The 25 most college football moments of the 21st century

Upon his retreat from Moscow, Napoleon reportedly quipped of his army's harrowing defeat that the margin between "the ridiculous and the sublime was but a step." He could just as easily have been talking about college football. Fall Saturdays offer a wealth of the sublime: dramatic games, brilliant plays, awe-inspiring athleticism. But what truly sets college football apart is that after all the on-field heroics, the sport slips so easily into pure chaos. For all the highlights, what often binds us most closely to college football are all those other moments, storylines, sound bites and memes so ludicrous, so stupefying, so perfectly ... college football. So, as the end of 2025 nears, it seemed a good time to consider the things that felt the most unique to college football, a celebration not of the sublime but of the ridiculous. What exactly makes for a true "college football" moment? It has to be a little bit weird, colorful or unexpected. It can be something that theoretically could happen in another sport, but feels about a thousand times more likely to happen in this one. It can be something charmingly fun or something shockingly bad, but ideally, it perfectly straddles the line between comedy and tragedy. It should have a certain je ne sais quoi, which is French for "things Lane Kiffin would do." Let's lay out a few ground rules. To make the list, the college football moment cannot have happened during the course of game action (no Bush Push or Kick Six), but it can be something that happened on the field of play (like, say, throwing someone's shoe ). The list can include some bad moments, but not something that involves an actual law being broken (so no crab legs). And while, in retrospect, all of these moments probably feel like they were inevitable, they should have felt entirely unexpected in the moment. Ultimately though, a great college football moment is determined by the same metric used by former Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart to define another rather unrefined industry: You know it when you see it. Like college football itself, its most absurd moments defy explanation. With that, these are the 25 most college football moments of the past 25 years. Others receiving votes Narrowing this list down to 25 was an impossible task. Indeed, we've likely forgotten a few moments that would've easily cracked the top 10. Here are a few favorites that didn't quite make the cut. Dabo Swinney's pizza party . Ron Cherry throws a flag for " giving him the business ." Texas' Halloween attack monkey . Frank Beamer celebrates a 0-0 tie . The Civil ConFLiCT trophy disappears . Jimbo Fisher's abandoned Christmas tree . Pretty much the entirety of John L. Smith's career, like this , this and this . Josh Rosen's dorm room hot tub . 25. Clemsoning The best college football moments are appreciated in vastly different ways depending on whether you're making the joke or are the butt of...

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