9) 2006 Florida 38 Arkansas 28
Once again we have a game that is better remembered what occurred off the field rather than on it. When UCLA shocked four-TD favorite USC, it put the Gators in line for a title shot if they could just beat 10-win Arkansas. A thrilling game ensued, but the game was overtaken by Gary Danielson’s legitimate carping that Florida deserved a shot at Ohio State rather than Michigan meriting a rematch. The game was competitive through three quarters but Urban Meyer’s bunch had tons of talent, riding it all the way to a national championship after beating the Hawgs. For Arkansas, at least it could be said that their third trip to Atlanta had been a better game than the previous two shellackings.
8) 2007 LSU 21 Tennessee 14
There is something in the LSU-Tennessee match (rarely contested compared to other SEC rivalries) that borders on the bizarre. The 2001 title game – the only legitimate upset in 19 years of match-ups – was overshadowed by the off-the-field debate concerning who exactly deserved a title shot at Miami. The 2005 game (regular season) was overshadowed by the fallout from Hurricane Katrina. And the 2010 game, of course, saw perhaps the only “fourteen men on the field” penalty in college football history. Why then should the 2007 championship game be any different?
The mess that was the 2007 season crashed to a bizarre ending that sent a two-loss team (LSU) into the title game against a team nobody thought deserving (Ohio State) that had lost in mid-November. Distractions erupted due to the imminent departure of Michigan Coach Lloyd Carr. One story broke the day before the game claiming that Nebraska Coach Bo Pellini was the new head man in Baton Rouge, which would have been ok except the job wasn’t even open yet. In a pre-game press conference, Les Miles defiantly stated he was going to stay at LSU. His fired up team then went out and put on a good show against Tennessee. Led primarily by the defense, LSU held on for a seven-point win. Once again, Gary Danielson adopted an argument to favor LSU’s participation in the BCS. But at least in 2006 there was a legitimate case that Florida was being overshadowed by Big Ten favoritism. Danielson adopted Miles’s “we never lost in regulation” defense, and the LSU Tigers went from two losses in November to a national championship.
7) 2009 Alabama 32 Florida 13
Only one SEC championship has ever had two unbeatens square off – this one. And this particular coaching job was Nick Saban’s finest hour as the head coach at Alabama (Texas? Don’t get me started on that fake punt deep in their own end). Indeed, the first half of this game was probably the greatest half of football ever seen in the 19 games. Alabama won the toss and somewhat surprisingly opted to receive. They immediately lined up in Florida’s spread formation to the shock of Verne Lundquist and just about everybody else. That first pass play was an 18-yard pickup pass from Greg McElroy to Julio Jones that brought the Georgia Dome alive like never before. When the drive stalled, the Tide simply hit a long field goal to take the early lead. After holding Florida to a three-and-out, the Tide put together a drive that ended with eventual Heisman winner Mark Ingram cruising into the end zone from 7 yards out and 9-0 lead. Florida got three on the next drive and then the defenses took over. Facing a 12-3 deficit, Tim Tebow sliced up the Tide defense on three straight passes for a TD that made it 12-10. Then came the play that clinched the Heisman for Mark Ingram.
Greg McElroy hit Mark Ingram in the flat, who turned and bolted 68 yards in a spectacular touchdown that gave the Tide a 19-10 lead. From that point on the game was pretty much over although one could never be sure with Florida. Every effort the Gators made was thwarted, and Alabama played its best game in years en route to a 32-13 thumping of the defending national champions. It was a spectacular game for Tide fans.
Why then only seventh? Because as exciting as it was for Alabama fans, it was pretty much over when the Tide went up 26-10 early in the third quarter. The Tide was playing with emotion and it was building. The game thus was a letdown for non-Bama fans. And the game was conclusively over when Javier Arenas intercepted a Tebow pass on the comeback drive in the fourth. The Tide went on to win their 13th national champion.
6) 2001 LSU 30 Tennessee 21
When the September 11 attacks occurred, the entire nation shut down for the rest of the week. All sports events were cancelled in a week of mourning. The ramifications of that shutdown stretched the rest of the season because important SEC games – notably LSU vs Auburn and Florida-Tennessee – were moved to the end of the season, a change that necessitated moving the SEC title game back a week to December 8, 2001. The move wound up creating a match-up nobody in his right mind would have dreamed of. The first domino fell when Alabama upset Auburn in a 31-7 rout while the Tigers were leading the SEC West. Slowly, methodically, LSU climbed back into the race and when they squared off against Auburn, the winner got a trip to Atlanta. It is probable that had the “Battle of the Tigers” occurred before LSU was playing well, Auburn would have won a second straight SEC West title. LSU won and then the Volunteers stunned the country by upsetting Florida – who was aiming for a national championship showdown with Miami – and squaring off against LSU. After Texas inexplicably lost their rematch with Colorado, Tennessee was in the catbird seat to play Miami if they only beat LSU, which shouldn’t have been a problem as they had already beaten them earlier in the year. For all of one half, it appeared Tennessee was on its way to a rematch with Miami.
To make it worse, LSU lost their starting QB to injury while trailing, 17-10. So naturally – in this bizarre season ending meltdown of highly ranked foes – LSU found an extra gear and dismantled Tennessee the rest of the way, gaining a stunning 31-20 victory that thrilled hearts in Baton Rouge and Lincoln, Nebraska, where the Cornhuskers now had a date with Miami.
It should be noted that despite SEC parity, this is the only game of the 19 that can truly be called an upset. While the underdog has won a time or two, this game established Nick Saban as a big-time SEC coach, an SEC champion, and set the stage for his run both at LSU and later at Alabama.
5) 1998 Tennessee 24 Mississippi State 14
In November 1997, the MSU Bulldogs had a two-game lead in the SEC West. Naturally, they lost it and watched Auburn square off against Peyton Manning. A year later the Dawgs were two games behind Arkansas entering November. Fortunately for the Dawgs, Arkansas had a new coach named Houston Nutt, who had not yet earned his reputation as a Bad Luck Charm. After watching Clint Stoerner fumble away a possible national title to Tennessee (who won it all), Nutt stood on the sidelines and watched Ryan Hazlewood drill five FGs and shock the Hawgs, 22-21, sending cow bells ringing everywhere.
It was, of course, a joke. MSU had no chance against Tennessee. But somebody forgot to tell the Bulldogs that. This was the first year of the BCS and its first controversy (a continuing soap opera): three teams (K-State, UCLA, Tennessee) plus another forgotten unbeaten (Tulane, who did not imitate Boise State) for only two slots. The BCS nearly suffered its first embarrassment because if all three won then the #1 team in the AP polls (K-State) would have been shut out of the title game. So naturally, UCLA and K-State both lost. And then – to make it worse – Tennessee was trailing, 14-10, in the fourth quarter. But the BCS got a reprieve when Tee Martin led two quick scoring drives that gave the Volunteers their date with destiny (Florida State) and their first title since 1951.