[Waaaay back last summer CGB counted down the top 10 best non-Big Games of the 2000s.  But the season rolled around so quickly that we never found space for the finale!  At long last, here it is.  Previously, we have had #10 Baylor, 2002, #9 Washington, 2006, #8 Michigan St. 2002, #7 Texas A&M 2006, #6 Virginia Tech 2003, #5 Oregon 2006,  #4 Tennessee 2007, #3 Oregon 2007 and #2 USC 2004]

You all knew this game would be #1, right?  It was a bigger slam dunk than a Randle-to-Christopher fast break alley-oop.  Even if this game was against Southeast State Polytechnic A&M it would have been the most exciting game of the decade – last ditch comebacks, thrilling offense, timely defense, and three white-knuckled overtime periods.  The fact that it came against USC, eventual AP National Champions and the #3 team in the nation at the time cements the title as best non Big Game of the 2000s, and one of the greatest Cal games in the history of the program.

At the time I was a freshmen living in Unit 2, and I remember distinctly trying to temper expectations for this game, both for myself and my dorm mates.  I was afraid that a likely USC trouncing would sour them on the joys of Cal football.  I even made jokes about not wanting to go to the game and have to listen to that damn band play for three hours while USC cruised to another victory.

The student section was a mad house – cursing, obscene gestures, and thousands of jingling keys – amongst other acts of disdain towards USC, their band, and the 15,000-20,000 or so Trojan fans who completely dominated the south side of the stadium.  When Cal raced to a quick start and a lead the noise and intensity just kept going up.  I would attend every home game except two (UW in 2003 and Oregon in 2006) over the rest of my four years as a student, but I was never part of a louder, more incensed, crazed student section.  Until that point I had been a loyal, engaged Cal fan.  But USC 2003 pushed me over the top, into a true obsessed die hard.  And for that, I have Reggie Robertson to thank.

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On September 29, 2007, ESPN's traveling GameDay college football show descended upon Eugene, Oregon looking for a heavyweight tussle between two of the nation's Top 12 teams.  Boy, did they get a doozy.

A head coach looking for his first win in the place where he spent years as an assistant; a road team looking for its first victory in Eugene in 30 years; a pair of undefeated teams looking to establish themselves as the #1 challenger to conference top dog USC; potential Heisman candidates on both sides; fourth quarter leads and late comebacks for each; and finally, a thrilling finish with a crazy final twist that seemingly took forever for the instant replay officials to sort out.  This game had everything, and the fact that it's only #3 on our list underscores just how epic the top two games were.

Oregon's Autzen Stadium has long been a tough stadium to play in, as the team's vocal supporters and the building's acoustical properties make it the loudest stadium in the west.  A fired-up (and liquored-up!) crowd -- who had been prepping since the early morning, what with GameDay and a national TV audience descended upon their campus -- only upped the level of crowd adversity that the Bears would face.

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This was about more than just revenge.

This was more than just about how Tennessee stole our playbook from practice in the weeks up to the game, so they knew what exactly we were planning. This was more than just about Erik Ainge, Robert Meachem and Jason Swain picking on an injured Syd'Quan Thompson for three quarters. This was even a little bit more than getting pasted on national TV after coming in with the best national ranking in five decades and seeing our title hopes burnt to ashes in front of our eyes, with 100,000 orange blurs belting Rocky Top (which at the time sounded like a chorus you'd hear if you were being dragged to hell) as Cal fans drank themselves to sleep.

No, this game had more at stake than that. And we can thanks, of all people, Les Miles.

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8. Ryan Gutierrez (196 tackles, 7 tackles for loss, at least 2 fumble recoveries, 1 interception)

There used to be a Big Hit award for Cal defenders during the earlier part of this decade reserved for the fiercest hitters on this team. Gutierrez won this title in 2003. He had an impressive junior season, racking up 93 tackles. He had four games with ten tackles or more (10 against Washington, 12 in the Insight Bowl, 13 against Oregon State and Arizona).

The only thing he couldn't really do was get picks (he got one in 2004 against Washington). Nevertheless, he was one of the best hitters we've ever had in the secondary.

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Well, here we are.  The final post in our Ranking the Big Games of the 2000s.  First, we went through each of them in the order created by the CGB mods.  We ended with controversy with 2002.  And that was great.  But then it got better!  Because you got a chance to speak out.  You got a chance to vote on it. 

You can see the links to all of the individual Big Game posts in that link above there.  After the jump, let's take a closer look at what you guys thought about the 2000s Big Games.  GO BEARS!

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[We are ranking the best non Big Games of the 2000s.  So far, we have #10 - Baylor, 2002, #9 - Washington, 2006, #8 - Michigan St. 2002, #7 - Texas A&M 2006, #6 - Virginia Tech 2003]

In my eyes, the 2006 game between Cal and Oregon at Memorial Stadium is second only, in ranking games of the Tedford era, to 2003 usc.  2003 usc is "probably" still to come on this list, and for good reason - it's the only time Tedford has beaten usc, it went to triple overtime, it was the first time Cal had beaten a top 3 opponent in 25 years (and we haven't since), and any time Pete Carroll lost at usc was a great time, because we finally got to see his true colors.  It's all fun and games when you're winning 80% of the time; the 20% of the time Carroll lost, however, that arrogant grin vanished, he somehow forgot to shake the opposing coach's hand, and he generally failed to give the opposing team any credit.  His team emulated him - witness Matt Leinart saying usc was a better team after losing to Texas in the 2006 National Title game.  Real class acts all around, but I digress.

Cal/Oregon 2006 did not feature usc losing.  It did not go to triple overtime.  The game wasn't even competitive, as Cal dominated from literally the opening kickoff.  Instead, it was the most electric atmosphere I have ever witnessed/participated in at Memorial Stadium.  It was the loudest I've ever heard Memorial.  I would contend that the game represents the high water mark of Tedford's tenure, to this point.  Most of all, this game demonstrated what an awesome force our University can be.

Everything about this game was phenomenal - the athletic department's marketing team even turned in their best piece of the decade.  Watch it with the sound on.

Thanks to my old roommate at the Danger Stairs for uploading this.

I still get crazy goosebumps watching this video.

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Here is where we decide what the seminal play or event was of the last ten years in California Golden Bears sports. You gave us the nominees, and seven made the cut of five recs or more. See the moments after the jump.

Here are the instructions. Please follow them or your ballot will be discarded.

Please choose your three best performances on this list and rank them in order, i.e. put a 3 next to your best performance,  2 next to the second best performance, 1 next to the third best performance. Leave the other four slots blank.

They are as follows:

1. Cal regaining the Axe for the first time since 1995 (HT Oski4Heisman)

via assets.sbnation.com

See 2 thru 7 after the jump, and vote in the poll that follows (or click here for the form).

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Other All-Decade posts where you've been able to vote: Best Big Game of the Decade (TBA soon), Favorite Athlete of the Decade (Aaron Rodgers), Golden Performance of the Decade (Shane Vereen, 2009 Big Game).

The greatest sports moments stretch in time. They're an experience that stick with us from its very inception to our very end. So think about the following question. Which moment (a play or a fan experience) above all will you remember the most from this past decade?

The best way I think you can answer this question is this...if you were to ask one of our video experts to compile a montage of Cal sports of the past decade, what image would you choose to cap off a tribute like this?

(HT MGoBlog)

Rules are as follows:

1. Submit a nominee and describe why they're your favorite. Best comments will get inserted into the final post where you'll be able to nominate the Golden Moment, and could earn you more recs.

2. Rec the nominees you agree with in the original post, reply to those comments with your own explanations as to why they're your favorite. Again, best comments will get inserted into the post.

3.  If someone has already nominated your favorite moment, go ahead and nominate your second favorite moment. If someone has picked that one, nominate your third favorite moment, and so on. (The one nomination per commenter rule has been waived to allow for as many nominees as possible to get their due.)

4. One nomination per comment, to avoid confusion please.