It's December 9th, 1993. The regular season is over, and the playoff teams are set. Who are you predicting will win it all???
1 FSU vs 4 ND
2 Nebraska vs 3 WV
-
-
-
The teams:
#1 FSU, 12-1, ACC Champions
1st in scoring offense
1st in scoring defense
21st in strength of schedule
The Seminoles were ranked #1 the entire season, except for the week following their only loss @ 2nd-ranked ND in the latest "Game of the Century". FSU faced six ranked opponents, and beat the other five all by double-digits. The victims included #21 Clemson, @#13 UNC, #3 Miami, #15 Virginia, and @#7 Florida. The Noles held seven teams to under 10 points and scored over 50 in four contests.
Led by Heisman-winner Charlie Ward at QB, the "fast-break" offense put up 320+ yards passing and 220+ yards rushing per game. Ward completed nearly 70% of his passes and only 4 INTs. RB Jackson averaged 6.2 ypc and backup Dunn 7.5. Four FSU receivers had 500+ yards on the year.
Defensively, teams couldn't complete 50% of their passes on the year and FSU allowed under 100 yards rushing per game as well. Led by LB Derrick Brooks, there was speed all over the field and points were just hard to come by. The special teams were unremarkable, as much balleyhooed K Scott Bentley only hit on 65% of his kicks.
-
#2 Nebraska, 11-0, Big 8 Champions
7th in scoring offense
13th in scoring defense
23rd in strength of schedule
Nebraska's road to the playoff involved only 2 games against ranked teams, but the Huskers passed both tests - a four-point win @ #20 Colorado and a 14 point win over #16 OU at home. It wasn't all easy for Big Red, as they had 1-point wins @ unranked UCLA and @ Kansas. The option offense, however, did put up 40+ points six times on the year.
QB Tommie Frazier produced an impressive TD/INT ratio for an option QB (12/4), but completed less than half his passes. RB Calvin Jones surpassed 1,000 yards and backups Phillips and Benning were just as good.
The defense was solid, if not spectacular. The pass D kept opponents under 50% completions on the seasons, but the Huskers weren't so strong vs the run. They didn't produce a lot of turnovers, but they didn't allow many points, either. LB Trev Alberts led the team in sacks, by far.
The special teams were solid, but Bennett was a better punter than a kicker (55% on FGs).
-
#3 West Virginia, 11-0, Big East Champions
14th in scoring offense
19th in scoring defense
54th in strength of schedule
The wild card in this playoff, the Mountaineers began the season unranked, but just kept winning. They wound up beating 3 ranked teams: #17 Louisville by 2, #4 Miami by 3, and @#11 BC by 3. Those last two wins shot WV up the rankings from 9th to 3rd.
WV had a balanced offense with a strong running game (213 yds passing/234 yds rushing). They played 2 QBs during the year, in Kelchner and Studstill. Neither threw the ball very often, but both were efficient and combined for 20 TD passes and 7 INTs. RB Robert Walker provided 1,250 yards on the ground with 11 TDs. Their two 700-yard receivers both had high yards-per-catch averages, so they had plenty of big plays in the passing game (Kearney led country in YPC).
WV picked off over 20 opponents' passes, but gave up a lot of yardage through the air as well. They were better against the run. Todd Sauerbrun, their All-American punter, kicked FGs for most of the year, but hit under 50% of them.
-
#4 Notre Dame, 10-1, Independent
8th in scoring offense
21st in scoring defense
15th in strength of schedule
The Irish, winners of the "Game of the Century" vs #1 FSU, lost their only game of the season the following week at home against #17 Boston College on a last-second FG. Besides those two games, ND won it's other contest vs a ranked foe @#3 Michigan by 4 points.
Notre Dame's offense relied heavily on the run, and they stopped the run as well. QB McDougal threw for efficient numbers, but only had 7 TD and 5 INTs. But RB Becton (1000 yds), FB Zellars, and RB Kinder all had 500+ yards and good averages. They liked to use FB Edwards in goalline situations (40 car, 8 TD). WRs Lake Dawson and Derrick Mayes were the biggest threats deep.
On defense, ND struggled in pass D, allowing a 62% completion rate and over 225 ypg. Opponents found running on them tough, though, at under 90 ypg.
The Irish ran 3 kicks back for TDs (1 KO, 2 PR). The kicking game was good, but they used 3 punters, none of which averaged 40 yards.
-
-
-
The Award Winners:
QB Charlie Ward, FSU (Heisman, O'Brien, Unitas, Maxwell, Camp, All-American)
LB Trev Alberts, Nebraska (Butkus, AA)
OT Aaron Taylor, ND (Lombardi, AA)
LB Derrick Brooks, FSU (AA)
DB Jeff Burris, ND (AA)
DB Corey Sawyer, FSU (AA)
-
-
-
#5 in 1993 was an 11-0 SEC team. Auburn, led by Tommy Bowden, was on probation. They beat #4 Florida and #11 Alabama in close games, but otherwise played a really weak schedule. Just an interesting tid-bit.
