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

As an Ohio State fan, I'll always respect that 1994 Penn State team because of what they did to Ohio State.  They beat the Buckeyes 63-14 and it honestly wasn't even that close.  

I went to that game. The thing I remember the most, is it taking forever to get out of Happy Valley. I had three pissed off Buckeye fans with me and we just sat in the parking lot, then we just sat on the road, and then we just sat on the entrance ramp.

Yah, '94 PSU was a great team.

The stassen site is still there.  Just google 'stassen college football.'

Thanks! 


Weird, it wasn't working a few days ago but I see it is now.  

1999 was an interesting year for UW. Early road loss to Cincy, then a home loss to Michigan. Coming off of a Rose Bowl championship, the season seemed lost. And then it wasn't.

Any of you Buckeyes get to the Badger game that year?

My wife and I made it for that one. Best road game ever.

Time for a quick drive by from me, too...

Easy to answer best season from my perspective, like Badge, it's got to be 1993 (my sophomore year, and I went to see the Rose Bowl live). Best team? Hard to argue with '93, but hat tips to '99--that was a beast of a team in a very strong Big Ten, 2010 and 2011--both really talented teams that were *this* close to true greatness, and 2017: all that and more, 13-1, Orange Bowl victors (going away from a good Miami squad). Oh, to have that conference championship game back...compare that six point loss to Ohio State to the seven point loss to a really bad Minnesota team in '93--which team was actually better? Pretty good argument for the 2017 version.

Most disappointing? There are a handful to choose from:
1995: 4-5-2 (that's right, two ties!), two years removed from the Rose Bowl win, and finished the season with the last tie in the history of college football, a 3-3 snoozer at home against Illinois over the Thanksgiving weekend. Wisely, I spent Thanksgiving with a friend's family near Milwaukee, and we made no effort to get back for that game.

2001: also two years removed from a Rose Bowl win, a team that nearly beat a really strong Chip Kelly Oregon team at Autzen (the Ducks finished the season #2, with a Fiesta Bowl win), and beat Ohio State (turns out they weren't so good), and nearly beat a good Michigan team, but got blown out by Indiana (I don't care if it was "good" Indiana--it was still Indiana), lost to Fresno State (!!!) and Illinois, and lost by two scores to Michigan State and Minnesota. Ouch. The other (with '95) sub-.500, post '93, Alvarez season.

2008: Bielema's biggest trainwreck. The team finished with a winning record, but had way too much talent to play as poorly as it did. (7-6, loss to FSU in the Champs Sports Bowl). That team had five offensive lineman who had meaningful NFL careers, some solid wide receivers, including Gilreath and Nick Toon, TE(-ish) Travis Beckum, as well as Garrett Graham and Lance Kendricks were all good, but oh, it was the defense: O'Brien Schofield and Matt Shaughnessy were beasts on the line, as were DeAndre Levy and Jonathan Casillas at linebacker, and in the backfield Chris Maragos, Jay Valai, Aaron Henry, and Allen Langford were all solid. And for all of that, the team was completely mediocre. Maybe they weren't world beaters, but they should have been a whole bunch better than they were.

Honorable heartbreak mention for Bielema's last team, 2012: went 8-5, 4-4 in conference, finishing third in the division. So pretty mediocre, right? Because Ohio State and Penn State were ineligible for post season play, Wisconsin played and destroyed Nebraska in the Big Ten championship game, earning the right to play in the Rose Bowl--under Alvarez because Bielema decided to try pork--where it lost to Stanford by one score (Stanford finished the season ranked #6). So pretty mediocre. But oh, how that team lost. By three at Oregon State. By three at Nebraska (but see the conference championship game rematch: UW 70, Nebraska 31). In OT to Michigan State. In OT to Ohio State. In OT at Penn State. And the Badgers spent most of the second half of the Rose Bowl down 17-14, until a late field goal made it 20-14. Still they had time, but an interception ended their hopes. It was just that kind of year.

That's not wrong.

The Big (eight) XII and SEC have a lot of well-earned glory there. The Pac-10/12 is more like the B1G: it's USC and everybody else (honorable mention for Washington's half of a title in '91, I think).

The ACC fairs a little better than the B1G, though not by much (FSU and Miami won a lot as independents, although I guess the ACC gets credit for picking FSU up in time for 1993--Penn State also had a lot of wins, but only one MNC, as an independent over that period--and a near miss as a new member of the Big (11) Ten in 1994).

Boy, 1990 was an all-time BLIP year. 
One NC winner had a loss, tie, AND phantom win (5th down).
The other NC winner tied a 6-4 team and only had to win the Citrus Bowl.
The Heisman winner threw 28 INTs.
The runner-up only scored 6 total TDs. 
.
The Heisman, Thorpe, Doak Walker, Butkus, and Sammy Baugh award-winners all played west of Denver, CO. 

It really was, especially in the case of Georgia Tech. At least Colorado was coming off a big season and expected to be in the NC hunt.  GT dropped out of the sky in 1990.  From 86-96 that was the only year GT finished ranked,  one of only 4 winning seasons they posted, and one of only two bowls they made during that 11 year stretch. 

If you researched past national title teams I’d imagine it would be difficult to find one as out of nowhere as that team, given the school’s recent history and long term reputation up to that point.

Yeah, the only other recent surprises might be 02 OSU and 06 Florida.  Well I guess 2000 OU, too - those group of HCs that won NCs in their 2nd seasons.  But yeah, there's a wide chasm between GT and programs like OSU-UF-OU.  

Looking at the '90 Jackets, their offense was basically the same as '89, but their pass D allowed far fewer passes to be completed and shored up the run D.  However, after losing their first 3 games, the did finish 7-1 - a precursor to their successful '90 campaign.  Their NC season schedule was tougher, but they improved so much on D that they were able to navigate it anyway.