Three out of his five are USC games.

1. Texas-USC, 2006: This game had everything: huge ramifications, great plays, crazy plays and some amazing individual performances. The teams had been ranked Nos. 1 and 2 for much of the season. The Trojans were playing to secure a place in sports lore by becoming the first Division I-A football team to win three straight national titles. They also were riding a 34-game winning streak. Meanwhile, UT had its own 19-game win streak on the line. There was also a tremendous amount of star power with Reggie Bush, Matt Leinart and Vince Young sharing the stage.

3. USC-ND, 2005: The Bush Push game. This one had some great buildup for a regular-season game. The Irish bandwagon was filling up fast as new coach Charlie Weis had Notre Dame 4-1 with road wins over Pitt, Michigan, Washington and Purdue. Archrival USC arrived in South Bend with a 27-game win streak and had throttled the Irish by a combined score of 130-37 over the previous three meetings. But the Irish battled to keep it tight deep into the fourth quarter and took a 31-28 lead with two minutes left. The upset was almost complete as USC was down to a fourth-and-9. Matt Leinart audibled to a play for Dwayne Jarrett and fired a perfect pass into tight coverage for a 61-yard completion to the Notre Dame 13. A few plays later Leinart surged into the end zone on a keeper … with a little help from Reggie Bush shoving him in the back and the Trojans pulled out the 34-31 win.

5. Cal-USC, 2004: This one had the feeling of a baseball game when everyone starts to realize that the star pitcher might throw a perfect game. That’s how hot Aaron Rodgers was. The Cal QB connected 23 straight times to tie an NCAA record. USC, playing a bend-but-don’t-break defense, seemed willing to let Cal try to be perfect to get the win. And for about 59 minutes, Rodgers was. But USC hung on for a 23-17 victory. Having known Rodgers a little bit from playing a round of golf with him a few months earlier at the Elite 11 camp, I have to say I was happy for him to put on a performance like that in the spotlight.

Of course the publishers, writers, readers of this site; Gods, deities, matter and anti-matter, hold it to be self-evident, that the USC-ND game of 2005, was the greatest college — football — game, of all-time.

Best games I’ve ever seen [ESPN]