The 25 most memorable sports plays of 2025

Nothing better than a big-man touchdown to kick off this list. During the second quarter of Texas Tech's 62-14 home rout of Kent State on Sept. 6, the Golden Flashes' CJ Montes had his pass batted by Red Raiders defensive lineman A.J. Holmes, with the ball then landing into the hands of 290-pound teammate Skyler Gill-Howard. Who, essentially in stride, grabbed the ball out of the air and stormed 55 yards for a touchdown. Oversized defensive linemen around the country were celebrating that day.

In an agonizing twist of fate, two of the NFL's best, Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes and Green Bay pass-rushing star Micah Parsons, each suffered serious knee injuries on Dec. 14. Mahomes, the xx-time Super Bowl winner, was injured while running out of bounds late in the Chiefs' 16-13 home loss to the Los Angeles Chargers. He also tore is LCL. A few hours later, Parsons did the same on a non-contract pursuit of Denver quarterback Bo Nix during the second half of Green Bay's 34-26 road defeat.

It was only a matter of time before Sidney Crosby became the Pittsburgh Penguins' all-time points leader. It officially happened during the Penguins' 4-3 home win over Montreal, the team he grew up cheering for, on Dec. 21. In his 21st season, the superstar tied fellow Pittsburgh legend Mario Lemieux's team mark of 1,723 points with his 20th goal of the season 7:58 into the contest. Minutes later, Crosby took over the franchise lead via a secondary assist on Rickard Rakell's goal to send the home crowd into jubilation. 

Rose Lavelle  is one of the best players in the world and has a penchant for coming up big in the clutch. Like Nov. 22, when she scored in the 80th minute, and eighth-seeded Gotham stunned the No. 2 Washington Spirit with a 1-0 upset to win the NWSL title. The emotional victory capped a Cinderella run of sorts for Gotham, which won playoff road matches at Kansas City and defending champion Orlando just to reach the final. Lavell's strike helped Gotham become the first No. 8 seed to win the league championship.

Texas A&M made an early exit in the College Football Playoff, but got there, at least in part, do to a 41-40 win at Notre Dame on Sept. 13. In this early-season matchup of ranked teams, the Aggies trailed six different times, including 40-34 in the final seconds. But  Marcel Reed  hit tight end Nate Boerkircher with an 11-yard touchdown pass on 4th-and-goal, and the extra point was good. That play, and the loss, played a significant part in the Irish's controversial omission from the 2025 CFP.

In a semifinal game for the ages, Justin Thomas' two-run single in the top of the ninth inning gave Arkansas a 5-3 lead over LSU. A victory for the Razorbacks would make for an elimination rematch, but the Tigers had other ideas. LSU put runners on first and second with one out in the bottom of the frame, when star Hogs shortstop Wehiwa Aloy  fielded a grounder and opted to get a force at third base instead of trying for the game-ending double play. Luis Hernandez  then sent a liner to left field, where Arkansas' Charles Davalan slipped, and had the ball glance off his shoulder, allowing both runners to score and tie the contest. Hernandez then scored the winning run from second in the 6-5 affair, when Jared Jones' line drive up the middle bounced off second baseman Cam Kozeal's glove. LSU went on to beat Coastal Carolina in two games for its eighth national title, and Arkansas might still be smarting from that disastrous ninth-inning chain of events.

NCAA Division III football likely isn't on the radar of most college football fans. Too bad, because those who didn't watch the University of Wisconsin-River Falls edge Johns Hopkins in their Dec. 20 semifinal playoff matchup missed an instant classic, with a truly memorable go-ahead catch. On a frigid day in northwest Wisconsin, with the game tied at 41-41, River Falls' Kaleb Blaha threw a pass downfield that looked as if it would land incomplete and out of bounds, only to be snagged by teammate Blake Rohrer, who stepped in front of a Hopkins defender, then sprinted untouched for a 79-yard touchdown with 47 seconds left in the fourth quarter. Johns Hopkins couldn't answer, and the Falcons won 48-41 to earn a trip to the Stagg Bowl.

Only a freshman, Miami, Fla.'s Bryce Fitzgerald has established himself as one of the best defensive backs in the country. And, he showed off that talent when it mattered most with two of his six interceptions on the season at Texas A&M in the first round of the College Football Playoff on Dec. 20. The second being one of the biggest picks in Miami history, when he stepped in front of the Aggies' Theo Melin Ohrstrom in the end zone to intercept a Marcel Reed pass with 24 seconds remaining in the game. The play sealed the Hurricanes' 10-3 victory and secured a spot in the CFP quarterfinals.

Of all the great goals scored around the world during the 2025 calendar year, the one by Tanzanian striker Clement Mzize, on Jan. 4 during Yanga's 3-1 win over TP Mazembe in the Confederation of African Football (CAF) Champions League, continues to draw praise. On the surge down the left wing, and well outside the penalty area, Mzize unleashed a power strike that rose and found the top left corner of the net for one remarkable finish.

Jalen Lake's 3-pointer with 6.1 seconds remaining in regulation gave 12th-seed Colorado State a one-point lead, a shot to pull off the second-round upset of No. 4 seed Maryland. However, stud Terrapin freshman Derik Queen had other ideas. Driving to the left end of the lane, Queen threw up a fadeaway over a defending Ram that banked high off the glass and in just before the buzzer to give Maryland the 72-71 victory.

Houston reached the national championship game behind the nation's best defense. And, the Cougars could smell the program's first national title, but blew a 12-point lead to the Gators, who led for only 64 seconds in the game, including the final 46. Houston had one last chance, but Walter Clayton Jr.   pressured the Cougars' Emanuel Sharp into losing the ball while going up for a potential game-winning 3-pointer, and his Gator teammate Alex Condon  pounced on it, then got it back to Clayton to secure a 65-63 victory for the program's third national title.

Another matchup of the world's two best women's hockey teams needed overtime to decide. With 2:54 remaining in the extra session, the United States ended Canada's reign as world champs when Tessa Janecke delivered a backdoor tip-in of Taylor Heise's shot toward the net for a 3-2 victory and gold medal at the 2025 IIHF Women's World Championship on April 20. It was the 11th World Championship for Team USA.

When Philadelphia's Cooper DeJean intercepted a Patrick Mahomes pass and returned it 38 yards for a touchdown to help pad the Eagles' second-quarter lead in Super Bowl LIX, a little bit of NFL history was made. DeJean became the first player in league history to score a Super Bowl touchdown on his birthday. In addition, it was DeJean's first career interception. Not a bad birthday present.

Sure, 60-plus-yard field goals are pretty much commonplace in the NFL these days. However, it was still highly impressive when Jacksonville's Cam Little set a new league record by connecting from 68 yards just before halftime at Las Vegas on Nov. 2. The boot, which would have been good from 70, broke Justin Tucker's mark from 66 yards set in 2021.

It wasn't just one play that defined what's arguably the greatest individual performance in a Major League Baseball game. By now, it should not surprise any sports fan what Shohei Ohtani is capable of doing on the baseball diamond. The Los Angeles Dodgers completed their four-game series sweep of Milwaukee in the NLCS with a 5-1 victory on Oct. 17. In the process, Ohtani clubbed three solo runs. Oh yeah, he also struck out 10, walked three, and yielded just two hits while not allowing a run and pitching into the seventh inning. 

The 4 Nations Face-Off proved worthy of the hype, and the United States-Canada final in Boston delivered as hoped. Trump-fueled tension between the countries added to the intrigue of this in-season competition that featured some of the NHL's best players. After losing 3-1 to the Americans during the round-robin portion of the event, the Canadiens exacted their revenge when it mattered most. Somehow left alone in the slot, Edmonton superstar Connor McDavid took a pass from Mitch Marner and beat Connor Hellebuyck at 8:18 into overtime for a 3-2 Canadian victory.

After leading the Indiana Pacers to the NBA Finals for the first time since 2000, star Tyrese Haliburton was at it again in Game 1 of the Finals versus Oklahoma City. Indiana shot 47 percent, held the Thunder to just under 40 percent from the field, and Haliburton's 21-foot jumper with 0.3 seconds left in regulation gave the visitors their first and only lead of the night, and led to a 111-110 victory. The Pacers, who overcame 25 turnovers and a 15-point fourth-quarter deficit, eventually lost the series in seven games, but Haliburton finished with 38 points during that memorable opener.

According to Next Gen Stats , the Chicago Bears had a 0.5-percent chance of winning after Cairo Santos' 43-yard field goal got the home team within 16-9 of the Green Bay Packers with 1:59 remaining in the fourth quarter on Dec. 20. Then, Santos and the Bears successfully executed an improbable onside kick to keep those comeback hopes alive, and a Chicago touchdown forced overtime with 24 seconds left in regulation . After the Packers turned the ball over on downs near midfield in the extra session, the "Iceman" Caleb Williams went deep to DJ Moore, who, with Green Bay's Keisean Nixon draped all over him, made the over-the-shoulder catch for a 46-yard, game-winning touchdown to cap arguably the most memorable Bears victory on what might be the play of the NFL season.

Aj'a Wilson is the best women's basketball player on the planet, and proved it once again when she sank the winner in Game 3 of the WNBA Finals on Oct. 8. Las Vegas was up 2-0 in the series, but tied with Phoenix in the waning seconds on the road in this contest. Then, Wilson came to the rescue. After taking the inbounds pass with 5 seconds left in regulation, Wilson dribbled, saw her double team, then unleashed a turnaround jumper that bounced about the rim for a second before falling with less than a full second left on the clock. It ultimately gave the Aces a 90-88 win en route to the franchise's third title in four years.

The Seattle Mariners held a 3-1 lead in the seventh inning of the ALCS Game 7 at Toronto, and could taste the collective joy of the franchise's first World Series appearance that seemed to be waiting in the wings. Then, with two men on, the Blue Jays'   George Springer   stepped to the plate and clubbed a 381-foot go-ahead homer over the left field wall off Eduard Bazardo that sent the home crowd into a frenzy, and eventually Toronto to its first World Series since 1993.

Technically, this is not a play. But a putt that won't soon be forgotten by golf fans as one of the most memorable moments in the history of any major golf tournament. Journeyman J.J. Spaun needed two putts to claim the U.S. Open on the 72nd hole at Oakmont Country Club. That said, he didn't want to take any chances when it came to winning his first major. So, on this wet and dreary June day, Spaun remained focused and rolled in a rather incredible 65-foot putt for birdie and the championship. 

Will Smith is a three-time All-Star catcher, but to those outside of Los Angeles, he's not a household major-league name. But, when the lights shone the brightest, Smith sent a 2-0 slider from Toronto's Shane Bieber into the Blue Jays bullpen to break a 4-4 tie in the 11th inning of that classic World Series Game 7 on Nov. 1. The Dodgers then hung on to become the first repeat World Series champs since the Yankees of 1998-2000.

Will Smith might have delivered the decisive moment of that World Series Game 7, but teammate Miguel Rojas was the true star of the contest. Toronto was two outs away from winning its third title, but light-hitting, low-lying Dodgers second baseman Rojas   became an unlikely World Series hero by hitting a tying solo homer in the top of the ninth. However, the Blue Jays loaded the bases in their half of the inning, but Rojas gloved a grounder and barely threw home in time to complete the force for the second out of the frame. Then, Dodgers center fielder Andy Pages made a rather acrobatic grab for the final out of the inning to force extra innings.

Los Angeles Dodgers star Freddie Freeman   knows something about clubbing walk-off home runs in the World Series. For the second straight season, Freeman ended the game with a long ball, this time in the 18th inning, via a solo shot (estimated to have traveled 406 feet) off Toronto's Brendon Little, to give the Dodgers a 6-5 victory in Game 3 on Oct. 27. The long ball capped a 6-hour, 39-inning contest that put the Dodgers ahead 2-1 in the series. 

When it comes to game-saving, season-saving moments, there aren't many better than that of what Indiana's Fernando Mendoza and Omar Cooper combined to deliver. The Hoosiers won a Big Ten championship, are undefeated, and are the No. 1 seed in the College Football Playoff. And that success was essentially made possible with Omar Cooper's remarkable toe-tapping 7-yard, go-ahead touchdown reception from Heisman Trophy winner Mendoza  with 36 seconds left in the fourth quarter at Penn State on Nov. 8. The Hoosiers hung on for the 27-24 victory that kept their special season intact.