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how can the streak continue if the individual season wasn't legit

PJ Barnum commissioned B1G West championship rings after the 2019 season.

Wisconsin pounded them before this, and played in Indy.

<<<giggles>>>

back in the olden daze I could see this - example 1973
thank God for tie-breakers
Bo should have gone for two after the TD

The real problem in 1973 was that neither coach nor anyone else actually knew what would happen in the event of a tie. The conference should have had a policy in place such that Bo could have made that decision knowing what it meant. If they had, then Bo would logically either have known that a tie was enough to get his team to the RoseBowl and kicked the PAT or that he needed a win to get to Pasadena and gone for two.

I strongly believe that if Bo had gone for two then either tOSU or M would have won the 1973 NC instead of Notre Dame. Heading into that game the top ranked teams were:

• 9-0 tOSU
• 9-0 Bama
• 8-0-1 Oklahoma (tied USC in SoCal)
• 10-0 Michigan
• 8-0 Notre Dame
• 10-0 Penn State
• 9-0 LSU

That week:

• tOSU tied M, dropped to #3
• Bama beat LSU, moved up to #1
• Oklahoma beat Nebraska, moved up to #2
• Michigan tied tOSU, stayed #4
• Notre Dame beat Air Force, stayed #5
• Penn State beat Pitt, stayed #6

The next week:

• 10-0 Bama beat Auburn, stayed #1 at 11-0
• 9-0-1 Oklahoma beat OkSU, stayed #2 at 10-0-1
• 9-0-1 tOSU was idle, dropped to #4
• 10-0-1 M was idle, dropped to #5
• 9-0 Notre Dame beat Miami, FL and leapfrogged M and tOSU to #3 at 10-0
• 11-0 Penn State was idle, stayed #6 at 11-0

Those were all of the relevant contenders heading into the Bowls because #7 was 9-1-1 USC which had tied #2 Oklahoma in SoCal and lost closely to #3 Notre Dame in South Bend.

In the Bowls:

• 11-0 Bama lost 24-23 to #3 Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl.
• 9-0-1 Oklahoma must have been on probation because they didn't Bowl.
• 10-0 Notre Dame beat #1 Bama 24-23 in the Sugar Bowl.
• 9-0-1 tOSU beat #7 USC 42-21 in the Rose Bowl.
• 10-0-1 Michigan didn't bowl due to the Big Ten's Rose Bowl or bust rule.
• 11-0 Penn State beat #13 LSU 16-9 in the Orange Bowl.

Thus the final rankings were:

• 11-0 Notre Dame
• 10-0-1 Ohio State (tied #6 Michigan in Ann Arbor)
• 10-0-1 Oklahoma (tied #8 USC in SoCal)
• 11-1 Bama, lost to #2 Notre Dame in Sugar Bowl
• 12-0 Penn State
• 10-0-1 Michigan (tied #2 tOSU at home)

A hypothetical 11-0 tOSU or 12-0 Michigan with a win over the other one and the RoseBowl win over USC (historic for tOSU, assumed for Michigan) would likely have won the NC over Notre Dame whom both of them were ranked above before their tie.

Side note:
USC's schedule that year was nuts! They finished 9-2-1 but the three blemishes were:

• A 9 point road loss to NC Notre Dame
• A 21 point Bowl loss to #2 tOSU
• A tie at home with #3 Oklahoma.

They also beat final #12 UCLA .