What a wild few months we just witnessed as contenders for national champion rose and fell. While it is no easy task here are our Top 10 Games of 2021. We could have picked 40-50 others but focused on the games that not only came down to the closing minutes and in some cases the final seconds but also had the largest impact on which teams would be vying for the national championship.
Along the way we left out Utah’s two impressive takedowns of Oregon, Cincinnati’s march to enter the playoffs as the only undefeated team at the FBS level, some thrilling offensive shootouts in the MAC and other non-Power-5 conferences.
It was quite the ride and the best could be yet to come.
Clemson Tigers at Georgia Bulldogs
Date, Site: September 4, Bank of America Stadium
Team records: Season opener for both teams
Rankings: Clemson No. 3, Georgia No. 5
Odds: Clemson -2½
Over/under: 51½
This game played in Charlotte was not for the faint of heart.
The only touchdown came on Christopher Smith’s interception return in the second quarter. Both teams finished with less than 200 passing yards while Clemson managed only two yards on the ground against a ferocious Georgia defense.
The Bulldogs sacked Clemson quarterback D.J. Uiagalelei seven times and forced eight punts. It was a sign of things to come as Georgia’s defense was absolutely dominant before running into Alabama in the Southeastern Conference title game.
It was the only time all season the college football spreads listed Georgia as the underdog.
Clemson would lose two more times. While a 9-3 record would get many coaches a contract extension, it kept six-time defending champion Clemson out of the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game.
Oregon Ducks at Ohio State Buckeyes
Date, Site: September 11, Ohio Stadium
Team records: Oregon 1-0, Ohio State 1-0
Rankings: Oregon No. 12, Ohio State No. 3
Odds: Ohio State -14½
Over/under: 65
C.J. Verdell would run for 161 yards and two touchdowns to go with 34 yards on three catches and another score in the visiting Ducks’ upset win.
Verdell reached the end zone 33 seconds into the second quarter as the Ducks never trailed.
Ohio State finished with 612 yards of offense including nearly 500 passing yards but allowing touchdowns on four out of six drives during one stretch doomed the Buckeyes to a rare non-conference home loss.
Both teams would fade (and by fade we mean lose another regular-season game) and are not among the four teams in the College Football Playoff but at the time, this game was a real attention grabber.
Verdell would only play three more games and finish with 406 rushing yards in five games.
Alabama Crimson Tide at Texas A&M Aggies
Date, Site: October 9, Kyle Field
Team records: Alabama 5-0, Texas A&M 3-2
Rankings: Alabama No. 1, Texas A&M unranked
Odds: Alabama -18½
Over/under: 50½
The coaches were in the spotlight. Alabama’s Nick Saban was 24-0 when one of his former assistants was the head coach of the opposing team while Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher made headlines when he proclaimed that the Aggies would take down the mighty Crimson Tide in a speaking engagement months before the season began.
Alabama dominated the statistics in every area except the most important one – the final score.
Zach Calzada’s 25-yard touchdown pass to Ainais Smith tied the game with three minutes left. Alabama gained one yard on the ensuing drive to set the stage for the Aggies. Calzada completed a pair of passes when Texas A&M got the ball back but his most important throw resulted in a pass interference call against the Crimson Tide with 14 seconds left. Seth Small’s 28-yard field goal as time expired lifted the Aggies to the 41-38 win.
It started a stretch where Alabama failed to cover when the Las Vegas odds listed the Crimson Tide as favorites by at least 18 points.
Texas A&M would lose two of its final three regular-season games while Alabama would run the table including a win over previously undefeated and top-ranked Georgia in the SEC Championship Game to land a spot in the four-team College Football Playoff.
Michigan Wolverines at Michigan State Spartans
Date, Site: October 30, Spartan Stadium
Team records: Michigan 7-0, Michigan 7-0
Rankings: Michigan No. 6, Michigan State No. 8
Odds: Michigan -4
Over/under: 50½
When names of the top collegiate running backs were being thrown around before the start of the season, Michigan State’s Kenneth Walker was rarely mentioned. That was about to change on the last Saturday of October.
Walker had already run for 264 yards against Northwestern, 172 against the Miami Hurricanes and 233 against Rutgers but certainly, yards would be harder to come by against a physical Michigan defense, right?
Guess again.
Walker ran 23 times for 197 yards and five touchdowns including the one to give the Spartans the 37-33 lead with 5:08 left to play. Walker also had three catches. A player who ran for a total of 1,158 yards in the previous two seasons at Wake Forest was suddenly shooting up the list of Heisman Trophy candidates.
Walker would finish sixth in the Heisman Trophy voting and he joined Iowa State’s Breece Hall as the only two running backs to finish in the top 10. His 16 first-place votes were the most by a running back since Alabama’s Derrick Henry and Stanford’s Christian McCaffrey ended up first and second in the 2015 balloting.
North Carolina State Wolfpack at Wake Forest Demon Deacons
Date, Site: November 13, Truist Field
Team records: North Carolina State 7-2, Wake Forest 8-1
Rankings: North Carolina State No. 16, Wake Forest No. 12
Odds: Wake Forest -1
Over/under: 64½
Take your pick of games in a wild year in the Atlantic Coast Conference. The Wake Forest Demon Deacons were front and center with much of the offensive fireworks in the ACC.
Wake Forest had a stretch of going over the college football odds total six times in seven games this season
It would have been easy to include Wake Forest’s 58-55 loss to North Carolina, 37-34 win over Louisville, 40-37 thriller against Syracuse, or 70-56 non-conference scoring extravaganza with Army but let’s go with the 45-42 win over North Carolina State.
The Wolfpack took the lead early in the third quarter and it was a four-point game heading into the fourth quarter.
A pair of Justice Ellison touchdowns in the final quarter proved to be just enough for Wake Forest. Ellison’s four-yard scoring run with 1:47 left made it a 10-point game. NC State struck back with Devin Leary’s fourth touchdown pass of the game with 45 seconds left. The Demon Deacons recovered an onsides kick and were able to run out the clock to end a game featuring a special-teams touchdown, six turnovers and plenty of offensive pyrotechnics.
The game ultimately decided the ACC Coastal Division champion as Wake Forest finished a game ahead of both Clemson and North Carolina State.
Oklahoma Sooners at Oklahoma State Cowboys
Date, Site: November 27, Boone Pickens Stadium
Team records: Oklahoma 10-1, Oklahoma State 10-1
Rankings: Oklahoma No. 10, Oklahoma State No. 7
Odds: Oklahoma State -4
Over/under: 50
Just a couple of weeks earlier the Oklahoma Sooners were in a position to secure one of the four spots in the College Football Playoff but now they were fighting just to have a chance to play in the Big 12 title game and take home a fifth straight championship since the resumption of the Big 12 title contest. It was a scenario that few who bet online were predicting when the season started.
Oklahoma took a nine-point lead into the fourth quarter but after losing a fumble and punting three times on its previous four possessions, Oklahoma failed to convert on fourth down on its final two drives.
Oklahoma State had lost its previous six games to the Sooners including five losses by 10 points or more but Spencer Sanders threw for one touchdown and ran for another and the Oklahoma State defense held the Oklahoma offense scoreless in the second half to pave the way for Oklahoma State’s first Big 12 championship game appearance.
Alabama Crimson Tide at Auburn Tigers
Date, Site: November 27, Jordan-Hare Stadium
Team records: Alabama 10-1, Auburn 6-5
Rankings: Alabama No. 3, Auburn unranked
Odds: Alabama -20½
Over/under: 57
Admiring your work against the Alabama Crimson Tide can be a risky proposition.
Everything was in place for Auburn fans to storm the field with a shutout win over its bitter rivals. However, an interception set up Alabama’s first score as Will Reichard’s field goal with 8:44 left made it a 10-3 game. Alabama forced overtime with Young’s touchdown pass to Ja’Corey Brooks with 24 seconds to go.
Auburn was given a second chance to close the deal but stayed with the “trying not to lose” mentality. Alabama scored first in overtime and kicked the extra point. Auburn answered with its first touchdown since midway through the second quarter. The Tigers could have ended the game with a two-point conversion. Perhaps the fact that starting quarterback Bo Nix was sidelined entered into the thinking but Auburn opted to kick the extra point. It proved costly. The teams traded field goals in the second overtime and both converted two-point conversions to force a fourth overtime.
Auburn failed on its final two-point conversion while Alabama won the game on John Metchie’s two-point grab.
Ohio State Buckeyes at Michigan Wolverines
Date, Site: November 27, Michigan Stadium
Team records: Ohio State 10-1, Michigan 10-1
Rankings: Ohio State No. 2, Michigan No. 5
Odds: Ohio State -6½
Over/under: 64½
There are highly anticipated games and then there is the late November showdown between Ohio State and Michigan at the Big House.
The winner of the game would win the Big Ten East Division title and barring a meltdown against an overmatched Iowa team in the Big Ten title game, would clinch a spot in College Football Playoffs.
It would be an understatement to suggest that Michigan has struggled against its top rivals.
Hassan Haskins ran for 169 yards and five touchdowns while Aidan Hutchinson seemed to be in the backfield as often as the Ohio State running backs as Michigan’s 42-27 victory set the stage for a bigger game or two to come.
Hutchinson had three sacks and he would make a late charge in the Heisman race. Hutchinson ended up second behind Alabama quarterback Bryce Young and some mock drafts have Hutchinson, who set Michigan’s single-season sack record, moving by Oregon’s Kayvon Thibodeaux to be the No. 1 overall pick.
Alabama Crimson Tide vs. Georgia Bulldogs
Date, Site: December 4, Mercedes-Benz Stadium
Team records: Alabama 11-1, Georgia 12-0
Rankings: Alabama No. 3, Georgia No. 1
Odds: Georgia -6
Over/under: 49
Just how would Heisman Trophy frontrunner Bryce Young fare against the nation’s best defense?
Well, the Alabama quarterback pretty much ended the Heisman race as he threw for 421 yards and three touchdowns in a 41-24 win over Georgia.
Today and every day forward. Welcome to the #HeismanFraternity @_bryce_young https://t.co/UdoqpAyTCe
— The Heisman Trophy (@HeismanTrophy) December 12, 2021
The Alabama offensive line took plenty of heat after Young was pressured early and often by Auburn in the regular-season finale but a Georgia front seven chock full of NFL prospects didn’t sack Young and matched a season-low with four tackles for loss as a secondary that had multiple starters selected in the 2021 NFL draft got exposed.
The win not only put Alabama into the College Football Playoff but gave Alabama its familiar No. 1 spot in both the College Football Playoff rankings and Associated Press Top 25 poll.
Baylor Bears vs. Oklahoma State Cowboys
Date, Site: December 4, AT&T Stadium
Team records: Baylor 10-2, Oklahoma State 11-1
Rankings: Baylor No. 9, Oklahoma State No. 5
Odds: Oklahoma State -7
Over/under: 45
There will be plenty of offensive highlights mentioned in this report but the Big 12 championship game came down to one of the most memorable defensive plays of the college football season.
When Dezmon Jackson turned the corner on a fourth-down play, it appeared as if Oklahoma State would win the game in a heart-stopping fashion. Safety Jairon McVea had other ideas as he raced over to get just enough of Jackson to leave the Cowboys’ ball carrier just short as he dove for the pylon.
The tackle secured Baylor’s 21-16 win and kept Oklahoma State out of the College Football Playoff.
McVea had nine tackles as the Bears won their 11th game of the season despite finishing with season lows of 62 rushing yards and 242 yards of total offense. It also left Baylor wondering what might have been if it hadn’t slipped up in a 30-28 loss at Texas Christian. If Baylor won that game, would it have been enough to move by undefeated Cincinnati for the final spot in the College Football Playoff? Even without a playoff bid, it was still a remarkable turnaround after a 2-7 season in 2020.
