CSNbbs

Which loss hurt the most for you?

#1 - 1 win away from 2nd straight BCS Bowl





#2 - #10 BCS (+ 2 T25 wins) with College Gameday visiting #24 BCS Bowling Green

Losing to uva in baseball recently really hurt me. I thought we were going to college world series

Losing to WVU 41-39 in 3 OT with the Big East championship and a trip to the Orange Bowl on the line.

Losing to D2 Chaminade when we were #1 ranked in 1982 Christmas tournament…Sampson’s final year at UVa. Game wasn’t on TV, but I was following on the radio.

Close second was in 2018…losing to UMBC when UVa was the overall #1 seed in the NCAA tournament. The only opening round loss by a top seed…and the Retrievers won in a rout.

The undefeated 1995 UH women's volleyball home loss to Michigan State in the NCAA tournament regional final was a killer:

The University of Hawaii women’s volleyball team had everything going for it on December 8, 1995.

The Wahine, undefeated in 31 matches, were up two sets to none against Michigan State in a regional final of the NCAA tournament.

Earlier in the day, Dave Shoji’s fifth National Coach of the Year award was announced.

And Hawaii possessed one of the best home-court advantages in college volleyball, a capacity crowd of 10,225 at the Stan Sheriff Center ready to cheer it the final 15 points to victory as UH appeared to be a few minutes away from the national semifinals.

But as any poker player knows, a full house isn’t always enough to win. The Spartans regrouped and came back to shock the Wahine and everyone else in the packed arena, 6-15, 8-15, 15-10, 15-7, 15-12.

Michigan State, in just its second NCAA tourney, was headed to the final four.

https://www.staradvertiser.com/2019/10/1...4ef27d7065

I was one of the 10,225 fans in the crowd that night and that loss stung for a whole year, until UH made it to the Final Four in 1996 and finished as national runner-ups.

Other than briefly losing the football program…

Losing in either double or triple OT to Tennessee in 2010. Growing up in Knoxville, I was really looking forward to **** talking with people I knew from back home, and that looked like a good possibility at times in the second half. Had we had a kicker that day, it likely would’ve happened.

A close second is the loss to Louisiana this past year to finally take our first home loss since we’ve returned.

App State has four recent ones.
2016- @Tennessee
2017- Home against Wake (lost 20-19 because our kicker missed a last second field goal, as well as many other kicks throughout the game)
2018- @Penn State
2019- Home against Georgia Southern

The first three games would have been App's first P5 wins since Michigan. I'm still grateful that we knocked off UNC and U of SC in 2019.

The Georgia Southern loss stung because we lost at home to our rival, lost our undefeated season, and lost a chance at a NY6 Bowl.

For Penn State, I would say the '78 national championship against Bama. I wasn't around, but losing on 4th and goal at the 1 always stings.
More recently, I would say either 2005 @Michigan or 2008 @Iowa. I believe we were ranked #3 for both games. Both ruined our natty hopes and forced us into a NY6 Bowl. We also lost both games on the final play of the game.

1967 - NC State ranked no 3 losses to Penn State 13-8.

Number one and two lost earlier in the day so we lost what would have been a number 1 ranking and lost Sugar and Orange bowl options.

2002 - NC State ranked 9th at 8-0 with Phillip Rivers and lost to GT by 3.

2003 and 2004 - Losses to Ohio State on last play by less than a single score with us on the one yard line.

Damndest of all -

1978 - Playing for Gator Bowl - Lost to Penn State on a 54 yard fg kicked into a howling north wind on the open end of the stadium. A brilliant defensive play left PSU with a second on the clock to kick the winning fg. Damn thing would have been good from 65 yards.

Boise State football
Loss to Nevada in 2010. At the time, we were ranked #3 in BCS. Would we have been top 2 by season’s end? We’ll never know.

Gonzaga basketball
2017 National Championship Game against North Carolina. We had the lead for a while in the 2nd. The loss to Baylor this year was over from the 2nd minute so it wasn’t as bad.

All-time? 1940. Lost a Sugar Bowl to Boston College 19-18 before 34,000 at Fenway Park, ending a 23 game unbeaten streak. BC's punter effectively runs out the clock eluding tacklers on a 4th down late in the game.

More recently? 2018: Georgetown's best bet for its second winning season since 1999 fall flat in the season finale. Up 31-5, Hoyas surrender 27 straight points to Holy Cross, two from blocked punts in the fourth quarter.

(06-14-2021 05:56 PM)UpStreamRedTeam Wrote: [ -> ]Losing to WVU 41-39 in 3 OT with the Big East championship and a trip to the Orange Bowl on the line.

I’m pretty sure I watched that game. was it on a weeknight—Thursday maybe?

Not sure I can narrow it to one game for Vanderbilt (though the loss to Georgetown in the 2007 NCAA Tournament, and for a chance to go to the Elite Eight, might be at the top).

But a huge "loss" in a general sense was James Franklin's departing for Penn State. That one hurt.

95% of the 1980's.

The whole decade.

(06-14-2021 08:49 PM)seaking4steel Wrote: [ -> ]App State has four recent ones.
2016- @Tennessee
2017- Home against Wake
2018- @Penn State
2019- Home against Georgia Southern

These four really sting - the three P5 losses because of how close they were with all the missed opportunities but rival Georgia Southern spoiling an otherwise undefeated season hurts most of all.

A little further back the losses knocking App out of the FCS playoffs in '08 and '09 (especially the Montana loss in Edwards's Sr year), both ending the chance at championship #4 hurt pretty bad too.

Beating Iowa State by 52 in 2014 was the most devastating L for TCU because the CFP Committee saw that and dropped us from 3rd to 6th in the inaugural CFP season. Even though we went on to wallop Mississippi in the Peach Bowl 42-3 to prove our bona fides, it made little difference in national perception and subsequent recruiting because, since then, it's been more or less assumed that we'll never make the current CFP Playoffs barring some unusual circumstances.

Illinois: THIS year!

Penn State: 1985 Orange Bowl vs. Oklahoma

NMSU football, 1999. Opening wins over New Mexico Highlands 72-7 (DII), @ UNM 35-28 (Hated rival and Brian Urlacher dropped a punt that the Aggies recovered to win the game) and then walloped ASU in Tempe 35-7. 3-0 and finally looking like the football team will turn tor proverbial corner. Then they played at UTEP who was 1-2 with a very close win 13-10 over UNM, then two big losses at Oregon (not ranked) and Kansas St (#16 lost 54-23). NMSU was primed to start 4-0, they played terrible, credit to UTEP, but it was terrible. 4 straight losses to UTEP, Colorado St, Nevada and Army was finally halted with two wins over Idaho and at Utah St. Loss to Boise St, and a win over North Texas capped a 6-5 record, first winning season in a long, long time, but what could have been. A sweep of local rivals, a demolition of a top 25 team (ASU was #22 at the time). It was heartbreaking to watch the UTEP fans cheer as they scored again, and again, and again that day.

Losses that still sting decades later:

Georgetown losing to Villanova in the 1985 NCAA hoops title game.

Rams losing to Patriots in 2002 Spygate Super Bowl.

Notre Dame losing to BC in 1993, one win away from national title game.

Jimmy Connors losing to Bjorn Borg in 1977 Wimbledon final.

VT’s loss to Michigan in 2012 Sugar Bowl thanks to a controversial video review.