The 103rd Rose Bowl Game was a classic thriller between two of the hottest teams in the country that might’ve been the best Rose Bowl ever played. The game lived up to its massive billing, which prompted Cbssports.com to rank the game the best of bowl season.

This contest had it all: touchdowns, electrifying plays, traditional powerhouse programs, and plenty of drama. The Nittany Lions fell despite arguably the best second and third quarters in recent memory — the Lions scored 49 points in that span — but drew in a record number of viewers with its array of offensive fireworks.

Here’s what Cbssports’ Tom Fornelli had to say about the spectacle in Pasadena:

If you watched this game, you knew it was going to be here. I mean, how else to describe this game other than saying that Penn State scored touchdowns on its first three plays of the second half, and it lost. The Trojans and Nittany Lions traded punches for four quarters, throwing big play after big play. It was easily the second best Rose Bowl of my lifetime, trailing only Vince Young and Texas’ win over USC for the national title in the 2006 game.

The best part of the entire ranking is Fornelli’s placement of Ohio State’s semifinal stinker against Clemson that saw the Buckeyes fail to record a single point in the 31-0 drubbing. The Fiesta Bowl ranked No. 39 out of 40 — right in front of the ever so prestigious Miami Beach Bowl that featured a Tulsa ass-kicking of Central Michigan and this weird, over-the-top mechanism that goes off every time a Marlins player hits a home run, or in this game’s case, every time someone scored a touchdown. The final score was 55-10 in favor of Tulsa, so it’s safe to say the Golden Hurricane nearly broke the thing.

Check out Fornelli’s rankings here.