100. Yale 49, Army 43 (September 27)

To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Yale Bowl, the Bulldogs not only welcomed Army to town ... they beat them. Eventually. Yale never led in regulation and trailed, 36-22, midway through the third. But Tyler Varga tied the game at 43-43 with 1:42 remaining, and poor Daniel Grochowski, Army's junior kicker, missed two field goals. Varga plunged in from three yards out, and that was that.

Yale's first win over an FBS team since 1980, and its first over Army since 1955, was in the books.

99. Florida 38, Georgia 20 (November 1)

It makes the list due to its inexplicable nature.

Florida had lost by 29 points at home to Missouri in its previous game, stoking the fire underneath Will Muschamp's hot seat. The Gators were 3-3 for the season and 7-12 in their last 19 games. Georgia was smoking hot. The Dawgs had won five in a row, and despite losing star Todd Gurley to suspension, they had beaten Missouri by 34 points on the road and had built a huge halftime lead at Arkansas. They were ready to all but clinch the SEC East on the first day of November.

Naturally, Florida went on a 31-0 run, rushed for 418 yards, and cruised to a 38-20 win in Jacksonville.

Muschamp would get fired anyway, and Georgia won its final two conference games by a combined 97-38. But just when you think you know what's going to happen, college football throws you an incomprehensible curveball.

98. Virginia Tech 35, Ohio State 21 (September 6)

Hey, speaking of ... eventual national champion Ohio State suffered its only loss to a team that would turn around and lose six of its next nine. On the second Saturday of the season, Buckeye quarterback J.T. Barrett completed nine of 29 passes with three interceptions and seven sacks. His third was returned by Donovan Riley for 63 yards and the game-clinching touchdown.

Ohio State looked confused and lacked confidence against Bud Foster's defense. The Buckeyes proceeded to average 47 points per game, win 13 consecutive games, and take the first title of the Playoff era. None of this has to make sense.

97. Boston College 33, Virginia Tech 31 (November 1)

Not two months after the huge upset in Columbus, Virginia Tech's season had fallen apart. They fielded a visit from Boston College, and on a cold, wet afternoon, they fell to 4-5.

Virginia Tech drove 95 yards in nine plays on its opening drive to take a 7-0 lead, but as has been the case so frequently in recent years, the Hokie offense vanished. They scored three points in their next nine possessions and fell behind, 23-10, following a muffed kick return. But they charged back, scoring two fourth-quarter touchdowns to take a 24-23 lead. BC responded with a field goal and forced a three-and-out, however, and Tyler Murphy iced the game with a 57-yard touchdown run. Virginia Tech responded with a short touchdown pass with 28 seconds remaining, but BC recovered the ensuing onside kick.

96. Colorado State 24, Boston College 21 (September 27)

BC was a close-game magnet, playing in seven games decided by one possession. It's hard to distinguish one from another, but this one was fun.

The Eagles went up 14-0 in the second quarter and took a 21-14 lead into the fourth, but CSU's Garrett Grayson capped an eight-play, 90-yard, game-winning drive with a 12-yard pass to Charles Lovett with 1:02 left. BC's last-second drive stalled out, and Colorado State had its first road win over an FBS opponent since 2009.

95. NIU 27, Toledo 24 (November 11)
94. Camellia Bowl: Bowling Green 33, South Alabama 28 (December 20)

MACtion wasn't very much fun this year. The MAC didn't have many good teams, and more importantly, the offenses -- the stars of the MACtion Internet meme -- weren't up to the standard we expect. But as will always be the case when there are evenly matched teams, there were still memorable games. The best game involving a MAC team is a lot higher on this list, but these two warrant top-100 attention.

On a Tuesday night in November, NIU gained the upper hand in the MAC West race by outlasting a solid Toledo. The teams traded long touchdown passes (64 yards to NIU's Da'Ron Brown, 69 yards to Toledo's Corey Jones), then NIU went on a 17-7 run to take a 10-point lead. Toledo cut to 27-24 with 2:14 left and got the ball back with three seconds remaining, but a last-second lateral fest came up 55 yards short, and NIU survived.

A month later in Montgomery, Bowling Green took a 20-7 halftime lead against first-time bowl participant South Alabama, then watched it evaporate in a wacky fourth quarter that featured lead changes and a bloodied coach. Down 27-14 in the final stanza, the Jaguars used a 44-yard pass from Brandon Bridge to Danny Woodson to set up the go-ahead score with 1:20 left. And 16 seconds later, BGSU was back on top.

93. Marshall 23, UAB 18 (November 22)
92. Marshall 26, Louisiana Tech 23 (December 6)

For 10 games, Marshall was untouchable. The Thundering Herd began 10-0, winning by an average of 47-16. Thanks in part to Louisville canceling a non-conference game, they had the weakest schedule in the nation, and they were getting ignored by the Playoff committee because of it. But late in the year, they ran into trouble.

The first sign came with a trip to Birmingham, where a resurgent (and soon to be deceased) UAB took the Herd to the wire. Marshall led 17-6 at halftime, but the offense stalled out with the dagger in hand. The Herd lost a fumble in the UAB endzone, then turned over on downs at the UAB 28. Given new life, UAB roared back and took an 18-17 lead. But Arnold Blackmon sacked and stripped Blazer quarterback Cody Clements in the end zone; Ra'Shawde Myers recovered for a score and a 23-18 lead. UAB responded by driving the length of the field, but on fourth-and-1 from the Marshall 10 with just a minute left, Jordan Howard was stuffed for a loss, and Marshall survived.

Two weeks later, following a loss we will discuss further up the list, the Herd had to knock off Louisiana Tech at home to secure the Conference USA crown. And again, the offense stalled. Louisiana Tech took a 17-7 lead, and while Marshall's Justin Haig made three long field goals, it wasn't enough to put the Herd ahead. But they owned the fourth quarter. A fourth Haig field goal cut Tech's lead to 23-19, and after Tech missed a 49-yarder, Marshall drove 68 yards in 11 plays; Rakeem Cato hit Deon-Tay McManus for a five-yard score with 1:50 left, and a Neville Hewitt interception sealed the conference.

91. Ohio State 42, Michigan 28 (November 29)

Brady Hoke didn't earn a ton of credit for the job he did in four years in Ann Arbor. But his Wolverines, typically outmatched, still managed to play Ohio State well. They beat the Buckeyes in 2011, lost the next two games by a total of seven points, and trailed by just seven points, 28-21, deep into the fourth quarter in Columbus in November.

But despite Barrett suffering a gruesome ankle injury in the fourth, the Buckeyes pulled away. Then-unknown backup Cardale Jones (who would go on to lead the Buckeyes to the national title) engineered a touchdown drive, and Joey Bosa forced a Devin Gardner fumble, returned for a touchdown by Darron Lee. Ohio State won by a comfortable margin, but there was nothing comfortable about this.

90. Georgia Tech 42, Georgia Southern 38 (September 13)
89. NC State 24, Georgia Southern 23 (August 30)

Not only did Georgia Southern make a long-awaited jump to FBS, the Eagles played really well. They won the Sun Belt in their first attempt and finished a healthy 61st in the F/+ rankings, one spot behind Texas and 64 spots ahead of new "rival" Georgia State.

GS finished 9-3, banned from a bowl by a silly NCAA rule. And until Navy took them down in mid-November, their only blemishes were tight losses against decent-to-excellent ACC squads. They rushed for 246 against NC State and took a 20-10 lead into the fourth in Raleigh before succumbing to a 35-yard touchdown from Jacoby Brissett to Matt Dayes with 1:37 left. Two weeks later in Atlanta, they unleashed a crazy comeback.

Trailing Georgia Tech 35-10 at halftime, Georgia Southern scored 28 consecutive in the second half to take a 38-35 lead. But they needed one more. Deon Hill caught a 13-yard touchdown pass from Justin Thomas with 23 seconds left, and what would become a dream season for Tech avoided an early pratfall.

88. Indiana 31, Missouri 27 (September 20)
87. Bowling Green 45, Indiana 42 (September 13)

Kevin Wilson's fourth season as Indiana's head coach went off the rails. By midseason, the Hoosiers were starting a true freshman quarterback (Zander Diamont), and while their defense improved, it wasn't good enough to offset offensive regression. After hinting at a breakthrough by going 5-7 in 2013, IU fell to 4-8.

But the Hoosiers did play two thrilling games. First, they fell to Bowling Green in a game that managed to feature nine second-half lead changes. A week later, they took down eventual SEC East champion Missouri on the road. Tevin Coleman rushed for 132 yards and caught a 44-yard screen pass with under a minute left to set up the go-ahead score.

At the time, this win felt like a breakthrough for a program desperate for one. But then the Hoosiers lost by 22 points at home against Maryland. And then quarterback Nate Sudfeld went down. And the Hoosiers lost seven of their next eight.

86. Liberty Bowl: Texas A&M 45, WVU 37 (December 29)

Believe it or not, the Liberty Bowl was won by defense.

Eighteen minutes in, WVU led, 27-21. This game was showing all sorts of air raid potential, with four touchdown passes of at least 40 yards and a pick six for good measure.

But over the next 35 minutes, A&M's defense stiffened as well as it had all year. The Aggies went on a 24-3 run to take a commanding lead as WVU's backup quarterback, Skyler Howard, completed 44 percent with three sacks. The Mountaineers made it interesting with a late touchdown, but the A&M run game, which amassed 235 yards, ran out the clock and gave the Aggies their eighth win in a disappointing season.

85. Independence Bowl: South Carolina 24, Miami 21 (December 27)

All you want from the pre-New Year's bowls is effort. These are games played between flawed teams in stadiums that are often half-empty. And they're often coming at the end of a campaign that had promised more than it delivered.

The Independence Bowl had all the makings of a dud. The Gamecocks were a top-10 pick that barely scraped out a bowl bid at 6-6. Miami had gotten to 6-3 and had Florida State on the ropes (who didn't?) well into the second half of their November 15 battle. But the Hurricanes couldn't close the deal and fell into a funk, losing by double digits to Virginia and Pitt.

This wasn't an amazing game, but in a cold, wet Shreveport, these teams cared. Miami took an early lead, South Carolina went on a 17-0 run, and Miami was in position to take the lead when Duke Johnson got injured and lost a fumble. South Carolina scored to go up 10 points, Miami responded with a touchdown, and the 'Cocks ran out the clock.

84. Georgia 45, Clemson 21 (August 30)
83. Wisconsin 59, Nebraska 24 (November 15)
82. Oklahoma 44, Kansas 7 (November 22)
81. TCU 82, Texas Tech 27 (October 25)

Some games are great not because they are close, but because of an individual or team achievement. These four fit that bill.

In one of the biggest games of the season's first week, Georgia's Todd Gurley launched a sure thing Heisman campaign by rushing for 198 yards and three scores and returning a second-quarter kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown.

Three months later, with Gurley's Heisman chances derailed by suspension and injury, Melvin Gordon stated his case as the best back in the country. He rushed 25 times for an FBS-record 408 yards and four touchdowns as Wisconsin seized control of the Big Ten West and began to nail the coffin shut on Bo Pelini's Nebraska tenure.

Seven days later, a freshman stole Gordon's thunder. Big Oklahoma back Samaje Perine rushed 34 times for a new FBS-record 427 yards. After beginning the year as OU's No. 3 back, Perine finished with 1,713 yards, one-fourth of which came in one day.

In between these "Are you watching this??" games came one of the most resounding statements of the season. No, Texas Tech wasn't good. At all. But they didn't give up 82 points every week. After some back-and-forths -- TCU led 24-17 after one quarter -- the Horned Frogs hit the accelerator. They finished with 785 yards in 86 snaps, Trevone Boykin threw for 433 yards and seven touchdowns in just 22 completions, and two different Frogs rushed for at least 100 yards.

The best part: TCU had to settle for four field goals. If they had done a better job of finishing drives, they would have neared 100.

80. UNC 48, Georgia Tech 43 (October 18)
79. Notre Dame 50, UNC 43 (October 11)

North Carolina's defense was just abysmal; the Heels ranked 109th in Def. F/+, 119th in scoring defense, and 120th in yards allowed per game. The offense had some duds, scoring 21 or fewer four times.

But there was enough explosiveness on the offensive side to create serious shootout potential. They beat Liberty, 56-29. They lost to ECU and Clemson by a combined 120-76. They beat Pitt and Duke by a combined 85-55. And in October, they played a pair of particularly crazy games.

First, they almost wrecked Notre Dame's then-undefeated season. The Heels went up 14-0, fell behind by a 35-26 margin, and led by one heading into the fourth quarter. Two Tarean Folston touchdowns put Notre Dame up, 50-36, with 2:19 left, and UNC raced to score again before failing on the necessary onside kick.

The next week's game began in similar fashion. UNC raced out to a 21-10 lead on eventual division champion Georgia Tech before Tech took the lead early in the third. UNC went up, 42-31, in the fourth, but Tech responded with two touchdowns in five minutes. UNC had one last chance and drove 75 yards in 12 plays; T.J. Logan plunged in from two yards out with just 11 seconds left, and UNC pulled off a five-point win.

78. Mississippi State 34, LSU 29 (September 20)
77. Mississippi State 38, Auburn 23 (October 11)

The story didn't last, but what a story it was. In what would still become Mississippi State's most successful season (per final AP poll ranking) in 74 years, Dan Mullen's Bulldogs began 9-0 and spent five weeks atop the polls. The rise was punctuated by three early-season wins -- a sprint-ahead-and-hold-on win in Baton Rouge, a rout of Texas A&M, and a home win over Auburn in what might have been the biggest game in the history of Davis Wade Stadium.

The win over LSU put Dak Prescott on everybody's Heisman lists. He led MSU on two early touchdown drives to ease the Bulldogs to a 17-3 lead, and after a lone mistake resulted in a 25-yard LSU fumble recovery, he put the game away. First, he blasted ahead for a 56-yard touchdown run; then, he pulled off a magic act.

Two weeks later, Prescott took MSU to No. 1.

Well, he didn't, per say. He threw two interceptions against Auburn and fumbled twice while completing 53 percent of his passes. But despite offensive glitches, the MSU defense came up with stop after stop. The Bulldogs raced to a 21-0 lead, frittered away some of the advantage, and won anyway. And everybody who watched this game still has the cowbell ringing in their ears.

76. Missouri 21, South Carolina 20 (September 27)
75. Kentucky 45, South Carolina 38 (October 4)
74. Tennessee 45, South Carolina 42 (November 1)
73. Auburn 42, South Carolina 35 (October 25)

South Carolina's ambitions were on life support from the first Thursday of the season. That's when Texas A&M laid the hammer down on what we would learn was a hapless Gamecocks defense. But following the 52-28 thrashing at the hands of the Aggies, Steve Spurrier's 'Cocks rallied. They took down a solid East Carolina, then survived a visit from Georgia.

They were 3-1 when Missouri came to Columbia East on September 27. Five weeks later, they were 4-5.

First, Missouri overcame three quarters of offensive ineptitude and a 20-7 deficit to score twice in the final seven minutes, force a late four-and-out, and escape town with a 21-20 win.

Then, Kentucky scored three touchdowns in the final eight minutes -- the last on a pick six with 2:29 left -- to turn a 38-24 deficit into a 45-38 win.

Then, after a win over Furman, South Carolina tied Auburn late and recovered a surprise onside kick. But instead of pulling a season-saving upset, the Gamecocks threw two interceptions and turned over on downs, falling, 42-35.

Finally came the most gut-wrenching of all. Against Tennessee and new quarterback Joshua Dobbs, the 'Cocks took a 42-28 lead with under five minutes remaining. Tennessee drove 75 yards to score with 1:50 left, but South Carolina recovered the ensuing onside. Safe, right? SC went three-and-out, and Tennessee went 85 yards in 72 seconds to send the game to overtime.

In the extra period, Tennessee had to settle for a field goal, but senior quarterback Dylan Thompson took two egregious sacks, forcing Elliott Fry to attempt a 58-yard field goal to save the game. Didn't happen.

Four losses in increasingly devastating fashion: not quite what the Ol' Ball Coach had in mind. But hey ...

72. South Carolina 38, Georgia 35 (September 13)

... that win over Georgia really was pretty fun. Brandon Wilds and Mike Davis combining for 159 rushing yards? Gerald Dixon forcing an intentional grounding penalty that stalled out a crucial Georgia drive in the red zone? The narrowest first down ever?

That made up for the proceeding pain, right, Gamecock fans?

71. Georgia 35, Tennessee 32 (September 27)

Tennessee's 2014 was one of growing pains. After a three-year drought, the Vols went to their first bowl game since 2010 and looked great in dispatching Iowa. They pulled off the South Carolina comeback, they whipped decent Utah State and Kentucky teams, and they avoided an egg-laying dud in the season-ender against Vanderbilt.

They also suffered grueling losses. They lost by eight to Missouri at home, and they fell to Florida, 10-9, in a game so ugly we refuse to acknowledge its existence. They also lost a thriller in Athens.

Tennesse jumped out to a 10-0 lead and was hanging within 21-17 heading into the fourth. But the combination of an injury to quarterback Justin Worley and a 51-yard run by Todd Gurley gave Georgia a 28-17 cushion. Tennessee cut the lead to three, but Jalen Hurd muffed a handoff in the end zone, and Josh Dawson fell on it. Tennessee scored once more, but Georgia recovered the onside.

70. Ohio State 49, Michigan State 37 (November 8)
69. Oregon 46, Michigan State 27 (September 6)

Apparently the prerequisite to making the championship was "Did you end up pulling away from Michigan State in a shootout?" The two that could answer "Yes!" ended up in Arlington.

In September, State took a 27-18 lead over Oregon before Oregon hit mach speed, scoring touchdowns on four of five drives, forcing an interception and a turnover on downs, and finishing on a 28-0 run.

Two months later, in the Big Ten's biggest game, a surging Ohio State made its move earlier. Michigan State took a 21-14 lead in the first half, but the Buckeyes scored on touchdown passes of 79 yards (to Michael Thomas) and 44 yards (to Devin Smith) to take a 28-21 lead into halftime. And in the second half, Sparty couldn't get stops. The Buckeyes scored on their first three drives of the half to go up 49-31.

These weren't down-to-the-wire battles, but they were heavyweight slugfests. But against perhaps the country's two best teams, Michigan State couldn't keep up.

68. Duke 51, Pitt 48 (November 1)

The ACC was an underrated conference, both in terms of the overall product and the games it produced. We'll get to Florida State's weekly high-wire acts soon; other teams had their share of crazy games, too. For one: Duke.

Until late losses to Virginia Tech and North Carolina, David Cutcliffe's Blue Devils were the front-runners to win another ACC Coastal division thanks to a couple of wild mid-season wins.

First, they forced three turnovers and leaped to a 31-12 lead against Paul Johnson's best Georgia Tech team. Tech began the second half with a fumble, missed field goal, and interception, but two Tim Byerly touchdowns brought the Yellow Jackets to within 31-25 with 87 seconds left. Duke recovered an onside kick and survived.

Three weeks later, following a tight win over Virginia, Duke survived a wild trip to Heinz Field. In a back-and-forth game that featured ties at 7-7, 14-14, 21-21, 28-28, 31-31, 38-38, and 45-45, DeVon Edwards' 99-yard kickoff return put Duke ahead in the fourth quarter. But Pitt struck back with a touchdown drive with five minutes left, Duke punted, and Pitt gave itself a chance to win in regulation. But Chris Blewitt, uh, did just that, sending a 26-yard field goal wide left at the buzzer.

After the teams traded touchdowns in the first overtime, Blewitt nailed a 43-yarder. But on the fourth play of Duke's possession, Thomas Sirk went in from five yards out to give the Blue Devils the win.

67. Alabama 25, Mississippi State 20 (November 15)

The flow of a college football season can leave you with mixed feelings. Again, this was possibly Mississippi State's most successful season since World War II. It was a great time to be a Bulldog fan.

But those good times happened before November 15. After a 9-0 start, MSU lost three of four, and the slide, like many, began with a trip to Tuscaloosa.

Perhaps the most frustrating part of MSU's loss to Alabama was that the Bulldogs weren't actually outplayed. They gained 428 yards to Alabama's 335, and they finished seven drives in Alabama territory. The problem: two of those drives finished in the end zone. MSU settled for two field goals, and Dak Prescott threw interceptions from Alabama's 40, 20, and 15.

It's hard enough to beat Alabama; it's nearly impossible to do so with a minus-3 turnover differential.

66. Alamo Bowl: UCLA 40, Kansas State 35 (January 2)

Rarely do games change so completely at halftime.

In the first half, UCLA was dominant in every phase. The Bruins' pass rush harassed KSU quarterback Jake Waters, and the Wildcats had no answer for Brett Hundley and Paul Perkins. UCLA scored on drives of six plays and 77 yards, 10 plays and 50 yards, 10 plays and 71 yards, three plays and 44 yards, and four plays and 51 yards. Halftime score: UCLA 31, KSU 6.

In the second half, KSU played its game as UCLA took its foot off of the gas. The Wildcats scored on a 17-play, 75-yard drive, forced a fumble, and cut to 31-21 with a short Demarcus Robinson score. Down 34-21, the Wildcats did it again: 15 plays, 91 yards, six minutes, 34-28.

In need of one final stop, KSU came up short. On second-and-13 from the UCLA 33, Perkins found no resistance, racing 67 yards for the game-clinching score. KSU would score again and cause a little bit of late-game consternation, but Perkins' contributions (20 carries, 194 yards) were too much.