Five Greatest Bowl Game Comebacks

Postseason bowl games in college football have a reputation for being meaningless outside of the BCS National Championship Game. Good thing many of the coaches and players do not see them that way. Bowl games have provided some of the most incredible comebacks the sport has ever seen. These five rank as the most dramatic bowl game comebacks and would be more than enough to spark a goalpost tear down frenzy.

#5: 2001 GMAC Bowl -- For one half, Marshall looked to be thoroughly outclassed by future Conference USA rival East Carolina. The Thundering Herd trailed 38-8 and appeared headed for an ugly loss. The second half felt like a different game altogether. Momentum shifted in the third quarter when Ralph Street and Terence Tarpley each returned interceptions for touchdowns. Those defensive scores helped Marshall trim the Pirate lead to 41-36. The Thundering Herd still trailed by six, 51-45, with 50 seconds left when Byron Leftwich moved the Marshall offense 80 yards in 43 seconds for the tying touchdown to force overtime. Marshall finally prevailed in the second overtime, winning 64-61. It remains the highest scoring bowl game in NCAA history.

#4: 2006 Insight Bowl -- Texas Tech mounted the greatest bowl game comeback in college football history to defeat Minnesota 44-41 in overtime. The Red Raiders trailed the Golden Gophers 38-7 with 7:47 remaining in the third quarter when they ripped off 31 unanswered points to force overtime. Starting with Graham Harrell's 8 yard TD pass to Robert Johnson to open the fourth quarter and ending with Alex Trlica's 52 yard field goal as time expired, Texas Tech owned the final 15 minutes. The Red Raiders outscored Minnesota 24-0 in that stretch. The loss was the final straw for Golden Gophers' coach Glen Mason. He was fired two days later.

#3 2006 Rose Bowl: Vince Young ended the USC dynasty in epic fashion. The Trojans appeared well on their way to winning another national title when they took a 38-26 lead over Texas on a 22 yard pass from Matt Leinhart to Dwayne Jarrett. The Longhorns got the ball back with 6:42 remaining and Young went to work. He accounted for all 69 yards on a scoring drive that brought Texas within five. A failed fourth down conversion by USC with 2:09 left gave the Longhorns the ball at their own 44 yard line. It set up Young's nine yard TD run on 4th-and-5 with 19 seconds left and lifted Texas to a 41-38 victory and a national title.

#2: 1980 Holiday Bowl -- For most of four quarters, BYU looked completely outmatched against an SMU team that was the best team money could buy as it later turned out. Eric Dickerson and Craig James ran roughshod over the Cougar defense. Trailing 45-25 with 3:32 remaining, BYU came to life. Jim McMahon threw a long touchdown pass to Matt Braga to spark the comeback. The Cougars then recovered an onside kick and scored two plays later to cut it to six. Then Bill Schoepflin blocked an SMU punt with 13 seconds left. That set the stage for a 41 yard touchdown pass from McMahon to Clay Brown on the game's final play and BYU stunned the Mustangs 46-45. It was the first of many wild finishes for the Holiday Bowl.

#1: 1979 Cotton Bowl -- Joe Montana carved out his legend as one of the greatest quarterbacks ever starting with leading Notre Dame to incredible rally over Houston. The Fighting Irish trailed 34-12 with just 7:37 to play when Montana went to work. He helped Notre Dame score 23 unanswered points, capped off by a rollout touchdown pass to Kris Haines on the game's final play to give the Irish a 35-34 victory over the Cougars. Montana battled hypothermia in the chilly Dallas weather and ate chicken soup at halftime to keep his body temperature up. It ended up being a secret ingredient to a memorable rally.