College Football Rewind: 5 most important games from 2008 season

2. Oregon State 27, (1) USC 21

This USC team is one of the greatest to never win the national championship and they can blame Oregon State running back Jacquizz Rodgers for not having that opportunity.

USC had a suffocating defense led by linebackers Rey Maulauga and Brian Cushing, but Rodgers rushed for 186 yards on 37 carries and the Beavers pulled off the massive upset. The Trojans were just coming off of a 35-3 beatdown of No. 5 Ohio State and were ranked No. 1 and looked to be a college football juggernaut.

They would be just that for the rest of the season, as nobody would come close to stopping the Trojans, but they would not get higher than fifth in the rankings and would be relegated to playing No. 6 Penn State in the Rose Bowl, which they won 38-24.

One has to wonder how many national championships Pete Carroll could have had without some of the shocking losses. This may have been Carroll’s most complete team.