Perhaps the BEST B1G Forum anywhere, here at College Football Fan Site, CFB51!!!

Are we supposed to be discussing teams besides our own? Seems like we should. 

If so, another vote for the Fighting Synders from Manhattan. Nobody in the history of major college ball covered as much ground as Wild Bill IMO. KSU was flat broke when he started, and didn't have much hope of generating alot. I think he got them to the No. 1 ranking before they'd raised the funds for an indoor practice facility, and it was just a big, white toolshed, the likes of which some DII schools have nowadays. 

Dude was a master at hiring ACs too. They ran a ton of great coaches through there, and were schematically cutting edge for a long time. Dude re-invented his offensive identity three times during his tenure. 

That said, their fans are aholes.

I'd have to add to my group of hard nosed teams the teams that did pretty well from programs like NW and Stanford (which of late checked both boxes) and Duke and even Vandy.  I could add Purdue and even Georgia Tech (but won't).  If I'm watching a game on Saturday where I don't care who wins, I'll usually "pull" for the dog or the better academical kind of program.

I'm probably forgetting some solid academical types that are often pretty bad.  UVA and UNC and Cal?  Eh.

I liked the late 80s Clemson teams.  Hard-nosed, running offenses and top 5 defenses.  If I believed in 2nd-favorite teams, they'd have been mine at the time.  They were the bullies of the ACC until FSU came along.

To me it diminishes what he accomplished. Sure, he didn't cheat that we know of (highly doubtful anyway), but there's very little chance he brings a Big Ten program back from the dead, like Tiller or King Barry did. A lot of those kids he had would not get in. Forget JuCo too. Not happening.

I completely get your stance, but to my eyes it doesn't diminish a thing.  Wild Bill stocked up on JuCos and borderline academic-eligible players, but a lot of his players were also borderline FBS caliber as well.  Manhattan is not an easy place to sell, even with considerably relaxed academic standards compared to many of its P5 peers (K-State is probably one of the 10 weakest P5 schools academically - at least it's not far off if it's not).  Before Snyder arrived in the late 80s, K-State had won less than 40 percent of its all-time games.  Today, it's still 100+ games below .500 all time, but it's in a LOT better shape than it was before 1990.  There were whispers of even permanently dissolving the football program for decades of ineptitude.  Don't think it wouldn't have happened, that's exactly what happened to in-state cohort Wichita State.

Virginia Tech’s Mike Vick quarterbacked seasons. Nobody quarterbacked an with arm AND feet like that before. It was a blast watching Tech through their undefeated 1999 (regular) season, having never cared to make a point to watch the Hokies before. Yes, Beamer land the foundations (and put up the drywall and paved the parking garage) for what we’ve known of Virginia Tech’s past quarter-century of winning, but it was Vick who electrified the big marquee that for miles around gave the program attention it’d never come close to having before.

For me it has to be 1993 Ohio State for a number of reasons:

First, that was my freshman year at Ohio State so it was the first cfb team that I saw a lot of in person.  

Second, that season really marks the beginning of a still ongoing 25+ year stretch of Ohio State generally being a top team.  Consider, in 1993 the Buckeyes finished only #11.  Looking back, that isn't great because in the 25 years since (1994-2018) the Buckeyes have finished in the top-10 17 times.  At the time, however, they hadn't finished ranked higher than that since 1986.  

Prior to 1993 the Buckeyes hadn't really been a NC contender in my living memory, at least not a very serious one.  Back then a second loss was almost always the end of any NC hopes.  Ohio State's second loss prior to 1993:

• 1992:  Oct 10 to ILL
• 1991:  Nov 2 to Iowa
• 1990:  Oct 6 to ILL
• 1989:  Oct 7 to ILL
• 1988:  Oct 1 to ILL
• 1987:  Oct 31 to MSU
• 1986:  Sep 13 to Washington
• 1985:  Nov 16 to Wisconsin
• 1984:  Oct 27 to Wisconsin
• 1983:  Oct 15 to ILL
• 1982:  Oct 2 to FSU
• 1981:  Oct 10 to Wisconsin
• 1980:  Nov 22 to Michigan

Woody's last great team was in 1975.  They slaughtered UCLA in early October in Pasadena and won in Ann Arbor to finish the regular season 11-0 and ranked #1 but then lost a rematch against UCLA in the RoseBowl to barely miss out on an NC.  I know these things from books and google because I was born in 1975 so I obviously have no recollection of that season.  Woody's last three years (1976-1978) were not very good.  

In Earle Bruce's first year, 1979, Ohio State finished the regular season 11-0 and #1 then lost by a point to USC in the Rose Bowl.  I'm sure I "watched" the game in the sense that I know my dad watched and I'm sure I was in the living room but I was four years old.  I do not remember the 1979 season or the 1980 RoseBowl.  

The next seven years of Earle Bruce's tenure the Buckeyes finished with three losses every year.  Those seasons (1980-1986) I was 5-11 years old.  I have memories from that era.  I remember the Rose Bowl after the 1984 season but I wouldn't have been able to tell you what year it was without looking.  

1987-1992:
Earle Bruce's last year (1987) was bad, the only redeeming thing being a major upset of the Wolverines.  Cooper's first year was a sub .500 disaster and his next four (1989-1992) included two unranked finishes along with a #21 and a #18.  

As for nebraska... 1993 was a season I really enjoyed.  You could just tell they were on the verge of something.   That combination of hope and overachieving is memorable.