Who here is old enough to remember tie games? Who misses them? I know, I’m the only one who liked the old tradition, but the point of the post is a question:
What is your most memorable college football tie game?
My submission:
1989: WVU 31, Pitt 31
WVU had a 31-9 lead late in the third quarter. Both teams were in the top ten, and WVU blew it. It felt every bit like a loss.
Through a weird coincidence, mine was also 31-31. 1993 UF v FSU. Florida was up 31-3 at the start of the 4th quarter. FSU came back and tied the game. I was sitting in the stands and it certainly felt like a win to this Seminole.
The perfect coda? The Fifth Quarter in the French Quarter (Sugar Bowl), FSU 23 UF 17.
I remember that game. Wasn’t it '94? Didn’t Bowden take a lot of heat for kicking the extra point with two minutes left instead of going for two?
And that was always a good tiebreaker: the two point conversion. If you scored late, you didn’t just kick to tie, you went for two and the game was settled then and there.
You didn’t end regulation tied 21-21 and then go to 12 overtimes with a final score of 103-101 with your QB throwing for 9 TDs, etc.
That’s my biggest gripe about OT in college. The scores and stats are out of hand. They are unfair to the guys who played before OT…
One of the most memorable of all time is said to be the 1968 Harvard-Yale game, which was 29-13 for heavily favored Yale with just 4 minutes to go. Harvard scored two touchdowns, each with a 2-point conversion - the final one as time ran out.
And I just learned this interesting fact:
For me it is the 1993 Wisconsin-Ohio State game, ended in a 14-14 tie. First of all, the Badgers had been absolutley horrible for about the entire previous decade (especially when I was there 85-89). But the Badgers had a great season going, beating MIchigan the week before. That game was bittersweet as it caused 69 students to get hurt as they rushed the field. Earlier in the year the Badgers had lost to Minnesota, meaning the undefeated Buckeyes had the indie track to the Rose Bowl. The Badgers got to attempt a field goal to win it, but it was blocked. I remember thinking first that we had lost our chance at the Rose Bowl and then realizing that all we needed was a Buckeye loss (and to win out) to get in. Thankfully OSU lost to Michigan and the Badgers were Rose Bowl bound.
1966 - Number 1 Notre Dame vs. No. 2 Michigan State. At the end of the game Notre Dame played conservatively to protect its #1 ranking, giving birth to the famous line “Tie one for the Gipper.”
I’m not a football fan, college especially so, but there was a championship college game I remember watching the last quarter of that was pretty unique. I have utterly no idea what teams they were, best I can say is it must have been late 80s.
Anyway, the situation was this: Last play of the last quarter and after just scoring a TD Team A is still down one point from Team B. They can go for the sure thing, kicking the extra point, and wind up with a tie. Or they can try running it in for two and winning the game.
Extra twist was, Team A went into the championship game with a perfect season! So if they kicked they’d almost surely make the point and maintain their record of no losses, but only tie the championship game. If the went for two they might win it all, championship and unambiguous perfect season, but with the big risk of losing it all, game & perfect record, as well.
Their choice…
They went for two, didn’t make it, and lost everything, game and unbeaten season! Before they decided the announcers calling the game said they had little doubt that the team would decide to go for it all rather than take the safer but less glorious choice.
That was Nebraska losing to Miami 31-30 in the 1984 Orange Bowl.
Miami ended up with the national championship
This is one hundred percent right.
The only Ohio State/Michigan game I’ve been to was 1992, a 13-all tie, which the then (and now) OSU president Gordon Gee called one of Ohio State’s “greatest victories ever!”
North American sports leagues seem to be terrified of ties. The rest of the world seems to be quite happy with ties in soccer. The MLS had to give up its overtime and tiebreaker because FIFA didn’t approve of it.
Just think if the Super Bowl were like the FA Cup and if it finished in a tie, they’d just have a replay the next week!
Georgia/Auburn, 1994. Auburn was on the verge of a 2-season winning streak until we tied them on the Plains. That one felt like a big win.
I attended what I believe to be the last tie game in college football history: Illinois 3, Wisconsin 3 on November 25, 1995. It was the last Saturday of the regular season the year before they introduced overtime, and I don’t believe there were any other tie games that day.
It wasn’t all that memorable of a game, though. The most memorable tie I ever attended was in 1985, when Illinois tied Michigan (again 3 to 3) after a last-play attempt at a game-winning field goal was partially blocked and hit the crossbar.