It first needs to be said this was a great football game to watch — a great football game — and that was before the clock began ticking inside the surreal final three minutes.

This game was college football at its riveting best, a contest featuring two talented senior quarterbacks out of different molds, two teams loaded with offensive playmakers, two squads with defenses that displayed a knack for producing major momentum swings under dire circumstances. So what if it had no impact on the national rankings, no national title implications? That’s not even close to the point.

If they had cut Saturday’s matchup between the University at Buffalo and Temple short at the end of three quarters it would have ranked an 8 when it came to entertainment value. That 15 minutes remained — and considering what transpired during that time — the result was a perfect 10, a game that in these parts really, truly will be talked about for years to come.

There’s no telling off the cuff what UB’s unfathomable 30-28 victory over Temple will mean to the future of the program. Maybe it will be the springboard to a Mid-American Conference championship, or a bowl bid. Maybe it’ll be the agent that fuels the fund drive for an indoor practice facility vital to the program’s long-term success. Perhaps it’ll make recruiting just a little bit easier after images of Naaman Roosevelt hauling in Drew Willy’s last-ditch Hail Mary pass were repeatedly aired on ESPN for all the nation to see.

At the very least, this classic proved that there’s potential for even the most downtrodden, woebegone programs to overhaul their fortunes within a span of a few short years providing the right administrators are in place and the right coaches are on the sidelines.

Think about it. Two years ago Temple was 1-11, bringing to 4-42 its record over four years of futility. The Bulls were 2-10, making them 5-40 over that same span. UB won, 9-3, when the two schools met that season in the most unimpressive, unmemorable overtime game you’ll ever see. Who knew that Turner Gill, the first-year coach at UB, and Al Golden, the first-year coach at Temple, would in a relative blink put forth teams as capable as the ones that engaged at UB Stadium on this overcast-turned-rainy afternoon?

“It was just two great teams,” said UB tight end Jesse Rack, who had a career afternoon with six catches for 75 yards. “Both Temple and us have made just huge strides and are getting better. We shot ourselves in the foot and they shot themselves in the foot. Times when we should have capitalized, they capitalized. And it just went back and forth. It was great to be a part of. It was a storybook ending.”

That it was. Adam DiMichele, Temple’s multidimensional, Doug Flutie-like quarterback, answered UB’s go-ahead field goal with 2:27 remaining by driving the Owls 74 yards to a touchdown and the lead with 38 seconds to play. Game over? It might have been had the ensuing kickoff not bounded out of bounds, giving UB a drive start at its 40.

Gill told Willy the plan was to advance to where the Bulls could take a shot or two at the end zone. They got one. Willy took the snap with five seconds remaining and launched a textbook desperation heave in the shape of an inverted “V” to the front third of the end zone. Roosevelt gained inside position, snared the pass and fell to the turf with the ball cradled in his arms. The Bulls streamed from the sideline to the end zone, the students following right behind, Gill holding his place and counting his blessings.

“[My] hands went up, [I was] screaming, ‘Thank you Lord. Thank you Lord. Thank you Lord,’ ” Gill said.

Gill and Warde Manuel, UB’s athletic director, have cited on numerous occasions over the last two years a desire to deliver to UB the “spectacle” of college football.

It might never be Nebraska, where Gill starred at quarterback, or Michigan, where Manuel played defensive line. But it can still be something special, as it was Saturday, with 400 former players and coaches among the 18,333 held rapt by two schools on the rapid rise. Does that quality as “spectacle”?

“Yes. No doubt,” Gill said. “Obviously the magnitude of the win and the way it happened, it just adds a little more talk. And that’s what we want, too. We want exposure. We want people to know about the University at Buffalo and this is another great, dynamic way for people to know about the University at Buffalo all across the country. We’re on the map and we’re here to play and we have a good football team.”