What is the most memorable finish to a college football game?

Trev Alberts My personal experience with memorable finishes was always on the disappointing end. I recall my Nebraska roommate Byron Bennett lining up for a game-winning field goal at Colorado, getting drilled by snowballs the entire time and missing the kick. And in the 1994 Orange Bowl against Florida State, we were behind 18-16 against Florida State and missed a pass with one second left that would have won the national championship. The most disappointing thing about that game was that three bad calls tipped the game in FSU's favor. I cannot explain how it feels to work hard for an entire season and then lose because of mistakes by a bunch of middle-aged dorks. But the most memorable finish has to be the famous Cal-Stanford play in 1982. I just don't think anything will top the ball flying all over and the band streaming on the field while the Bears were scoring the game-winner. But there are a ton of others and picking the best is nearly impossible. I remember Doug Flutie's Hail Mary against Miami that won him the Heisman Trophy, and another one that always sticks out is Kordell Stewart's game-winning Hail Mary for Colorado in 1994 at Michigan Stadium.

Todd Christensen I broadcast a Virginia Tech-Syracuse game in 1998 in which Donovan McNabb engineered a last-minute drive that culminated with a touchdown pass to Stephen Brominski, clinching the Big East title for Syracuse. Everyone poured onto the field and it made for an exciting moment. And you would be hard-pressed to beat the Hail Mary from LSU's Marcus Randall to Devery Henderson that gave LSU a 33-30 win over Kentucky on Nov. 9. It was just a bizarre play all the way around with the ball being deflected, Henderson grabbing it out of mid-air and then being able to run 20 yards to the end zone. My choice for the most memorable finish would have to come down to that play and the famous Cal-Stanford finish, with the Stanford band doing its best to prevent the winning TD.

Jim Donnan The best finish I ever saw was in a game between NAIA schools Catawba and Elon in the early 1960s. Catawba led the game by less than a touchdown and had the ball on the Elon 30-yard line with less than 20 seconds to play when it trotted out the field goal team. The kicker had a chance to set the Carolina Conference record for career field goals and his coach wanted to help him out. It was about a 46-yard attempt and it fell just short, right into the arms of a waiting Elon player who then took the ball 109 yards for the winning score. And as if the bad decision wasn't enough for the coach to deal with, and the Catawba athletic director went to the field and fired him before he could even get to the lockerom.

Kirk Herbstreit I have to go with Kordell Stewart's game-winning pass in 1994 against Michigan. I had not been out of college that long and watching that play unfold in real time was incredible, especially in a game of that magnitude where both Michigan and Colorado had come in very highly-touted. It was a meaningful non-conference matchup between two good teams, and to have it decided on a play like that was a pretty special moment for college football.