Greatest Bowl Games of Past 25 years

[kchoya]

ESPN.com is doing a list and ask fans to make their own:

sports.espn.go.com/chat/sportsnation/rank?versionId=1&listId=210&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab8pos2

My problem, there are several obvious games (at least to me) that are left out. Such as:

2005 Rose Bowl - Texas v. Michigan
1983 Orange Bowl - Nebraska v. Miami
1993 Orange Bowl - Nebraska v. Florida State
1980 Holiday Bowl - BYU v. SMU
2006 Fiesta - Boise State v. Oklahoma

That last one is the most baffling omission. I don't think I've ever seen a replay on ESPN Classic or elsewhere. Something to do with rebroadcast rights?

[HeartAttackHoya]

I like your list KCHOYA. The BYU SMU game has to be one of the best of all time although its hard to exclude any of your listed omissions from the discussion

[SFHoya99]

I was at the 89 Holiday Bowl, which was awesome.

But seriously, how is the 1987 Fiesta not in there?

I know it was an "ugly" game, but it was close, it was a real National Title game before there was one, it was David v Goliath, the most ridiculously cocky and hateable college football team ever, Paterno, Jimmy Johnson, etc.

[kchoya]

Dec 2, 2008 14:58:25 GMT -5 SFHoya99 said:

I was at the 89 Holiday Bowl, which was awesome.

But seriously, how is the 1987 Fiesta not in there?

I know it was an "ugly" game, but it was close, it was a real National Title game before there was one, it was David v Goliath, the most ridiculously cocky and hateable college football team ever, Paterno, Jimmy Johnson, etc.

Excellent choice. A little before my time, but clearly one of the all-time most important bowl games.

[HoyaFanNY]

the michigan - texas rose bowl was one of the greatest games i've ever watched, even though the outcome wasn't what i wanted. people forget about it because of the usc - texas game the next year.

overall though, my favorite is the '84 orange bowl - miami 31 nebraska 30. my brother still has this game on tape. tom osborne going for 2, great players like gill, fryar, rozier, steinkuhler, kozar, highsmith...two great teams, two great coaches (people forget how good a coach schnellenberger really was), and a great ending with nebraska going for the win when a tie probably would have won them the national title anyway.

[ichirohoya]

In games that I was old enough to watch and appreciate, my top 5 would be:

5) 2003 Fiesta. Shame that I mainly remember that Ohio State team for Maurice Clarrett now.
4) 2000 Citrus. My dad and I talked for days after that game about how badly we wanted that Burress guy for the Ravens.
3) 1997 Rose. I really wanted Jake Plummer to pull this one off, and for a second or two- it looked like he might have.
2) 2006 Fiesta. ESPN should be ashamed of itself for leaving this one off of the list. But- like all things ESPN these days, the list they provide is lacking in quality.
1) 2006 Rose. I can still see Vince Young gliding into the corner of the end zone. Maybe thats because the replay is shown ad nauseum. Or maybe it was just a really cool couple of minutes of football to end that game.

[The Stig]

I think the list should be titled "Greatest Bowl Games of the Past 25 Years That ESPN Has the Rights To"