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

quote:

---

2020 Bama is a joke.

Werent they the ONLY team without a Covid player lost the whole year?
SO Covid didnt make it to Tuscaloosa???

---

Exactly, total garbage and shady AF

quote:

---

13. Alabama 1979

---

USC and Ohio State were pretty good that year too.

quote:

---

Werent they the ONLY team without a Covid player lost the whole year?

---

Saban had to be quarantined for almost the entire week of Georgia prep due to a false positive and was at home sitting on his couch for the Iron Bowl after an actual positive test.

quote:

---

Why is 2019 LSU ranked higher than 2020 Alabama?

---

Opt outs and beating a team in the championship with 6 wins. Pretty easy to see why.

quote:

---

All that being said, 2018 Clemson did only play 2 teams that finished the season ranked in the top 25 in the regular season and those were barnburners per the final score

Incinerating an NC State team that barely missed the top 25 at the end notwithstanding, I am curious how you address this nit being picked - not in any bad faith more just noting

---

I tend to look at rosters, strengths and weaknesses, and (perhaps most of all) context more than raw numbers and scores. I like to understand why things happen.

For example, a lot of people put 1995 Nebraska over 1971 Nebraska historically due to the latter’s close call against OU. Well, does it matter that 1971 was one of OU’s best teams and 1995 was one of its worst? Because I think it does.

People look at the 1995 Nebraska team and how they hung 62 pts. on Florida. But does it matter that the 1987-1994 Nebraska teams faced five future NFL Hall of Famers on D and two others who won the Butkus Award when UF had nothing at all like that? Because I think it does.

Does it matter that the 1982 Nebraska team might have won the national title if not for a trip to Penn State to play two top ten picks in Todd Blackledge and Curt Warner while the 1995 team played Pacific, who ceased to have a program a few months later? I think it does.

The 1995 team played the season on easy mode by old school Nebraska standards. No Switzer, no McCartney, no conference championship, no one OOC, and no bowl defenders with a bust in Canton. Just put another notch in the 36 game winning streak against “top ten” Kansas and 29 game winning streak against “top ten” KSU (and all the legendary badasses those two teams had) and run over a finesse bowl opponent a year away from its peak.

But anyway, regarding 2018 Clemson, I think the early struggles happened due to an awkward QB situation. If Sunshine had been the established starter on the first day of practice - like Frazier at Nebraska, Dorsey at Miami, Burrow at LSU - they probably don’t have a close game all year.

But if Clemson had played 2019 LSU’s schedule, running through the year unscathed would have been a lot more difficult. LSU might have been the only team that could have gone 15-0 against that slate,

quote:

---

will always have a ton of respect for that team. Their schemes were incredible. Tough football players, too. Miami had something like 13 first round picks and 38 overall, but Nebraska just felt like a better team.

---

1994 Miami wasn’t anything special outside of Sapp and Lewis. Nothing like 13 first rounders.

That said, the 1994 Nebraska team was staring at the misery of an 8 game bowl losing streak and the loss of a national championship down 8 pts. heading into the 4th quarter of the Orange Bowl. There was a lot of pressure in the moment. I admire the effort and composure to come back and finish the job.

quote:

---

For example, a lot of people put 1995 Nebraska over 1971 Nebraska historically due to the latter’s close call against OU. Well, does it matter that 1971 was one of OU’s best teams and 1995 was one of its worst? Because I think it does.

---

I maintain the 1971 Oklahoma team was the greatest team to not win the natty

quote:

---

People look at the 1995 Nebraska team and how they hung 62 pts. on Florida. But does it matter that the 1987-1994 Nebraska teams faced five future NFL Hall of Famers on D and two others who won the Butkus Award when UF had nothing at all like that? Because I think it does.

---

1993 Nebraska came so close, played that Orange Bowl against FSU in shitty conditions, Trev Alberts nearly won that game for the Huskers himself. Some controversy surrounds the officiating on FSU's game-winning drive and Nebraska "almost" won it at the very end with that shanked FG attempt.

quote:

---

I maintain the 1971 Oklahoma team was the greatest team to not win the natty

---

Certainly one of them.

quote:

---

The dominance itself is understated, not overstated. Nebraska's full 1995 season was 638 points scored to 174 allowed.

---

This lacks the context of the old Big 8 when Nebraska (and Oklahoma until Switzer’s departure) dominated.

Below is a comparison of high scoring outputs by Nebraska and Miami from 1983-1993 before Nebraska broke through and won a national title.

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

Nobody was better than Nebraska at style points. Nebraska put up way more large scoring outputs than a team that was objectively better than they were during that span. Miami won four national titles from 1983-1993 (easily could have been more) and was 3-0 against Nebraska. And when they weren’t beating Nebraska, they were beating Nebraska’s bully, OU.

I’m not impressed with the video game scores because they were always there. Nebraska regularly blew up the scoreboard against overmatched competition during the ‘70s, ‘80s, and ‘90s.

But…

They struggled to score against teams physical enough to stifle their running game. Osborne was 2-11 against Switzer when both were top ten, and he famously struggled against FSU and Miami.

These OU, FSU, and Miami defenses had way better personnel than Nebraska faced in 1995.

Even in 1994, when Nebraska had four senior offensive linemen (including Wiegert and Stai) and a Pro Bowl FB, it took until the fourth quarter to break double-digit points against a Miami team that really just had two great players and not much else on either side of the ball.

Simply put: It’s very difficult to run the football into an elite defensive front in 2-3 back alignments with a limited passing attack. If you pair the elite front with an offense that can apply any pressure at all, you’re going to have problems.

There’s a reason no one runs offenses like that anymore. You’ll get your teeth kicked in against defenses like 2021 UGA.

If you had a scheme so good you could beat 2018 Clemson, 2019 LSU, 2020 Bama, and 2021 UGA with a QB, FB, two WR’s, and a TE who would never even see an NFL practice field - at all - you would be a very wealthy coach.

What Nebraska ran offensively worked in the ‘80s and ‘90s, but they also weren’t playing teams with three DL in the first 17 picks of the draft or all the first rounders Bama and UGA have had. And when they did play defenses that had a little bit of star power, they didn’t score much.

And Nebraska wasn’t hurting for talent prior to the mid ‘90s either.

quote:

---

And you wanna talk about coaching or lack thereof on Nebraska's '95 schedule?

Nebraska's second game that season was Nick Saban's very first game as a college head coach and Nebraska won 50-10. That's the same Saban who'd go on to win seven national titles and land in the College Football Hall of Fame; he just hadn't gotten there yet.

---

Not so much X’s and O’s as the players Switzer and McCartney had in their systems.

When McCartney left after 1994 so did Kordell Stewart, Rashaan Salaam, and Michael Westbrook. Some of the best players in school history.

Did the 1995 Nebraska team play anyone in the regular season like Switzer’s OU or McCartney’s Buffs?

The answer is no.

quote:

---

Faulting the '95 team for not playing in a game nobody in their league was scheduled to play isn't a fair knock on what they did,

---

Yes, it is.

1995 Nebraska only played 12 games. If they had played a conference championship or playoff game or semifinal game (or whatever) and won a game 17-16 on a last minute pick six, people would look at them differently.

The entire reason 1996 Nebraska didn’t have a chance at a national championship in the bowl season was because they lost a Big 12 championship in a game they didn’t have to play the previous season.

The more times you have to play, the more likely you are to show vulnerability somewhere along the line. And if the objective is to win every game comfortably so a bunch of dumbasses on the Internet can argue that you’re the GOAT, it’s better to play fewer games.

quote:

---

And get out of here with that Hall of Fame BS.

---

Deion Sanders, Cortez Kennedy, Derrick Brooks, Ray Lewis, and Warren Sapp weren’t too bad in college either, bro.

They were a hell of a lot better than anyone 1995 Florida had on D.

quote:

---

Florida's 1995 offense…

---

This is where you lack context.

Nebraska’s kryptonite in the Osborne era was a physical defense.

You don’t beat the 1985 Bears by trying to run over Mike Singletary. You beat them with a quick passing game like the Dolphins had with Marino.

Similarly, you don’t beat Nebraska with pass happy finesse football. You beat them with studs up front on D that can match their physicality. Because if you can do that, they’re not going to score much.

In the 13 games Osborne and Switzer played with top ten teams, Nebraska scored 0, 14, 10, 17, 17, 24, 14, 17, 7, 7, 17, 7, 7.

That’s how you beat Nebraska. Run defense first.1994 Miami wasn’t as good of a team as 1995 Florida, but they were a better matchup for Nebraska because they had a good run defense. And they had opportunities to win in spite of a pedestrian offense.

Now, you take a D like 2018 Clemson with a bunch of nasty All-American defensive linemen (with Venables coaching them) paired with a great offense and Nebraska’s going to have problems. Their lack of a conventional, explosive passing game would get exploited.

I know everyone thinks Tommie Frazier played his whole career and no one ever talked him, but he ran a 4.75 40 at the combine and rushed 10/35 yards against the only first round defender he faced all season with the Heisman on the line.

I know everyone thinks Lawrence Phillips was supernatural, but he was a frontrunner, extremely impulsive (mentally ill, really), and not really the guy you want to bet the farm on to show competitive character and grind out tough yards and overcome adversity against a GOAT level D.

Probably because people only remember the Auburn game.

I’m biased but not having 2013 FSU on this list is wild. Only 3 points behind 2019 LSU in total points scored with 1 less game played. Team was loaded with NFL talent. Tied record for largest margin of victory against a ranked opponent (63-0 against Maryland).

I know 15-0 is a good trump card, but I will contend to this day that the 2021 Georgia team was better than 2022.

Yes, they had the one loss, thanks to generational-level performances by Bryce Young (Heisman-winner) and Jameson Williams in the SECCG, but dear God, look at every other game that team played that year. The only other game that was within 10 pts was the season opener against Clemson.

The talent level of the 2022 team was insane, but now go add to it Jordan Davis, Devonte Wyatt, Nakobe Dean, Lewis Cine, Jamaree Salyer, Zamir White, George Pickens and James Cook and you have the 2021 roster (minus Starks).

It might be the last true super-team in CFB history.