Sports Illustrated just released a new article on the great conference debate. Included in that are ten power-shifting moments in the BCS era as it pertains to conferences. While their’s was a great list, I have a list of my own. The ten power-shifting moments of the BCS era, team style. Obviously, there will be a few duplicate games on this list in addition to some original choices.

November 4, 2000 – Northwestern 54, Michigan 51
This game signaled something was wrong defensively with Michigan. With the exception of a long winning streak to start 2006 (that was undone by the defense), Michigan has struggled defensively in big games. To prove it, look at the numbers. Michigan gave up over 30 points 17 times. In the decade prior to this, the Michigan defense gave up 30 points 10 times. It has been said that Michigan has underachieved. That is true, and it is the fault of the defense, leaky since November 2000. Rich Rodriguez has his work cut out for himself in that department.

September 7, 2002 – Miami 41, Florida 16
What most people remember about Florida under Ron Zook was inconsistency. Florida was inconsistent, but they were also lacking in talent at the beginning and very young at the end of his tenure. Florida entered this game ranked in the top 10 with some saying they had a chance to dethrone the defending national champions. Instead, the talent difference reared its head. Steve Spurrier had been a great coach, but he had not recruited at the same level as Miami at the end of his Florida tenure and it showed here. No coach could have gotten Florida much closer than they were in this game. With this disaster, the downward spiral of Florida football that had quietly begun under Spurrier kicked into overdrive.

November 6, 1999 – Minnesota 24, Penn St. 23
Penn St. entered this game ranked number one in the country having played just two close games along the way. Minnesota, an average team at best beat them and Penn St. never recovered that season losing the remainder of their regular season games and falling all the way down to the Alamo Bowl. The next season, Penn St. stunk and everyone knows the rest.

November 17, 2001 – USC 27, UCLA 0
This was the game, more than any other, that launched the USC dynasty. Pete Carroll was in his first season and many doubted his hiring. He was the fourth of fifth choice for the job and he started a terrible 2-5 before beating average or bad Arizona, Cal, and Oregon St. teams. UCLA entered heavily favored despite losing three straight games after a sizzling 6-0 start including wins over Alabama, Ohio St., and Washington (when they were still good). What happened was nothing short of shocking as teams had been beating UCLA for a few years, but none with defense. This win not only signaled a USC resurgence back to national power, it came with defense, something that hadn’t been seen at a high level in the Pac-10 since Washington was a national title contender in the early 1990s.

November 23, 2001 – Colorado 62, Nebraska 36
I don’t think much needs to be written about this game. 50 years from now, this destruction of the formerly great Nebraska will still be talked about. The Nebraska defense, other than a brief resurgence under current head coach Bo Pelini when he was a coordinator in 2003, has looked like it did on the field in Boulder that day.

December 6, 2003 – Kansas St. 35, Oklahoma 7
Neither team was ever the same after this game, surprisingly. Oklahoma would lose the national title game the next two seasons (only reaching in 2004 because of starting highly and playing in an overrated Big 12). Since this game, Oklahoma has not seen the number one ranking again despite being ranked in the top 10 quite a bit since. For Kansas St., it is almost like the program reached the summit and everything thought possible was accomplished. This was the culmination of years of work and nothing after it mattered or matters in the grand scheme of things.

August 30, 2003 – Ohio St. 28, Washington 9
Washington used to be good. Under new coach Keith Gilbertson, stepping into the role after the odd firing of Rick Neuheisel, Washington entered this game ranked in the top 20 with College Gameday on hand and many pundits giving the Huskies a punchers chance against the defending national champion Buckeyes. Most expected, if not a win, a close, well played game like Washington’s loss to Michigan to open the 2002 season. Instead, the national audience was treated to a demolition from a team that didn’t demolish anyone. Washington never recovered only reaching six wins because the Pac-10 was terrible that season. The next season, they fell to 1-11 and haven’t recovered

December 1, 2001 – LSU 27, Auburn 14
LSU had fallen apart under Gerry DiNardo. Nick Saban had been brought in from Michigan St. to restore LSU to national prominence. There had been two big problems since the advent of division play in the SEC for LSU. Alabama and Auburn. With Alabama already dispatched and in a rebuilding year under Dennis Franchione, only Auburn stood in the way of LSU and their first division title. In a game played in December because of 9/11, LSU finally beat the Tigers in a meaningful game (all 3 previous wins in divisional had been against Auburn’s three worst teams in that time frame). LSU sprung from this game to an SEC Title upset of Tennessee and a blowout of Illinois in the Sugar Bowl. Then, LSU would win the first of two BCS titles two year later.

October 6, 2001 – Georgia 26, Tennessee 24
Under Ray Goff and Jim Donnan, Georgia had been a talented but underachieving program. Mark Richt was brought in from Florida St. to rectify that. In particular, Richt was brought in to beat Tennessee, Florida, Auburn, and Georgia Tech who Donnan had been 6-14 against and Goff had been 8-17-1 against. Not only did Georgia finally beat one of these main rivals, they did it in Knoxville (where they hadn’t won since opening the 1980 national title season with a one point win) with a late touchdown drive that proved to the Bulldogs they could win tough road games. Georgia would win the SEC the next season on the way to becoming a national power.

September 22, 2001 – North Carolina 41, Florida St. 9
This game, while not nearly as famous as the Nebraska-Colorado game because the number one ranked team was not involved, is very similar to that game. Florida St., while having some success since then, has not been the same since this game. The main culprit is an offense that has been either inconsistent or flat out bad in the passing game since this game

Honorable Mention
September 18, 2004 – Auburn 10, LSU 9 – The game that proved to Auburn’s players they could be great.
November 17, 2001 – Miami 59, Syracuse 0 – The end of Syracuse as a relevant team nationally.
September 8, 2001 – South Florida 35, Pittsburgh 26 – The beginning of South Florida’s ascent into the Big East and possible national contention.
November 24, 2001 – Ohio St. 26, Michigan 20 – Tressell’s first big win and the stepping stone to the 2002 national title.
August 28, 1999 – Penn St. 41, Arizona 7 – Arizona had been an upper division Pac-10 team for years and were expected to take the next step. They haven’t been to a bowl since.
September 14, 2002 – Cal 46, Michigan St. 22 – Cal’s first quality win under Tedford after going 1-10 under his predecessor.
November 6, 2004 – Clemson 24, Miami 17 – The first home loss to a mediocre team since before the national title.
September 26, 2002 – Louisville 26, Florida St. 20 – Louisville’s announcement to the college football world that they were major players.
October 15, 2005 – West Virginia 46, Louisville 44 – Slaton and White’s first big win and the emergence of the spread.
September 4, 2004 – Rutgers 19, Michigan St. 14 – Schiano proves to recruits that wins can be had at Rutgers.