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The '96 Huskers wouldn't have beaten FSU in that matchup IMO. Our most dynamic player on defense (Terrell Farley) had been booted off the team and our top 2 IBs (Ahman Green and DeAngelo Evans) had chronic injuries. Evans season was actually done after the CGG.

Still good enough to put away #10 Virginny Tech by 20 in the Orange Bowl, but FSU was a different animal.

Agree..   UNL was not at FSU's level in '96.

So after that debacle, I go straight to my room and back then I was a sports nut, I mean NUT.  I knew every player on every team in every major sport.  So without needing any TV talking heads or anything, I wrote down the 4 things that needed to happen for Florida to still win the NC.
1.  Texas had to beat Nebraska
2.  Florida had to beat Alabama
3.  Ohio State had to beat ASU
4.  Florida had to beat FSU.

I pretty much made the same list right after Ohio State's loss to Michigan.  My list was:

• #2 Florida State loses to Florida.  
• #1 Florida loses to Alabama.  
• The Colorado/Nebraska winner loses to Texas.  
• Ohio State beats #3 ASU in the Rose Bowl.  

Like I said earlier, on the drive home from the RoseBowl we were rooting for Florida but we wanted a really close win in a really sloppy game.  Even with that, we knew it wasn't going to happen because #3 wasn't realistically going to beat #1 and end up behind #4.  

After Florida lost to Florida State I figured I needed this:

• Florida loses to Alabama.  
• Nebraska loses to Texas.  
• Florida State loses to their bowl opponent (maybe Colorado?)
• Ohio State beats ASU.  

I'm pretty sure that would have done it.  If both Florida and Nebraska had lost their CG's I'm not sure who FSU's bowl opponent would have been.  The top-3 after the CG's would have been:

• 11-0 Florida State
• 11-0 Arizona State
• 10-1 Ohio State

After that it gets really difficult to guess:

• previous #3 Nebraska would have been 10-2 coming off of a loss to nr Texas
• previous #4 Florida would have been 10-2 coming off of a loss to #11 Alabama
• previous #6 BYU would have been 13-1 coming off of a win over Wyoming (I think).  
• previous #7 Colorado would have been 10-2
• previous #8 Penn State would have been 10-2
• previous #9 Tennessee would have been 9-2
• previous #10 Northwestern would have been 9-2
• previous #11 Bama would have been 10-2 coming off of a win over #4 Florida

There are a few things I don't remember now.  One is I don't know if BYU was a party to the BCA agreement.  I'm not sure that it matters but it might.  It is possible that Bama's win over Florida would have leap-frogged them all the way up to #4.  That might have made sense because UNL/UF/Colo/PSU/TN were not conference champions.  If so then the BCA CG (Orange Bowl) would have been between #1 FSU and #4 Bama while the Rose Bowl was between #2 ASU and #3 Ohio State.  

I predict that Fro's 96 thread won't be as good as this one.

So long as he doesn't have to post a pic....

I predict that Fro's 96 thread won't be as good as this one.

Who needs enemies with fellow posters like you guys

To me, Texas had no shot vs Nebraska. 

no one knew about the curse at that point

Isn't that interesting though, and we all do it, how a team gets that benefit of the doubt, season-to-season?  The '96 Huskers ran for over 100 yards less per game than in '95.  Moreover, they averaged nearly 2 yards less PER CARRY in '96.  That's enormous.  So while the defense remained great, the offense was a far cry from the year prior.  
Meanwhile, Florida tightened things up on defense in '96 and the offense was still great.  



This reminds me of a study I want to do on peaks within programs.  Not by season record, but by pass/run offense and pass/run defense.  Like how long does it take opponents to find a way to combat a part of the game you've learned to dominate and/or do the players leaving or coming in dictate success in a particular portion of the game?  Does either situation occur more often than the other?  Is there an average number of seasons a peak lasts?

And connected to that, possibly, is how certain "great" players may hinder team success.  When the HC caters to his top player - just because you have a stud RB, should you give him a ton of carries when you otherwise wouldn't?  If you have a great WR, do you pass too often because of him?  Things like that.