The most memorable single-game performances of 2018

Powerhouse Alabama was in trouble in the College Football Playoff National Championship Game against SEC foe Georgia. The Bulldogs, far from intimidated, were taking it to Nick Saban's Crimson Tide and led 13-0 at the half. Jalen Hurts had done nothing under center for the Tide, and they needed a spark. Enter Tua Tagovailoa. The heralded freshman stepped in, and after a lackluster first series, he led 'Bama to 20 second-half points and then threw a championship-winning strike in overtime. Not a bad for a guy who had seen only mop-up duty to that point.

Some are driven crazy by Harden's foul-drawing strategies or by his and Houston's iso-oriented, three-point heavy offense. But there is no denying its effectiveness. Harden was never better than against the Orlando Magic in late January. He scorched Orlando for 60 points and added in 11 assists and 10 rebounds for good measure. The game marked the first, and still only, time that Harden has reached the 60-point plateau.

Most people thought the Eagles' title hopes were dashed when Carson Wentz was lost for the season. Nick Foles' performance in relief didn't suggest great things were on the horizon. However, the Eagles' defense carried them to the Super Bowl, and then Foles and the offense exploded and outdueled Tom Brady and New England. Foles threw for 373 yards and three touchdowns and famously caught a 1-yard TD on the "Philly Special" play to deliver what was arguably one of the greatest performances by a backup in any sport, ever.

For my money, there's nothing more captivating than when an individual star goes off and carries a lower seed to an upset in the NCAA Tournament. Using that logic, there's no more memorable performance than Lyles' slashing, stunning evisceration of top-seeded Virginia's pack line defense. The UMBC guard poured in 28 points, repeatedly beating Cavaliers defenders to the rim, and fueled the first 16-over-1 upset in tourney history. 

Imagine having such a great Final Four that bouncing heavily favored UConn with a buzzer-beater is only your warm-up. That's exactly how it went for Ogunbowale, who drilled a 17-footer with one second remaining to take down the Huskies, then one-upped herself with an incredible, off-balance three-pointer at the buzzer to beat Mississippi State. In terms of clutch shooting, there was no better display this year than Ogunbowale's.

Not to be outdone by Ogunbowale, DiVincenzo came off the bench to play hero for Villanova against Michigan. The Wildcats were sluggish at the start, but that all changed when DiVincenzo entered the game and proceeded to fuel a run that gave Nova a nine-point halftime lead. He wasn't done, either. When Michigan tried to make a push in the second half, he came back in and fully buried the Wolverines, finishing with five three-pointers and 31 points. 

The Red Sox won the World Series, but in late April, they couldn't do anything with Oakland starter Sean Manaea. Manaea tossed a no-hitter, striking out 10 on the way to blanking the Sox, 3-0. The closest call for Manaea came when Andrew Benintendi appeared to have beaten out an infield hit but was ruled to have left the baseline to avoid a tag. Beyond that, Manaea cruised to a memorable early-season performance. 

Cole came over to the Astros in a blockbuster offseason deal with Pittsburgh, with many people wondering whether or not he had another gear to hit as a pitcher. Cole started fast with the 'Stros and proved that yes, he did in fact have a higher ceiling than he showed during his time with the Pirates. He was singularly dominant against the Diamondbacks in early May, punching out 16 and allowing only one hit. Judged purely in terms of how overwhelming it was, Cole's start may have been the best in baseball all season.

If you're a Cavs fan, this one probably still hurts. Cleveland limped into the NBA Finals as a huge underdog, needing a miracle to stay with the Warriors. A Game 1 win would have helped matters immensely, and LeBron did his best to make that happen, going off for 51 points as well as eight rebounds and eight assists. The Cavs had a chance to pull a shocker at the end of the fourth quarter, except J.R. Smith thought they were leading, not tied, and tried to dribble out the clock instead of attempt the winning shot. The Warriors won the game in overtime, and the series in a sweep, and LeBron was off to L.A.

The Home Run Derby is hit-or-miss for most fans. Some love the spectacle; some think it's a tired event. But the truth is usually this: If the players are into it and putting on a show, it's phenomenal theater. Bryce Harper did that and more in front of the home crowd in Washington, D.C. this summer, hitting 45 total home runs and beating the clock with 19 in the final round to take home the title in scintillating fashion. Oh, and he did it with his dad pitching to him, just to add a little more sentimentality to the moment. The whole event was everything Major League Baseball could have hoped for.

There was plenty of optimism surrounding Mahomes when he took over as the Chiefs' starting quarterback, but the hype reached a fever pitch when he dissected one of the league's glamour franchises to the tune of six touchdowns. Mahomes was so efficient against the Steelers that he actually had more TDs than incompletions. If his season opener against the Chargers was Mahomes' introduction to NFL fans, Week 2 in Pittsburgh was his coming-out party. 

Tyrod Taylor had managed to earn the Browns a tie against Pittsburgh in Week 1, but better quarterback play would almost assuredly have gotten them a win. After a solid Week 2 against the Saints, the wheels fell off for Taylor in prime time against the Jets, as he played terribly and then got hurt. Enter Baker Mayfield. The top-overall pick was an instant jolt of energy for Cleveland, leading the Browns to a field goal on his first drive and eventually bringing them all the way back from a 14-0 deficit with a game-winning touchdown march late in the fourth quarter. He completed 17 of 23 passes for 201 yards and instantly transformed the Browns into a team worth watching.

LaRussa wasn't even Old Dominion's starter for its home date with the Hokies, but once he entered the game for the Monarchs' second series, he looked like a stud, throwing the ball all over Tech's supposedly stout defense and leading Old Dominion to a stunning 49-35 win, with 28 of those points coming in the fourth quarter. LaRussa threw for 495 yards and four touchdowns to spring what still stands as the biggest upset of the college football season.

Call it East Coast bias if you will, but not enough people took notice of Eno Benjamin's dissection of Oregon State. Maybe the Beavers' also-ran status had something to do with it, but 30 carries for 312 yards, three touchdowns and a receiving touchdown thrown in for good measure is an all-time game regardless of the opposition. Benjamin's mark was a school record, to boot.

Brees' 2018 season has been a study in precision, and fittingly he set the all-time passing yardage mark at home, in prime time, and on a long touchdown pass to Tre'Quan Smith. With the football world watching, Brees went 26-of-29 for 363 yards and three touchdowns, as the Saints pummeled Washington, 43-19. Would you expect anything less from one of the greatest to ever lace up cleats?

Muncy was the scrap-heap find of a lifetime for the Dodgers. Not even the Oakland A's felt like he was worth keeping around, which, given its reputation, you would think would be a big blow to a player's ego. Muncy tweaked his swing and turned into one of the sport's biggest offensive forces in 2018, and in Game 3 of the World Series, he ended an 18-inning marathon with a walk-off homer to cut the Dodgers' series deficit in half. A memorable ending, if you were still awake to see it.

Steph Curry might get the lion's share of the publicity, and hit some truly crazy shots, but when it comes to cold-blooded, ruthless efficiency, Thompson might have him beat. The Warriors sharpshooter broke Curry's single-game three-point record when he torched the Bulls for 14 treys on the way to a 52-point outing. Perhaps the craziest thing about his performance was that he did it in less than 27 minutes of game action.

Grier's numbers against Texas were great — 346 yards and three touchdowns — but it was how he brought West Virginia back at the end of the game that made this a memorable performance. First it was a perfect 33-yard strike to Gary Jennings Jr. to bring WVU within a point. Then it was not one, but two successful two-point conversion attempts to win the game with 16 seconds left that made this such a striking performance. Grier ended up running for the decisive points on a designed keeper, breaking the hearts of about 100,000 Longhorns fans.

Williams, an Akron transfer, tied the NCAA record with 15 threes on Wednesday, Nov. 14, in a win over Division-III Mount Aloysius. But his time in the spotlight was short-lived because the next night, Lyons matched him with 15 triples of his own in a win over North Greenville. So, whose performance was more impressive, since both came against lower-level competition? We'll give the nod to Lyons, who went off for 54 total points as opposed to Williams' 49.

Another year, another season with plenty of fireworks from Mike Leach's Air Raid offense. Minshew is the latest quarterback to put up huge numbers in Leach's system. But he deserves special mention for his performance against Arizona, one that saw him go 43-of-55, put up 473 yards in addition to his seven TD tosses and also not throw an interception. The Cougars routed the Wildcats, 69-28.

Oh, what could have been. McFarland did his part to try and secure a monster upset over the Buckeyes, and had Maryland converted what looked like a wide-open two-point conversion pass, his efforts would have been successful. Still, what he did against the eventual Big Ten Champions was impressive. McFarland exploded for 298 yards on just 21 carries, including 231 yards in the first half, a school record, and 153 in the first quarter. 

Vegas sports books took a bath, and football fans got to see offense at the absolute highest level when the two best teams in the league dueled in prime time on a late-November Los Angeles night. Mahomes and Goff's combined totals? 891 yards, 10 touchdowns and three interceptions (all of them thrown by Mahomes). The two gunslingers traded touchdowns during a particularly spectacular fourth quarter, one that saw the lead change hands four times in the final 11 minutes. The "Game of the Year" lived up to the hype, and then some.

Goals are always at a premium in the defensive-minded NHL, but Laine announced himself as the most electric pure marksman with this performance against the Blues. Almost as impressive as the five goals themselves is the fact that Laine needed only five shots to get them. If Connor McDavid is the Sidney Crosby of this generation, Laine very well might be its Alex Ovechkin. 

Hey, remember when Alabama and Georgia were playing in the College Football Playoff National Championship in Atlanta, and Jalen Hurts was so ineffective he got pulled for Tua Tagovailoa? Most people thought that Hurts would transfer, but he stuck around and got his chance to play hero when Tagovailoa was hurt in the SEC Championship Game, 11 months later on the very same field. Hurts energized 'Bama with a tying touchdown pass with five minutes to go and then ran for the decisive score with barely a minute left, providing a storybook ending to a tale of one player's perseverance. 

Sure, this just happened, but it still belongs. Henry, whose role with Tennessee has mainly been that of short-yardage back, or goal-line specialist, if you prefer, absolutely destroyed the Jaguars in prime time. The numbers seem out of place for any level of football but high school: 17 carries, 238 yards, four touchdowns. Oh, and Henry also joined Tony Dorsett in the history books by becoming only the second player ever to notch a 99-yard touchdown run, and he stiff-armed half the city of Jacksonville to do it.