re: Sporting News Top 20 CFB Teams of All-Time

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These lists are for chatter only. 2001 Miami was only leading Boston fricking College 12-7 with 20 seconds left in the game and the Eagles had it in the redzone for a chance to win.


2019 LSU almost lost to Albarn, and Florida had a chance to tie late. 2020 Alabama had an all-SEC schedule with no close games. Why is 2019 LSU ranked higher than 2020 Alabama?

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LSU beat Florida by 14 points and led AU by ten with a couple minutes left. AU scored late to make it a three-point game and LSU milked the clock out. LSU went 15-0 and was never in position to potentially lose a game all season on the last drive.

They got number 1 right

01 Miami is so fricking overrated. Boston College would have beat them if their best player was playing. 86 and 87 Miami is way better

05 USC > 04 USC its not even close really.

09 Bama is not even top 50. 20 Bama doesn't belong near the top 20 either.

22 Georgia aint top 50 either

Where the hell is 13 FSU? 97 NU? 86 PSU? 72 USC ?

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22 Georgia aint top 50 either

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2021 is the best team we've ever fielded. 2022 had a slightly worse defense and a moderately better offense. They were only truly challenged like twice all season. The throttling they put on LSU is clouding your judgment of how good that team was.

And that was before NIL and the portal started ruining the game. That team was built on recruiting and talent development.

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2023 Georgia was the best team in the country. Kirby just choked in Atlanta. Had that year been a 12 team playoff they win it all.

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Fully agree. The only team even halfway capable of beating us that year was bama and of course they did. They had the same hex over us that Florida did for most of richts tenure

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first of all, Tom Osborne is far superior to Coach O.

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Osborne (HC/OC) and Charlie McBride (DC) weren’t better than Dabo Swinney, Tony Elliot, and Brent Venables in 2018.

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Nebraska had already proven that their backup (Brook Berringer) could take over for Tommie Frazier and they wouldn’t miss a beat.

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Nebraska rolling through Big 8 competition was par for the course - regardless of the year or QB.

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Saban said Nebraska 95 is the GOAT (they best his Michigan State team 50-10 that year) and I trust his opinion.

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I bet he has a pretty good opinion of the Clemson team that beat his previously undefeated Bama team 44-16.

2018 Clemson had a more balanced offense than 1995 Nebraska and a better defense.

Some of you look at Nebraska’s schedule and don’t know that the Cornhuskers were always the kings of style points and running up the score in the Osborne era.

Here’s a breakdown of high scores from 1983-1993 (before they ever won a national title) between Nebraska and Miami:

Nebraska

50-59: 18
60-69: 11
70-79: 4
80-89: 1

Miami

50-59: 9
60-69: 2
70-79: 0
80-89: 0

Nebraska posted 34 50+ games to Miami’s 11 in an era when Miami was 3-0 against them (with the Huskers only scoring 3 in 1988 and 0 in 1991) and won four national titles. FSU owned them too, as did Switzer’s OU teams.

What did Miami, FSU, and OU have in common? They all had great defensive fronts that could slow Nebraska’s one-dimensional offense.

From 1985-1994, Nebraska faced guys like Tony Casillas, Brian Bosworth, Cortez Kennedy, Steve Emtman, Marvin Jones, Derrick Brooks, Ray Lewis, and Warren Sapp. There wasn’t anyone like that on the field against Nebraska in 1995.

Nebraska’s kryptonite in the Osborne era was an elite defensive front complimented by an offense that could score. That’s exactly 2018 Clemson.

You’re not going to line up in 21 personnel without a QB, WR, or TE who ever saw an NFL practice field and just bludgeon Christian Wilkins, Dexter Lawrence, Clelin Ferrell, and Isaiah Simmons enough to outscore Lawrence, Etienne, and Higgins.

It ain’t happening.

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Ray Lewis, and Warren Sapp. There wasn’t anyone like that on the field against Nebraska in 1995

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Ask those two who was the best QB they ever faced. That Miami team was loaded on defense in 94 and Nebraska beat them on their own field in the Orange Bowl. Nebraska of the mid-90s was not the same as their 80s/early 90s teams. Once Osborne started recruiting speed it was all over. Heck, Frazier was from Florida.

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That Miami team was loaded on defense in 94 and Nebraska beat them on their own field in the Orange Bowl.

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You’re right.

They were loaded on defense. Nebraska had 7 offensive points heading into the 4th quarter against Miami with four senior OL and a Pro Bowl FB on the field - none of whom returned in 1995 or were replaced with better personnel.

But what if that Miami team had been loaded on offense too? 2018 Clemson matched an even better D with an explosive offense.

You think 7 points in three quarters and 22 offensive points total would have been enough to outpace Lawrence, Etienne, Higgins, Ross, and Renfrow? Or specific to Miami, Clinton Portis, Andre Johnson, and Jeremy Shockey?

Because I don’t.

Nebraska’s style of offense was a poor matchup against a defense that could match their physicality and score on offense. That is why Osborne was 5-12 against Switzer and had a 7 game (nearly 8 game) bowl losing streak heading into the mid ‘90s.

Against a more balanced team with a physical identity (like 2001 Miami and 2018 Clemson) the lack of a top tier passing game would get exposed just like it did many other times.

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Nebraska of the mid-90s was not the same as their 80s/early 90s teams.

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Nebraska had a lot of players in the ‘80s and early ‘90s who were as good or better than the mid ‘90s players.

Turner Gill, Mike Rozier, Roger Craig, Irving Fryar, Tom Rathman, Dean Steinkuhler, Dave Remington, Steve Taylor, Broderick Thomas, Neil Smith, Johnny Mitchell, Will Shields, Trev Alberts, and others.

None of those guys take a backseat to the mid ‘90s players.

At the end of the day, saddling up with head case Lawrence Phillips and running into the teeth of three All-American defensive linemen backed by a future Butkus winner (with a DC very familiar with the Nebraska style of offense) while holding down Lawrence, Etienne, and Higgins enough to beat them isn’t… going.., to… work.

It worked against Kansas and Kansas State like it did for literally 25-30 years in a row. Osborne never lost to them.

It worked against the worst OU team in 30 years, even though Frazier, Phillips, and Green never saw the end zone and Nebraska didn’t score an offensive TD until the 4th quarter.

It worked against a tissue soft Florida team that was physically and schematically unprepared compared to previous bowl opponents.

But it ain’t working against 2018 Clemson.

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Are these in relation to the teams at the time or all-time? I mean, there is just no way a corn fed Nebraska team running the system and philosophies of 1995 are beating teams like 2019. They didn't have the DBs to guard all those wide receivers.

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Well of course they're comparing them to how they performed vs. their peers in that era vs. could '95 Nebraska beat '19 LSU. That's how ALL these lists are.

When putting together a Top 10 NFL receivers of all time list, seems pretty obvious to me Don Hutson would have to be somewhere in there because of the way he dominated in his era of the 30s and 40s.

But would prime Don Hutson do better against today's DBs than say...Jarvis Landry? Of course not.

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Well of course they're comparing them to how they performed vs. their peers in that era vs. could '95 Nebraska beat '19 LSU.

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Agreed but do think “peers” is a different term in recent years than it was back in the 20th century. Due to more nationwide recruiting, the top teams are more talented today and it’s harder to dominate them all.

People often say 1995 Nebraska and 2019 LSU beat X number of top ten teams. Well, let’s compare the talent of the 1995 and 2019 AP top ten teams by players selected in the spring draft:

Top 10:

1995: 2
2019: 9

First Round

1995: 4
2019: 20

Top 100:

1995: 14
2019: 45

Total Picks:

1995: 36
2019: 72

There were a hell of a lot more NFL-ready asskickers packed into the 2019 top ten than in 1995.