re: College football’s most heartbreaking losses of all-time

I feel like a few things need to be true in order to make a list like this. One, the team has to be historically relevant but not elite, and two, there has to be some element of surprise.

That disqualifies KU because that was still a dream season for them. I believe they were the only team to go 12-1. Won a BCS bowl too. I'm sure KU fans still remember that season fondly.

It disqualifies Oregon too because they had their shot. It wasn't some fluke that they lost to elite Auburn and OSU squads. They gave both teams their best shot and just came up short. No pride lost there.

WVU losing against Pitt is #1 no questions asked. They're historically relevant--certainly in the conversation as the best program to have never won a national title. And the loss to Pitt was staggering. They were right in the middle of that absurd run with RichRod/White/Slaton, and Pitt was fricking garbage that year. All the stars were aligned for them, and they laid an absolute egg at home to lose themselves a shot at the title. They've never really recovered from that.