College Football: Top 8 Finishes Of The Season

2. Florida State 34 - Auburn 31 (January 6, 2014)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q78WWyR-gzo It was the end of an era in Pasadena. The BCS National Championship would be played one last time in the Rose Bowl, as the new College Football Playoff would be implemented the next season. The SEC had the chance to end the BCS with eight straight national titles as Auburn looked to cap off their dream season under first-year head coach, Gus Malzahn. Across the way, Heisman winner Jameis Winston looked to finish 2013 undefeated, and with Florida State's first national championship since 1999. Some criticized that this one-loss Auburn team didn't belong in Pasadena after Ohio State lost in the Big Ten Championship to Michigan State a month earlier. All doubts were immediately put to rest as the Tigers stormed out to a 21-3 lead behind the play of Nick Marshall, who accounted for all three Auburn TDs. Winston lead the 'Noles on a quick 56-yard scoring drive to pull within one as the fourth quarter began. Auburn responded with a Field Goal, and Florida State's rebuttal was a barn burned. Freshman Levonte Whitfield broke off a 100-yard kickoff return for a touchdown to give Florida State their first lead of the game, and put the pressure back on Auburn with under five minutes to go. Tre Mason and the powerful Tigers rushing attack killed three minutes off the clock before Mason himself punched it in from 37 yards out to give Auburn a 31-27 lead with just 1:19 left. What a fitting way for a Heisman winner to show voters they made the right choice than a game-winning drive for the National Championship. Winston went 6 for 7 for 77 yards on the final drive, ending it with what would be the game-winning TD pass to Kelvin Benjamin with just 13 seconds left. And with that, gone was the BCS, and gone was seven years of SEC domination as Florida State knocks off Auburn at the Rose Bowl, 34-31.