The year of 2012 has offered some amazing matchups, moments, teams and stories from around the sports world. College football is no different as fans were treated to an amazing national title game between Alabama and LSU early in the year as well as an undefeated campaign from Notre Dame this season.
Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin turned their amazing college careers last season into NFL ones, while Johnny Manziel took the football world by storm this season by winning the Heisman as a freshman. There were so many great offensive performances, from Wisconsin in the Big Ten championship game to Oregon in nearly every game they played.
Here is a list of some of the best games from the 2012 year in no particular order.
Texas A&M Aggies 29, Alabama Crimson Tide 24
The "Johnny Heisman" Game
One of the best games of the year featured the best player of the year. No one at the time knew Johnny Manziel would win the Heisman, but following the game, he jumped out to the top of the pack after sending Alabama to their first loss of the season.
The game was a back-and-forth affair that saw the Aggies take a 20-0 early lead before quarterback AJ McCarron brought the Crimson Tide back into it. In the second quarter Alabama scored two rushing touchdowns to cut the lead to 20-14, then booted a field goal to pull within three.
The fourth quarter of the game was one of the most exciting quarters of the year, as Maziel hit Malcome Kennedy for a 24-yard touchdown to put the Aggies up 29-17. But Alabama wasn't finished. McCarron hit Amari Cooper on a perfect 54-yard touchdown pass, but the Crimson Tide couldn't muster anything else.
Manziel finished with 253 yards passing and two touchdowns on 24-of-31 completions while also rushing for 92 yards. He single-handedly ended Alabama's undefeated season and their national title hopes (but only for a little while, as other teams lost). This was his biggest moment, and was one of the best games of the season.
Alabama Crimson Tide 21, LSU Tigers 17
"The McCarron Comeback"
Alabama makes this list again because they are one of the best teams in the nation and also happened to play in some of the most exciting games of the year. This one was no different. The game against the Tigers was one week before the Texas A&M game and had Alabama looking for a 9-0 start.
The Crimson Tide took an early 14-3 lead on rushing touchdowns from Eddie Lacy and AJ McCarron, but allowed the Tigers to pull back to take a 17-14 after two straight scores. McCarron was having one of the worst games of the season, but changed everything on one drive.
With only minutes left in the game, McCarron started driving Alabama down the field, throwing perfect darts all over the place. The icing on the cake was a 28-yard pass to TJ Yeldon that went in for the game-winning score. It was the first time Alabama was tested all season and was the first meeting of the two teams since Alabama defeated the Tigers in the BCS national championship.
McCarron only had 165 yards passing, but left with the most important thing: the win.
Oregon Ducks 62, USC Trojans 51
"The Shootout"
The game at the Los Angeles Coliseum between the USC Trojans and the Oregon Ducks was something to witness. It was an offensive explosion where the defense showing up was optional. Oregon entered the game at 8-0 and knew that a team like USC could use its five-star talent to win. So Oregona did the same exact thing and unleashed the speed freaks.
Oregon running back Kenjon Barner had a game for the ages, rushing for 321 yards and five touchdowns, while quarterback Marcus Mariota threw for 304 yards and four TD passes. The Ducks put up 730 total yards of offense and the two teams combined to gain over 1,200 in the game.
USC quarterback Matt Barkley passed for 484 yards and five touchdowns, while wide receiver and Heisman candidate Marqise Lee made 12 receptions for 157 yards and two touchdowns.
There were six touchdowns scored between the two teams in the second quarter and 16 total in the game. The only field goal came from USC in the first quarter on a 39-yard kick. Amazingly the 62 points weren't even the most Oregon scored this year-they put up 70 in a win over Colorado just the week before and averaged 50 for the season.
Texas A&M Aggies 59, Louisiana Tech Bulldogs 57
"The Manziel"
Redshirt freshman quarterback Johnny Manziel had a season for the ages after winning the Heisman trophy and this game was one reason why.
The two teams combined for over 1,250 yards of total offense, while Manziel himself scored six touchdowns as the Aggies pulled out the victory. One could say his Heisman campaign began here. He threw for 395 yards and three touchdowns while also rushing for 181 yards and three touchdowns with a 9.5 yards per carry average. The rush yards were the most for Manziel all year, as were the six combined touchdowns.
Louisiana Tech nearly won the game and put up numbers just as amazing as the Aggies. Quarterback Colby Cameron threw for 450 yards and five touchdowns, including a 13-yard pass with 38 seconds left in the game to cut the score to two. The team attempted a two-point conversion, but it fell short, giving the Aggies the game and underscoring the one of the most exciting endings to a game this season.
Wide receiver Quinton Patton has 21 catches for 233 yards and four touchdowns for the Bulldogs, but couldn't grab onto the final two-point conversion pass from Cameron.
Notre Dame Fighting Irish 20, Stanford Cardinal 13 (OT)
"The Knee"
One of the most exciting games of the season was also one of the most controversial ones. Looking back now, it's even more dramatic knowing that Notre Dame went on to a 12-0 undefeated regular season.
Notre Dame was 5-0 entering the game, while Stanford was 4-1. It was the first true test for an Irish team that was looking to become legitimate and the game couldn't have been any better. A classic college football defensive matchup had Stanford in the lead 13-10 in the fourth quarter before Notre Dame drove down field to kick a game-tying field goal to send the game to overtime. That's when the drama began.
The Irish scored first in overtime on a 7-yard touchdown pass from Tommy Rees, who entered the game for an injured Everett Golson to add even more drama, to go up 20-13. Stanford needed a touchdown, so the offense drove down the field to set up a first-and-goal on the four-yard line. Little did Notre Dame know, there season was on the line here.
The Cardinal went to its best player, running back Stepfon Taylor, who gained one yard on first down, two on the second, and maybe a few feet on the third down. With fourth-and-goal to go, Stanford tried one more time, with Taylor plunging into a pile full of bodies. He twisted and turned and reached for the endzone but the Notre Dame defense held true, stopping him for no gain and the win. Or did they?
The play went to a review and showed that Taylor's knee never did touch the ground, but he was reaching for too long before getting in-the whistle blew, play was dead, Notre Dame won. Following the game college experts and fans watched the replay endlessly. Did he get in or not? If the Irish win the national championship, this will be the game they look back to as the turning point.
HONORABLE MENTION:
Alabama 32, Georgia 28 -- SEC Championship Game
"The McCarron Comeback Part Two"
The list mainly stuck to regular season games, but if any conference championship game would make the list, this was it. It basically served as a playoff game for the national championship with No. 2 Alabama taking on No. 3 Georgia in the Georgia Dome. The Bulldogs looked in control for most of the game, but the Crimson Tide pulled back and then stopped a last minute drive by Georgia in the redzone to end the game and make it to the national championship for the second year in a row.
There were just too many amazing games in college football this year.
Other notables:
- Baylor 52, Kansas State 24
- Stanford 17, Oregon 14 (OT)
- West Virginia 48, Texas 45
- Notre Dame 22, USC 13
- West Virginia 70, Baylor 63
This game was just amazing. Geno Smith was just, wow. Smith passed for 656 yards and eight touchdowns while completing 45-of-51 passes.
