The Most Exciting Stories of the 2022 College Football Season So Far

It's hard to believe we're halfway through the 2022 college football season. That being the case, it feels like we've already had a full season's worth of excitement and chaos.

Some of those have come in the form of electric plays. Others featured a notable upset or a game that went down to the wire. Programs doing historic things fits the bill, too.

While some of those exhilarating games and plays might be subjective—the losing side may not remember them fondly, for instance—we've highlighted our picks for the seven most exciting stories of the 2022 college football season so far.

It's been a magical season in Lawrence, Kansas, so far. The Jayhawks, which haven't won more than three games since 2009, started the season 5-0 for the first time in 13 years.

Kansas upset West Virginia on the road in Week 2, beating the Mountaineers 55-42 in overtime. The Jayhawks then rattled off three straight wins over Houston, Duke and Iowa State.

ESPN's College GameDay rewarded the Jayhawks by coming to Lawrence for the first time ahead of Kansas' Week 6 game against TCU. Unsurprisingly, the atmosphere was electric:

Unfortunately for the home crowd, Kansas fell 38-31 in a close one. The Jayhawks hung in the game despite losing starting quarterback Jalon Daniels to a shoulder injury in the first half. Regardless, Kansas is still on pace to have one of its best seasons in recent memory, including its first bowl game since 2008.

We'll see how far the Jayhawks can go in 2022.

Appalachian State's start to the season was essentially a nonstop thrill ride. There's no way to pick just one standout moment.

In Week 1, App State nearly knocked off North Carolina at home, scoring 40 points and racking up 338 yards in the fourth quarter alone to nearly pull off the upset. The Mountaineers scored a touchdown with nine seconds left but failed to convert on the two-point conversion to lose 63-61.

Just one week later, App State went on the road and upset then-No. 6 Texas A&M. The game was tied at 14 heading into the fourth, and Michael Hughes' 29-yard field goal with 8:05 left was enough to give the Mountaineers the win.

A week later, ESPN's College GameDay went to App State for the first time ever ahead of its Week 3 game against Troy. The game itself was tight throughout, and App State trailed 28-26 with 20 seconds left.

On the last play of the game, App State was on its own 47 facing a 4th and 10. Incredibly, App State quarterback Chase Brice found Christian Horn on a 53-yard Hail Mary to give the Mountaineers an unbelievable victory.

It'll be hard to top those first three weeks, but we'll see if App State has any more exciting moments left for the rest of the season.

Hyped as one of the biggest games of Week 1, Florida hosted then-No. 7 Utah in a game that certainly delivered the goods.

The Gators trailed 19-14 at the started of what would be a thrilling fourth quarter, but they weren't down long. On Florida's first drive of the quarter, Montrell Johnson Jr. put the Gators ahead with a 14-yard touchdown run.

That wasn't the highlight, though. Quarterback Anthony Richardson stole the spotlight on the two-point conversion, somehow avoiding what looked like a sure sack before finding a wide-open Ja'Quavion Fraziars in the end zone.

Utah regained the lead a few minutes later, but Richardson gave Florida the lead for good with a touchdown run with 1:25 left. The Utes drove down to the Gators' six-yard line with 17 seconds left, but Florida linebacker Amari Burney sealed the victory with an interception.

This upset was significant, as it delivered a blow to Utah's playoff hopes and provided a major, albeit short-lived, boost to Florida, which was unranked before the season began. The loss for Utah looked even worse after Florida dropped games to Kentucky and Tennessee to move out of the Top 25 completely by Week 6.

Florida State seemed like it was well on the way to a Labor Day Weekend win over rival LSU. The 'Noles scored 17 unanswered points to take a 17-3 lead late in the third quarter, and a touchdown run by DJ Lundy maintained that two-touchdown margin at 24-10 with 9:04 left.

But LSU, playing in its first game under head coach Brian Kelly, made it a game late. The Tigers got back within a touchdown with 4:07 left, with quarterback Jayden Daniels capping a 15-play, 75-yard drive by finding Jaray Jenkins for a 22-yard score.

Florida State had back-to-back fumbles—one on a punt return and the other on a Treshaun Ward run—giving LSU the ball back on its own 1-yard line with 1:20 left. LSU drove 99 yards to score a touchdown, with Daniels hitting Jenkins with no time on the clock. All the Tigers needed to do was make the extra point to force overtime.

Sounds easy enough, right?

Unfortunately for LSU fans, kicker Damian Ramos' extra-point attempt was blocked, giving Florida State the victory.

Wake Forest nearly gave us the season's first upset of a top-five team when it hosted Clemson in Week 4. The game featured over 1,000 yards of offense, a combined 96 points and 12 touchdowns scored, but the Tigers were able to hold off the Demon Deacons in double overtime.

Heading into 2022, Clemson was coming off of an uncharacteristically down year, missing out on the playoff and ACC Championship. Previously, Clemson won the conference every year dating back to 2015. It was Wake Forest, not Clemson, that represented the ACC Atlantic in Charlotte last season.

This year's Clemson-Wake Forest matchup was going to show us a couple of things. Could Clemson get back to dominating the conference like it had? Could the Demon Deacons truly test the Tigers and be a contender in the Atlantic again?

Lucky for us, this game was close throughout, as both offenses had plenty of firepower. Clemson pulled it out in double overtime, but Wake proved its mettle. This ACC rivalry looks like it'll be a competitive one in the years to come.

Wake Forest stormed back with a 21-point third quarter, and the teams took a 38-38 tie into overtime after trading fourth-quarter field goals.

In the first overtime, Wake Forest struck first with an eight-yard touchdown pass from Sam Hartman to A.T. Perry. On Clemson's ensuing possession, it took only three plays for DJ Uiagalelei to find Beaux Collins in the end zone.

In the second overtime, Clemson went first on offense, again needing just three plays to score a touchdown. However, the Tigers failed their two-point conversion attempt. Clemson's defense then stopped Wake as Hartman's fourth-down pass attempt in the end zone fell incomplete, sealing Clemson's hard-fought victory.

Week 2 was probably one of the most exciting weeks of the season with respect to highly ranked squads losing. That Saturday, Marshall upset then-No. 8 Notre Dame at home, Texas A&M lost to App State at home and BYU defeated then-No. 9 Baylor in overtime.

The Marshall game was a notable upset for a few reasons. It snapped Notre Dame's 42-game win streak vs. unranked opponents as a ranked team. It also marked the first ND loss to an unranked, non-Power Five team as a Top 10 team since 1996 (Air Force).

Notre Dame lost 26-21, and the game was mostly in Marshall's favor. Notre Dame trailed 9-7 at halftime, and then 12-7 after the third. The Fighting Irish scored a touchdown early in the fourth to take the lead, but a Marshall touchdown quickly followed by a pick-six put the game out of reach. ND's onside kick attempt after scoring a touchdown with 14 seconds left was recovered by Marshall to seal the upset victory.

App State ruined Texas A&M's preseason expectations as a playoff contender with its upset in College Station. The Mountaineers outgained the Aggies by 129 yards and had 82 offensive snaps compared to TAMU's 38. The victory gave App State its first win over an AP Top 10 team since it moved to the FBS in 2014.

The Baylor-BYU game was a tight one throughout, needing overtime to decide a winner.

Both teams missed field goals in the first overtime, and then Lopini Katoa got the Cougars on the board with a one-yard touchdown run in the second overtime. On Baylor's possession, quarterback Blake Shapen's pass attempt on 4th-and-goal fell incomplete to seal BYU's victory.

In Week 4, Texas Tech upset No. 22 Texas at home. The victory gave Tech its first win over the Longhorns in four years, and gave the Red Raiders their first win over an AP Top 25 Texas team since 2008. That year, Texas Tech defeated then-No. 1 Texas 39-33 in Lubbock.

Tech trailed 24-14 at halftime, but scored 20 points in the second half to get back into it, including taking the lead on a field goal with 21 seconds left. Texas impressively drove down the field and hit a 48-yard field goal with no time on the clock to force overtime.

Texas running back Bijan Robinson fumbled on the first play of overtime, setting up Tech with a golden opportunity to win. The Red Raiders drove down to Longhorns' two-yard line and iced the victory with a 20-yard field goal.

After the game, Tech head coach Joey McGuire had a fiery postgame speech that went viral, and for good reason. In it, he captured the passion in college football perfectly, especially when saying how he knew Texas would get tired. My favorite part was when he said the country would find out that "everything runs through Lubbock":

Tech dropped its next two games to Kansas State and Oklahoma State, but this was a notable win for the Red Raiders in McGuire's first season in Lubbock.

Just last week, we almost had ourselves a repeat of Texas A&M's 2021 upset over Alabama. There was plenty of offseason hype surrounding this one, too.

It started in February, when Texas A&M finished with the nation's No. 1 overall recruiting class, ahead of Alabama. Nick Saban accused the Aggies of "buying every player," with name, image and likeness deals. Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher responded by holding a press conference the day after, in which he called Saban a "narcissist" and added that "some people think they're God."

Although both coaches have publicly cleared the air and have said they have no problems with each other, the spat was fresh in college football fans' minds for this one.

Playing without quarterback Bryce Young, who had suffered a shoulder sprain the previous week against Arkansas, the Crimson Tide still entered as a 24.5-point favorite.

But this game was almost a complete disaster for Alabama's SEC West and playoff hopes. The Tide turned the ball over four times and had six penalties for 73 yards, which kept the Aggies in the game throughout.

Alabama also had some serious kicking issues in the second half, as kicker Will Reichard missed 47- and 35-yard field goals to keep the score 24-17.

Another Texas A&M field goal with 3:32 left made it 24-20. After forcing a three and out, TAMU managed to impressively march all the way down to Alabama's 15-yard line. The drive was kept alive by a costly pass interference penalty on the Tide defense—a penalty that put the Aggies at the 2-yard line with two seconds left—but A&M's last-second pass attempt fell incomplete.