Which games were the best during the 2023 college football regular season?
The regular season came to a finish last Saturday when Army beat Navy 17-11 in their annual game. It was a fitting end to another great regular season and now all eyes turn to bowl season that begins on Dec. 16th.
The bowl games should be great, but we first look back at five of the best games from the regular season. There might be some games with more importance that were great, but these are what we think are the five best played on the field.
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5. Alabama 27 Auburn 24 – Nov. 25th
The annual Iron Bowl game didn’t disappoint. The game didn’t look like it was going to be a good one as the Tigers were coming off a 31-10 loss to New Mexico State, while the Crimson Tide were on a nine-game winning streak.
The Tigers, though, went toe-to-toe with the Crimson Tide and led 24-20 with 4:48 left and were getting the ball back from a punt. That is when all hell broke lose as they muffed the punt and Alabama recovered on the Tigers’ 30.
The Tigers didn’t flinch as they forced the Crimson Tide into a 4th and goal from the 31. It looked like they were going to pull off one of the biggest upsets of the year, but Jalen Milroe hit Isaiah Bond for a touchdown and the Crimson Tide had stolen a win. It was one of the best plays of the year and made for a great ending.
4. Oklahoma 34 Texas 30 – Oct. 7th
The Sooners came into the game 5-0 after a disappointing 2022 season, while the Longhorns were also undefeated and had already beat Alabama on the road. It was a top-15 battle that had the Longhorns favored.
The Sooners didn’t budge, though, as they scored first and used that momentum to build a 27-17 lead early in the second half. The Longhorns slowly came back in scoring the next 13 points to take a 30-27 lead with 1:17 left in the game. It was too much time.
Dillon Gabriel led a six-play touchdown drive that lasted just 1:02. The Sooners faced only one second down the whole drive and that ended with a three-yard touchdown pass from Gabriel to Nic Anderson. The touchdown sealed the win for the Sooners and is the only loss for the Longhorns thus far.
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3. North Carolina 47 Duke 45 2OT – Nov. 11
Both of these teams had great starts to the year, but when they met in November they had a combined five losses. The Tar Heels were still ranked, though, and a 10.5-point favorite. It looked like they would win easily as they jumped out to a 13-0 lead, but the Blue Devils responded with two straight touchdowns to take the lead.
The Tar Heels would add a field goal to take a 16-14 lead into the break and after a slow third quarter, they led 19-14. A rather tame game was about to go into overdrive.
The fourth quarter would see 39 total points and 24 of those came in the last 5:21 of the game.
The Blue Devils took the lead with a touchdown only to see the Tar Hells answer with 1:55 left. The Blue Devils took back the lead with a touchdown with 41 seconds left, but the Tar Heels once again came back and kicked a tying field goal as time expired.
The two teams traded field goals in the first overtime and then the Tar Heels scored first in the second overtime. The Blue Devils got the touchdown, but couldn’t convert the two-point conversion and the Tar Heels escaped with the win.
2. Colorado 43 Colorado State 35 OT – Sept. 16
The craziness of the Buffaloes season can be summed up in this game. Deion Sanders had the Buffaloes 2-0 and they were the talk of the country coming into this rivalry game. They had knocked off TCU and Nebraska and were ranked No. 18. They were a huge favorite and looked like they were going to roll Colorado State. The Rams had other plans.
The Rams jumped out to an early 14-7 lead in the first quarter and would take a 21-14 lead into the break.
Things slowed way down to begin the second half and neither team scored in the third. The Buffaloes would strike first in the fourth with a field goal to cut the least to 21-17, but the Rams answered right back with a touchdown to take a 28-17 lead with 11:22 left.
It looked like the Rams were going to pull off the upset, but a field goal at 7:33 set up Sheduer Sanders’ heroics as he hit Jimmy Horn Jr. with a touchdown pass with just 36 seconds left to send the game to overtime.
They traded touchdowns in the first overtime and the Buffaloes stopped the Rams in the second overtime. That stop set up an 18-yard touchdown pass from Sanders to Michael Harrison to end the game and give the Buffaloes their third straight win.
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1. Colorado State 31 Boise State 30 – Oct. 14
There were more important games and games played at a higher level but no other game can equal the ending of this one.
The Rams are back on this list, but this time they ended up on the right side. It didn’t look like they would be as they trailed the Broncos 30-10 with just over four minutes left in the game. That is when the game got crazy.
Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi hit Louis Brown for a touchdown to cut the lead to 30-17. The Rams recovered the onside kick and drove down to score again with 1:53 left to cut the game to 30-24.
They would recover the next onside kick also, but a penalty negated it and the Broncos got the ball. They stopped the Broncos to get the ball back with 32 seconds left. They drove to the 33 for one final play and Fowler-Nicolosi connected with Dallin Holker for the game-winning touchdown and the most unlikely victories of the 2023 regular season.
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