member of the 2018 champion Boston Red Sox. “I feel that was one of our main things this year, we had a lot of key players, not just even pitchers, but a lot of guys step up when one of the guys went down and filled in the role nicely.”
It wasn’t just the pitching staff. In April, Seager turned up with a sore hamstring that kept him out of the lineup for several weeks. With deGrom ailing, as well, the Rangers were pressing ahead in the rugged AL West without their most talented pitcher and most talented hitters.
And what happened? Rookie Josh Jung, Bochy’s every-day third baseman from the outset, flourished, posting 12 homers and 37 RBIs by the end of May and diving around the field on defense, doing the best imitation he could of his historical hero, Brooks Robinson. Semien mashed too, and the Rangers went 20-13 during Seager’s lengthy absence, with utility player Ezequiel Duran hitting .305/.342/.533 during that time. Next man up, indeed.
By the All-Star break, the Rangers were leading the majors in runs.
“We’re just resilient,” Seager said. “We’ve talked about it all year. Just playing good baseball, trying to win series and having a pass-the-baton mentality. You don’t have to be the guy every night. It’s just kind of translated for us.”
Summer 2023
Eovaldi caught fire as the season progressed toward the All-Star break, establishing himself as a likely contender for the AL Cy Young Award.
Not surprisingly, that run started in the immediate aftermath of deGrom’s injury. On April 29, Eovaldi threw a three-hit shutout against the Yankees. From that game through July 18, his first start of the second half, Eovaldi went 9-1 with a 1.97 ERA. Ace stuff. Cy Young stuff.
Then Eovaldi also got hurt. During that July 18 start, he threw six shutout frames against the Tampa Bay Rays, but his velocity was down. A start was skipped. A forearm strain was reported. He didn’t pitch again until September.
When Eovaldi went down, Texas was 19 games over .500 and led the division by 4½ games with the trade deadline looming two weeks away. And then it all started to turn.
The star-starved rotation began to suffer, and the Rangers bled runs at an alarming rate. Texas lost its last three games going into deadline day. Their lead over archrival Houston had shrunk to one game.
So what happened? Young doubled and tripled down on an already expensive rotation, dealing for Max Scherzer and Jordan Montgomery. Rather than rest on the talent, Young made the Rangers one of the clear winners of deadline machinations.
“By the time we got to the deadline, we needed to readdress our rotation, so that’s what we did,” Young said, his matter-of-fact tone implying that every team goes out and trades for two All-Star starters midstream.
The Rangers won on deadline day, the first of eight straight victories. They won 12 of 14 overall to move a season-high 24 games over .500 by the middle of August. Things were good, with the new order suggested by the Rangers’ strong first half seemingly restored by Young’s characteristic aggression at the deadline.
As it turned out, the Rangers’ rollercoaster was just starting to roll. After hitting that high point on Aug. 15, Texas lost nine straight (including twice to Arizona, the team they just vanquished in the Fall Classic). They fell into a tie in what had become a three-team struggle with Houston and Seattle.
The slump just kept getting worse. From Aug. 16 through Sept. 8, Texas lost 16 of 20. During those games, the Rangers’ staff put up a 6.33 ERA. Only four teams put a lower OPS at the plate. What had seemed like a surefire playoff spot was no longer assured.
Nothing was clicking. Bochy’s pitching staff was on fumes. It all came to a head during what Young refers to as “the disaster series.”
Houston was in town. Despite the Rangers’ slump, they were still in good position, and a strong series against the Astros not only would put Houston in a major hole, but it could restore some of the Rangers’ earlier momentum.
Over the next three days, despite Eovaldi’s return to action and a marquee matchup that pitted Scherzer against Justin Verlander, Houston outscored the Rangers 39-10, a frightening differential that looks even worse when you consider that Texas led the first game 3-0 at one point.
Injuries (Heim and Jung, among them) played a big part in the skid, but Texas looked very much like a team that had fallen into an irreversible spiral.
There was no one moment that pulled them out. Texas started to get healthier, at least on offense, though Scherzer was lost with a shoulder injury that everyone thought would end his season. Young called up top prospect Evan Carter. Eovaldi began to round into form. Montgomery performed like the top-of-the-rotation starter Texas badly needed. The Rangers won six straight and regained their lead in the AL West.
“I think we had to deal with more this year than any year I’ve ever had to manage,” Bochy said. “And that’s what makes me proud of these guys, too, how they were focused on that as much as, hey, let’s focus forward. And they kept doing that.”
Carter was a revelation almost from the start, hitting .306/.413/.645 down the stretch while flashing plus speed on basepaths and defense in the outfield. The system Young had bet on was paying off again.
So, too, was the Rangers’ emergent clubhouse culture where in a room peopled by some of the game’s biggest stars, rookies like Carter and Jung, and reinforcements like Duran and Travis Jankowski felt right at home. Next man up, yes, but it was every man up as well.
“It shows that no matter who we have on the field, we’re going to compete,” Carter said. “A team like us, we’ve got the Coreys, the Marcuses that are so high up there in the baseball world, it’s kind of easy to overlook the other people who are really good contributors. Obviously Corey and Marcus are huge reasons for our success but at the same time, we had people come in and contribute in all kinds of ways.”
October 2023
The Rangers had an up-and-down finish to the regular season and missed a chance to win the AL West outright by dropping a 1-0 game in Seattle on the season’s final day. They tied the Astros for the division lead, but Houston owned the tiebreaker (in part because of the disaster series).
Instead of resting at home in the wild card round, Texas boarded a plane in Seattle, enduring one of baseball’s longest flights: across the continent for a winner-takes-all series against the Tampa Bay Rays in St. Petersburg, Florida.
The Rangers took two straight, swept the Rays, then won two on the road against the Baltimore Orioles in the next round. By Game 3 of the ALCS, the Rangers had played only one game at home — and had won every single road game they played in three other cities.
There were still more setbacks at the very end of the Rangers’ run. Adolis Garcia, who, along with Seager, powered the Texas offense in October was lost to an oblique injury suffered in Game 3 of the World Series. Scherzer, who shockingly returned during the ALCS, had his back lock up in the same game.
Both players were removed from the Texas roster simultaneously before Game 4 against the Diamondbacks.
And what happened? Bolstered by an emotional pregame speech by the devastated Garcia, the Rangers clubbed Arizona 11-7 in Game 4, and finished off the Snakes in Game 5. Injury after injury, setback after setback, this was one rapid rebuild that was not going to be denied.
Young, a native of the Dallas area and a former Rangers player, had delivered the franchise’s first title. Bochy had won his fourth. While you can look at the splashy free agent signings and the stars acquired through trade, moves that had Seager and Semien and Eovaldi and Scherzer and deGrom and Garcia dancing around the same clubhouse with Jankowski and Jung and Carter and everyone else, what is perhaps most impressive is not how quickly the talent was gathered, but how quickly that elusive thing — chemistry, comradery, culture, next-man-upness, whatever you want to call it — became this team’s manna, the fuel that helped them overcome more than their fair share of roadblocks.
It was the team Young built, in his first full season as Texas’ lead exec. Not a bad bit of work for a guy who was pitching in the majors just a few years ago. Even when he was still hurling for Moore’s teams in Kansas City, winning a title in 2015, the Royals’ title-winning GM knew Young had future exec written all over him.
“Everybody talks about how smart C.Y. is, but he’s got emotional intelligence too,” Rangers advisor Dayton Moore said. “You have to have a natural love and passion for this game, which he does. You have to have baseball wisdom, which he does. And then you also have to love people. He has all three, and he has a great work ethic. I think he’s got a chance to do this successfully for a long time.”
Young and his team have a tough act to follow after Wednesday, but one thing is certain: They aren’t going to get tired of winning any time soon.
Somehow, 13 weeks of college football have already come and gone, leaving us with one, last Saturday of regular-season action. It’s hard to believe that, a mere three months ago, we thought LSU, Clemson and Penn State were top-10 teams, that when Florida State beat Alabama, it meant times had changed in Tallahassee, and that when Miami beat Notre Dame, it meant that the Hurricanes would have a better shot at the playoff than the Irish. What fools we all were!
But the beauty of Week 14 — of Rivalry Week — is that the 13 weeks that preceded it are little more than periphery details.
Who cares if Ohio State has been the best team in the country, when all that matters is beating Michigan?
The massive disappointment felt by Clemson and South Carolina fans is of little consequence this weekend, when at least one fan base will earn some needed redemption after a lost season.
Florida fired its coach. Florida State is keeping theirs. None of that matters when the two face off Saturday.
Georgia Tech‘s defense has collapsed and so, too, the team’s playoff hopes, but a win over rival Georgia would make this a magical season nevertheless.
Alabama has largely proved its playoff pedigree, but there’s still the small matter of the Iron Bowl, where Auburn can get a head start on scripting a new story for a program still in search of its next head coach by not only beating its rival but by sending the Tide to the back of the playoff line.
Up and down the docket, the games are big — not because of the records or the postseason stakes, but because Rivalry Week means something different altogether. It’s bragging rights for a year, it’s talking smack to your neighbors, it’s a chance to right anything that has gone wrong in the past 13 weeks and finish the season with a defining moment. — David Hale
Jump to:
Stakes in key matchups
Title game scenarios
Quotes of the week
What’s at stake in these key matchups?
No. 1 Ohio State (11-0) at No. 15 Michigan (9-2)
(noon ET, Fox)
The stakes: The Wolverines are seeking a fifth straight win in the series, which would be their longest winning streak in the rivalry since the 1920s. With a victory — coupled with either an Oregon or Indiana loss — Michigan could also advance to the Big Ten championship game while entering the CFP at-large bid conversation. The Buckeyes probably have already clinched a playoff berth. But they’re still aiming for a first-round playoff bye and potentially the No. 1 seed. With a win over Michigan, Ohio State would also advance to the Big Ten title game for the first time in five years, while ending Michigan’s hold on the rivalry — the only blemish on Ryan Day’s otherwise sterling tenure as Ohio State’s head coach.
Ohio State wins if: The Buckeyes play up to their capability. Lately, they’ve inexplicably saved their worst performances for Michigan, including last season, when they stunningly lost at home as a three-touchdown favorite before bouncing back to win the national title. These Buckeyes have been even more dominant to this point. Ohio State ranks fourth in offensive efficiency, while its defense has given up only 84 points all season. Assuming wideouts Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate are ready to go after battling nagging lower-body injuries, the Buckeyes are college football’s most complete team with several future pros on both sides of the ball.
Michigan wins if: The Wolverines can hang around in the second half and intensify the pressure on the Buckeyes (9.5-point favorites), forcing Ohio State to play tightly yet again. Unlike last year, the Wolverines have the firepower on offense this time to test Ohio State, with dynamic freshman quarterback Bryce Underwood, steady running back Jordan Marshall (who’s expected to return from a shoulder injury) and budding freshman receiver Andrew Marsh, who has emerged as Underwood’s go-to target in Big Ten play. If the Wolverines can land some big plays on offense and make the Big House crowd a factor, they have the defense (No. 5 nationally in EPA) to make this a fourth-quarter game, where, as this rivalry has proved over the years, anything can happen. — Jake Trotter
No. 3 Texas A&M (11-0) at No. 16 Texas (8-3)
(Friday, 7:30 p.m. ET, ABC)
The stakes: For Texas, its playoff hopes. For A&M, it’s history. The Longhorns, who have made the CFP semifinals the past two seasons, need an upset to stay alive. The 11-0 Aggies, who haven’t won a conference title since 1998, can tie the school record of 12 wins and earn a trip to the SEC championship game. It’s a rare high-stakes matchup for both programs; this will be only the 12th time both teams have been ranked coming into the game, which is being played for the 120th time. Texas has won eight of the previous 11 meetings under such circumstances.
Texas A&M wins if: If the Aggies’ offensive line controls the game. A&M QB Marcel Reed completes just 42% of his throws under pressure but has been pressured on just 25% of dropbacks. The Aggies average 5.3 yards per carry between the tackles, and the Longhorns give up only 3.5 up the middle. On defense, if A&M can get Texas into third downs, it will have a distinct advantage. The Aggies have the best third-down defense in the country, allowing conversions only 21.5% of the time, second best in the FBS in the past 20 years, while Texas converts 41% of opportunities, 11th best in the SEC.
Texas wins if: Arch Manning continues to be efficient running the offense. The Aggies average a sack on 10.6% of dropbacks, second best in the FBS, and Manning has been comfortable throwing quick strikes to Ryan Wingo and Emmett Mosley V, who have combined for 40 catches and 785 yards over the past four games. Defensively, it will have to limit big plays, something that has bedeviled the Longhorns of late: Reed has 43 passes of 20 or more yards, second to Alabama’s Ty Simpson (45). Texas has given up 37 such passes, second only to Arkansas (49). — Dave Wilson
No. 4 Georgia (10-1) at No. 23 Georgia Tech (9-2)
(Friday, 3:30 p.m. ET, ABC)
The stakes: For two teams who’ve spent the bulk of this season with playoff aspirations, there’s remarkably little postseason impact to be drawn from this one. Georgia Tech’s disaster against Pitt almost certainly means the Yellow Jackets are out, short of a miracle berth in the ACC championship game. Georgia’s win over Texas two weeks ago all but locked up a playoff bid for the Bulldogs. So, what’s at stake here? Look no further than last year’s eight-overtime thriller to understand. For Georgia, any postseason success would come tinged with regret if the Dawgs don’t take care of business here. For Tech, finally toppling the hated Bulldogs would be more than enough to ensure this season went down in the history books as one of the school’s best.
Georgia wins if: The Bulldogs’ defense can stop Haynes King. A year ago, the Georgia Tech QB tormented the Dawgs throughout the game, throwing for 303 yards and two touchdowns and rushing for another 110 yards and three scores in a 44-42 defeat. The Jackets’ offense is relentless, thanks in large part to King’s brilliance, and though he’s guaranteed at least one more game with Tech before his college career ends, this will be his true farewell performance, meaning a player renowned for his toughness will leave nothing left in the tank. That puts the burden squarely on the Dawgs’ defensive front, which has to manage to corral King in the pocket but also not let him burn them downfield.
Georgia Tech wins if: It can stop the run. Georgia’s rushing offense has taken strides lately, but it still averages just a tick over 4.5 yards per carry — solid, but hardly spectacular. But Georgia Tech’s defense has made a habit of turning middling rushing attacks into unstoppable forces. The Jackets have given up at least 150 rushing yards in eight of their past nine games, and have surrendered 10 rushing touchdowns in their past three contests — two of which were losses. Tech has to figure out a way to keep Georgia’s offense one-dimensional, and if November’s performances are any indication, that’s going to be a major undertaking. — Hale
No. 14 Vanderbilt (9-2) at No. 19 Tennessee (8-3)
(3:30 p.m. ET, ESPN)
The stakes: There’s more at stake for the Commodores, who can win 10 games in a season for the first time in school history and keep their CFP hopes alive. Depending on what happens elsewhere this weekend and next, Vandy could be in line for an at-large bid if it beats the Volunteers. Tennessee has won each of the past six games in the series (victories in 2019 and ’20 were later vacated because of NCAA rules violations) and most of the scores weren’t close. The Vols can win at least nine games for the fourth straight season and improve their standing in the SEC’s bowl pecking order.
Vanderbilt wins if: Quarterback Diego Pavia continues to carry the Commodores. He has played spectacularly this season and has the fourth-best odds to win the Heisman Trophy, per ESPN BET. Pavia has turned it up a notch down the stretch, throwing for more than 350 passing yards in each of his past three games with 14 touchdowns (three rushing) and one interception. In last week’s 45-17 win against Kentucky, Pavia threw for a school-record 484 yards with five touchdowns on 33-for-39 passing.
Tennessee wins if: If the Volunteers contain Pavia and play keep-away as they did last season. In Tennessee’s 36-23 victory in Nashville in 2024, it limited Pavia to 104 passing yards with one touchdown and one interception. He ran for 45 yards. The Volunteers ran for 281 yards and went 11-for-15 on third down, limiting the Commodores to only 11 offensive plays in the second half. This UT defense isn’t nearly as good as the one that led the Vols to the CFP last season. The Vols rank 14th in the SEC in scoring defense (27.2 points) and passing defense (247.1 yards), so they’re going to have to sustain drives on offense again. — Mark Schlabach
No. 10 Alabama (9-2) at Auburn (5-6)
(7:30 p.m. ET, ABC)
The stakes: The stakes are fairly straightforward: Alabama clinches a spot in the SEC championship game with a win over its rival, and that would put it in position to get into the CFP. As it stands, Alabama is on the bubble. A win in Atlanta would guarantee the Crimson Tide a spot in the 12-team playoff; a loss and things might get dicier. As for Auburn, nothing would be more fitting than clinching bowl eligibility with a win over its hated rival as a massive underdog. This has been a disappointing season for the Tigers, but a victory would make its year.
Alabama wins if: The matchup plays right into what Alabama does well. Auburn has a good run defense, and Alabama has struggled to get the ground game going; Auburn has a shakier pass defense, and Ty Simpson and his receivers have excelled in the passing game. So if Simpson can make plays to his skill players, the way he has for most of the season, Alabama will be in good shape. The key, like any game, is to take care of the football. Auburn is one of the best teams in the country at forcing turnovers.
Auburn wins if: Jeremiah Cobb has been one of the bright spots on offense for the Tigers, ranking No. 4 in the SEC in rushing with 936 yards and four touchdowns, averaging 5.7 yards per carry. Though Alabama has made big improvements with its run defense in the last month of the season, if Cobb can get going on the ground, that would certainly help the Tigers control the clock and the game. As the underdog at home, staying in the game early to keep the crowd into it also will be key. — Andrea Adelson
No. 12 Miami (9-2) at No. 22 Pitt (8-3)
(noon ET, ABC)
The stakes: Though neither team is a front-runner to make it to the ACC championship game, both could sneak in depending on a few different scenarios. For Miami to make it to Charlotte, the Hurricanes have to win and then get help from potentially three teams. The more likely scenario here is the Hurricanes have to win to keep any hopes of an at-large bid to the CFP alive. For Pitt, getting to Charlotte is much simpler: A victory, plus a loss by either Virginia or SMU gets the Panthers into the ACC title game with a CFP spot on the line. Easier said than done, of course.
Miami wins if: The Hurricanes have played at a championship level on defense for the bulk of the season, and they will have to do the same against freshman quarterback Mason Heintschel. Notre Dame proved that if he is under significant pressure, he could get flustered and make mistakes. Rueben Bain Jr. and Akheem Mesidor will be key. Carson Beck has nine interceptions on the season; six came in two losses. He has not thrown an interception since the loss to SMU, so continuing to play mistake-free in the passing game will be huge.
Pitt wins if: Pitt is known for its physical, aggressive defense, and that will be key to slowing Miami and forcing the Hurricanes into more passing situations than they want. That will ratchet up the chances that Beck makes a mistake. Last week against Georgia Tech, the Jackets intercepted Haynes King twice — including a 100-yard pick-six. The way to keep Miami from teeing off on Heintschel is to make sure the run game is a threat, the way it was against the Jackets. Without Desmond Reid, Pitt got 201 yards on the ground from Ja’Kyrian “Boosie” Turner. — Adelson
Conference championship scenarios
ACC
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Win, OR
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SMU loss + Pitt loss + clinch tiebreaker over Georgia Tech/Miami/Pitt/SMU
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Win, OR
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Pitt loss + Duke loss + clinch tiebreaker over Miami/Georgia Tech/SMU/Virginia
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Win + Virginia loss, OR
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Win + SMU loss
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Win + Pitt loss + SMU loss, OR
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Win + Pitt loss + Virginia loss + clinch tiebreaker versus Miami
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Win + Virginia loss + Duke loss + SMU win, OR
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Win + SMU loss + Duke loss + clinch tiebreaker over Virginia/Georgia Tech/SMU, OR
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Win + SMU loss + Virginia loss + clinch tiebreaker over Virginia/Georgia Tech/SMU, OR
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Win + SMU win + Duke win + Virginia loss + clinch tiebreaker over Duke
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Pitt win + Virginia loss + SMU loss, OR
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Miami win + SMU loss + Duke loss + clinch tiebreaker over Virginia/Miami/SMU
Big Ten
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Win, OR
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Ohio State loss
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Win, OR
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Indiana loss + Oregon loss
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Win + Indiana loss, OR
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Win + Oregon loss
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Win + Ohio State loss
Big 12
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Win, OR
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ASU loss, OR
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BYU loss + Utah win
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Win, OR
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ASU loss, OR
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Texas Tech loss + Utah loss
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Win + BYU loss, OR
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Win + Texas Tech loss + Utah loss
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Win + Texas Tech loss + BYU win + Arizona State win
SEC
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Alabama loss, OR
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Texas A&M loss
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Win
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Win, OR
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Alabama loss + Ole Miss loss
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Win + Texas A&M loss + Alabama loss
American
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Win, OR
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Loss by either North Texas or Navy if it has the highest composite computer average of the 6-2 teams
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Losses by both North Texas and Navy if it has the second-highest composite computer average of the 6-2 teams
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Win, OR
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Losses by either Tulane or Navy if it has the highest composite computer average of the 6-2 teams
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Losses by both Tulane and Navy if it has the second-highest composite computer average of the 6-2 teams
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Win, and loss by either Tulane or North Texas
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Loss by either Tulane or North Texas if it has the highest composite computer average of the 6-2 teams
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Losses by both Tulane and North Texas if it has the second-highest composite computer average of the 6-2 teams
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Win, and loss by two of Tulane/North Texas/Navy if it has the highest composite computer average of the 6-2 teams
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Win, and losses by all of Tulane/North Texas/Navy if it has the second-highest composite computer average of the 6-2 teams
-
Win, and loss by two of Tulane/North Texas/Navy if it has the highest composite computer average of the 6-2 teams
-
Win, and losses by all of Tulane/North Texas/Navy if it has the second-highest composite computer average of the 6-2 teams
Conference USA
-
Win, OR
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Kennesaw State loss
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Win, OR
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Kennesaw State loss + finish ahead of Kennesaw State in computer metrics
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Win, OR
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Western Kentucky loss + finish ahead of Western Kentucky
MAC
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Win, OR
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Ohio win, OR
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Miami (Ohio) loss
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Win + Western Michigan win, OR
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Win + Miami (Ohio) loss
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Win + Western Michigan loss, OR
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Win + Central Michigan win
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Win + Northern Illinois win + Miami (Ohio) loss + Central Michigan win + Beat Central Michigan in team rating score metric
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Win + Ohio loss + Miami (Ohio) loss, OR
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Win + Western Michigan loss + Ohio loss + Miami (Ohio) win, OR
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Win + Kent State win + Miami (Ohio) loss, OR
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Win + Kent State loss + Miami (Ohio) loss + beat Ohio in team rating score metric
Mountain West
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Win, OR
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Losses by Boise State and UNLV, OR
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Finish in top two in computer metrics among 6-2 teams
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Win + San Diego State win, OR
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Win + finish in top two in computer metrics among 6-2 teams
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UNLV loss + New Mexico loss + finish with the top computer metrics among 5-3 teams
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Win + Boise State loss + New Mexico loss, OR
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Win + San Diego State loss + finish in top two in computer metrics among 6-2 teams, OR
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Boise State loss + New Mexico loss + finish with the top computer metrics among 5-3 teams
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Win + Boise State loss, OR
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Win + finish in top two in computer metrics among 6-2 teams, OR
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Boise State loss + UNLV loss + finish with the top computer metrics among 5-3 teams
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Win + Boise State loss + New Mexico loss + UNLV loss + finish with the top computer metrics among 5-3 teams
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Win + Boise State loss + New Mexico loss + UNLV loss + finish with the top computer metrics among 5-3 teams
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Win + New Mexico loss + UNLV loss + finish with the top computer metrics among 5-3 teams
Sun Belt
Quotes of the week
“Very important,” Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin said Monday when asked about the importance of finishing the season with the Rebels amid speculation over his future entering Friday’s Egg Bowl. “I’ve never thought of anything different than that.”
Michigan coach Sherrone Moore on “The Game” and the Wolverines’ rivalry with Ohio State: “It’s a feeling that you can’t really describe. It’s an intensity. It’s just an aura about it that you just can’t describe until you get on the field. It’s awesome to be a part of. It’s the best rivalry in sports in my opinion. … It’s competitive and there’s nothing like it.”
Alabama’s Kalen DeBoer on the Iron Bowl: “I know what [it] means to the state here. A huge deal for us, as well. It’s a big game for a lot of reasons. We just focus on what it is, and it’s our big rivalry game. It’s an SEC game on the road. It’ll be an awesome environment. Just blessed to be a part of it, especially here on this Thanksgiving week, that’s what you think about it.”
“Beating them does a lot for me,” Washington‘s Jedd Fisch said ahead of Saturday’s visit from Oregon. “Knocking them out is just another part of it. We want to do everything we possibly can to get a win on Saturday. That is our plan to do everything possible to get that done. We will work exceptionally hard, knowing that we have a really, really good opponent coming into town.”
“I like that [for] this game that we get an opportunity to stand alone,” Texas’ Steve Sarkisian said of the Longhorns’ Friday night matchup with Texas A&M. “OK, so whether it’s Thanksgiving or Friday after Thanksgiving, I just think this game deserves the spotlight to stand alone. The fact that we’re playing on Friday night with all the eyes of college football on it — really the football world on this game — I think this game deserves that. So whatever that looks like [in the future]. Again, I’m not the decision-maker on that. But I do think this is a great opportunity for us.”
“Nothing matters, except a win on Saturday at noon,” Pitt’s Pat Narduzzi said of his Panthers, who are vying for a spot in the ACC title game as Miami visits in Week 14. “Nothing matters. We can’t control what other people do. We could have controlled it earlier in the year in one of our other ACC games, but all we can do is control and focus on one thing. We start worrying about other things out there, it doesn’t matter.”
Let’s be honest: Thanksgiving weekend is an endurance test.
From the stress of pre-holiday prep to the dinner conversations with people you don’t see (or care to see) all that often to the glorious, gluttony of the big meal itself, it’s no wonder a late-afternoon nap often is in order.
That applies to the excess of football as well. Several days packed from noon to midnight with high-stakes, hatred-fueled action can take it out of a person. That is, until a rivalry game matches — or exceeds — the anticipation and delivers a finish that gets you jumping out of your seat in amazement at what you just witnessed.
With those stupefying (or stupor-defying?) moments in mind, we present some of the most fantastic finishes from the biggest Rivalry Week matchups — those unforgettable scenes that keep us coming back for more year after year.
Jump to a rivalry:
Ole Miss-Miss. State | Georgia-Georgia Tech
Texas A&M-Texas | Arizona-Arizona State
Ohio State-Michigan | Clemson-South Carolina
Wisconsin-Minnesota | Florida State-Florida
USC-UCLA | Virginia-Virginia Tech
Alabama-Auburn | North Carolina-NC State
All times Eastern
Better known as: Egg Bowl
This year’s game: Friday, noon, ABC
Record: Ole Miss 68-46-6
Current streak: Ole Miss, 2
It’s difficult to overlook the Piss and the Miss in 2019. But in the string of dramatic finishes that runs through this 124-year-old rivalry, the most bizarre ending in Egg Bowl history came 42 years ago this month. In Oxford, at least, it’s remembered fondly as The Immaculate Deflection, even if there was no deflection at all.
Mississippi State and Ole Miss met in the capital city of Jackson as a pair of sub-.500 programs in late fall of 1983. With 24 seconds to play, Bulldogs kicker Artie Crosby lined up for a potential game-winning 27-yard field goal attempt. After leading 23-7 at the 4:54 mark of the third quarter, Mississippi State trailed 24-23 in the game’s final minute after three late turnovers provided the kindling for a 17-point Rebels comeback.
The kick looked good off Crosby’s foot. Mississippi State fans roared. But suddenly, as the ball reached its apex, it seemed to stop, held up by a gust of wind, and pushed wide left. Three years before Diego Maradona’s famous goal at the 1986 World Cup in Mexico City was guided by “the hand of God,” a divine force seemingly was on Ole Miss’ side.
“I’ve never seen a kick come backwards in my years of coaching,” Bulldogs coach Emory Bellard said postgame. “It was like something reached down and stopped the ball in flight.”
The Rebels held on for the one-point win, clinching a trip to the Independence Bowl, their first bowl appearance since 1971. Afterward, offensive lineman Frank Harbin summed up the feelings of the fans in Starkville. “I’m sure in a year or two I’ll be able to look back at that kick and laugh,” he said. “But right now, it ain’t too damn funny.” — Eli Lederman
Better known as: Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate
This year’s game: Friday, 3:30 p.m., ABC
Record: Georgia, 72-39-5 (acc. to Georgia); 72-41-5 (acc. to Tech)
Current streak: Georgia, 7
While Georgia’s 44-42 victory over Georgia Tech in eight overtimes last season might have been the wildest contest in the 118-game history of the intrastate rivalry known as Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate, the most controversial finish happened 25 years earlier.
In the 1999 meeting at Bobby Dodd Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia Tech took a 41-24 lead late in the third quarter. But then Marvious Hester’s muffed punt at Tech’s 10-yard line gave the Bulldogs new life. They scored 24 straight points to take a 48-41 lead with 5:12 to play. The Yellow Jackets answered right back, however, when Heisman Trophy contender Joe Hamilton threw a touchdown to Will Glover with 2:37 remaining.
That’s when things got very weird.
The Bulldogs drove right down the field and were in position to kick a game-winning field goal in the final seconds. On first-and-goal at the Tech 2, Georgia coach Jim Donnan elected to run one more play. Quarterback Quincy Carter handed the ball to tailback Jasper Sanks, who bulldozed his way toward the end zone.
“Right before the play happened, I can remember Miles Luckie, our center, saying, ‘Hey, man, hold onto the ball,'” Sanks said.
The Yellow Jackets stopped Sanks short of the goal line, and the ball popped out when he hit the ground. Tech safety Chris Brown picked up the ball just in case.
After a brief huddle, officials ruled that Sanks fumbled and the Yellow Jackets recovered, even though TV replays showed both of Sanks’ knees were down when the ball came out.
“He didn’t fumble, he was down,” Georgia linebacker Kendrell Bell said. “Jasper was lying on his back and eating cookies when it came out.”
In overtime, Georgia failed to score when Hester intercepted Carter’s pass in the end zone.
The Yellow Jackets had third-and-6 at the Georgia 21 on their overtime possession, and coach George O’Leary sent out kicker Luke Manget to attempt a 38-yard field goal for the win. Bell blocked Manget’s kick, but holder George Godsey recovered the ball at the 21, giving Manget another try to win. His second kick was good.
For more than a quarter-century, Georgia fans have argued Sanks was down, while the Yellow Jackets still contend that Sanks fumbled.
On Black Friday, the Yellow Jackets will attempt to become the first Tech team since that crazy finish to defeat the Bulldogs in Atlanta. — Mark Schlabach and David Hale
Better known as: The Lone Star Showdown
This year’s game: Friday, 7:30 p.m., ABC
Record: Texas, 77-37-5
Current streak: Texas, 2
The most dramatic game in the Texas-Texas A&M rivalry is the 1999 game, when the Aggies rallied for a 20-16 win after 12 Aggies died during the building of the annual campus bonfire.
But that one has been well-documented since last year was the 25th anniversary. So for our purposes, we’ll go back to 1963, just six days after John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, when No. 1 Texas traveled to 1-6-1 Texas A&M, which was still an all-male military school, in one of the most storied games in the rivalry.
Twice that week, Aggie cadets steernapped the 1,700-pound Bevo VII; the Houston Post called him “ugly but perhaps overly friendly.” They first whisked him away from the State Hog Farm in Austin, and the second time they snatched him from a new secret location; he was later found by a Texas Ranger.
Texas students allegedly retaliated by pouring chemicals on the Kyle Field grass to spell out BEVO. The Aggies brought in dirt to help fix the damage, but two days of rain turned it into a mud bath. Frank Erwin, the legendary Texas regent, tried to commandeer the PA system to chastise the Aggies, then issued a public statement at halftime that read: “The condition of the playing field is a disgrace and a reflection upon A&M and its athletic department. No university which makes any pretense of having a major athletic program would permit any such condition to exist.”
The Aggies appeared to ice the win with an interception in the end zone, but the play was ruled an incomplete pass, which is still disputed by A&M. “It was the greatest injustice on a group of young fellows I’ve ever seen,” A&M coach Hank Foldberg said.
The Longhorns, down 13-9 in the last two minutes, drove 80 yards for the winning TD on a 1-yard sneak by Duke Carlisle. “I’ll tell you, I don’t want to win many like this,” Darrell K Royal said afterward.
The win clinched Texas’ first unbeaten and untied season since 1920 and earned the Longhorns their third straight Southwest Conference title, the first time in the 49-year history of the league a team had won three in a row. Weeks later, Royal would lead Texas to its first national championship with a 28-6 Cotton Bowl win over No. 2 Navy. — Dave Wilson
Better known as: Territorial Cup
This year’s game: Friday, 9 p.m., Fox
Record: Arizona, 51-47-1 (acc. to Arizona); 51-45-1 (acc. to Arizona State)
Current streak: Arizona State, 1
Few games in Territorial Cup history have delivered the kind of emotional whiplash that unfolded in Tucson in 2018. It featured a pair of first-year coaches — Arizona’s Kevin Sumlin and ASU’s Herm Edwards — and by the end of the third quarter, quarterback Khalil Tate had guided the Wildcats to a commanding 40-21 lead. A win would have made Arizona bowl-eligible, partially salvaging what was a disappointing debut season for Sumlin.
Instead, Arizona State turned in a remarkable fourth-quarter comeback that now serves as a fence post in the collapse of Arizona’s program over the following two years. ASU quarterback Manny Wilkins led the Sun Devils on four scoring drives: a field goal, a touchdown and a field goal before the go-ahead score came on a 22-yard run from Eno Benjami with 3:08 left in the game. But even after all that, Arizona still put itself in position to win the game after a 14-play, 54-yard drive set up a 45-yard field goal in the waning moments. But again, there was heartbreak as the attempt missed, sealing the win for the Sun Devils.
It was a stunning defeat that Sumlin would never come back from and a prelude to one of the most miserable stretches in Arizona history, in which the Wildcats went 5-24. — Kyle Bonagura
Better known as: The Game
This year’s game: Saturday, noon, Fox
Record: Michigan, 62-51-6
Current streak: Michigan, 4
In 2016, The Game came down to an inch.
In double overtime, Ohio State coach Urban Meyer opted to go for it on fourth-and-1 from the Michigan 16-yard line instead of trying the game-tying field goal. Buckeyes quarterback J.T Barrett ran left, Michigan safety Delano Hall hit his shoulder, bouncing Barrett into the back of Buckeyes tight end A.J. Alexander right at the line to gain.
1:37
Flashback: Ohio State takes down Michigan in 2OT thriller
Relive the Buckeyes’ thrilling double-overtime win against the Wolverines in 2016.
Officials initially gave Barrett the first down. Then they upheld the call on video review.
On the next play, Curtis Samuel dashed into the end zone, lifting the second-ranked Buckeyes to a dramatic and controversial 30-27 victory over the No. 3 Wolverines, Ohio State’s fifth straight win in the series.
Afterward, Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh ripped the officials, which drew a $10,000 fine and a public reprimand from the Big Ten.
“It was not a first down,” Harbaugh said at the time. “I’m bitterly disappointed in the officiating. Can’t make that any more clear.”
The result eliminated the Wolverines from playoff contention, while catapulting Ohio State to the playoff for the second time in three years.
“One of those great moments,” Meyer would later say. A great moment for the Buckeyes — and a bitter memory for the Wolverines. — Jake Trotter
Better known as: Palmetto Bowl
This year’s game: Saturday, noon, SECN
Record: Clemson, 73-44-4
Current streak: South Carolina, 1
The way the game actually ended in 2004 is a bit of trivia few recall. Clemson won 29-7. The final score hardly mattered.
Most fans remember the pushing and shoving that took place before the game, as South Carolina players milled about at the bottom of the hill inside Death Valley, just as Clemson was making its entrance. That was the fuel.
Gamecocks fans certainly remember the hit South Carolina quarterback Syvelle Newton took on an incomplete pass with just less than six minutes to play. That was the spark.
Everyone remembers the brawl that followed, an explosion of violence in which one Clemson player was seen kicking a helmet-less South Carolina player, police took the field, and play was suspended.
“What an ugly, embarrassing scene it was for both schools and our state,” Steve Spurrier later told reporters.
The game was Lou Holtz’s last at South Carolina before turning the reins over to Spurrier. Both teams ultimately forfeited bowl bids as a result of the violence.
The Brawl, as it has become known, came just hours after another ugly sports scene, the so-called Malice at the Palace in which several Indiana Pacers players entered the stands during a fight in Detroit against the Pistons.
“My players watched that all Friday night and all Saturday morning. That’s all they saw,” then-Clemson coach Tommy Bowden said. “And unfortunately it was SEC officials. ACC officials don’t let players go inside the 25, but SEC officials didn’t know the rules. There were so many compelling factors on top of it being a rivalry.”
Holtz admitted afterward his hands were tied in terms of what he could have done to prevent the fight.
“They announced my retirement on Monday, and we played them on Saturday,” Holtz told the Associated Press afterward. “I did not have control of the team.”
While the brawl was a dark moment in the history of the rivalry between the Tigers and Gamecocks, it turned out to have been a watershed moment.
At the time, Clemson had won seven of the last eight games in the series, and Spurrier used the embarrassment of 2004 as motivation for the school to rededicate itself to football and get the program back on par — on the field, anyway — with its chief rival. Although South Carolina lost again in 2005, the Gamecocks would then win six of the next eight meetings, and Spurrier’s five-year winning streak from 2009 through 2013 defined Dabo Swinney’s early tenure at Clemson.
The Brawl also galvanized the national media. Coming on the heels of the NBA fight, it got tons of attention. In the short term, that was a stain on both programs, as Clemson athletic director Terry Don Phillips said. But it also put the rivalry on the map. For years, it had been overshadowed nationally by other games like the Iron Bowl and Michigan-Ohio State, but suddenly fans who weren’t at all familiar with what has become known as the Palmetto Bowl had an understanding of just how heated this rivalry was.
“Because of the fight, it threw some national spotlight to say, hey, they’re pretty serious in South Carolina too,” Bowden said. — David Hale
Better known as: Battle for Paul Bunyan’s Axe
This year’s game: Saturday, 3:30 p.m., FS1
Record: Tied, 63-63-8
Current streak: Minnesota, 1
The 2015 Michigan State-Michigan game, famous for Sean McDonough’s “trouble with the snap” call and Chris Baldwin’s surrender cobra, isn’t the only time a punting error in a Big Ten rivalry game left one team’s fans in utter disbelief. Ten years earlier, Wisconsin and Minnesota had a midseason meeting at the Metrodome in Minneapolis, renewing the most-played rivalry in the FBS and the battle for Paul Bunyan’s Axe.
Both teams were just inside the AP Top 25, and were built similarly, around powerful rushing attacks. But Minnesota held the edge for most of the day, behind Laurence Maroney, who had a mind-boggling 43 carries for 258 yards and a touchdown, and Gary Russell, who added 139 rushing yards and two scores.
The Gophers took a 34-24 lead with 3:27 left on Russell’s second touchdown plunge. Even after Wisconsin responded to score with 2:10 to play, Minnesota seemed safe. Wisconsin’s onside kick squirted through Minnesota’s hands team, but Maroney tracked it down inside the Gophers’ 10-yard line.
Unfortunately for Minnesota, that wasn’t the last special teams play of the day. After Wisconsin stopped Maroney on third-and-3, Minnesota lined up for a punt, with Justin Kucek standing yards from his own end zone. But the snap bounced off of Kucek’s hands, and when he picked it up and tried to punt, Wisconsin’s Jonathan Casillas smothered him for the block. The ball bounced into the end zone, where Wisconsin’s Ben Strickland recovered it with 30 seconds left to secure a 38-34 win.
ESPN cameras panned to the stands and captured several surrendering cobras.
“When I walked out to shake Barry’s hand, we both said at the same time, ‘When you think you’ve seen it all,'” Minnesota coach Glen Mason said, referring to Wisconsin counterpart Barry Alvarez. “The only difference was that he was smiling and I wasn’t.”
Alvarez, in his final year as Wisconsin’s coach, called it “as good of a win as I’ve had.”
Two years earlier, on the same field, Minnesota had won by almost the exact same score (37-34), on a special teams play gone right. Kicker Rhys Lloyd hit a 35-yard field goal as time expired. Heeding Mason’s reminder before the kick of Don’t forget the Axe, Lloyd took off running for the axe before the ball even sailed through the uprights.
But the Gophers wouldn’t recapture college football’s most famous rivalry trophy for another 15 years. — Adam Rittenberg
Better known as: Sunshine Showdown
This year’s game: Saturday, 4:30 p.m., ESPN2
Record: Florida, 38-28-2
Current streak: Florida, 1
There have been some fantastic finishes between the Seminoles and Gators, but it is hard to pick against The Choke at Doak in 1994. Thirty-one years later, that game still resonates with both fan bases. Never again will a game feel quite like this (mostly because there are no more ties in college football).
The Gators and smack-talking coach Steve Spurrier — who spent the bulk of the season calling Florida State “Free Shoes University” after FSU players allegedly got heavily discounted gear at a Foot Locker — raced out to a 31-3 lead. The game was so out of hand, then-Florida State coach Bobby Bowden started thinking about what he would say in his postgame news conference to explain such a bleak performance.
Receiver ‘Omar Ellison told The Los Angeles Times: “When we were down 31-3, we just wanted to score some points to make this thing respectable so we could go to class on Monday.”
“Score some points” ended up being 28 straight in the fourth quarter to come out with a jaw-dropping 31-31 tie. Spurrier, known for “hanging half a hundred” on opponents, went conservative, which was hard for many Gators fans to believe considering his offense was nicknamed The Fun N Gun.
Florida State took advantage of a Gators defense that switched from man to zone as Danny Kannell went 18-of-22 for 232 yards, 1 touchdown and 14 first downs in the fourth quarter alone to finish with a school record 40 completions in 53 attempts for 421 yards. Bowden elected to kick the extra point instead of going for 2 and the win after failing on a 2-point try against Miami in 1987 and ultimately losing the national championship.
That game set the stage for some of the best, and nastiest, matchups between the two while Spurrier was the Gators’ coach: The Fifth Quarter in the French Quarter six weeks later in New Orleans; the 1996 FSU win in which Spurrier accused Bowden of dirty tactics on Gators QB Danny Wuerffel; the rematch in the 1997 Sugar Bowl that gave Florida the national title; the Florida upset win in The Swamp in 1997 that ended Florida State’s undefeated season; and the 1998 matchup marred by a pregame brawl in which Doug Johnson threw a ball that nearly hit Bowden.
All those games had winners and losers. The Choke at Doak ended in a tie, but it left one side feeling like it had won, and the other like it had lost.
Bowden might have said it best postgame: “It is a pretty dang good win … I mean tie.”
“They were all bragging about the tie. I said, ‘Hell, it’s the same for you as it is for us,'” Spurrier said.
Maybe in the record book. But that is not how it felt to anybody who played or watched. — Andrea Adelson
Better known as: Commonwealth Cup
This year’s game: Saturday, 7 p.m., ESPN
Record: Virginia Tech, 62-38-5
Current streak: Virginia Tech, 4
We’ve arrived at a must-win moment for Virginia against rival Virginia Tech, with ACC championship hopes on the line for the 9-2 Cavaliers. They’ve taken down the Hokies just once over their last 20 meetings. Could this year’s showdown deliver the same last-minute drama we saw in 2019?
Both teams were 8-3 that year going into a Commonwealth Cup showdown that decided the Coastal Division title and a spot in the ACC title game.
0:38
VA Tech’s fumble turns into a Virginia TD
Hendon Hooker fumbles the ball in Virginia Tech’s end zone and Eli Hanback recovers it to give Virginia a 39-30 lead.
For quarterback Bryce Perkins and his Cavalier teammates, it was senior day and the culmination of a four-year rebuild under coach Bronco Mendenhall and his staff. It was the perfect day to snap the program’s 15-game losing streak to its in-state rival.
In a wild second half featuring a combined 50 points, Virginia had an answer each time Virginia Tech grabbed the lead. Cavaliers linebacker Noah Taylor delivered the game changer by picking off Hendon Hooker with less than five minutes left and the score 30-30, setting kicker Brian Delaney up for a 48-yard, go-ahead field goal with 1:23 remaining.
Virginia’s defense had given up a last-minute touchdown and lost in overtime in Blackburg in 2018. This time, they left no doubt. They delivered sacks on first and second down. Then they did it again, with defensive lineman Mandy Alonso stripping Hooker in the end zone and Eli Hanback falling on the ball to clinch a 39-30 victory.
Mendenhall wiped tears from his eyes several times during his postgame news conference, overwhelmed with pride about how far the program had come in finally ending the 15-year drought.
“The stage was not too big for them,” he said. “The moment was not too big for them. What was at stake was not too big for them.” — Max Olson
Better known as: Iron Bowl
This year’s game: Saturday, 7:30 p.m., ABC
Record: Alabama, 51-37-1
Current streak: Alabama, 5
If Punt Bama Punt had happened in almost any other rivalry, it would be forever commemorated as the rivalry’s greatest ending. But this is the Iron Bowl, which has produced not only the Kick-Six — maybe the game’s single most fantastic finish (“Auburn’s gonna win the football game!” “Auburn’s gonna win the football game!”) — but also Van Kiffin’s 53-yarder at the buzzer in 1985 (The Kick), and Auburn’s 24-point, Cam Newton-led comeback (The Camback), and Alabama’s fourth-and-31 touchdown in 2023 (Grave Digger), and Bo Jackson’s over-the-top touchdown (1982) and game-losing missed block (1984).
Still, Auburn’s comeback win in 1972 was as absurd as it was special. Trailing 16-0 in the fourth quarter, the Tigers got a field goal from Gardner Jett but still had no hope of driving for a pair of scores against Alabama’s mighty defense. But they didn’t have to.
With 5:30 left, Bill Newton got a hand on Greg Gantt’s punt, and the ball bounced perfectly into David Langner’s arms, in stride, for a 25-yard touchdown. Alabama nearly ran out the clock, generating two first downs, but came up short on a late third down, so the Tigers came after Gantt again.
And again, Newton blocked the kick, which bounced into Langner’s arms for a 20-yard score. Jett’s PAT gave Auburn a shocking lead with 1:34 remaining, and because poetry exists, Langner also reeled in the game-clinching interception.
Auburn gained 80 yards in 52 snaps that day but won thanks to the perfect combination of Gantt-to-Newton-to-Langner.
“The last nine minutes were Auburn’s and no finer nine minutes are recorded in the annals of Tiger football,” wrote Millard Grimes in The Opelika-Auburn News. Auburn linebacker Mike Neel was a little more succinct: “The Lord gave it to us.”
At that moment it was difficult to come up with a better explanation. — Bill Connelly
Better known as: Crosstown Rivalry
This year’s game: Saturday, 7:30 p.m., NBC
Record: USC, 51-34-7
Current streak: USC, 2
Though there have been several Crosstown Rivalry games in recent years that have gone down to the wire — USC’s winning field goal in 2000, UCLA’s remarkable 17-point fourth-quarter comeback in 1996 and Jason Leach’s game-sealing interception for USC in 2004 — there is a staunch consensus when it comes to the best finish — and best game — for this rivalry.
In 1967, USC and UCLA entered the game as evenly matched as possible. USC had only one loss on its résumé (3-0 to Oregon State) while UCLA was undefeated but sported a tie on its record. This game would decide not only the conference champion but also the coveted Rose Bowl berth.
At the time, both teams played at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, meaning the stands were split quite literally — Trojans fans on the south side of the stadium and Bruins fans on the north side. Both teams had been No. 1 in the country during the season, and the game more than delivered.
UCLA quarterback Gary Beban was nursing a rib injury and had to be helped off the field a few times — it turned out he had a bruise and a piece of detached cartilage — yet he stayed in the game and led UCLA to a 20-14 lead in the fourth quarter.
USC head coach John McKay noticed that UCLA kicker Zenon Andrusyshyn’s field goals were hit with a low trajectory, so he put 6-foot, 8-inch Bill Hayhoe in the middle of the line. Hayhoe helped block two field goals and an extra point on the final Bruins’ touchdown, which kept it a 6-point game.
That set the stage for O.J. Simpson — who would win the Heisman the following year (Beban won it in 1967) — to rip off a 64-yard touchdown run on third-and-7 that sent the crowd into a frenzy and won the game for the Trojans. McKay’s team won by a point and went on to win the national championship.
ABC broadcaster Keith Jackson called it the greatest game he had ever seen. Legendary Los Angeles Times columnist Jim Murray wrote that he was glad he “didn’t go to the opera, after all” and Sports Illustrated featured the game on its cover. It became one of several college football games over the years that has been dubbed “the game of the century.” — Paolo Uggetti
Better known as: Carolina-State
This year’s game: Saturday, 7:30, ACCN
Record: UNC, 68-40-6
Current streak: NC State, 4
You want fantastic finishes? How about a series of unanticipated terminations, punctuated by an uncharacteristic tantrum?
Less than two months ahead of the 2011 season and less than seven months after beating Tennessee in the Music City Bowl, UNC fired head coach Butch Davis amid ongoing investigations surrounding improper benefits, including allegations of academic fraud by way of “paper classes” for Tar Heel football players. Defensive coordinator Everett Withers was pressed into service as interim head coach and did a nice job of slapping Band-Aids to the hull of Kenan Stadium, rolling the Heels into their Nov. 5 trip down I-40 to NC State with a solid 6-3 record and buzz that he might have earned the full-time gig.
But during a radio interview that week, the Charlotte native and former App State defender said of his employer and the long-bitter “little brother” university on the other side of the Triangle: “I think the kids in this state need to know the flagship school in this state. They need to know it academically. If you look at our graduation rates, as opposed to our opponent’s this week, graduation rates for athletics, for football, you’ll see a difference. … If you look at the educational environment here, I think you’ll see a difference.”
The Raleigh media breathlessly rushed that quote to NC State practice and head coach Tom O’Brien, a stoic former United States Marine who in five seasons with the Wolfpack had never unleashed a Mike Gundy-ish rant. Until then.
“It’s a little tougher here if you actually have to go to school and you’re expected to have a syllabus and go to class, so you know I think that our guys earn everything that they get here,” O’Brien said. “What else did he say?”
O’Brien was told about the flagship comments and Withers making sure to overemphasize “the” in “the University of North Carolina.” TOB didn’t care much for that, either.
“There’s a guy that’s on a football staff that ends up in Indianapolis [at NCAA headquarters]. You take three things that you can’t do in college football. You have an agent on your staff, you’re paying your players, and you have academic fraud. I mean, that’s a triple play as far as the NCAA goes. … If that’s what the people want in their flagship university in North Carolina, then so be it.”
NC State won the game 13-0, its fifth straight over UNC, holding off a pair of fourth-quarter drives that nearly got the Heels back into the contest. At season’s end, Withers was relieved of his duties. One year later, replacement Larry Fedora ended the Heels’ rivalry losing streak with a 43-35 win that helped State’s case to fire O’Brien at season’s end.
None of that matters in the booths of barbecue joints around the Old North State. Tom O’Brien’s rant still does. The fantastic tellings of that story will never be finished. — Ryan McGee
Inspirational thought of the week:
Danny Ocean: That ought to do it, don’t you think?
Rusty Ryan: [Stares away in silence]
Danny: You think we need one more?
Rusty: [remains silent with his head leaning on top of his folded arms while hunched over on the bar]
Danny: You think we need one more.
Rusty: [remains silent]
Danny: All right, we’ll get one more.
Rusty: [Blinks]
— “Ocean’s Eleven”
Here at Bottom 10 Headquarters, located beneath a pile of old Rene Ingoglia UMass jerseys, we believe in extending the good times, but also the bad times. That’s why we love Thanksgiving leftovers.
When you go to the ice box Saturday and open that recycled Country Crock container full of what’s left from your Aunt Nancy’s artichoke casserole, it reminds of you of Thanksgiving dinner and the laughs shared around the table with family and friends. But it also reminds you that Aunt Nancy is a bit off-kilter, because there are actually three butter containers packed with her gluten-free artichoke casserole that no one ate because she fills it with sliced grapes.
So, with apologies to Mr. Ingoglia because we don’t want him to run over us the way he did Rhode Island in 1995 or take us down the way he did so many criminals as a member of the Orlando P.D., we have to extend these rankings for one more week, despite the fact that his alma mater went on and did their dirty work early. Like Aunt Nancy, who we’re pretty sure cut up the onions for her casserole a month ahead of time. Thus, Uncle Charlie doing his dirty work to the living room commode the rest of the evening.
With further apologies to former Marshall quarterback Byron Leftwich, Iowa State receiver Dominic Overby, Central Michigan D-lineman Quavion Bird and Steve Harvey, here are the post-Week 13/pre-Thanksgiving Bottom 10 rankings.
The Minuetmen did indeed do their dirty work ahead of schedule, unleashing their final #MACtion matchup of the season not on Tuesday night, but rather Tuesday afternoon, as they hosted Boiling Green at 4:30 p.m. They lost 45-14, securing their status as the nation’s only winless team and also securing their ability to enjoy their Turkey Day dinner as they sit and watch their would-be Bottom 10 championship rivals helplessly slide backward down the hill like cars trying to drive up Beacon Hill during winter.
Georgia paid the Niners $1.9 million to come to Athens and lose 35-3. Former Georgia defensive coordinator Dan Lanning paid them nothing to change their names to Chattanooga State.
The Panthers saw their losing streak extend to eight games after a road loss to Troy Bolton State. They end their season at Old Dominion, which is the school and not the trucking company or the country music band. Though I would totally watch a music video starring the Georgia State team traveling to face Old Dominion in an Old Dominion truck while listening to the perfect Bottom 10 theme song, Old Dominion’s “Time, Tequila and Therapy.”
The beauty of college football is that even a bummer of a season can be saved by a Rivalry Week victory, and the Cowboys can do that via a big Bedlam win over — checks notes — Iowa State?
A quick Coveted Fifth Spot reminder that “The Many Lives of Lane Kiffin” is streaming now on the all-new ESPN App. We worked really hard on that E:60 documentary all spring and summer, especially the part when he wonders aloud why he would ever leave Oxford because he and his family are so happy there. When we made that film, we had no idea that, like the onions in Aunt Nancy’s casserole, there was an expiration date.
Speaking of confusing films, the Beavs continue to make the Bottom 10 rankings feel like an early Christopher Nolan movie that continuously alters our beliefs on what constitutes reality. They won two in a row, then lost two in a row, including a defeat at the hands of …
The then-winless Bearkats klipped Oregon State, then konquered Delaware, but kouldn’t keep the wins koming as they sukkumbed to …
The then-second-ranked Blew Raiders blew by the then-ninth-ranked Bearkats 31-17 to win what probably was the season’s final true Pillow Fight Of The Week Of The Year, because this week’s season finale trip to Whew Mexico State isn’t what we thought it might be because the former Bottom 10 stalwart Other Aggies had the audacity to have already won four games, including last week’s win over …
The Minors avoided these rankings all season before reentering one week ago and then reiterating that entry via a closing-seconds 34-31 loss to New Mexico State in the 102nd edition of the Battle of I-10, which is especially impressive considering that I-10 wasn’t constructed until the 1960s.
The Golden Beagles nearly ruined Georgia Tech’s season two weekends ago, then instead had to watch as fellow former Big East member Pitt wound up spinning out the Rambling Wreck. Now BC closes out the year against another Big East refugee, Syracuse, who at the time of this story’s writing, was still surrendering touchdowns to Notre Dame in the South Bend bus parking lot, on the South Bend airport tarmac and in their recurring nightmares.
Waiting List: No-vada, San No-sé State, Pur-don’t, Arkansaw Fightin’ Petrinos, ULM (pronounced “Uhlm”), Colora-duh State, Ram spitting.
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