Biggest Football Heartbreak

[AppYosef!]

The Packer & Durham show on ACC Network was discussing the Biggest Heartbreak Games in recent years for each ACC school. For UNC their loss to Clemson last year was the one they picked as Most Heartbreaking but the loss to Appalachian was also listed as a contender. This made me wonder what folks consider the Most Heartbreaking Losses for ASU over the years.

A few that came to mind were:

09-01-16 Tennessee over ASU 20-13 in Overtime at Knoxville (after ASU was up 13-3 at halftime)

09-23-17 Wake Forest over ASU 20-19 at "The Rock"

09-01-20 #12 Penn State over ASU 45-38 in Overtime at "Happy Valley"

10-31-19 Georgia Southern over ASU 24-21 at "The Rock" (the only loss on an otherwise perfect season and this loss ruined any chance we had at playing in the Cotton Bowl)

Personally, I think the Wake Forest game was the most heartbreaking in my mind...simply because we KNEW we should have won, Wake's coaching staff KNOWS we should have won, and because it was on my BIRTHDAY and it spoiled my day.

[AppStFan1]

The Packer & Durham show on ACC Network was discussing the Biggest Heartbreak Games in recent years for each ACC school. For UNC their loss to Clemson last year was the one they picked as Most Heartbreaking but the loss to Appalachian was also listed as a contender. This made me wonder what folks consider the Most Heartbreaking Losses for ASU over the years.

A few that came to mind were:

09-01-16 Tennessee over ASU 20-13 in Overtime at Knoxville (after ASU was up 13-3 at halftime)

09-23-17 Wake Forest over ASU 20-19 at "The Rock"

09-01-20 #12 Penn State over ASU 45-38 in Overtime at "Happy Valley"

10-31-19 Georgia Southern over ASU 34-14 at "The Rock" (the only loss on an otherwise perfect season and this loss ruined any chance we had at playing in the Cotton Bowl)

Personally, I think the Wake Forest game was the most heartbreaking in my mind...simply because we KNEW we should have won, Wake's coaching staff KNOWS we should have won, and because it was on my BIRTHDAY and it spoiled my day.

The GSU score was 24-21. That was the biggest one for me because it completely ruined any shot we had at the NY6 unless every AAC team and MWC team had 2 or more losses.

Prior to that, Wake Forest would have been it. I was pleasantly surprised to see us play Penn State so close but I fully expected to beat Wake Forest in 2017 so that one really stung for me.

[boonegoons89]

2009 at Montana. Heartbreaking. Soul crushing. End of an era.

[Rick83]

Those four games immediately come to mind and they are the most recent. There are some from the FCS days I'd throw in also, like the near upset of Auburn, and others.
Of those 4 recent games, I'd have to rank the Georgia Southern loss as the most heartbreaking because 1) probably cost us the Cotton Bowl, 2) cost us a perfect season, and 3) it's Georgia Southern and they suck.

[bigdaddyg]

Stink game hands down. Huge gap between one loss and a perfect season especially when that one loss is to...

[ggasu]

Stink game hands down. Huge gap between one loss and a perfect season especially when that one loss is to...

I agree...not to mention that any other weather conditions and we should have been able to handle them.

The cold/wind/rain sleet was unreal....A 10 yard pass was almost impossible

[NattyBumppo'sRevenge]

Tennessee. That annihilation of their QB at the goal line causing a fumble shouldn’t have ended in them recovering for a TD. We deserved to win that one, just had a really bad bounce.

[kornegaylw]

2009 at Montana. Heartbreaking. Soul crushing. End of an era.

Yeah that one was tough. Ending an era plus end of a season. I dont think we went out that night we were so let down...which for our crew not to be at Town Tavern was a rarity

[ArmantiWaterSafety]

Penn State one hurts me the most because we would have won it with better time management. The call should have been to go down before the touchdown and run the clock out and kick a chip shot FG with time expiring. Absolutely no reason we should have lost that one.

[Appstrong]

Not necessarily a top heartbreaking loss, but one of notable frustration was the 1994 VMI OT loss at home (only win for VMI that season with 1-11 record) that possibly cost us a seeding and extra home game in the playoffs. We ended up losing to Boise St. in the 2nd round on the road by a field goal. We beat Marshall that season, and they went on to win the conference and get a 2 seed in the playoffs because of the loss.

[AppStFan1]

Not necessarily a top heartbreaking loss, but one of notable frustration was the 1994 VMI OT loss at home (only win for VMI that season with 1-11 record) that possibly cost us a seeding and extra home game in the playoffs. We ended up losing to Boise St. in the 2nd round on the road by a field goal. We beat Marshall that season, and they went on to win the conference and get a 2 seed in the playoffs because of the loss.

Why did someone have to bring up the VMI loss? LOL. That still stings. That was brutal to be undefeated and lose to a winless team. I remember Jerry Moore making them sound like a legit top 25 squad prior to the game and it seems like our players just tuned him out because we got whipped by a really bad team. That Boise loss was very tough on that blue field.

Remember the ETSU loss where their fans were rattling their keys to us like we should warm up the bus? That one was bad as well.

The only reason why I agree that GSU was the worst is because if we had won out we finish in the top 15 and have a great shot at Cotton Bowl.

[JGthatsme86]

NC Phase 2.5 is the biggest football heartbreak I have experienced. And as a long term season ticket holder, its not even close.

[Gonzo]

WFU 2017. No question.

[GregPercussion]

Easy, Wake Forest 2017.
GS 2019 was just a crappy game, bad weather, bad performance, bad time.

I'd also like to submit Illinois State 2012, Coach Moore's last game... Another OT blocked field goal.

[appstatealum]

Not being able to attend any games this month is my #1 heartbreak currently.

[Appstrong]

Not necessarily a top heartbreaking loss, but one of notable frustration was the 1994 VMI OT loss at home (only win for VMI that season with 1-11 record) that possibly cost us a seeding and extra home game in the playoffs. We ended up losing to Boise St. in the 2nd round on the road by a field goal. We beat Marshall that season, and they went on to win the conference and get a 2 seed in the playoffs because of the loss.

Why did someone have to bring up the VMI loss? LOL. That still stings. That was brutal to be undefeated and lose to a winless team. I remember Jerry Moore making them sound like a legit top 25 squad prior to the game and it seems like our players just tuned him out because we got whipped by a really bad team. That Boise loss was very tough on that blue field.

Remember the ETSU loss where their fans were rattling their keys to us like we should warm up the bus? That one was bad as well.

The only reason why I agree that GSU was the worst is because if we had won out we finish in the top 15 and have a great shot at Cotton Bowl.

I think The ETSU game was in 1997. A classmate of mine was a corner on that team and the secondary just got torched. Felt bad for him all week when I saw him in class.

[EastHallApp]

For me it's GS last year. A few words on the other contenders:

Montana '09: This would have probably been my previous answer as it was indeed the end of an era and stopped a potential title run. But we had a threepeat, which was pretty good consolation. Plus, Montana was really good and playing at home. Had to respect them.

Tennessee/Penn State: Both heartbreakers, but neither one that I expected us to win or even come very close going in. As season openers, it was also easy to move on to the next week with excitement for the rest of the year.

Wake '17: Just incredibly frustrating, for sure. REALLY should have beaten them. But since we struggled for much of the year, a win over them, while great on its own, wouldn't have really gotten us much further in the course of that season (i.e., same bowl, still unranked, etc.).

GS last year: We know what it cost us - undefeated season, likely Cotton Bowl bid. But the circumstances... we lost to them the year before, so no lack of motivation. We were at home. Ranked, on national TV. And GS wasn't even good. That's what kills me. Completely mediocre opponent, and we just laid an egg.

Every other game on this list, if you replayed it, I'd expect another nailbiter at best. We were probably underdogs in all of them. Whereas I think on an average day we beat 2019 GS by three scores.

[AppStFan1]

Not necessarily a top heartbreaking loss, but one of notable frustration was the 1994 VMI OT loss at home (only win for VMI that season with 1-11 record) that possibly cost us a seeding and extra home game in the playoffs. We ended up losing to Boise St. in the 2nd round on the road by a field goal. We beat Marshall that season, and they went on to win the conference and get a 2 seed in the playoffs because of the loss.

Why did someone have to bring up the VMI loss? LOL. That still stings. That was brutal to be undefeated and lose to a winless team. I remember Jerry Moore making them sound like a legit top 25 squad prior to the game and it seems like our players just tuned him out because we got whipped by a really bad team. That Boise loss was very tough on that blue field.

Remember the ETSU loss where their fans were rattling their keys to us like we should warm up the bus? That one was bad as well.

The only reason why I agree that GSU was the worst is because if we had won out we finish in the top 15 and have a great shot at Cotton Bowl.

I think The ETSU game was in 1997. A classmate of mine was a corner on that team and the secondary just got torched. Felt bad for him all week when I saw him in class.

Our entire team sucked that day. I felt bad for all of them. I am sure that is still a rough memory for the guys on that team.

[Rick83]

We need to add to the list the 2014 loss to, then FCS Liberty, which prompted questions about Satterfield's coaching ability and David Jackson had to suspend the post-game call-in radio segment. That was a dark day...

[AppSt8Will]

2012....1st round of the playoffs vs Illinois State...blocked extra point to end the season.