Courtesy of Miramax Films

By Arash Markazi, Adam Duerson, Maggie Haskins, Jaime Lowe and Matthew Waxman

When the American Film Institute dropped its 100 greatest films back in 1998, it included nary a college flick. The list apparently was compiled without consulting a person under the age of 45. Ever sit through the appropriately titled From Here to Eternity (No. 52)? Tried enduring The Birth of a Nation (44)? Neither has SIOC. We have, however, seen The Best Years of Our Lives (37) -- and it has about as much to do with college life as Star Wars (15).

In an effort to improve, and significantly vitalize, the quality of your lazy Saturday afternoons, SIOC watched every movie about the real Best Years of Our Lives, from the half-baked (How High) to the over-baked (Higher Learning), to come up with our very own list of the top 16 college movies ... as well as the worst ever. 

You may notice a sports flavor to our nominees. Face it: The tensions of curve-breaking and roommate squabbles just don't keep audiences' attentions. And that "What's the deal with loofahs and mini fridges?" bit has been done to death, leaving writers and directors tapping the sports well till it's run ... well, have you seen The Waterboy?

15. WONDER BOYS

Michael Douglas lets his hair down -- literally -- as a creative-writing prof who can't tie up the loose ends in his own book ... or in his life. His wife has left him; his book is well over 2,000 pages; a sultry student (Katie Holmes) is in love with him; his editor (Robert Downey Jr.) needs a manuscript; his prize pupil (Tobey Maguire) needs guidance; and his boss and girlfriend-on-the-side (Frances McDormand) is preggers with his baby.

SIGNATURE SPORTS MOMENT: Douglas's department head waxes philosophical on the Monroe-DiMaggio marriage.

14. HORSE FEATHERS

The Marx Brothers, the Wayans brothers of their day, team up in this old-timey, satirical condemnation of higher education and football. The quartet sets about correcting a college agenda that has for too long "neglected football for education." The troupe bungles its attempts to hire ringers and kidnap the opposition, finding itself in precarious positions -- like on the ravishing Thelma Todd's lap.

SIGNATURE SPORTS MOMENT: In the pigskin finale the comedy team outwits the opposition, slipping would-be tacklers with banana peels and galloping to the end zone in a horse-drawn chariot.

12 & 13. THE PROGRAM/BLUE CHIPS

They're basically the same movie, aren't they? Coach at State U. feels pressure to return his team to its winning ways -- at any cost. Put the children to bed before popping in The Program, which gives screen time to every vice imaginable. Blue Chips plays more family-friendly: Recruits get lured into a world of point-shaving and grade-bending in a true cameo-whorer flick.

SIGNATURE SPORTS MOMENT: The Program: Heisman hopeful Joe Kane is slain on the tennis court by the original Buffy (Kristy Swanson). Blue Chips: Coach Bell's recruiting trip takes him to see Shaq ballin' in the Bayou, Penny in a dilapidated gym.

THEY SAID IT: "All the partying is a little over the top. I'm not a Joe Kane character. He met [his girlfriend] in the weight room, though, which is not too far off. I meet a ton of girls in the weight room that I've never met before."
-- ALEX SMITH, UTAH '06, FOOTBALL

11. RUDY

Angelo Pizzo (of Hoosiers fame) fudges facts all over the script but reminds a younger generation that -- no lie -- the Irish used to have a decent football squad. This heartwarming little pic about a little guy from a little town making it on college football's grandest stage is still shown to underdog teams before big games and has played a crucial role in landing Irish recruits, including current QB Brady Quinn. No matter what you think of the Golden Domers, it's hard not to get at least a little verklempt when the five-foot-nothin', 100-and-nothin'-pound Rudy Ruettiger (Sean Astin) gets carried off the field. Almost makes a grown man wanna cry. O.K., we cried. Hard.

SIGNATURE SPORTS MOMENT: Ruettiger nets a sack in the season finale -- and is financially set for the rest of his life.

THEY SAID IT: "It makes you want to go out and play instantly."
-- TONY BOWNE, CENTRAL MICHIGAN '05, MEN'S HOOPS