College Football Rewind: Most important games from 2003 season

1. Cal 34, (3) USC 31

In what wound up being the game of the year, it was also the most important game of the 2003. Unranked Cal pulled a massive upset and eventually kept USC out of the BCS title game and being the undisputed national champion of the 2003 season.

This was a game between two potent offenses and they both lived up to their hype. Backup quarterback Reggie Robertson had to come in to finish the game for the Golden Bears and he did an admirable job by going 9-of-12 for 108 yards.

Cal led the game 21-7 at halftime, but Matt Leinart and the Trojans would rally to get the game tied at 24 heading into overtime. After having previously blocked two field goals earlier in the game, Cal hit the one that meant the most in the third overtime and celebrated a rare victory over the Trojans.

I ranked this game No. 1 because it kept USC from having an undefeated season and being the national champion.

Despite this loss, the Trojans should have been in the BCS title game over an Oklahoma team that had just gotten blown out in the Big 12 title game by Kansas State and we would have gotten a much better game between USC and LSU then the game we got between LSU and Oklahoma.

There are a lot of what ifs associated with this season but this is arguably the biggest one.