What Are Your Team's 5 Most Painful Losses (Games)

[Appaholic]

Got the idea from another thread. What 5 games in your team's history are the most painful?

1- 1994: VMI - winless VMI knocks App out of Top 4 playoff seed and SoCon Championship

2- 2004: WCU - Western upsets App to keep them from the playoffs

3- 1987: Marshall - national semi's; a Marshall team App had beaten in the regular season gives payback....in Boone.....did I mention it was Marshall?

4- 1999: FAMU - 1st round of playoffs in Boone; completely dominated by a MEAC team

5- 1995: SFAustin - undefeated App team ranked #1 in the country with multiple NFL players mail it in against a SFA team playing old school, smashmouth football; a team with such promise ends their year with a whimper......

[Bam]

EKU--1991 Semi's at Mar-hell! I still have nightmares!

[SpeedkingATL]

Got the idea from another thread. What 5 games in your team's history are the most painful?

1- 1994: VMI - winless VMI knocks App out of Top 4 playoff seed and SoCon Championship

2- 2004: WCU - Western upsets App to keep them from the playoffs

3- 1987: Marshall - national semi's; a Marshall team App had beaten in the regular season gives payback....in Boone.....did I mention it was Marshall?

4- 1999: FAMU - 1st round of playoffs in Boone; completely dominated by a MEAC team

5- 1995: SFAustin - undefeated App team ranked #1 in the country with multiple NFL players mail it in against a SFA team playing old school, smashmouth football; a team with such promise ends their year with a whimper......

Hard to argue with those. Honorable mentiion goes to home playoff losses to Maine, Nova and Richmond.

[UNIFanSince1983]

This is my opinion on UNI's painful losses. Another fan might have a different opinion.

1 -- 2005 Loss against App St in the Championship game. Team got hot at the right time, our one and only trip to the Championship, and an Eric Sanders fumble returned for a TD that gave App St. a late lead they would never relinquish.

2 -- 2007 Loss vs Delaware in the Quarterfinals. Possibly the best team we have ever had. Undefeated ranked #1 and get beat by Joe Flacco and Omar Cuff.

3 -- 1992 Loss vs Youngstown St. in the Semifinals. Another possibility of the best team we have ever had. I was only 9 so don't remember a lot of specifics, but I do remember how sad I was after watching that loss in person.

4 -- 2008 Loss vs Richmond in the Semifinals. A good UNI team takes the lead 20-14 with under 2 minutes left. Eric Ward drives his team down to score the game winning touchdown in the Dome none the less.

5 -- 2009 Loss vs Iowa 17-16. Playing a nationally ranked Iowa team that we dominated most of the game. Comes down to a field goal, and it gets blocked. It was only 3rd down though, and we get another shot. And another field goal gets blocked!

Man that was tough. I really don't like going through and even thinking about those games! And the sad thing is I think there could be even more...

[katstrapper]

2004... Sam Houston vs NW St... SHSU rolled into Demonland ranked #4 in the nation and on their way to a top 4 seed and ended up looking past the Demons and got beat.

2004... Sam Houston vs Montana... National Semifinal game and after a big come from behind win at E. Washington the week before, Montana stopped the SHSU potent passing attack and continued on the National Championship game.

[Appaholic]

5 -- 2009 Loss vs Iowa 17-16. Playing a nationally ranked Iowa team that we dominated most of the game. Comes down to a field goal, and it gets blocked. It was only 3rd down though, and we get another shot. And another field goal gets blocked!

Ouch! Forgot about that one....that's a pisser

[Appaholic]

Hard to argue with those. Honorable mentiion goes to home playoff losses to Maine, Nova and Richmond.

Agree with all 3....Maine for it being Maine & the other 2 for the manner in which we were so thoroughly outplayed....

[FurmanWins!!]

For Furman:

Loss to Montana in Championship game
Loss to GSU in Championship game
Loss to App State in Semis
Loss to Western Carolina in Semis
Loss to SFA in Semis

[yorkcountyUNHfan]

UNI, UNI and UNI

[CropDuster]

I only go back to the Paul Johnson HC era.

1. 1998 - UMASS: National championship game, 14-0 record. GSU turns the ball over 7 times in the rain and still only loses by 12. Possibly the best team to never win a title.

2. 2001 - Furman: Semi Finals. GSU beats FU 20-10 in regular season. FU returns the favor in playoffs 24-17 and Eagles suffer first home loss since 1997.

3. 2002 - WKU: Semi Finals. GSU loses 28-31 in the final seconds.

4. 2005 - TxSt: First Round. GSU up 21-10 at the half. TxSt wins 50-35 and leads to the destruction of the entire GSU football programs foundation.

5. 2004 - UNH: First Round GSU loses 27-23. Once again cold rain mixed with fumble-itis slows the GSU offense more than the opponent.

[OL FU]

For Furman:

Loss to Montana in Championship game
Loss to GSU in Championship game
Loss to App State in Semis
Loss to Western Carolina in Semis
Loss to SFA in Semis

That is a good list. I think I would try to sneak the JMU loss in 2004 in there somewhere. It might take the SFA loss off only because without Debusk, I am not sure we would have beaten GSU in the finals. The western loss was tough mainly because they tore our goal posts downxbawlingx and it is tough to lose to a conference foe in the playoffs. I would probably take that one out and put JMU in.

[pike51]

1. 1998 - UMass in National Championship game after going undefeated
2. 2005 - Texas State 1st round playoffs (really? Texas State?)
3. 2002 - WKU in semifinals
4. 2006 - Central Conn. State in home opener (WTF? Welcome BVG)
5. 2004 -New Hampshire 1st round playoffs (sigh)

[Baldy]

1. 1998 Chipper - 7 turnovers in a loss to UMass.

2. 2001 National Semifinal loss to Furman. PJ's and AP's last game was our first ever playoff loss at home.

3. 1987 Chipper to Furman. Raymond Gross fumbles on the 2 yard line going in for the winning TD. He did atone for it by winning the next 2.

4. 2002 National Semifinal to WKU. Just missed the winning field goal wide right by a hair.

5. 2006 Season opening loss to Central Connecticut State. Disgusting.

[Reign of Terrier]

loss to Furman this year
loss to GSU last year
loss to James Madison in 2008
loss to Richmond in 2007
loss to Delaware in 2003

[NoDak 4 Ever]

2010 EWU National Quarterfinals BS Fumble call
2010 EWU National Quarterfinals BS Fumble call
2010 EWU National Quarterfinals BS Fumble call
2010 EWU National Quarterfinals BS Fumble call
2010 EWU National Quarterfinals BS Fumble call

[AppAlum2003]

Agree with all 3....Maine for it being Maine & the other 2 for the manner in which we were so thoroughly outplayed....

I remember that freezing cold day in Boone... not fun... at all.

I'd argue that the Montana game hurt pretty bad... AE's senior season, last chance at a championship.... last second loss.... loud and cold.

[GSUhooligan]

The GSU fans have good ones, I'll add:

2007 FU: Field goal attempt that either makes us SoCon champs and lets Jayson Foster and the other seniors play in the playoffs, or makes us miss the playoffs all together. The kick goes wide.

[PaladinFan]

That is a good list. I think I would try to sneak the JMU loss in 2004 in there somewhere. It might take the SFA loss off only because without Debusk, I am not sure we would have beaten GSU in the finals. The western loss was tough mainly because they tore our goal posts downxbawlingx and it is tough to lose to a conference foe in the playoffs. I would probably take that one out and put JMU in.

The 2004 loss to James Madison was excruciating. One of those games where you look back and say "how they heck did that just happen?"

[BEAR]

I've been going to UCA games since 1988 so I won't remember exact dates/scores/players etc.


1. 2005/6- UCA lost to U. North Alabama in the Division II national playoffs. Having beaten them once during the year, both teams knew they were IDENTICAL in every way. Even the boxscore was only a field goal difference. I believe the final was 41-38 in overtime.

2. 2003? UCA lost to Valdosta State after leading 35 - 0 at half. Nuff said about that one.

3. 1996/7? UCA lost to Arkansas State in the last seconds of the game. UCA dominated the game but Arkansas State had the depth and a great pass play to finish us off by 2 or 3 points. In-state competition in Arkansas is nonexistant for division I schools to play division II schools so this was a great opportunity to show the talent UCA had that year.

4. Early 2000s 2002 maybe. UCA went to University of Arkansas at Monticello and played an offensive battle against a QB that was like SFA's QB this past two years. I think the final was 55-52.

5. UCA vs. Arkansas Tech. This battle goes nearly 100 years and the series went to UCA by just one game. 1993 or so I believe. I arrived at the game late and got to see the last minute of the game. UCA was down by just a few points but had driven down to the 10 yard line. A penalty was thrown and after the ball was put back in play. After the ref set the ball down he signal to run the clock....there was only 3 or so seconds on the clock and UCA failed to snap the ball when time ran out. confusion reigned. A simple mistake on the Bears part that cost us a loss to a long hated rival.

[theasushow]

For Furman:

Loss to Montana in Championship game
Loss to GSU in Championship game
Loss to App State in Semis
Loss to Western Carolina in Semis
Loss to SFA in Semis

the "miracle on the mountain" game had to sting as well...I know it wasn't the playoffs, but WOW, that was Furman's game all the way.

[bobcathpdevil56]

1997: Cat-Griz, missed two point, kick out of bounds, deep pass, field goal, streak continues
2010: Schlacking by NDSU in second round
2002: McNeese State. I believe second round.
2005: App State, quarterfinals
1998: Cat-Griz, Mud Bowl, fumble on 4th down and goal, going in to tie

I guess any of the streak games were pretty painful

[AshevilleApp2]

Got the idea from another thread. What 5 games in your team's history are the most painful?

1- 1994: VMI - winless VMI knocks App out of Top 4 playoff seed and SoCon Championship

2- 2004: WCU - Western upsets App to keep them from the playoffs

3- 1987: Marshall - national semi's; a Marshall team App had beaten in the regular season gives payback....in Boone.....did I mention it was Marshall?

4- 1999: FAMU - 1st round of playoffs in Boone; completely dominated by a MEAC team

5- 1995: SFAustin - undefeated App team ranked #1 in the country with multiple NFL players mail it in against a SFA team playing old school, smashmouth football; a team with such promise ends their year with a whimper......

Good list, but I'd replace Western in 2004 with the Semi final loss to Montana in 2000.

[asumike83]

Although I have done my due diligence as an ASU fan and studied up on our history, I will list the 5 most painful losses in the last 10 years since I felt the agony personally.

1) 2004 @ Western: Season ending loss in a rivalry game that we usually dominate. Coupled with all the pre-game trash I talked to my Western friends, about as bad as it gets.
2) 2002 vs. Maine: Getting taken out at home in the 1st round of the playoffs really stung. However, we made up for it by not losing at KBS for another 5 years.
3) 2004 vs. GSU: Easily the most embarrassing loss I have suffered through as an ASU fan. Getting beat by a rival sucks. Getting beat 54-7 and mailing it in is humiliating.
4) 2008 vs. Richmond: 3-time defending National Champs go out with a whimper. Completely out played at home by UR, very deflating.
5) 2009 @ Montana: An amazing game to watch. No shame in a loss at UM but to see Armanti's college career end on a pass off of Quick's fingertips was brutal. As close as I have been to crying after a sporting event since I was a child.

[WrenFGun]

1. 2005 to UNI; 500 yards of total offense, lost by 3 points. 7 turnovers. #1 Seed in the FCS Tournament.
2. 2007 to UNI; "The Catch," with :12 left. UNI drove the left of the field in 1:12 seconds after a Chad Kackert draw for go-ahead TD. Would've knocked off #1 Team.
3. 2006? to UMass; UNH down by 7, stopped at the goal-line with no time left. Eliminated, again, from the FCS Quarterfinals.
4. 2008 to UNI; RJ Toman's first season...lost by four on a fairly brutal end of game sequence. Third straight loss to UNI in the playoffs.
5. 2009 to Villanova; had beat Villanova in the regular season ... I drove 7 hours in a snow-storm to see the game, and it was 35-0 at half-time. The worst effort I've ever seen from a football team occurred in this game.

Other tough ones: 2006, regular season, UMass...Northeastern game where we lost in OT on a 2-point conversion...W&M game where I still maintain Philips was over the LOS before throwing the ball for the GW TD...Delaware in 2010 when we started RJ Toman..

Lots of painful memories in the last 7 years..

[Go Apps]

Got the idea from another thread. What 5 games in your team's history are the most painful?

1- 1994: VMI - winless VMI knocks App out of Top 4 playoff seed and SoCon Championship

2- 2004: WCU - Western upsets App to keep them from the playoffs

3- 1987: Marshall - national semi's; a Marshall team App had beaten in the regular season gives payback....in Boone.....did I mention it was Marshall?

4- 1999: FAMU - 1st round of playoffs in Boone; completely dominated by a MEAC team

5- 1995: SFAustin - undefeated App team ranked #1 in the country with multiple NFL players mail it in against a SFA team playing old school, smashmouth football; a team with such promise ends their year with a whimper......

I think I attended many of those games -

1- VMI that OT loss was nothing short of stunning I remember buying the button saying socon champs only to hurl it down the bleachers and what would have been the top seed in the playoffs.

2- Richmond opening round of playoffs in Boone (i think) we were in the clouds and the top seed and favortie to win it all - we scored late and recovered the onside kick and kicked a field goal that the refs called no good but the replay on ESPN should it was good - cost us what I believe would have been a title

3- WCU/UTC - I believe it was UTC that started that diaster end to our season as we were in a virtual shootout and we lost like 56-53 that followed by Richtie Williams laying the ball on the field as WCU - a devastating two game stretch.

4- FAMU/SF Austin - remember and was at both of those games - we were just manhandled and had no clue what hit us - it was hard to watch!!

5- Montana - not sure of the year but I remember we were down 3 with a little time left, threw a bomb and only a shoestring tackle us in their redzone derailed our first trip to the title game - we settled for a field goal and lost in OT

6- Auburn - yes way before Michigan we had BEAT a top 25 team and it was a done deal except for a 4th down pass interference call where our guy was not even close to the receiver with under 2 minutes to go - we were robbed!!

7- Furman - yes last week was just a poor showiing and a game that took so much away from ASU - we would have ended up wtih a top 3 seed for sure and a 7th conference title - just terrible for what we lost - it was BAD!!!!!

8- Marshall - I remember bringing potatoes to the game and saying here we go to "Idaho" the only place I went was home and thinking we would never win a National Title!

[Professor Chaos]

2010 EWU National Quarterfinals BS Fumble call
2010 EWU National Quarterfinals BS Fumble call
2010 EWU National Quarterfinals BS Fumble call
2010 EWU National Quarterfinals BS Fumble call
2010 EWU National Quarterfinals BS Fumble call
I agree. Especially gut-wrenching because we would've been hosting a national semi-final at home on ESPNHD the next week had we won. Two fourth down conversions on the game tying drive in regulation. An excruciating pass tipped 20' in the air only to fall harmlessly just out of the reach of three sprawling Bison defenders on that same drive. That awful red turf. That's motivation to secure home field throughout the playoffs if there has even been one.

[Mattymc727]

1. 2005 to UNI; 500 yards of total offense, lost by 3 points. 7 turnovers. #1 Seed in the FCS Tournament.
2. 2007 to UNI; "The Catch," with :12 left. UNI drove the left of the field in 1:12 seconds after a Chad Kackert draw for go-ahead TD. Would've knocked off #1 Team.
3. 2006? to UMass; UNH down by 7, stopped at the goal-line with no time left. Eliminated, again, from the FCS Quarterfinals.
4. 2008 to UNI; RJ Toman's first season...lost by four on a fairly brutal end of game sequence. Third straight loss to UNI in the playoffs.
5. 2009 to Villanova; had beat Villanova in the regular season ... I drove 7 hours in a snow-storm to see the game, and it was 35-0 at half-time. The worst effort I've ever seen from a football team occurred in this game.

Other tough ones: 2006, regular season, UMass...Northeastern game where we lost in OT on a 2-point conversion...W&M game where I still maintain Philips was over the LOS before throwing the ball for the GW TD...Delaware in 2010 when we started RJ Toman..

Lots of painful memories in the last 7 years..

I dont think I like this thread. Yikes, those were some painful memories....I hope this year is different

[bjtheflamesfan]

2008: Presbyterian 28-31. Liberty had dominated the Blue Hose in Lynchburg the previous season and won 7 of 8 and is well on their way to the first playoff berth in school history...apparently someone forgot to tell them that...PC pulls the upset, Liberty goes on to dominate their last three opponents and is on the outside looking in come selection Sunday
2009: Stony Brook 33-36 Liberty is undefeated in Big South play, had gone through the best and most dominating offensive run in school history (50 points or more in 4 of 5 leading up to the game) and makes their first trip to Long Island. Liberty takes the lead late in the 4th quarter and again sees a playoff berth on the horizon. two plays later, the Seawolves come away with a 36-33 victory and deny the Flames once again.
2006: 13-14 William and Mary is in town for Homecoming. Liberty is in the first year of the Danny Rocco era. Liberty trails into the 4th quarter and takes almost the entire period driving for the go ahead field goal...miss wide right and the Tribe run out the clock
2005: 21-27 Liberty is going through one of the longest losing streaks in school history. Coastal Carolina comes to town dominating the Big South (much like Liberty does now). The Flames give everything they have bit Coastal guts it out in triple overtime. Liberty goes on to finish 1-10, Coastal loses to CSU the last week of the season and they share the Big South Title
2002: 28-35 Liberty loses to a ranked Eastern Kentucky squad in overtime on Senior Day

Other Liberty flans might think differently though

[GannonFan]

#1: 1992 National Semifinal - Marshall - just came off thrashing #1 NE Louisiana and the Wing T was rolling, and then Sr. QB Vergantino gets the flu days before the game in Marshall (which shouldn't have even been in Marshall (8-3 that year), save for the bogus way the tournament was run back then) and can only play one half and spends the rest of the time puking his guts out on the sideline. Would've won with a healthy Vergantino, maybe the best option QB UD ever had.

#2: 1997 National Semifinal - McNeese St - McNeese has to go for it on a 4th and 2 late in the game down by 2, and the pass just barely gets tipped by the UD defender but not enough to stop the conversion. A few plays later McNeese kicks the game winner as time expires. Have to watch the same McNeese team lose a close game to a YSU team UD would've dominated.

#3: 2010 (2011?) National Championship Game - EWU - dominate the whole game but don't score enough points, and then a furious EWU comeback is aided after the refs and chain crew screw up after UD stopped EWU on 4th and 1 late in the game. Screwup allows EWU to continue game clinching drive.

#4: 2004 Quarterfinals - William and Mary - Omar Cuff is unstoppable all day, something like 170 yards through 3 quarters, UD goes into the 4th leading by 21, and then Omar doesn't touch the ball once, not a single time in the 4th quarter, game gets tied, goes to overtime (heck, maybe 2OT, I've blocked it out) and UD loses. Would've hosted JMU in the next round and the road to the title was right there for the taking. Should've given the ball to Omar.

#5: 2000 National Semifinals - Georgia Southern - Granted, at least this was a really, really good GSU team - tremendously underappreciated defense. But UD was an offensive juggernaut all year, and then had an awful first half that they just couldn't come back from, despite really controlling the game in the second half. Same with the defense, just gutted in the first half and then rock solid after halftime. Just got too far behind.

[MTfan4life]

2002: McNeese State. I believe second round.


In 2002, I know the Cats lost in the first round, because the Griz lost in the second round to them.

I've only been around since the mid 80's and so remember Griz football since 93.

2007: Wofford - 22-23, #2 seed, first round home game, undefeated...All-American Dan Carpenter misses game ending field goal very very wide left. Most disappointing Griz ending that I experienced in person.
2009: Villanova - 21-23, #1 seed, national championship, undefeated...We played such a great first half, and it just all slipped away. Szczur and Whitney ran all over us in that second half.
2002: Montana St. - 7-10, Griz hadn't lost to the Cats in my life. Our high powered offense coming off our first loss in two years. Of course we'd be ready to dominate at home against the Cats. Nope.
2003: Western Illlinois - 40-43, First round of playoffs. Lost 3 regular season games, so it was a rebuilding year, but still. Once again, FCS All-American kicker ends his career on a missed, well blocked this time, field goal.
1996: Marshall - 29-49, Undefeated season, defending national champions, second year in a row of scoring 70 in the semis. It felt like destiny. Randy Moss and Co. had other plans. It wasn't even as close as the score states. Montana didn't play in the NC for three hard years after that.

[Silenoz]

#1 2009 - Villanova - the Caeser
#2 2000 - Georgia Southern - the run
#3 1996 - Marshall - the socks
#4 2004 - James Madison - the punch
#5 2008 - Richmond - the uh... suck

Honorable mention - 2007, Wofford

[BisonFan02]

In 2002, I know the Cats lost in the first round, because the Griz lost in the second round to them.

I've only been around since the mid 80's and so remember Griz football since 93.

2007: Wofford - 22-23, #2 seed, first round home game, undefeated...All-American Dan Carpenter misses game ending field goal very very wide left. Most disappointing Griz ending that I experienced in person.
2009: Villanova - 21-23, #1 seed, national championship, undefeated...We played such a great first half, and it just all slipped away. Szczur and Whitney ran all over us in that second half.
2002: Montana St. - 7-10, Griz hadn't lost to the Cats in my life. Our high powered offense coming off our first loss in two years. Of course we'd be ready to dominate at home against the Cats. Nope.
2003: Western Illlinois - 40-43, First round of playoffs. Lost 3 regular season games, so it was a rebuilding year, but still. Once again, FCS All-American kicker ends his career on a missed, well blocked this time, field goal.
1996: Marshall - 29-49, Undefeated season, defending national champions, second year in a row of scoring 70 in the semis. It felt like destiny. Randy Moss and Co. had other plans. It wasn't even as close as the score states. Montana didn't play in the NC for three hard years after that.

2003: NDSU - 24-25? :D


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWwN460okjs&feature=channel_video_title

[MTfan4life]

2003: NDSU - 24-25? :D


For a team that made the playoffs every single year, a meaningless non-con game had no effect to me. I was surprised they had lost when I found out, but that's about it.

[Apphole]

loss to Furman this year
loss to GSU last year
loss to James Madison in 2008
loss to Richmond in 2007
loss to Delaware in 2003

I thought for sure you'd mention the Halloween thumping on national TV

[Apphole]

UTC fans could make a list to rival anyone's from 2011 alonexlolx

[NoDak 4 Ever]

For a team that made the playoffs every single year, a meaningless non-con game had no effect to me. I was surprised they had lost when I found out, but that's about it.


A DII school coming off a 2-8 season? Yeah, sure.

[MTfan4life]

A DII school coming off a 2-8 season? Yeah, sure.

I was in high school. I had no idea of NDSU's record. I just knew they were DII and usually pretty good. We still made the playoffs that season. I couldn't watch their games on tv, so this was just like finding out about any other game. Sure it was big to you, but it wasn't that big to me.

[ASUMountaineer]

Got the idea from another thread. What 5 games in your team's history are the most painful?

1- 1994: VMI - winless VMI knocks App out of Top 4 playoff seed and SoCon Championship

2- 2004: WCU - Western upsets App to keep them from the playoffs

3- 1987: Marshall - national semi's; a Marshall team App had beaten in the regular season gives payback....in Boone.....did I mention it was Marshall?

4- 1999: FAMU - 1st round of playoffs in Boone; completely dominated by a MEAC team

5- 1995: SFAustin - undefeated App team ranked #1 in the country with multiple NFL players mail it in against a SFA team playing old school, smashmouth football; a team with such promise ends their year with a whimper......

2000 Semi's - Montana in OT was more painful than the CaNtamounts loss. I'll also throw up for honorable mention the 2008 JMU game.

[phoenix3]

2009 - To Richmond in the playoffs
2010 - App
2008 - Liberty
2006 - Georgia Southern
2007 - Furman

[Professor Chaos]

A DII school coming off a 2-8 season? Yeah, sure.


I was in high school. I had no idea of NDSU's record. I just knew they were DII and usually pretty good. We still made the playoffs that season. I couldn't watch their games on tv, so this was just like finding out about any other game. Sure it was big to you, but it wasn't that big to me.
Painful doesn't equal embarrassing. Embarrassing for Montana? Sure. Painful? Not so much.

[BEAR]

I'll turn this question around and ask if your team had a painful win. Most would say they lost a star player in a non-critical game when the guy should not have been in there. That's got my vote too but I'd have to say that the most painful win was in 2008.

2008. UCA vs. McNeese. UCA won but found out the week before they were not eligible for the conference title. (yes, this has been discussed on here at length, so I'm over it xlolx but that doesn't make it less insert word here. ) Nothing like hyping a game for the fans then seeing a great team look up in the stands and seeing so many empty seats as if their efforts all year were for nothing. Painful. Just painful to watch.

[NoDak 4 Ever]

What Division I schools are doing scheduling lower division schools (ahem, Minot State) anyway is beyond me. Regardless of the gate, there is NO advantage, it only makes it harder at the end of the year to get to the 7 wins. I'm glad NDSU's AD knows better.

[Ivytalk]

1. 1982: Penn: Harvard mounted a dramatic fourth-quarter rally to take the lead against Penn at Franklin Field, only to see it snatched away by the zebras on a phantom roughing-the-kicker penalty at the end, which gave the little putz a second chance to make it. Which he did. We didn't beat Penn again in Philadelphia until 2004.

2. 2000: Cornell: Harvard blew a 28-0 halftime lead and lost to Cornell 29-28. Ouch.

3. 1981: Yale: We got shut out in the rain at the Bowl. We flat-out sucked.

4. 1985: Princeton: Trying to protect a late lead deep in its own territory, Harvard took an intentional safety and stayed ahead 6-5. However, the Tigers' Tom Urquhart ran the ensuing free kick back ffor a TD, giving P'ton an 11-6 win.

5. 2002: Penn: This ESPN-broadcast battle of Ivy unbeatens ended up in a Penn rout, 44-9.

[asumike83]

What Division I schools are doing scheduling lower division schools (ahem, Minot State) anyway is beyond me. Regardless of the gate, there is NO advantage, it only makes it harder at the end of the year to get to the 7 wins. I'm glad NDSU's AD knows better.

Agreed. If you schedule a D-II school and miss the playoffs after finishing 7-4 in a power conference, you have nobody to blame but yourself. If you play in a conference where wins are tough to come by, you better make sure all of your OOC wins count.

[kdinva]

1) @ Georgetown 2004
2) @ Liberty 2003 (LU scores 28 in the 4th period to win).
3) @ Chuck South 2004 (CSU scores the last 22 points, including a 2-pt conv. w/0:25.
4) Delaware St. to open the 2011 season.
5) 1988, getting blown out by then Div. 2 Central Florida, 38-7.

[kdinva]

Got the idea from another thread. What 5 games in your team's history are the most painful?

1- 1994: VMI - winless VMI knocks App out of Top 4 playoff seed and SoCon Championship

Ahhh, the first of three 200+ yard games for Tommy Haskins vs. ASU.

[MTfan4life]

Painful doesn't equal embarrassing. Embarrassing for Montana? Sure. Painful? Not so much.

Exactly.

[Reign of Terrier]

oh yeah, and VMI/Furman in 2002

[344Johnson]

1984- D2 National Championship- Chan Gailey's Troy- Troy runs Field goal team on while time is about to expire and clock is running and hits a 50 yardish field goal to steal a ring from NDSU, NDSU wins next two championships.

1993- Nickel Game vs. UND- NDSU loses the 12 game winning streak over UND. All good things come to an end.

2003- Nickel Game vs. UND- NDSU ties game, goes to overtime, gets stopped on 4th down, star running back breaks his leg. Last Nickel Game.

2010- National Quarterfianls- EWU- NDSU takes a late lead. EWU, with no timeouts and in very bad snowy, wet conditions drives around 90 yards in final two minutes. Game goes to overtime, very controversial "fumble" by NDSU. It has probably been seen/heard about by anyone who knows anything about that game.

2006 Minnesota Game- Went to the game hoping the Bison would not get completely handled. Great game, NDSU down 9-10, drives down the field, gets in makeable field goal range, and gets it blocked. Very sad drive back home knowing that your team completely controlled the game. Revenge was taken the following year.

I'm only a college kid so I was either not born, or was too young to remember other sad losses that are probably more significant, some playoff games in the early 90's I'm sure were probably more gut-wrenching than some of the losses I put.

[Appaholic]

I remember that freezing cold day in Boone... not fun... at all.

I'd argue that the Montana game hurt pretty bad... AE's senior season, last chance at a championship.... last second loss.... loud and cold.

I thought about both Montana games, but both were such well-played and hard-fought matches, that I didn't feel the pain I'm referencing on this thread. Those were both respectable losses as it was two great programs battling in epic contests.....no shame in losing as we gave our best shot in both games and sometimes it's just not your day....great mutual respect between the programs and their fans...

[Appaholic]

I'll also throw up for honorable mention the 2008 JMU game.

Ooooh....forgot about that one....I'll replace the SFA loss with that one....good job, Mounty...

[HailSzczur]

1. JMU 2008 Quaterfinals- A bitter cold game, Nova takes the lead with about 6 minutes to go, but is forced to give JMU the ball back with great field position after a bs excessive celebration call. Made for a really fun and long car ride back north through the snow. At least the JMU fans were really nice though

2. McNeese St. 2002 Semifinals- Brett Gordon plays a hell of a game on a broken thumb and the cats get so close to the NC game.

3. JMU 2008- Miserable game in the rain which Nova lead all along. JMU takes advantage of a cheap false start penalty as the clock is running down to stop the clock and allowing them to set up for a spectacular hail mary heave from Landers to Williams. It was our only FCS loss that season, and without it we would have been seeded and game #1 wouldn't have happened.

4. Delaware 2000- My first road game, and Nova takes a 35-10 lead in the 3nd quarter but #2 Delaware goes on to win 59-42 over Westbrook and Co. The win gave UDel a 1 game lead in the overall series, one that we would eventually regain though :)

5. YSU 1997- My first memory of Villanova football. Cats go undefeated through the regular season and lose to YSU who mount a second half comeback on their way to the NC. Marked the end of Payton winner Brian Finneran's career and broke up the most explosive offensive tandem in Villanova history of Boden, Finneran, and Westbrook. But the thing I remember most was the damn cowbells they kept ringing over in the visitor's section

Honorable mention: EWU 2010 semis, UNH 2009(only loss of the year + the whole post game shower incident)

[cbarrier90]

I realize that in the grand scheme of things, these are not the most painful losses for ASU (1994 VMI probably tops that list) but these are the five games that were most painful for me personally starting with my freshman year (2009.)

1. @ Montana - 2009 - The hype leading up to this game was off the charts. The entire hall in my dorm gathered in the lobby, rented a projector from the library and watched a roller-coaster of a game. To see the AE era end the way it did was stunning. The silver lining is that this game is arguably one of the best of the last decade, and it was great to go up against a program that would be on the Mt. Rushmore of the FCS. Looking forward to the regular season rematches!

2. @ GSU - 2010 - Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe GSU was just coming off a loss to Samford, and this was Jaybo's first game back from an injury. App was still rolling off the momentum from the 2nd half of the Chattanooga game and though I knew they were on their way, I wasn't expecting a rebuilding GSU team to pull off an upset. ASU got off to a fast 14-0 start, but Jaybo and the Eagles played picture perfect option football, and eventually pulled off a 21-14 win in OT. In the grand scheme of things, this was the game that catapulted GSU to an improbable semi-final appearance and what appears to be a SoCon title this season. Consequently, this showed a chink in the armor of an ASU team that up til that point looked like it wasn't going to sweat the loss of AE and for the most part had kept up aggressive play-calling.

3. @ ECU - 2009 - "The Lawnmower Game." I expected this to be a contest, and in the end, with a 29-24 final, it was. But to get out to such a slow start in the first half and have the game end on a drive to win it with our current RB leading the comeback, App fans can only wonder "What if" 14 had suited up that day?

4. @ Virginia Tech - 2011 - Yes, the team was young, and no, they shouldn't have been expected to win, but this game was over quite literally on the first snap (poor handoff. VT scores on first play from scrimmage.) I suspect that a majority of fans, players, and coaches alike didn't get the bad taste of this game out of their mouths until GSU, but then...

5. @ Furman - 2011 - Had ASU lost to GSU the week before, this game would be a non-issue. The GSU game the week before showed that ASU could compete and beat the best in the FCS and, after such a tumultuous season of ups and downs, they finally put together a complete game and were in the driver's seat for a 7th straight SoCon title. It has been discussed already on this board, and credit to Furman for playing a great game, but for all the progress it appeared the Mountaineers made, they reverted back to their old selves with terrible play-calling, untimely turnovers, and the general lack of intensity. Eerily similar to the GSU game of 2010.

Honorable Mentions: 2009 - McNeese - Another game where ASU was given opportunities to pull out the victory, but ultimately, the inability to stop McNeese's #22 and screen passes led to a McNeese upset. This is not ranked in my Top 5 because it was my first true taste of the vaunted gameday experience at ASU, and though it was a tough loss to swallow, the gameday experience was awesome.

2010 - Villanova - Perhaps I under-estimated the defending champs because they had no seed and ASU was at home, but what is painful about this loss was that the 2010 team showed so much promise at times that to lose at home when they did and the way they did was very disappointing. This game doesn't make my list because I take heart in knowing that Villanova was clearly the better team in this contest.

[bjtheflamesfan]

1) @ Georgetown 2004
2) @ Liberty 2003 (LU scores 28 in the 4th period to win).
3) @ Chuck South 2004 (CSU scores the last 22 points, including a 2-pt conv. w/0:25.
4) Delaware St. to open the 2011 season.
5) 1988, getting blown out by then Div. 2 Central Florida, 38-7.

I think a lot of VMI fans would list that one in their top 5 kd...the Roos went 3-3 the rest of the way that year and went 0-11 the next season and havent had a season with more than 4 wins since.

[bulldog10jw]

1. Harvard 1968 - Harvard scores 16 points in the last 42+ seconds to tie the battle of unbeatens. With 3 minutes left Yale had a 29-13 and the ball deep in Harvard territory when they fumbled for the 6th time. I know it was a tie, but to all Yale fans and Alum it was a loss

2. Harvard 1974 - Harvard goes 90+ yards and scores with under 30 seconds to go to ruin another potential undefeated season.

3. Princeton 1966 - Yale had not beaten Princeton since 1960 and had stopped them cold all day and held a 7-6 lead with 2 minutes to go. With a 4th down at midfield Yale was ready to pin the Tigers inside their 20 and close out the win. Instead, the punt was blocked and returned for a TD and Princeton won 13-7

4. Princeton 1981 - another Yale unbeaten season goes up in smoke as Princeton scores with under 30 seconds to go to hand Yale their only defeat 35-31

5. Harvard 2005 - Triple OT loss that Yale had chances to win twice in OT and fumbled both times. The worse part was blowing a 21-3 lead.

[blueballs]

For an old school GSU fan:

1) 1994 loss at Paulson to West Georgia... 'nuff said
2) CCSU in 2006 at Paulson... first Erk died and then the program did too a few days later
3) 1998 NC loss to UMASS... the 14-0 juggarnaut fumbled 7 times and lost
4) 1988 NC loss to Furman... GSU fumbles inside the Furman 10 late in the 4th qtr and loses 17-12
5) 2001 Semi-final loss to Furman at Paulson... first ever home playoff loss, the end of an (Paul Johnson/Adrian Peterson) era

[Eagle22]

Got the idea from another thread. What 5 games in your team's history are the most painful?

1- 1994: VMI - winless VMI knocks App out of Top 4 playoff seed and SoCon Championship

2- 2004: WCU - Western upsets App to keep them from the playoffs

3- 1987: Marshall - national semi's; a Marshall team App had beaten in the regular season gives payback....in Boone.....did I mention it was Marshall?

4- 1999: FAMU - 1st round of playoffs in Boone; completely dominated by a MEAC team

5- 1995: SFAustin - undefeated App team ranked #1 in the country with multiple NFL players mail it in against a SFA team playing old school, smashmouth football; a team with such promise ends their year with a whimper......

:)


#1 Lost to Troy State 21-0 in a homecoming game. They were D2 at the time
#2 Lost to West Georgia 15-14. Had the ball about to score, and fumbled. At home.
#3 Lost to Central Connecticut State 17-14. Right after Erk died, VanGorder's first home game. Douche.
#4 Lost to Furman in the 2001 Semi-Finals, after beating them at home in the regular season. AP and Paul Johnson's last home game.
#5 Lost to Furman in 2007 at home. Missed a SoCon clinching field goal by inches AND a playoff berth.

Those are my five. Other close losses have been easier to stomach, especially as many have come to some very good teams. All five of the above definitely, in my opinion, fall into the category of games we most certainly should have won.

[GaSouthern]

Entire 2006 Season

[McNeese72]

Here is the first five I could think of for McNeese. In chronological order.

1974 loss at Delaware where got a big lead and then literally fumbled the game away.

1980 Independence Bowl loss to Southern Miss. We are running the ball trying to run clock near the end and our fullback, who never fumbled, fumbled in our redzone. USM scored on 4th down with time running out to beat us by 2 points.

1995 loss to Marshal in the quarterfinals.

1997 loss to Youngstown in the NC game.

1998 loss to eventual NC UMass when our wide receivers dropped about 6 passes, 2 or 3 of which would have been TD's and we get beat by 3 points.

Doc

[chattanoogamocs]

What Are Your Team's 5 Most Painful Losses (Games)?


Four of the Mocs five have happened in the last 6 weeks. :(

1 point to the Citadel (after having a 3 score lead going into the 4th) <--- that one hurt the most of all.
1 point at Georgia Southern (going for 2 to win the game)
2 points at Appalachian State (after leading for 3 quarters)
7 points to Furman (after taking a lead with 2 minutes left)

Mocs win any of those four and their game next week versus Wofford is for a spot in the playoffs.

That is enough pain for one post, I am too depressed to come up with a 5th (and there have been so many good candidates over the last 25 years of mediocre play)

[inpsite1919]

2009 Playoffs SCSU VS App State. Had them on the ropes then a bad terrible horrific devastating snap. Lost the game.

[Tubby Raymond]

#1: 1992 National Semifinal - Marshall - just came off thrashing #1 NE Louisiana and the Wing T was rolling, and then Sr. QB Vergantino gets the flu days before the game in Marshall (which shouldn't have even been in Marshall (8-3 that year), save for the bogus way the tournament was run back then) and can only play one half and spends the rest of the time puking his guts out on the sideline. Would've won with a healthy Vergantino, maybe the best option QB UD ever had.

#2: 1997 National Semifinal - McNeese St - McNeese has to go for it on a 4th and 2 late in the game down by 2, and the pass just barely gets tipped by the UD defender but not enough to stop the conversion. A few plays later McNeese kicks the game winner as time expires. Have to watch the same McNeese team lose a close game to a YSU team UD would've dominated.

#3: 2010 (2011?) National Championship Game - EWU - dominate the whole game but don't score enough points, and then a furious EWU comeback is aided after the refs and chain crew screw up after UD stopped EWU on 4th and 1 late in the game. Screwup allows EWU to continue game clinching drive.

#4: 2004 Quarterfinals - William and Mary - Omar Cuff is unstoppable all day, something like 170 yards through 3 quarters, UD goes into the 4th leading by 21, and then Omar doesn't touch the ball once, not a single time in the 4th quarter, game gets tied, goes to overtime (heck, maybe 2OT, I've blocked it out) and UD loses. Would've hosted JMU in the next round and the road to the title was right there for the taking. Should've given the ball to Omar.

#5: 2000 National Semifinals - Georgia Southern - Granted, at least this was a really, really good GSU team - tremendously underappreciated defense. But UD was an offensive juggernaut all year, and then had an awful first half that they just couldn't come back from, despite really controlling the game in the second half. Same with the defense, just gutted in the first half and then rock solid after halftime. Just got too far behind.

That would be my five

[henfan]

Here is the first five I could think of for McNeese. In chronological order.

1974 loss at Delaware where got a big lead and then literally fumbled the game away.

Well, we're even, Doc. One of my most gut-wrenching losses was 1997 to the Pokes in Newark in the Semifinals. Chris Fontenot makes a miraculous catch over a leaping UD defender Dominic Banks to keep an MSU drive alive, which led to a last second field goal by Shonz LaFrenz (sp?). THAT close to going to Chattanooga!xbawlingx

Hope you're well, friend.

[Saint3333]

Got the idea from another thread. What 5 games in your team's history are the most painful?

1- 1994: VMI - winless VMI knocks App out of Top 4 playoff seed and SoCon Championship

2- 2004: WCU - Western upsets App to keep them from the playoffs

3- 1987: Marshall - national semi's; a Marshall team App had beaten in the regular season gives payback....in Boone.....did I mention it was Marshall?

4- 1999: FAMU - 1st round of playoffs in Boone; completely dominated by a MEAC team

5- 1995: SFAustin - undefeated App team ranked #1 in the country with multiple NFL players mail it in against a SFA team playing old school, smashmouth football; a team with such promise ends their year with a whimper......

Great list. I'd add replace #2 and 4 with the 1975 loss to WCU with a Tangerine Bowl appearance on the line and ASU vs. Montana 2009 adding the AE era. All five of yours would be in my top 7.

[henfan]

That would be my five

Somehow I'd also put the 1991 overtime quarterfinal loss to JMU at home in that group. As that wasn't a kick in the gut, later that evening, the father of UD FB, Dave Nelson, passed. Just a bad day all around.

[Ivytalk]

5. Harvard 2005 - Triple OT loss that Yale had chances to win twice in OT and fumbled both times. The worse part was blowing a 21-3 lead.

I left the local closed-circuit cable feed of that one early in disgust, congratulating my Yale friends on the way out!:o;)

[walliver]

1) VMI 2002 - A team that beat GSU in the 'Boro and ASU at the Rock loses at VMI. Give "The Committee" an excuse to keep a 9-3 team out of the playoffs.

2) Furman 2002 - Furman scores go ahead TD with about 1 minute left to deny as auto-bid (see #1)

3) Texas A&I 1970 - NAIA championship game, it wasn't close

4) ASU 2008 - 7-1 conference record, but that one was horrible.

5) Any other loss to Furman

[terrierbob]

Agreed. If you schedule a D-II school and miss the playoffs after finishing 7-4 in a power conference, you have nobody to blame but yourself. If you play in a conference where wins are tough to come by, you better make sure all of your OOC wins count.

like Wofford scheduling VA blanking Wise this year.

[darell1976]

1984- D2 National Championship- Chan Gailey's Troy- Troy runs Field goal team on while time is about to expire and clock is running and hits a 50 yardish field goal to steal a ring from NDSU, NDSU wins next two championships.

1993- Nickel Game vs. UND- NDSU loses the 12 game winning streak over UND. All good things come to an end.

2003- Nickel Game vs. UND- NDSU ties game, goes to overtime, gets stopped on 4th down, star running back breaks his leg. Last Nickel Game.

2010- National Quarterfianls- EWU- NDSU takes a late lead. EWU, with no timeouts and in very bad snowy, wet conditions drives around 90 yards in final two minutes. Game goes to overtime, very controversial "fumble" by NDSU. It has probably been seen/heard about by anyone who knows anything about that game.

2006 Minnesota Game- Went to the game hoping the Bison would not get completely handled. Great game, NDSU down 9-10, drives down the field, gets in makeable field goal range, and gets it blocked. Very sad drive back home knowing that your team completely controlled the game. Revenge was taken the following year.

I'm only a college kid so I was either not born, or was too young to remember other sad losses that are probably more significant, some playoff games in the early 90's I'm sure were probably more gut-wrenching than some of the losses I put.

I would have thought 1994 was worse for NDSU than 1993. First Sioux-Bison game in the Fargodome. Brand new building and UND wins 34-13 with their freshman backup QB coming in at halftime (our starter went down with a shoulder injury), and UND manhandeled the Bison on both sides of the ball shutting them out in the second half.

[darell1976]

IMO UND's 5:

2003: UND loses to Grand Valley State in the DII National Championship Game 10-3
1995: First Sioux-Bison playoff game...UND thumped 41-10
1992: UND with a chance to break the 11 game losing streak to NDSU at home has the pass picked off in the end zone to win the game for NDSU 20-19.
2001: UND's only loss of the season and first ever in the Alerus Center a 27-24 OT loss to Nebraska Omaha.
2009: UND gets their worst embarrassing loss at home to former NAIA Champion Sioux Falls 28-13.

[URMite]

My view for UR:

1) Home loss to Lehigh in the 1st round of the playoffs in 1998. They were undefeated but we were much bigger and heavily favored. Their well designed offense made it a close game. We took a 23-21 lead with 1:18 to play, but they blocked the XP and ran it back to about our 20. We lost on a 30 yd FG with 3 seconds to play.

2) Home loss to JMU in 2008. Game was tied and on the last play of the game we are punting and instead of angling it out of bounds we "KICK IT TO SCOTTY!"xbangx
Touchdown!

3) Home loss in 1986 (my senior year) to Delaware. We were leading 19-0 in the
4th. When suddenly Rich Gannon throws (The way I remember it) 3 4th quarter 4th down touchdowns and we lose 20-19.

And the 2 that were painful not because we lost but how we lost:

4) 2000 loss in the 2nd round at Montana. We were an option team, it was an icy field and we came out in the wrong shoes! Neither the offense or defense could get any traction xoopsx We changed at halftime but by then it was 27-12...

5) 2007 loss in the semifinals to ASU. Losing both our best DE (Now with the Falcons, some may remember Sidbury in 2008) and our best QB spy made AE look even more superhuman than usual and made us look like a fluke.

[URMite]

And as a bonus this year's Maine game combined 1) & 3) being ahead 16-0 in the 4th and losing 23-22 after a blocked XP was returned for two by Maine.

[344Johnson]

I would have thought 1994 was worse for NDSU than 1993. First Sioux-Bison game in the Fargodome. Brand new building and UND wins 34-13 with their freshman backup QB coming in at halftime (our starter went down with a shoulder injury), and UND manhandeled the Bison on both sides of the ball shutting them out in the second half.

Anytime a big streak ends....thats the worst. Ask Notre Dame fans what hurt worse, losing the 40-game streak to navy, or the game a year or two ago when they got beat worse.

[McNeese72]

Well, we're even, Doc. One of my most gut-wrenching losses was 1997 to the Pokes in Newark in the Semifinals. Chris Fontenot makes a miraculous catch over a leaping UD defender Dominic Banks to keep an MSU drive alive, which led to a last second field goal by Shonz LaFrenz (sp?). THAT close to going to Chattanooga!xbawlingx

Hope you're well, friend.

I'm doing better than our football team. At least, I'm not on the injured list.

We got our payback for the 1974 game and more in the 1995 playoff game. The 1997 game was just icing on the cake. :)

Doc

[PantherRob82]

UNI is pretty much covered. I will add an honorable mention of 2009 @ Illinois State. We score with 1 minute left to cap off an amazing comeback. They score with 6 seconds left to knock us out of the playoffs.

[McNeese75]

Here is the first five I could think of for McNeese. In chronological order.

1974 loss at Delaware where got a big lead and then literally fumbled the game away.

1980 Independence Bowl loss to Southern Miss. We are running the ball trying to run clock near the end and our fullback, who never fumbled, fumbled in our redzone. USM scored on 4th down with time running out to beat us by 2 points.

1995 loss to Marshal in the quarterfinals.

1997 loss to Youngstown in the NC game.

1998 loss to eventual NC UMass when our wide receivers dropped about 6 passes, 2 or 3 of which would have been TD's and we get beat by 3 points.

Doc

I'll go along with Doc's picks but swap out his 1980 game for the 1994 Quarterfinal game in Montana where the Pokes get beat 30-28 on a last second field goal in the snow and slush by a kicker the Griz fans were about ready to ride out of town on a rail.

[Big Dawg]

There are two games that really stand our to me right now

1999 Semifinals vs. Youngstown State: FAMU absolutely dominated these guys for 3 and a half quarters and blew it with a late interception in the 4th quarter to lose 27-24...I believe we were up 24-10 late in that game...FAMU fans still have a sour taste in our mouths about that game. I know Georgia Southern was good that year and had Adrian Peterson at RB, but there is no doubt in my mind that we wouldn't have won the National Title that year...FAMU and the MEAC hasn't had success in the playoffs since that season.

FAMU Homecoming 2011 vs. Howard: We held a 21-0 lead in the 4th quarter and allowed Howard to score 29 unanswered points in the 4th quarter...they scored two or three touchdowns with under 2 minutes left in the game...what made it even worse is that we were still up 21-20 with 26 seconds left...all we had to do was take a knee...we decided to run another play and FUMBLED inside of our own 25 yard line...Howard lined up to kick the game winning FG and missed...BUT WAIT...FAMU coaches called a timeout to ice the kicker THAT WE DIDN'T HAVE...so we get an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty...they retry the kick and this time it's good...that was embarrassing.

[frozennorth]

1984- D2 National Championship- Chan Gailey's Troy- Troy runs Field goal team on while time is about to expire and clock is running and hits a 50 yardish field goal to steal a ring from NDSU, NDSU wins next two championships.

1993- Nickel Game vs. UND- NDSU loses the 12 game winning streak over UND. All good things come to an end.

2003- Nickel Game vs. UND- NDSU ties game, goes to overtime, gets stopped on 4th down, star running back breaks his leg. Last Nickel Game.

2010- National Quarterfianls- EWU- NDSU takes a late lead. EWU, with no timeouts and in very bad snowy, wet conditions drives around 90 yards in final two minutes. Game goes to overtime, very controversial "fumble" by NDSU. It has probably been seen/heard about by anyone who knows anything about that game.

2006 Minnesota Game- Went to the game hoping the Bison would not get completely handled. Great game, NDSU down 9-10, drives down the field, gets in makeable field goal range, and gets it blocked. Very sad drive back home knowing that your team completely controlled the game. Revenge was taken the following year.

I'm only a college kid so I was either not born, or was too young to remember other sad losses that are probably more significant, some playoff games in the early 90's I'm sure were probably more gut-wrenching than some of the losses I put.

Omaha 2000 playoffs? Sdsu 2007 finale?

[Gil Dobie]

1. 1984 Troy St DII Championship Game, 50 yard FG as time ran out.
2. 1981 Texas St DII Championship Game blowout
3. 1982 UC Davis DII Semi-Finals
4. 1976 Montana St Grantland Rice Bowl Game, 7 degrees at game-time
5. 2006 Minnesota Gophers on a blocked FG as time ran out.

[Pard4Life]

1. Harvard 1968 - Harvard scores 16 points in the last 42+ seconds to tie the battle of unbeatens. With 3 minutes left Yale had a 29-13 and the ball deep in Harvard territory when they fumbled for the 6th time. I know it was a tie, but to all Yale fans and Alum it was a loss

2. Harvard 1974 - Harvard goes 90+ yards and scores with under 30 seconds to go to ruin another potential undefeated season.

3. Princeton 1966 - Yale had not beaten Princeton since 1960 and had stopped them cold all day and held a 7-6 lead with 2 minutes to go. With a 4th down at midfield Yale was ready to pin the Tigers inside their 20 and close out the win. Instead, the punt was blocked and returned for a TD and Princeton won 13-7

4. Princeton 1981 - another Yale unbeaten season goes up in smoke as Princeton scores with under 30 seconds to go to hand Yale their only defeat 35-31

5. Harvard 2005 - Triple OT loss that Yale had chances to win twice in OT and fumbled both times. The worse part was blowing a 21-3 lead.

You could probably count that as all five.

[Gil Dobie]

Omaha 2000 playoffs? Sdsu 2007 finale?

SDSU was a regular season game, the first Minnesota game as FCS was more disappointing.

I have degree's from NDSU and UNO :)

[bobcathpdevil56]

Oh and one more from the ole Bobcats

2006: DII Chadron State-we just got done beating University of Colorado in Boulder, then turn around, come back to Bozeman and get rolled by Danny Woodhead and the Eagles. F&%$ Me

[troianus]

Omaha 2000 playoffs? Sdsu 2007 finale?

Didn't we win against Omaha by like 20 in the playoffs and lose in the semi's to Delta in 2000?

[troianus]

1984- D2 National Championship- Chan Gailey's Troy- Troy runs Field goal team on while time is about to expire and clock is running and hits a 50 yardish field goal to steal a ring from NDSU, NDSU wins next two championships.

1993- Nickel Game vs. UND- NDSU loses the 12 game winning streak over UND. All good things come to an end.

2003- Nickel Game vs. UND- NDSU ties game, goes to overtime, gets stopped on 4th down, star running back breaks his leg. Last Nickel Game.

2010- National Quarterfianls- EWU- NDSU takes a late lead. EWU, with no timeouts and in very bad snowy, wet conditions drives around 90 yards in final two minutes. Game goes to overtime, very controversial "fumble" by NDSU. It has probably been seen/heard about by anyone who knows anything about that game.

2006 Minnesota Game- Went to the game hoping the Bison would not get completely handled. Great game, NDSU down 9-10, drives down the field, gets in makeable field goal range, and gets it blocked. Very sad drive back home knowing that your team completely controlled the game. Revenge was taken the following year.

I'm only a college kid so I was either not born, or was too young to remember other sad losses that are probably more significant, some playoff games in the early 90's I'm sure were probably more gut-wrenching than some of the losses I put.

I am in general agreement with these probably for the mostly the same reason.

[Eaglesrus]

For an old school GSU fan:

1) 1994 loss at Paulson to West Georgia... 'nuff said
2) CCSU in 2006 at Paulson... first Erk died and then the program did too a few days later
3) 1998 NC loss to UMASS... the 14-0 juggarnaut fumbled 7 times and lost
4) 1988 NC loss to Furman... GSU fumbles inside the Furman 10 late in the 4th qtr and loses 17-12
5) 2001 Semi-final loss to Furman at Paulson... first ever home playoff loss, the end of an (Paul Johnson/Adrian Peterson) era

Unfortunately it was even worse than that, with Teddy Craft pre-deceasing Erk by a few weeks.

[semobison]

We had some great games in the playoffs with Pitt State!
92 quarterfinals lost 38-37.
95 quarterfinals lost 9-7.
Two losses I know I havn't forgot!

[344Johnson]

Didn't we win against Omaha by like 20 in the playoffs and lose in the semi's to Delta in 2000?



We crushed Omaha after losing the regular season game 9-3 or 9-6 or something like that. Went down to Omaha, down 14-0, and took over, 40-some to 21. Starting qb and backup qb both went down to knee injuries, I think both tore ACL's or something. Lost to Delta State in the Mud Bowl...not a well played game by the Bison. It was a complete joke that the game was not played in Fargo in a real venue. I may have cried for a couple hours following that tough loss.

The SDSU finale would have been great to win...I'm sure some guys on here will put it on their list, but I wont. I wanted to be undefeated as bad as any fan but it really wouldn't have meant anything for playoffs other than we would have been on ESPN for being a #1 team not being allowed in the playoffs.

[344Johnson]

We had some great games in the playoffs with Pitt State!
92 quarterfinals lost 38-37.
95 quarterfinals lost 9-7.
Two losses I know I havn't forgot!

I don't care for the Gorillas. We at least got our revenge on them in the '93 opener....but they got the last laugh when Beachy went down.

[344Johnson]

You could probably count that as all five.

That makes me want to cry and I don't even have any connection to the program...

[CID1990]

1992- national semifinals - lost to YSU
2011- all of our SoCon losses this year except Wofford. (Would love to the Elon and Furple games back)

[Pard4Life]

Easily #1: a 14-13 loss to Washington & Jefferson, October 1922, at the Polo Grounds in NYC. Lafayette was winning 13-0 at halftime before 50,000... W&J won in the final minute. It likely cost us winning back-to-back national championships and a bid in the Rose Bowl.

I'd have to think about the others.

[frozennorth]

Didn't we win against Omaha by like 20 in the playoffs and lose in the semi's to Delta in 2000?

Correct. Uno in 2000 was ndsu's great pyrrhic victory.

[Grizalltheway]

My personal top 5

2009 vs Villanova...unbelievably entertaining playoffs up to that point, second year in a row in the chipper...****ing Szczcur. xmadx
2007 vs Woff...undefeated regular season, extremely high hopes...wide left. xsmhx
2004 vs JMU-had looked pretty damn good in the postseason, then just got man-handled by the streamer-throwers.
2006 vs UMass...awesome night game, 1 under-thrown pass from another trip to Chatty. xbawlingx
2002 vs MSU...nuff said.

[WUTNDITWAA]

Oh and one more from the ole Bobcats

2006: DII Chadron State-we just got done beating University of Colorado in Boulder, then turn around, come back to Bozeman and get rolled by Danny Woodhead and the Eagles. F&%$ Me

I thought our 1994 VMI loss was the most painful for any FCS team, but that takes the cake.

[fatmonarch]

We only have 7 losses in our programs 3 year history so this list isn't too bad.

1. 2011 Towson- 4th and 29

2. 2010 William and Mary- First game against a ranked opponent and a rival too. I really thought we could have won that game, but we lost by 4 on a 4th quarter Tribe drive.

3. 2009 Monmouth- First loss in program history.

4. 2010 Jacksonville- Season opener at home coming off a 9-2 start up season. Demarco threw 3 interceptions including one in the endzone.

5. 2011 Delaware- First CAA loss. Another game we could have won, but came up short in the 4th quarter.

[Ivytalk]

Easily #1: a 14-13 loss to Washington & Jefferson, October 1922, at the Polo Grounds in NYC. Lafayette was winning 13-0 at halftime before 50,000... W&J won in the final minute. It likely cost us winning back-to-back national championships and a bid in the Rose Bowl.

I'd have to think about the others.
How old did you say you were???xeekxxeekx

[MasonJar]

Got the idea from another thread. What 5 games in your team's history are the most painful?

1- 1994: VMI - winless VMI knocks App out of Top 4 playoff seed and SoCon Championship

2- 2004: WCU - Western upsets App to keep them from the playoffs

3- 1987: Marshall - national semi's; a Marshall team App had beaten in the regular season gives payback....in Boone.....did I mention it was Marshall?

4- 1999: FAMU - 1st round of playoffs in Boone; completely dominated by a MEAC team

5- 1995: SFAustin - undefeated App team ranked #1 in the country with multiple NFL players mail it in against a SFA team playing old school, smashmouth football; a team with such promise ends their year with a whimper......

Your covered mine, and SpeedKingATL wrapped things up nicely!

[WileECoyote06]

1. Heartbreaking loss to NC A & T in 1996. We were on a six game losing streak to A & T. We intercepted a pass near the end of regulation, but our linebacker was called for roughing the passer, giving them the ball back and the first down. They kicked a field goal to tie it and won in overtime. We wouldn't beat A & T for another six seasons.

2. 1996, beat JCSU for homecoming and we would have clinched a bid in the D2 playoffs. That year we were in the national rankings for the first time in years. We lost 7 - 6 and didn't even clinch a share of the conference title.

3. 2004, the game against A & T was all but won. Just kneel on the ball and let the clock run out. Their nose guard jumped the snap, and knocked the center backwards. The QB lost the ball in the shuffle, and then A & T kicked a 52 yard field goal to win 16 - 15.

4. 2004, Riding a four game winning streak after the A & T loss, we had an away game at defending conference champion FSU. Riding high, and expecting to finally challenge for the CIAA championship after a 24 year hiatus, our team fell victim to the sin of hubris. Handed a humbling loss, mainly due to special teams mishaps, we missed the playoffs and were forced to wonder what if. We won the championship in 2005 and 2006.

5. A humbling homecoming loss in 1995 to Livingstone College. We lost 60 - 20 and alumni were pissed. Turns out Livingstone went on to win back to back conference titles in 1996 and 1997.

[stevdock]

Bison fans come on now stop living in the past. Nobody cares about all those D2 losses either just like they don't care about the wins either. ANd for that fact they really don't want to hear about transition wins or losses either. So in the long proud history of our program we only have about 20-some losses to choose from. So considering that I can only come up with a couple that I would lose any sleep over.

2010 EWU - for obvious reasons
2010 MSU - 3-0 Loss where all Bison fans assumed the season was over
2008 SDSU - knocked us out of any chance of being in the playoffs and snapping a very long streak of the Bunnies not winning in Fargo. (50+ years if I remember right)
2010 UNI - only because we looked so absolutely pathetic and UNI kicked the crap out of us.

[bincitysioux]

2003--North Dakota v. Grand Valley St. in the National Championship game. UND QB picked off near the goal line to end the game while driving to potentially tie the score.

1972--North Dakota v. NDSU. Our only loss on the season. Prior to the playoff format, probably would have been AP National Champions that year if not for that loss.

2009--North Dakota v. Sioux Falls. We just got beat up and ran all over by a NAIA team. Very embarrassing.

1975--North Dakota v. Livingston. They upset our undefeated team in the first round of the playoffs.

1995--North Dakota v. NDSU. They smoked one of our best teams ever in the 1st round of the playoffs after we thumped them two weeks earlier.

[Hammerhead]

Mine are

2010 quarterfinals loss in overtime @ EWU on a very close play at the goal line
2007 loss @ SDSU which was the only loss of the year
1994 loss in the D-II quarterfinalls at Pittsburgh State. The lead went back and forth in the 2nd half and a 2-point conversion attempt in overtime for the win came literally an inch short of the goal line
2006 loss at Minnesota. The Bison dominated in most of the stats and had a field goal blocked at the end of the game that would have put us over the top.
2008 loss to North Dakota. Who knows when the next battle for the nickel trophy will take place?

[Grizo406]

Any time the Griz lose, it's painful for me!

I could probably pick out 5 losses that hurt, and that list would pretty much echo what some other Griz fans have posted. But, only one of the Griz losses still haunts/hurts me with some regularity.

It was the 2002, Bobcat/Griz game in Washington Grizzly. Players and coaches had left the field, the clean up crew had just finished their job, and I was still there...asking myself, "what the F just happened?"...over and over again!!

I've gotten over the National Championship losses, but the memory of this particular Griz/Cat game sticks with me!xbawlingxxbawlingxxbawlingx

It's a tough burden for someone as bad *** as myself to bear, but I'm tryin'!!

[NoDak 4 Ever]

Mine are

2010 quarterfinals loss in overtime @ EWU on a very close play at the goal line
2007 loss @ SDSU which was the only loss of the year
1994 loss in the D-II quarterfinalls at Pittsburgh State. The lead went back and forth in the 2nd half and a 2-point conversion attempt in overtime for the win came literally an inch short of the goal line
2006 loss at Minnesota. The Bison dominated in most of the stats and had a field goal blocked at the end of the game that would have put us over the top.
2008 loss to North Dakota. Who knows when the next battle for the nickel trophy will take place?

While I am still bitter about the EWU game and couldn't think of anything else at the moment, I would have to concur, especially the Pitt State game. I loved the 2 pt call but was pretty heartbroken when it didn't come. As for the Nickel Trophy, they'll have to grind off one side of that thing if they want to use it again.

[bobcathpdevil56]

Slant to Junior Adams, what a great play

[Thundar]

1984- D2 National Championship- Chan Gailey's Troy- Troy runs Field goal team on while time is about to expire and clock is running and hits a 50 yardish field goal to steal a ring from NDSU, NDSU wins next two championships.

1993- Nickel Game vs. UND- NDSU loses the 12 game winning streak over UND. All good things come to an end.

2003- Nickel Game vs. UND- NDSU ties game, goes to overtime, gets stopped on 4th down, star running back breaks his leg. Last Nickel Game.

2010- National Quarterfianls- EWU- NDSU takes a late lead. EWU, with no timeouts and in very bad snowy, wet conditions drives around 90 yards in final two minutes. Game goes to overtime, very controversial "fumble" by NDSU. It has probably been seen/heard about by anyone who knows anything about that game.

2006 Minnesota Game- Went to the game hoping the Bison would not get completely handled. Great game, NDSU down 9-10, drives down the field, gets in makeable field goal range, and gets it blocked. Very sad drive back home knowing that your team completely controlled the game. Revenge was taken the following year.

I'm only a college kid so I was either not born, or was too young to remember other sad losses that are probably more significant, some playoff games in the early 90's I'm sure were probably more gut-wrenching than some of the losses I put.

You dont remember the 90's yet you can explain the 84 game??

[344Johnson]

Mine are

2010 quarterfinals loss in overtime @ EWU on a very close play at the goal line
2007 loss @ SDSU which was the only loss of the year
1994 loss in the D-II quarterfinalls at Pittsburgh State. The lead went back and forth in the 2nd half and a 2-point conversion attempt in overtime for the win came literally an inch short of the goal line
2006 loss at Minnesota. The Bison dominated in most of the stats and had a field goal blocked at the end of the game that would have put us over the top.
2008 loss to North Dakota. Who knows when the next battle for the nickel trophy will take place?

I assume you mean 2003?

[344Johnson]

You dont remember the 90's yet you can explain the 84 game??

My dad has a ton of the games taped from the 80's, I've watched them over the years. He didn't record the games in the 90's because we didn't live in North Dakota at the time so he couldn't record them. Late 90's me and him would go together so there was no need to tape the games...but I was young and they can be hard to remember as they happened.

Also, there are a few games that all Bison fans know were real killers...no matter your age.

[344Johnson]

Bison fans come on now stop living in the past. Nobody cares about all those D2 losses either just like they don't care about the wins either. ANd for that fact they really don't want to hear about transition wins or losses either. So in the long proud history of our program we only have about 20-some losses to choose from. So considering that I can only come up with a couple that I would lose any sleep over.

2010 EWU - for obvious reasons
2010 MSU - 3-0 Loss where all Bison fans assumed the season was over
2008 SDSU - knocked us out of any chance of being in the playoffs and snapping a very long streak of the Bunnies not winning in Fargo. (50+ years if I remember right)
2010 UNI - only because we looked so absolutely pathetic and UNI kicked the crap out of us.

Well...sorry Dock but as far as the program goes...those other games were more significant. It isn't living in the past if someone asks you to list off the 5 most painful losses your team ever had. As far as most Bison fans are concerned...we were still North Dakota State 30 years ago.

[darell1976]

2003--North Dakota v. Grand Valley St. in the National Championship game. UND QB picked off near the goal line to end the game while driving to potentially tie the score.

1972--North Dakota v. NDSU. Our only loss on the season. Prior to the playoff format, probably would have been AP National Champions that year if not for that loss.

2009--North Dakota v. Sioux Falls. We just got beat up and ran all over by a NAIA team. Very embarrassing.

1975--North Dakota v. Livingston. They upset our undefeated team in the first round of the playoffs.

1995--North Dakota v. NDSU. They smoked one of our best teams ever in the 1st round of the playoffs after we thumped them two weeks earlier.

I was at this game....that NDSU team did NOT look like the one we just played. Rocky adjusted that team well!

[DukeJack]

For JMU:

2007 round of 16 ASU - why didn't we kick on third down?

2008 semifinals Montana - should have been a great game, but serving up four turnovers on a platter took us out before we had a chance.

2006 round of 16 YSU - leading by 11 in the fourth quarter only to end up losing by four.

2005 CCU - defending champs losing to a start-up program set up by the catch of a lifetime. Losing this one likely kept us out of the playoffs.

2009 Hofstra - ugly, ugly game all-around against a team about to be cut that kicked off a four game losing streak and really triggered the descent to where our program is today.

[344Johnson]

I was at this game....that NDSU team did NOT look like the one we just played. Rocky adjusted that team well!

For all of Rocky's problems he had at NDSU in the mid 90's, that day he did not have any issues. Throughout the 90's, I don't think either NDSU or UND would want to play the other again that season after a win...tough to beat each other twice in a short time.

[Sader87]

BC
BC
BC
BC
Harvard 1985

[stevdock]

Well...sorry Dock but as far as the program goes...those other games were more significant. It isn't living in the past if someone asks you to list off the 5 most painful losses your team ever had. As far as most Bison fans are concerned...we were still North Dakota State 30 years ago.

WELL DUH!!!! You are new on AGS, but on AGS no one wants to listen about D2 games or anything like that. They only want to hear about FCS games which is why my list went back all of 3 years.

[Big Dawg]

4- 1999: FAMU - 1st round of playoffs in Boone; completely dominated by a MEAC team


To be fair, that was one of our best teams in history...we were blowing everybody out that season.

[caribbeanhen]

#1: 1992 National Semifinal - Marshall - just came off thrashing #1 NE Louisiana and the Wing T was rolling, and then Sr. QB Vergantino gets the flu days before the game in Marshall (which shouldn't have even been in Marshall (8-3 that year), save for the bogus way the tournament was run back then) and can only play one half and spends the rest of the time puking his guts out on the sideline. Would've won with a healthy Vergantino, maybe the best option QB UD ever had.

#2: 1997 National Semifinal - McNeese St - McNeese has to go for it on a 4th and 2 late in the game down by 2, and the pass just barely gets tipped by the UD defender but not enough to stop the conversion. A few plays later McNeese kicks the game winner as time expires. Have to watch the same McNeese team lose a close game to a YSU team UD would've dominated.

#3: 2010 (2011?) National Championship Game - EWU - dominate the whole game but don't score enough points, and then a furious EWU comeback is aided after the refs and chain crew screw up after UD stopped EWU on 4th and 1 late in the game. Screwup allows EWU to continue game clinching drive.

#4: 2004 Quarterfinals - William and Mary - Omar Cuff is unstoppable all day, something like 170 yards through 3 quarters, UD goes into the 4th leading by 21, and then Omar doesn't touch the ball once, not a single time in the 4th quarter, game gets tied, goes to overtime (heck, maybe 2OT, I've blocked it out) and UD loses. Would've hosted JMU in the next round and the road to the title was right there for the taking. Should've given the ball to Omar.

#5: 2000 National Semifinals - Georgia Southern - Granted, at least this was a really, really good GSU team - tremendously underappreciated defense. But UD was an offensive juggernaut all year, and then had an awful first half that they just couldn't come back from, despite really controlling the game in the second half. Same with the defense, just gutted in the first half and then rock solid after halftime. Just got too far behind.

well GF is showing off his youth but I can remember a few more painful ones

1) 1974 DIV 2 National Championship vs C Michigan - Hens coming off a big semi-final national TV win vs UNLV where the Wing T was rolling up huge chunks of yardage behind two of the all time great hens RB's Nate Beasley and Vern Roberts winning the game 49-11 - get destroyed in the finals by C Michigan 54-14. crushing defeat.
ouch

2) 1978 DIV 2 National Championship game - played in the bitter cold of Longview, Tx. 9 seconds left in the game and Delawares FG kicker Brandt kennedy misses a 45 yard FG - Wing T held to 155 yards rushing and 5 fumbles

3) tough loss in the 1982 1AA Final to E Kentucky - 17-14 - EKU up on 2 gimme touchdowns and holds off a furious hen rally to win the title

[McNeese72]

I'll go along with Doc's picks but swap out his 1980 game for the 1994 Quarterfinal game in Montana where the Pokes get beat 30-28 on a last second field goal in the snow and slush by a kicker the Griz fans were about ready to ride out of town on a rail.

Damn! I knew I was going to forget one. Can I have six instead of five.

[Pard4Life]

How old did you say you were???xeekxxeekx

Ha well, the thread was asking for the top 5 program losses, not those you witnessed per se. I am long in the tooth... of history knowledge.

[LakesBison]

NDSU hasnt lost this year, so we have 0 painful losses.

[Tod]

Don't know if a Griz fan has posted yet, but I'd say our 5 NC losses would be a good answer. Although...last years loss to MSU that kept us from a record 18 playoff appearances in a row, in Missoula, sucked quite bad as well.

[DJKyR0]

I'm surprised no one mentioned SDSU in '07 before Hammerhead did. I've only been a casual fan of the Bison since 2005 (didn't grow up a big sports guy) and only started following the team in intense fashion about three years ago, but that '07 game was an absolute gut-punch. Undefeated season, conference championship, last game of the transition, just brutal. For me, a (fairly recent) list would include:

1. EWU in the 2010 quarterfinals. I don't think anybody saw that playoff run coming to start the season and while a lot of us were just happy to be there, we also knew we had a legit shot in every game with McNorton having the kind of season he did. That last drive in regulation was just a killer, and everyone knew we were right where we wanted to be - up a score late with our defense on the field. Still can't shake the zombification of that whole week after.

2. SDSU in '07.

3. Missouri State in '10. Last game before the playoffs that nearly cost us the big momentum-boost of that playoff run. All the inadequacies of our offense came to the fore against a team that had 70 hung on them earlier that season.

4. Here's a bit of a curveball - Illinois State in '09. Homecoming game, which made it a rough loss, but a big Nick Mertens run late that left us inside the 10 with the potential to score a winning TD gets called back on a bogus blocking penalty on the other side of the field, completely away from the ball.

5. For some reason I was particularly distraught after losing to Western Illinois last season. Really can't recall why - they had an awesome QB and WR hookup in Barr and Senatus, great defense led by conference D-POTY Kyle Glazier, and yet I remember walking around the tailgate lot just completely devastated. Would've been a good win if we could've pulled it out, but obviously in hindsight not a totally ball-breaking loss like the four above. Maybe the fact that it was our second homecoming loss in a row? I dunno.

[Twentysix]

Mine are

2010 quarterfinals loss in overtime @ EWU on a very close play at the goal line
2007 loss @ SDSU which was the only loss of the year
1994 loss in the D-II quarterfinalls at Pittsburgh State. The lead went back and forth in the 2nd half and a 2-point conversion attempt in overtime for the win came literally an inch short of the goal line
2006 loss at Minnesota. The Bison dominated in most of the stats and had a field goal blocked at the end of the game that would have put us over the top.
2008 loss to North Dakota. Who knows when the next battle for the nickel trophy will take place?

You clearly have the wrong year in your last one.

How other bison fans quoted you and did not mention is beyond me. Except johnson.

[813Jag]

To be fair, that was one of our best teams in history...we were blowing everybody out that season.
Aint that the truth xlolx

[bisonwest]

IMO UND's 5:

2003: UND loses to Grand Valley State in the DII National Championship Game 10-3
1995: First Sioux-Bison playoff game...UND thumped 41-10
1992: UND with a chance to break the 11 game losing streak to NDSU at home has the pass picked off in the end zone to win the game for NDSU 20-19.
2001: UND's only loss of the season and first ever in the Alerus Center a 27-24 OT loss to Nebraska Omaha.
2009: UND gets their worst embarrassing loss at home to former NAIA Champion Sioux Falls 28-13.

That 1992 game was a great game. I was 13 at the time and it was the first time I witnessed a Bison/Sioux game that wasn't dominated by the Bison. Scratch that, 1991 at Dakotah Field came down to the last seires when Burnell was stopped on 4th down. 1992 was a better game though. I remember a questionable touchdown in the 1st quarter where it appears Beachy fumbled before he got across the goal line. The interception was near midfield on the Sioux sideline.

[Gil Dobie]

Bison fans come on now stop living in the past. Nobody cares about all those D2 losses either just like they don't care about the wins either. ANd for that fact they really don't want to hear about transition wins or losses either.

The FCS losses have not been real painful. Last years Bison over-achieved and I thought the EWU game was a great game, but it wasn't painful like the games on my list, DII or not. I have no problem with your list, it's all opinion and all fun.

[ASUMountaineer]

Ooooh....forgot about that one....I'll replace the SFA loss with that one....good job, Mounty...

Thanks, just doing my best. xlolx

The best part about this thread is the timing. After losing to Vurman last week, it's nice to see that pretty much all fan bases have painful losses. It also helps to remember that the Vurman loss wasn't all that bad. Great thread Appa. You coming to the game this weekend?

[OL FU]

Thanks, just doing my best. xlolx

The best part about this thread is the timing. After losing to Vurman last week, it's nice to see that pretty much all fan bases have painful losses. It also helps to remember that the Vurman loss was all that bad. Great thread Appa. You coming to the game this weekend?

And painful losses change as the season progresses.

I listed 1985 loss to GSU in the NC game. But if we hadn't made it that far and had not had such a successful season that year I would have listed another 1985 game. Please note game number two. A loss to Newberry. I remember sitting in the stands, shaking my head, wondering how in hell that could happen (made no difference that our starting QB was hurt and on the sidelines (a guy named Lamb by the way), there was just no way we could lose that game. That one hurt badly. But if you look at the rest of the season, it is easy to see why the importance of that loss diminished quickly.

W
09-07-1985
38
South Carolina St.
31
Orangeburg, SC


L
09-14-1985
21
Newberry (SC)
24
Greenville, SC


W
09-21-1985
31
Western Carolina (NC)
27
Cullowhee, NC


W
09-28-1985
42
North Carolina St.
20
Raleigh, NC


W
10-05-1985
58
Davidson (NC)
7
Davidson, NC


W
10-12-1985
34
Marshall (WV)
3
Greenville, SC


W
10-19-1985
35
East Tennessee St.
31
Greenville, SC


W
10-26-1985
21
Appalachian St. (NC)
7
Greenville, SC


W
11-02-1985
34
Mars Hill (NC)
10
Greenville, SC


W
11-16-1985
42
Citadel (SC)
0
Charleston, SC


W
11-23-1985
28
Tennessee-Chattanooga
0
Greenville, SC


W
12-07-1985
59
Rhode Island
15
Greenville, SC
Division I-AA Quarterfinal Playoff Game

W
12-14-1985
35
Nevada
12
Greenville, SC
Division I-AA Semifinal Playoff Game

L
12-21-1985
42
Georgia Southern
44
Tacoma, WA
Diamond Bowl - Division I-AA Championship Game

[813Jag]

Southern (ranking games that I witnessed in person):
1. 1994 Alcorn St (41-37) - Jags go toe to toe with Air McNair on ESPN2, McNair leads the Braves back time and again. Jags can't score as time runs out.

2. 1994 Nicholls St (20-14) - Jags have the ball inside the 5 yard line heading in for the winning score. QB goes with a silent snap count and accidentally bumps the center who snaps the ball. A Nicholls LB comes around the pile and falls on the ball sealing the loss.

3. 1995 Jackson St (16-14) - Jags are undefeated and heading toward a possible second SWAC title under Coach Richardson, late fumble by the RB seals the loss.

4. 1999 FAMU (65-18) - Undefeated Jags head into Tallahassee on a roll, kick returner fumbles the opening kickoff and the Rattlers never look back. Normally a defear this bad wouldn't be so painful but there was tons of talk and hype before the game.

5. 2010 Jackson St (49-45) - crazy game, Jags score twice in the last 2 minutes, appearing to score the game winner on a 73 yard pass. JSU gets a good return and covers the last 45 yards on two plays to win it.

Honorable mention:
2003 Alcorn (36-34) - the Braves score the game winning touchdown on a pass where the QB somehow managed to not be sacked by two Jags.

2004 South Dakota St (31-24) - the Jags take a lead into the half and proceed to get utterly dominated upfront by the Jackrabbits.

[344Johnson]

Don't know if a Griz fan has posted yet, but I'd say our 5 NC losses would be a good answer. Although...last years loss to MSU that kept us from a record 18 playoff appearances in a row, in Missoula, sucked quite bad as well.

I took the time to watch the highlights of that game last night...wow, I'd be devastated if I were in your guys' shoes. Turnovers deep in Cat territory...a near turnover on a punt return...a very ugly game for Montana.

[HensRock]

I'm doing better than our football team. At least, I'm not on the injured list.

We got our payback for the 1974 game and more in the 1995 playoff game. The 1997 game was just icing on the cake. :)

Doc


You are absolutely correct on that one, Doc.

WE STILL OWE YOU ONE!!!! xnodx

[THE HERD]

1. 1984 Troy St DII Championship Game, 50 yard FG as time ran out.
2. 1981 Texas St DII Championship Game blowout
3. 1982 UC Davis DII Semi-Finals
4. 1976 Montana St Grantland Rice Bowl Game, 7 degrees at game-time
5. 2006 Minnesota Gophers on a blocked FG as time ran out.

Delta St from DII days really sucked too! I still can't believe we didn't get that game in the Dome.

[Silenoz]

I took the time to watch the highlights of that game last night...wow, I'd be devastated if I were in your guys' shoes. Turnovers deep in Cat territory...a near turnover on a punt return...a very ugly game for Montana.

Indeed. Only regular season game we've lost at home in a million years


And yeah, I beat you to it Tod. Hard to beat 5 NC losses

[SeattleGriz]

I took the time to watch the highlights of that game last night...wow, I'd be devastated if I were in your guys' shoes. Turnovers deep in Cat territory...a near turnover on a punt return...a very ugly game for Montana.

That game was like our other 3 losses last year. 18 turnovers in 4 games. Only one we didn't really have a chance to win at the end was Weber State.

Those game were painful to see a Montana team that normally was strong in all three phases of the game suddenly show a capacity to stink on offense and special teams. Hard to see a disciplined team struggle.

[McNeese72]

You are absolutely correct on that one, Doc.

WE STILL OWE YOU ONE!!!! xnodx

Wouldn't have it any other way. The Pokes need to get back in the playoffs and maybe we can hook up again.

Our turn to host, though.

Doc

[TheValleyRaider]

Depends how you want us to answer this one

For me personally (since 2003)
2003: Delaware, 40-0, National Championship Game
2010: Holy Cross, 31-24. Big Colgate comeback to tie the game is ultimately thwarted as the Crusaders score with 5 seconds to go
2005: Central Connecticut State, 24-22. Raiders rallied to take the lead, then CCSU kicked a FG with 1 second left. I still contend the clock ran out before the guy went out of bounds...
2004: at Yale, 31-28. Eli scores 17 points in the last 5 minutes, capped off by a game-winning FG as the clock expired
2007: at Holy Cross, 27-20. End zone pick leads to a 14 point 4th quarter by the Crusaders, probably cost us a playoff spot

For the program's history
1929, 1930, 1930, 1934: Road losses to Wisconsin, Michigan State, NYU and Ohio State (respectively) were the only thing standing between the 'Gate and perfect seasons
1932: The Rose Bowl committee not inviting the Unbeaten, Untied, Unscored upon squad
1976: Rutgers, 17-9, Giants Stadium. Terrible penalty call helps Rutgers hang on in a nationally televised game, the first college game ever played in Giants Stadium
1977: at Delaware, 21-3. Hens once again ruin an unbeaten season
2004: The National Championship game

[Appaholic]

Oh and one more from the ole Bobcats

2006: DII Chadron State-we just got done beating University of Colorado in Boulder, then turn around, come back to Bozeman and get rolled by Danny Woodhead and the Eagles. F&%$ Me

Was surprised this wasn't mentioned before....I was sitting on the front porch of Brownie's Hostel in East Glacier drinking coffee and was dumbfounded when I saw this score....especially considering they had beaten CU the week before....think it was the same day I read about Steve Irwin getting killed....wierd **** in them mountains...

[Appaholic]

:)


#3 Lost to Central Connecticut State 17-14. Right after Erk died, VanGorder's first home game. Douche.

xlolx Is there a man more hated than BVG in all of southern Georgia?

[catbob]

1997: Cat-Griz, missed two point, kick out of bounds, deep pass, field goal, streak continues
2010: Schlacking by NDSU in second round
2002: McNeese State. I believe second round.
2005: App State, quarterfinals
1998: Cat-Griz, Mud Bowl, fumble on 4th down and goal, going in to tie

I guess any of the streak games were pretty painful

Gotta throw that stupid 2004 EWU/MSU game in Bozeman in there. Up 31-10 with 11 minutes left to go in the 3rd quarter. EWU drives 76 yards and ties the game to force OT with 13 seconds left at 44 all. Then MSU gets stuffed what 4 times in a row with 1st and goal from the 3 in our possession in oT? Ugh. Essentially Knocked us out of the playoffs that year.

[SoCon48]

Got the idea from another thread. What 5 games in your team's history are the most painful?

1- 1994: VMI - winless VMI knocks App out of Top 4 playoff seed and SoCon Championship

2- 2004: WCU - Western upsets App to keep them from the playoffs

3- 1987: Marshall - national semi's; a Marshall team App had beaten in the regular season gives payback....in Boone.....did I mention it was Marshall?

4- 1999: FAMU - 1st round of playoffs in Boone; completely dominated by a MEAC team

5- 1995: SFAustin - undefeated App team ranked #1 in the country with multiple NFL players mail it in against a SFA team playing old school, smashmouth football; a team with such promise ends their year with a whimper......

Good thing we won a couple hundred games in between. I imagine we made a lot of teams' lists.

[Walkon79]

1997: Cat-Griz, missed two point, kick out of bounds, deep pass, field goal, streak continues
2010: Schlacking by NDSU in second round
2002: McNeese State. I believe second round.
2005: App State, quarterfinals
1998: Cat-Griz, Mud Bowl, fumble on 4th down and goal, going in to tie

I guess any of the streak games were pretty painful

That was almost my list as well, but cause I'm old I would like to add losing to the Griz something like 55-3 in 1986, two years removed from a national title. i would replace that game with McNeese. Or maybe it was 1982, when the Griz beat us in Missoula and won the Big Sky along with Idaho. We lost to both that year.

[Walkon79]

Gotta throw that stupid 2004 EWU/MSU game in Bozeman in there. Up 31-10 with 11 minutes left to go in the 3rd quarter. EWU drives 76 yards and ties the game to force OT with 13 seconds left at 44 all. Then MSU gets stuffed what 4 times in a row with 1st and goal from the 3 in our possession in oT? Ugh. Essentially Knocked us out of the playoffs that year.

That one sucked too! Why did I even go to this thread? I'm really depressed now!

[AppMAN04]

Although I have done my due diligence as an ASU fan and studied up on our history, I will list the 5 most painful losses in the last 10 years since I felt the agony personally.

1) 2004 @ Western: Season ending loss in a rivalry game that we usually dominate. Coupled with all the pre-game trash I talked to my Western friends, about as bad as it gets.
2) 2002 vs. Maine: Getting taken out at home in the 1st round of the playoffs really stung. However, we made up for it by not losing at KBS for another 5 years.
3) 2004 vs. GSU: Easily the most embarrassing loss I have suffered through as an ASU fan. Getting beat by a rival sucks. Getting beat 54-7 and mailing it in is humiliating.
4) 2008 vs. Richmond: 3-time defending National Champs go out with a whimper. Completely out played at home by UR, very deflating.
5) 2009 @ Montana: An amazing game to watch. No shame in a loss at UM but to see Armanti's college career end on a pass off of Quick's fingertips was brutal. As close as I have been to crying after a sporting event since I was a child.


I too witnessed most of these in person.. They stung then and they still sting when I think about them..

Another loss that really gets me was Montana in 2000, it was my freshman year and I remember listening to it on the radio.. just the let down

[ODUwildman]

Obviously we're late to the party.

But as of right now, it's only a list of one
2011 vs. Towson: 4th and 29.

[frozennorth]

WELL DUH!!!! You are new on AGS, but on AGS no one wants to listen about D2 games or anything like that. They only want to hear about FCS games which is why my list went back all of 3 years.
This thread was never limited to worst fcs losses. Nor or bison fans the only fanbase mentioning non-fcs games.

[darell1976]

This thread was never limited to worst fcs losses. Nor or bison fans the only fanbase mentioning non-fcs games.

Very true it just says your teams 5 most painful losses, not 5 most painful FCS losses. Our teams (UND, NDSU) hasn't been DI even a decade and we are to pick 5 painful losses since then?xrolleyesx

[Big Dawg]

Southern (ranking games that I witnessed in person):

4. 1999 FAMU (65-18) - Undefeated Jags head into Tallahassee on a roll, kick returner fumbles the opening kickoff and the Rattlers never look back. Normally a defear this bad wouldn't be so painful but there was tons of talk and hype before the game.



The funniest part about this game was the whole "Internet Pete" thing...LOL

For those that don't know, Southern's head coach at the time, Pete Richardson, took some comments that FAMU fans had made on a message board(such as this one) and tried to use it as bulletin board material...during a pregame press conference, he said "Somebody's gonna get embarrassed" referring to FAMU...well, the Rattlers took the 8-0 Jaguars to the woodshed...FAMU was up 42-12 at halftime.

[Kemo]

For South Dakota State, it has to be the 2009 playoff game against Montana, and you can mark it down 5 times because it was that bad.

It's the only game I have ever watched in which the way it played out made me physically sick. That must be the result of going from pure bliss to utter devastation in such a short period of time.

Maybe some day I'll forgive Marc Mariani...

[Lakes Bison]

I think it will be this weekend.

[Grizalltheway]

For South Dakota State, it has to be the 2009 playoff game against Montana, and you can mark it down 5 times because it was that bad.

It's the only game I have ever watched in which the way it played out made me physically sick. That must be the result of going from pure bliss to utter devastation in such a short period of time.

Maybe some day I'll forgive Marc Mariani...

As amazing as that game was to be at, I can't imagine what it would have been like to be on the other side of it...

[344Johnson]

For South Dakota State, it has to be the 2009 playoff game against Montana, and you can mark it down 5 times because it was that bad.

It's the only game I have ever watched in which the way it played out made me physically sick. That must be the result of going from pure bliss to utter devastation in such a short period of time.

Maybe some day I'll forgive Marc Mariani...

Truly sad.....I was happy for the rabbits when I saw they played a good game by looking at the score...then I looked at the game summary, and I was sad.

[OL FU]

xlolx Is there a man more hated than BVG in all of southern Georgia?

Is there a man more deserving of hatred in all of southern Georgiaxlolx

[asucrutch23]

For South Dakota State, it has to be the 2009 playoff game against Montana, and you can mark it down 5 times because it was that bad.

It's the only game I have ever watched in which the way it played out made me physically sick. That must be the result of going from pure bliss to utter devastation in such a short period of time.

Maybe some day I'll forgive Marc Mariani...



5) 2009 @ Montana: An amazing game to watch. No shame in a loss at UM but to see Armanti's college career end on a pass off of Quick's fingertips was brutal. As close as I have been to crying after a sporting event since I was a child.






2009 vs Villanova...unbelievably entertaining playoffs up to that point, second year in a row in the chipper...****ing Szczcur. xmadx


Well you guys deserved it for what you did to SDSU and ASU fans that year! xtroublex xlolx

[813Jag]

The funniest part about this game was the whole "Internet Pete" thing...LOL

For those that don't know, Southern's head coach at the time, Pete Richardson, took some comments that FAMU fans had made on a message board(such as this one) and tried to use it as bulletin board material...during a pregame press conference, he said "Somebody's gonna get embarrassed" referring to FAMU...well, the Rattlers took the 8-0 Jaguars to the woodshed...FAMU was up 42-12 at halftime.
I still have bad memories but 2001 kind of made up for them. Team was so shellshocked we slept walked thru the Texas Southern. game the next week.

[Silenoz]

For South Dakota State, it has to be the 2009 playoff game against Montana, and you can mark it down 5 times because it was that bad.

It's the only game I have ever watched in which the way it played out made me physically sick. That must be the result of going from pure bliss to utter devastation in such a short period of time.

Maybe some day I'll forgive Marc Mariani...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tz_opg3JR3M

I bought the game on DVD and have already watched it twice

[Anovafan]

For me, the toughest ones for Villanova were:

1991-17-16 1st round playoff loss at YSU on hail-mary play to set up a game winning FG; 10-1 Villanova should have been a home seed; Tressel led YSU wins NC
1992-23-20 1st round playoff loss at YSU, when 9-2 Villanova should have been a home seed; Tressel led YSU makes NC narrowly losing to Marshall
1997-37-34 Quarterfinal playoff home loss to YSU; 11-0 Villanova team is sent home early; Tressel led YSU again wins NC
2008-31-27 Quarterfinal playoff loss at JMU, just could not stop Landers; 9-2 Villanova should have been a top seed
2010-41-31 loss at EWU in Semifinals; I really thought Nova was the better team, but not with 6 turnovers

Honorable mention:
2001-17-14 home loss to D-II New Haven and 47-44 loss at W&M keeps 8-3, co-champions, and Westbrook led Villanova team out of the playoffs. Should have gotten in anyway, this team would have been dangerous.
2002-39-28 Semifinal playoff loss at McNeese on terrible officiating calls.
2003-34-32 regular season loss at freezing Hofstra kept 7-4 Nova out of the playoffs; RB dives to put tip of the ball over the goal line and fumbles out of the back of the endzone.

Wow, this was a painful exercise.

[344Johnson]

Wow, this was a painful exercise.

You will grow as a person as a result.

[Professor Chaos]

Wow, this was a painful exercise.

You will grow as a person as a result.
Just become a Vikings fan... no matter how much pain the Bison put me through the Vikings have already done it multiple times twice as bad. I'm numb to it at this point.