10 greatest college football national championship games

7. Penn State outlasts Miami 14-10 in defensive 1987 Fiesta Bowl

The 1987 Fiesta Bowl is as much of a memorial in retrospect for all the noise off the field before the game as it is for the actual game play. Miami arrived in Arizona wearing fatigues as they disembarked from the airplane. That message was played up as media outlets touted the Duel in the Desert, and things got even more heated when Jimmy Johnson’s brash charges walked out of a pre-bowl dinner with Penn State.

Nearly 20 minutes passed before Melvin Bratton finished off a drive with a one-yard run to put the first points on the scoreboard. But with just more than one minute remaining before the intermission, the Nittany Lions returned the favor as John Shaffer punched in the ball from four yards out to tie up the festivities just before halftime.

Miami took another lead in the fourth quarter, scoring on a 38-yard Mark Seeling field goal with 11:49 remaining. But Penn State responded once more, as D.J. Dozier ran in the go-ahead score with just over eight minutes remaining.

Johnson’s Hurricanes had another chance to take the lead in the waning moments of the football game. After getting into a goal-to-go situation, the Penn State defense held Miami scoreless and got the ball back on a four-down stop.

As the clock wound down, Joe Paterno’s Nittany Lions secured their claim on a third national championship season in the 1980s. Miami would have to wait another year for Jimmy Johnson to get a chance to lead Miami to a national title.