The 50 Most Defining Games of the CFP Era

Ranks 16–50

16. #16
    2018 Iron Bowl · Alabama 52, Auburn 21 — The 31-point Iron Bowl rout that Alabama posted on the way to the SEC title game — and the season-defining evidence that Tua's offense was the era's best.
17. #17
    2014 Iron Bowl · Alabama 55, Auburn 44 — The shootout that put Alabama in the inaugural Playoff and gave Henry the November tape that pushed his 2015 Heisman.
18. #18
    2018 Army at Oklahoma · OU 28-21 (OT) — The Army-Oklahoma overtime that nearly cost Murray a Heisman season — the regular season's most overlooked Playoff-implication game.
19. #19
    2019 Rose Bowl · Ohio State 28, Washington 23 — Meyer's farewell game and Haskins' Heisman-finalist exit — the closing image of the Buckeye coach who preceded Day.
20. #20
    2024 Pac-12 final · Washington 34, Oregon 31 — The last Pac-12 Championship — and the conference's closing argument before the Big Ten / SEC / Big-12 / ACC absorption.
21. #21
    2024 12-team CFP first-round · Notre Dame 27, Indiana 17 — The first game ever played in the 12-team Playoff format — Notre Dame Stadium, Cignetti's Indiana the visiting underdog.
22. #22
    2017 Rose Bowl · USC 52, Penn State 49 — The 101-point Rose Bowl that announced Sam Darnold's USC career and gave Penn State the only blemish of its 11-2 Big-Ten-title season.
23. #23
    2023 The Game · Michigan 30, Ohio State 24 — Michigan's third straight over Ohio State — with Harbaugh suspended and Moore as acting head coach for the win.
24. #24
    2025 SEC Championship · Texas 27, Georgia 24 — Texas in its first SEC Championship after the conference move — and Ewers' last college game before declaring.
25. #25
    2018 Cotton Bowl semifinal · Clemson 30, Notre Dame 3 — The Cotton Bowl semifinal that ended Notre Dame's perfect season and validated Lawrence's freshman year as more than novelty.
26. #26
    2019 Fiesta Bowl · Clemson 29, Ohio State 23 — The Fiesta Bowl semifinal that turned on a controversial targeting reversal — and produced one of the era's most argued officiating sequences.
27. #27
    2014 Sugar Bowl semifinal · Ohio State 42, Alabama 35 — Ohio State's Sugar Bowl semifinal upset of Alabama — and the inaugural-Playoff bracket's first true upset by third-seed-line standards.
28. #28
    2022 Fiesta Bowl semifinal · TCU 51, Michigan 45 — The Fiesta Bowl semifinal that put TCU in the title game and ended Michigan's 13-0 season — the era's biggest Playoff upset by Vegas spread.
29. #29
    2017 Sugar Bowl semifinal · Alabama 24, Clemson 6 — The third Alabama-Clemson Playoff meeting — and the defensive shutout that proved Saban's 2017 program was the era's deepest.
30. #30
    2024 Cotton Bowl semifinal · Ohio State 28, Texas 14 — The Cotton Bowl semifinal that ended Texas's first-year SEC run and delivered Ohio State to the first 12-team national title.
31. #31
    2024 Orange Bowl quarter · Notre Dame 23, Penn State 10 — The Orange Bowl quarter that gave Marcus Freeman his first national-title-game appearance and put Notre Dame back in the final for the first time since 2012.
32. #32
    2018 Peach Bowl · UCF 34, Auburn 27 — UCF's Peach Bowl win that completed a 13-0 season and fueled the most consequential 'self-declared' national championship of the modern era.
33. #33
    2022 Third Saturday in October · Tennessee 52, Alabama 49 — Tennessee's first win over Alabama since 2006 — McGrady's walk-off field goal, the goalpost-into-the-Tennessee River postgame, and Heupel's program reset.
34. #34
    2014 SEC Championship · Alabama 42, Missouri 13 — The SEC Championship that gave Alabama the second seed in the inaugural Playoff — and the bracket-positioning model that the next decade refined.
35. #35
    2021 Cotton Bowl semifinal · Alabama 27, Cincinnati 6 — The Cotton Bowl semifinal that finally put a Group-of-Five team in the four-team Playoff — and the score that ended the experiment.
36. #36
    2017 Iron Bowl rematch (SEC title) · Georgia 28, Auburn 7 — The SEC Championship rout of Auburn that put Smart's Georgia in the Playoff for the first time and produced the Rose Bowl semifinal of January 1.
37. #37
    2024 Big Ten Championship · Oregon 45, Penn State 37 — Oregon's first Big Ten Championship in its conference-transition year — and the Lanning operation's first championship-game win.
38. #38
    2014 Pac-12 Championship · Oregon 51, Arizona 13 — The Pac-12 Championship that put Mariota's Oregon in the inaugural Playoff — the spread offense's first championship-game appearance of the era.
39. #39
    2014 Big Ten Championship · Ohio State 59, Wisconsin 0 — The Big Ten Championship rout that put Ohio State in the inaugural Playoff with a third-string quarterback starting his first game.
40. #40
    2019 The Game · Ohio State 56, Michigan 27 — Day's first matchup against Michigan — a 56-27 rout that set the rivalry's pre-Stalions-era expectation.
41. #41
    2025 SEC Championship rematch · Georgia 23, Texas 21 — Smart's fourth SEC title and the second-iteration Texas-Georgia game that decided 12-team bracket positioning at the conference title level.
42. #42
    2017 Pac-12 Championship · USC 31, Stanford 28 — USC's Pac-12 title win over Stanford — the program's last conference championship before the Lincoln Riley rebuild and the Big Ten move.
43. #43
    2018 Big Ten Championship · Ohio State 45, Northwestern 24 — Meyer's last conference championship and the Haskins-499-yard passing performance that capped the Buckeye single-season passing record.
44. #44
    2023 Big-12 Championship · Texas 49, Oklahoma State 21 — Texas's last Big-12 title before the SEC move — Sarkisian's first championship as the Longhorn head coach.
45. #45
    2017 Georgia at Notre Dame · UGA 20, ND 19 — The September road win at Notre Dame Stadium that anchored Smart's first 13-2 season and the Rose Bowl semifinal that followed.
46. #46
    2020 Clemson at Notre Dame · ND 47, CU 40 (2OT) — Notre Dame's first win over Clemson in 41 years — Lawrence COVID-positive on the sideline, ND ranked #4, the COVID season's most-talked-about result.
47. #47
    2014 CFP selection · Ohio State #4 over TCU and Baylor — The inaugural CFP selection — Ohio State picked over TCU and Baylor on the strength of the Big Ten title rout and the era's first 'committee debate' Sunday.
48. #48
    2024 Big Ten · Indiana 11-0 (regular season) — The Cignetti-era Indiana season — 11-0 in the regular year, conference-title-game appearance, the most consequential first-year hire of the 2020s coaching market.
49. #49
    2020 SEC-only schedule · LSU 53, Vanderbilt 0 — The Vanderbilt-LSU game that featured Sarah Fuller's PAT — first woman to play in a Power-5 conference FBS game, the COVID-season's signature non-football moment.
50. #50
    2024 12-team CFP first-round · Penn State 38, SMU 10 — The first 12-team home Playoff game played at Beaver Stadium — Penn State's first CFP win in the new format.