CFB51 College Football Fan Community
The Power Five => Big Ten => Topic started by: medinabuckeye1 on April 15, 2025, 05:09:41 PM
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In the thread about consistency vs high-end we got into a tangent discussion of fortuitous timing and BYU's 1984 MNC is undoubtedly the greatest example of just a weird year.
In other threads @betarhoalphadelta (https://www.cfb51.com/index.php?action=profile;u=19) has posited that he never thought that Purdue could win an NC. I've always disagreed and 1984 is basically my reason why. It is probably more semantics than an actual disagreement because I think he would agree that, at least in theory, Purdue could have won an NC in the old system and I would agree with him that the actual chance was miniscule because they'd have needed to have an all-time great year and be lucky enough to have that all-time great year coincide with a year like 1984 when there were no great teams and all of the pretty good teams lost a game or two.
I'll do the top-20 (AP was only 20 back then) in this initial post then go through the major leagues below, the final top-20:
- 13-0 BYU, WAC
- 11-1 Washington, Pac10: Lost to #10 USC by 9 A
- 9-1-1 Florida, SEC: Lost to #18 Miami by 12 N, tied #15 LSU H
- 10-2 Nebraska, Big8: Lost to #6 OU by 10 A, Lost by 8 to Syracuse A
- 10-2 Boston College, IND: Lost by 1 to WVU and by 7 to PSU
- 9-2-1 Oklahoma, Big8: Lost by 11 to #2 UW Bowl, Lost by 17 to sub.500 Kansas A, tied Texas N
- 10-2 Oklahoma State, Big8: Lost by 14 to #4 Nebraska H and by 10 to #6 OU A
- 10-2 SMU, SWC: Lost by 9 to Houston H and by 6 to Texas A
- 9-3 UCLA, Pac10: Lost to #4 UNL by 39 H, Lost by 2 to Stanford H, Lost by 2 to Oregon H
- 9-3 USC, Pac10: Lost by 19 to #9 UCLA, Lost by 20 to #15 LSU, Lost by 12 to Notre Dame
- 10-2 South Carolina, IND: Lost by 17 to Navy A and by 7 to #7 OkSU Bowl
- 9-3 Maryland, ACC: Lost by 16 to Syracuse H, by 9 to Vandy H, and by 1 to PSU A
- 9-3 Ohio State, Big10: Lost by 5 to Purdue A, by 2 to UW A, and by 3 to #10 USC Bowl
- 9-4 Auburn, SEC: Lost by 21 to #3 UF, by 2 to #18 Miami, by 8 to TX, and by 2 to Bama
- 8-3-1 LSU, SEC: Lost by 8 to Notre Dame and by 2 to sub.500 MissSt and tied #3 UF
- 8-4-1 Iowa, Big10: Lost by 3 to PSU H, by 19 to #13 tOSU A, by 1 to MSU, by 6 to sub.500 Minny, and tied UW
- 7-3-2 FSU, IND: Lost by 1 to #14 Auburn H, by 12 to #11 USCe A, by 10 to #3 UF H, tied UGA Bowl
- 8-5 Miami, FL, IND: Lost by 2 to #5 BC H, by 2 to #12 UMD H, by 35 to #17 FSU H, by 8 to Mich A, and by 2 to UCLA Bowl
- 9-3 Kentucky, SEC: Lost by 26 to #15 LSU H, by 30 to UGA, and by 8 to #3 UF H
- 8-2-2 Virginia, ACC: Lost by 55 to Clemson H and by 11 to #12 UMD H, tied UNC and GaTech
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I'll start closest to home with the Big Ten, 1984 final standings with AP Final where applicable:
- 7-2/9-3 Ohio State #13, got as high as #2
- 6-3/7-4 Illinois not ranked at any time during 1984
- 6-3/7-5 Purdue got as high as #14
- 5-3-1/8-4-1 Iowa #16, got as high as #5
- 5-3-1/7-4-1 Wisconsin, got as high as #20 (remember only a top-20 then)
- 5-4/6-6 Michigan State
- 5-4/6-6 Michigan, got as high as #3
- 3-6/4-7 Minnesota
- 2-7/2-9 Northwestern
- 0-9/0-11 Indiana
No great teams is the theme here. This was during the Big Ten's brief experiment with playing 9 league games on a full round-robin schedule so each team played all the others.
The league title was pretty cut-and-dried with the Buckeyes winning outright but if the Buckeyes had lost to Michigan it would have created a 4-way tie between the two of them, Illinois, and Purdue. Not sure how the league would have broken that back then.
The Buckeyes won the league title but with two losses (PU, UW) and they also lost the Rose Bowl. In theory the Buckeyes were three plays from 12-0 and NC because all three losses were one-score games (by 5 in West Lafayette, by 2 in Madison, and by 3 in SoCal). The flip side of that coin is that the Buckeyes weren't all that good. If you played the season over again there is a good chance that Ohio State would beat Purdue and Wisconsin but lose to say Illinois and Michigan State.
Michigan started their season with a win over #1 Miami. That propelled them all the way to #3 (they had started #14) but the very next week they lost at home to Washington to drop back into the teens. A few weeks later they lost at home to the Spartans to fall to 3-2 and dropped out of the rankings for good.
Illinois (lost to IA, tOSU, M, and Stanford) and Purdue (lost to IA, IL, UW, Miami, and Virginia) were decent but not great.
Iowa started out ranked and won their first game to move to #5 but then lost at home to PSU by a FG and followed that up by getting drilled in Columbus (45-26) and wasn't a factor in the NC race after that.
Wisconsin had a rough start and was 3-3 in mid-October but finished with four wins and a tie in their final five regular season games to get them into the rankings then they lost to Kentucky in the HoF Bowl.
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we've had some great threads over the years (often within other threads) about the '84 season.
the weekly AP poll history in '84 is also a hoot to review.
A few noteworthy memories.
I attended that #1 Nebraska at Syracuse game in '84. Carrier Dome was in a frenzy. 17-9 defeat. 'Cuse took a safety at the end. Doug Dubose filled in for injured Jeff Smith at IB. It didn't matter, Craig Sundberg had a classic QB line for a power I team, 5-16-60-0-2 and then a couple badly timed fumbles, Cuse led 10-7 late, and put it out of reach with a TD with under 2 minutes. I don't think either team had much more than 200 total yards.
That OU v Texas game, both top 3, was one of the best I've ever watched in my impressionable years. So much rain, guys sliding all over that turf. Switzer had that great Beat Texas hat on. The refs were awful and made some horrific calls. some hideous special teams (also talk about a game that is decided differently with replay review). a lousy call on a clear INT really bails out Akers and he ends up kicking a FG for a 15-15 tie. Switzer was livid.
That OU loss at Kansas was such a shocking score to see on the ABC score updates with Jim Lampley.
Media leading up to Jan 1 bowl games were boldly talking about what had to happen in order for BYU to be overtaken at #1. It was like watching modern day cable news, the spin and talk during Jan 1. What was most notable to me anyways about the Orange Bowl was OU getting flagged for unsportsmanlike for wheeling out the Sooner Schooner during the game. Who the F were those refs and where had they been?
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1984 was South Carolina's best team ever, all the way up until Spurrier.
They were going to be ranked #1 for the first time ever, as they were #2 and #1 Nebraska lost....but the Cocks went limp, losing to 4-6-1 Navy by 17 points. Carolina has still never been ranked #1. Ever.
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Florida shut out that Syracuse team 16-0, albeit in Gainesville.
The Gators started the year 1-1-1, before firing HC Charley Pell for cheatin' 'n such.
Galen Hall went 8-0 the rest of the way, with blowout wins over Auburn and Georgia. Such things didn't happen for the Gators back in those days.
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I've asked my friend Harry Grimminger about his most disappointing moment as a Husker
he was a jr left guard on the 83 team that went for 2 in the orange bowl.
He says he most regrets a 4th and inches vs the Sooners in 1984 in Lincoln as a senior. Didn't score inches away with 5:32 left in the game) and came away with a 17-7 loss vs the Sooners.
The loss ended Nebraska’s 27-game conference win string and the Huskers’ 21-game home-field win string and kept NU from clinching a fourth consecutive outright Big Eight title.
The Huskers won the stats handily – 19 first downs to nine, 373 total yards to 201 – but four key turnovers gave the Sooners the breaks they needed.
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Here's an impossibly fortuitous nugget.....this thread led me to youtube to view some '84 Florida content. And during the scoreboard show before Florida vs FSU, this pops on the screen:
(https://i.imgur.com/v4ipnXt.jpeg)
They had viewers call in to vote if BYU was worthy of being #1. This is on Dec 1, a week after BYU completed their 12-0 regular season. On Nov 20, they leapt from 3rd to 1st, thanks to the weekend I mentioned upthread, with #1 Nebraska and #2 Carolina losing on the same day.
And to convert those totals to percentages, it's 45% YES to 55% NO.
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Normal long-distance charges likely applied. :57:
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Update:
(https://i.imgur.com/RQBUI60.jpeg)
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Update:
(https://i.imgur.com/RQBUI60.jpeg)
Always liked Jim Lampley, especially on boxing.
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very very few people felt BYU was the best team in the nation on Dec. 1st or Jan. 2nd
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Lampley was awesome in that role. The sounds of teletype, typewriters and dot matrix printers in the background. That was about your only tv source for real time scores and updates, until about 1989 when sportschannel and Headline News would produce a bu hourly segment featuring a 20something Van Earl Wright.
Some decent AM radio syndication at the time too.
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Since @FearlessF (https://www.cfb51.com/index.php?action=profile;u=10) is active in this thread we'll do the Big 8 next, final standings:
- 6-1/10-2 Nebraska, #4 got as high as #1
- 6-1/9-2-1 Oklahoma, #6 got as high as #2
- 5-2/10-2 Oklahoma State, #7 got as high as #3
- 4-3/5-6 Kansas not ranked at all during 1984 (same for the rest)
- 2-4-1/3-7-1 KSU
- 2-4-1/3-7-1 Mizzou
- 0-5-2/2-7-2 ISU
- 1-6/1-10 Colorado
Nebraska's league loss was more understandable, losing to Oklahoma but it was at home. Oklahoma's league loss was to Kansas and it wasn't some last second FG, the Jayhawks won that game 28-11, what? Oklahoma's OOC loss was understandable, 28-17 to Washington in the Orange Bowl but they also tied a decent but not great Texas team. Nebraska's OOC loss was, as @MarqHusker (https://www.cfb51.com/index.php?action=profile;u=41) described, to Syracuse in the Carrier Dome. My view is that both teams were pretty good but neither was great.
Oklahoma State's 10-2 finish included a Bowl win over USCe and it respectable but their OOC was complete crap and they lost to the only two ranked teams in the league (both by two scores) so they aren't in the NC conversation.
The rest of the league was hot garbage notwithstanding Kansas' shocking upset of the Sooners.
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Now for @OrangeAfroMan (https://www.cfb51.com/index.php?action=profile;u=58) 's SEC (remember this was before adding USCe and Arkansas:
- 5-0-1/9-1-1 Florida, #3
- 4-1-1/8-3-1 LSU #15
- 4-2/9-4 Auburn #14
- 4-2/7-4-1 Georgia
- 3-3/9-3 Kentucky, #19
- 3-3/7-4-1 Tennessee
- 2-4/5-6 Alabama
- 2-4/5-6 Vanderbilt
- 1-5/4-6-1 Ole Miss
- 1-5/4-7 MissSt
I want to start with Kentucky because they need to be dispensed with. Their ranking is just another example of voters voting by losses. Their overall 9-3 record looks good but it was a product of playing a complete crap OOC of Kent (finished 4-7), Indiana (finished 0-11), Tulane (finished 3-8), Rutgers (finished 7-3), and North Texas (1aa). Looking top down in the SEC, Kentucky:
- Lost by 8 at home to Florida
- Lost by 26 at home to LSU
- Did not play Auburn
- Lost by 30 at home to Georgia
The fluke here is that they kept it close with Florida, the Wildcats were not a good team.
Florida finished with three wins over ranked teams, they:
- Beat #14 Auburn by 21 at home
- Beat #17 FSU by 10 on the road
- Beat #19 Kentucky on the road by 8
Additionally, they started 0-1-1 then ripped off nine straight wins so there is an argument but
The argument against the Gators is that they were on probation, had to vacate their 1984 SEC Title, lost by 12 to Miami, and tied LSU.
LSU tied Florida, lost to a mediocre Notre Dame team, lost to a horrible MissSt team, and went to the Sugar Bowl in Florida's place due to probation. They got drilled by Nebraska.
Auburn had a really weird year. They finished 1983 11-1 and on a 10-game winning streak so they started 1984 at #1 but then lost their first two games (by 2 to Miami in Jersey and by 8 to Texas in Austin). That dropped them to as low as #20 but then they won six straight to get to 6-2 and back up to #11 before getting taken behind the woodshed in the Swamp. They also lost the Iron Bowl to a bad Alabama team and finished the season with a 6 point win over a mediocre Arkansas (SWC) in the Liberty Bowl.
Georgia was the only other SEC team to finish above .500 in the league but their league losses were 27-0 in the WLOCP and by two scores at Auburn. Additionally they lost OOC to USCe and GaTech then tied FSU in the Citrus Bowl.
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I don't remember. I was 6 years old :57:
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I recall after the Dawgs' run 1980-1983, I had the notion they had "arrived" and would remain significant as a power in CFB from that point. It was not to be the case of course. They started the season unranked (actually at 21 technically), just ahead of BYU. Auburn started at the top. UGA made it as high as 8th at 7-1 before losing to UF, Auburn, and GT, and then tying FSU in a bowl game.
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friggin Sooner Magic
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Moving on to the ACC, final standings with AP ranking where applicable:
- 6-0/9-3 Maryland, #12
- 5-2/7-4 Clemson* *This was vacated based on NCAA violations
- 3-2-1/6-4-1 GaTech
- 3-2-2/8-2-2 Virginia, #20
- 3-3-1/5-5-1 North Carolina
- 3-4/6-5 Wake
- 1-6/2-9 Dook
- 1-6/3-8 NCST
The no great teams theme continues. Maryland did go undefeated IN the league but they lost three OOC games. They lost at home to a mediocre Syracuse team and a bad Vanderbilt. They also lost on the road to a mediocre Penn State team. In the SunBowl they narrowly beat Tennessee. Also note that UMD and GaTech were the only two ACC teams not to play a full round-robin. Thus, UMD missed one of the better teams in the ACC.
Clemson looked great early with a win over a 1aa ApSt and a 55-0 thrashing of a Virginia team that ended up ranked but then they lost two straight (GA, GaTech). They then won five straight before losing their last two (UMD, USCe).
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Out on the West Coast, the Pac10:
- 7-1/9-3 USC, #10 got as high as #7
- 6-1/11-1 Washington, #2 got as high as #1
- 5-2/9-3 UCLA, #9 got as high as #4
- 5-2/7-4 Arizona not ranked during 1984
- 4-3/6-5 Washington State, not ranked during 1984
- 3-4/5-6 Arizona State, NR but started #13 and got as high as #12
- 3-5/6-5 Oregon not ranked during 1984 (same for the rest)
- 3-5/5-6 Stanford
- 1-7/2-9 Oregon State
- 1-8/2-9 California
One thing that stands out right away that we are NOT accustomed to in the modern era is the varying number of league games:
- 9 games, played every Pac10 team: California
- 8 league games, missed one: USC (OrSU), Oregon (Stan), Stanford (Ore), Oregon State (USC)
- 7 league games, missed two: Washington (UCLA, ASU), UCLA (Udub, Zona), Zona (UCLA, WSU), WSU (Zona, ASU), ASU (Udub, WSU)
The Pac did very well in the bowls with:
- #4 Washington beat #2 Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl 28-17
- #14 UCLA beat #13 Miami in the Fiesta Bowl 39-37
- #18 USC beat #6 Ohio State in the Rose Bowl 20-17
The flip side is that two of those were one-score wins so we might not want to read too much into those results.
Washington is hard to evaluate. The win over Oklahoma (Orange Bowl) is great as is the 11-1 final record but they lost to USC, missed UCLA, and played a crap OOC so they finished the year with only one win over a ranked (final) team, the Orange Bowl win. They scheduled Michigan and beat them in Ann Arbor but that sounds more impressive than it actually was considering that Michigan finished the year 6-6. OTOH, their nine point win in Ann Arbor is obviously more impressive than BYU's 7 point win in San Diego.
USC (LSU and Notre Dame) and UCLA (Nebraska) played good opponents OOC but they lost to them so that doesn't help. They each finished 9-3 with good moments and bad. More of the no great teams theme.
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Now for the league that @utee94 (https://www.cfb51.com/index.php?action=profile;u=15) 's team played in back then, the SWC:
- 6-2/10-2 Southern Methodist, #8
- 6-2/-5 Houston
- 5-3/8-4 Texas Christian
- 5-3/7-4-1 Texas
- 5-3/7-4-1 Arkansas
- 4-4/5-6 Baylor
- 3-5/6-5 aTm
- 2-6/4-7 TxTech
- 0-8/1-10 Rice
Just like the rest of the leagues, the SWC had a bunch of pretty good teams and no great ones. SMU lost to Houston and Texas, played a crap OOC, and beat a mediocre Notre Dame in the Aloha Bowl.
Houston was the league Champion due to the H2H over SMU but they lost OOC to Washington (badly)and to a horrible Louisville team then lost the Cotton Bowl to BC (badly).
Texas is notable because they impacted the overall race with a win over Auburn and their tie with Oklahoma but they lost in the league to Houston, Baylor, and aTm and got drilled in the Freedom Bowl by Iowa.
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Now for the league that @utee94 (https://www.cfb51.com/index.php?action=profile;u=15) 's team played in back then, the SWC:
- 6-2/10-2 Southern Methodist, #8
- 6-2/-5 Houston
- 5-3/8-4 Texas Christian
- 5-3/7-4-1 Texas
- 5-3/7-4-1 Arkansas
- 4-4/5-6 Baylor
- 3-5/6-5 aTm
- 2-6/4-7 TxTech
- 0-8/1-10 Rice
Just like the rest of the leagues, the SWC had a bunch of pretty good teams and no great ones. SMU lost to Houston and Texas, played a crap OOC, and beat a mediocre Notre Dame in the Aloha Bowl.
Houston was the league Champion due to the H2H over SMU but they lost OOC to Washington (badly)and to a horrible Louisville team then lost the Cotton Bowl to BC (badly).
Texas is notable because they impacted the overall race with a win over Auburn and their tie with Oklahoma but they lost in the league to Houston, Baylor, and aTm and got drilled in the Freedom Bowl by Iowa.
That was a really awful Texas team with some pretty good individual talent. That season was really the end for Fred Akers, it just took a couple more years to get the ball rolling. It was also the beginning of a decade+ downturn for the program. Dark times indeed.
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Here are the Independents that finished ranked and a couple others that had notable wins:
- 10-2 Boston College, #5
- 10-2 South Carolina, #11
- 7-3-2 Florida State, #17
- 8-5 Miami, FL, #18
- 7-5 Notre Dame
- 6-5 Syracuse
More good but not great.
Boston College's record is gaudy but they lost to WVU and Penn State both of whom finished unranked and their only win over a team that did finish ranked was a squeaker over #18 Miami.
South Carolina's only win over a team that finished ranked was a 12 point home win over #17 FSU and, as mentioned upthread I think by @OrangeAfroMan (https://www.cfb51.com/index.php?action=profile;u=58) they got drilled by a sub.500 Navy team and lost their bowl to OkSU.
Florida State played a schedule that nobody could complain about but they lost to most of the good teams on it. They did have a 35 point win over Miami in the Orange Bowl (stadium not game) but they tied Memphis?, tied UGA in the Citrus Bowl, and lost to Auburn (by 1 at home), USCe (by 12 on the road) and Florida (by 10 at home).
Miami started off great with an upset of preseason #1 Auburn in the Kick-off Classic and giving Florida what would be their only loss (by 12 in Tampa) but then in their next three games they lost by 8 in Ann Arbor, won by 11 in West Lafayette, and got obliterated at home by FSU. After that they won five straight but the only decent team in that stretch was Notre Dame and when they started playing better teams again they lost their last three to UMD (at home by 2), BC (at home by 2), and UCLA (Fiesta Bowl by 2).
Notre Dame had notable wins over SEC quasi-Champion LSU and PAC Champion USC but they also lost to Purdue, lost badly to Miami, lost by two scores to Air Force, and lost the Aloha Bowl to SMU.
Syracuse had HUGE wins and BAD losses. They beat ACC Champ Maryland and Big8 co-Champ Nebraska but they got shutout at home by Rutgers, got shutout in the Swamp, lost to WVU, lost to PSU, and lost to BC.
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So, it seems the better teams had both good wins and surprising losses, more than is typical.
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So, it seems the better teams had both good wins and surprising losses, more than is typical.
What I think makes 1984 weird is two things:
First there simply weren't any really great teams. You can make arguments for some but there are valid counterarguments for all of them:
- Washington: Gaudy 11-1 record, solid win over OU in the Orange Bowl. Ok, but ONE win over a team that finished ranked.
- Florida: Three wins over final ranked teams and shutout the Syracuse team that beat Nebraska and Maryland. Ok, but they lost to a Miami team that finished 8-5 and tied a mediocre LSU and their three wins over ranked teams were over teams ranked in the teens not actual contenders.
- Nebraska: Obliterated UCLA, solid win over SEC Quasi-Champ LSU, loss to good OU team is understandable. Ok, but they lost badly to Syracuse and finished with two losses.
- Boston College: 10-2 record. Ok, but only win over a ranked team was close over #18.
- etc etc
- Ohio State: Three plays from .500 and a blowout win over Iowa. Ok, but finished with 3 losses and only one win over a ranked team (#16 Iowa).
Second, none of the large collection of good but not great teams was lucky enough to win all the close ones. On an individual basis it is REALLY unlikely that any given team will but in a large group it is very likely that some team will. BYU obviously doesn't win the title if Washington wins at USC or if Florida beats Miami and LSU or if Nebraska beats Syracuse and doesn't get dropped by the Sooners or if Ohio State makes one more play each against Purdue, Wisconsin and USC.
It is just REALLY unusual to have both no dominant teams AND no lucky teams among the better teams in the sport and that opened the door enough for BYU to sneak through.
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One thing you all are leaving out about the BYU team is that they were on a multi-year roll at that point.
(https://i.imgur.com/Za1dQPs.png)
Starting in 1979 they won 11 games, and three years before that they won 9 games every year. So they won 9,,9,9,11,12,11,8*,11,13,11. The 8-win season was the only won of those years where they won less than 9 games out of that period. So just like everything else in CFB, what happened last year and the immediate time before that affects everything.
They were the TCU of their day.
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I'm still pissed at Michigan for letting them win.
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One thing you all are leaving out about the BYU team is that they were on a multi-year roll at that point.
(https://i.imgur.com/Za1dQPs.png)
Starting in 1979 they won 11 games, and three years before that they won 9 games every year. So they won 9,,9,9,11,12,11,8*,11,13,11. The 8-win season was the only won of those years where they won less than 9 games out of that period. So just like everything else in CFB, what happened last year and the immediate time before that affects everything.
They were the TCU of their day.
Think of the QBs that they had over that time period.
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Think of the QBs that they had over that time period.
Marc Wilson
Jim McMahon
Steve Young
Robby Boscoe
Pretty great run there.
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Marc Wilson
Jim McMahon
Steve Young
Robby Boscoe
Pretty great run there.
And Ty Detmer at the tail end of that period.
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I blame Michigan
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Think of the QBs that they had over that time period.
Way before my time.
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I'm not sure why there's resentment towards BYU or even blame on Michigan. It was the old poll system and as this thread indicates, nobody gave voters a very good reason to ignore BYU.
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It's just problematic when everyone agrees your #1 team isn't the best team, but votes them #1 anyway (not that everyone did).
Final AP poll #1 votes?
38 BYU
16 Washington
6 Florida
.
USA Today/Coaches:
28 BYU
11 Washington
1 Florida
1 Oklahoma
.
It was a "yeah, but" lucky outcome for BYU.
Washington only had 1 loss.......yeah, but they didn't even win their own conference.
Florida won 9 straight.......yeah, but they're on probation
I'm confident that if UW had won the PAC or Florida wasn't on probation and won the Wherever Bowl vs Whoever State, either would have been voted NC.
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Here are the Independents that finished ranked and a couple others that had notable wins:
- 10-2 Boston College, #5
- 10-2 South Carolina, #11
- 7-3-2 Florida State, #17
- 8-5 Miami, FL, #18
- 7-5 Notre Dame
- 6-5 Syracuse
More good but not great.
Boston College's record is gaudy but they lost to WVU and Penn State both of whom finished unranked and their only win over a team that did finish ranked was a squeaker over #18 Miami.
South Carolina's only win over a team that finished ranked was a 12 point home win over #17 FSU and, as mentioned upthread I think by @OrangeAfroMan (https://www.cfb51.com/index.php?action=profile;u=58) they got drilled by a sub.500 Navy team and lost their bowl to OkSU.
Florida State played a schedule that nobody could complain about but they lost to most of the good teams on it. They did have a 35 point win over Miami in the Orange Bowl (stadium not game) but they tied Memphis?, tied UGA in the Citrus Bowl, and lost to Auburn (by 1 at home), USCe (by 12 on the road) and Florida (by 10 at home).
Miami started off great with an upset of preseason #1 Auburn in the Kick-off Classic and giving Florida what would be their only loss (by 12 in Tampa) but then in their next three games they lost by 8 in Ann Arbor, won by 11 in West Lafayette, and got obliterated at home by FSU. After that they won five straight but the only decent team in that stretch was Notre Dame and when they started playing better teams again they lost their last three to UMD (at home by 2), BC (at home by 2), and UCLA (Fiesta Bowl by 2).
Notre Dame had notable wins over SEC quasi-Champion LSU and PAC Champion USC but they also lost to Purdue, lost badly to Miami, lost by two scores to Air Force, and lost the Aloha Bowl to SMU.
Syracuse had HUGE wins and BAD losses. They beat ACC Champ Maryland and Big8 co-Champ Nebraska but they got shutout at home by Rutgers, got shutout in the Swamp, lost to WVU, lost to PSU, and lost to BC.
West Virginia was actually pretty solid in 1984. After knocking off BC and Penn St in back to back weeks WVU was 7-1 and ranked in the top 10. Only loss was a 20-17 game to a good Maryland team. But they steadily had starters dropping like flies as the season progressed and by the end it caught up to them. Lost to UVA, Rutgers, and Temple to end the season 7-4. Got healthy in the month leading up to the Bluebonnet Bowl and thumped a good TCU team 31-14. Finished #20 in the Coaches Poll.
Nehlen has said that was probably the worst luck with injuries he ever had in a single season. Helped turn a potentially great season into merely a good one.
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I'm not sure why there's resentment towards BYU or even blame on Michigan. It was the old poll system and as this thread indicates, nobody gave voters a very good reason to ignore BYU.
(https://i.imgur.com/QCwZ7ya.png)
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The old poll system, to me, was "fun". Accurate? Usually not aligned with my opinion. But it added a fun element to discussions and interest. I recall getting the Tuesday paper (?) and looking to see if my team jumped in the polls, or dropped out. Being 12th was better than 16th. Top Ten was "a thing".
Your team would have a huge win, even on TV(!!!!), and a few days later it would jump from maybe 6th to 2nd. Or not. And folks would go on Facebook and argue.
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The 2 biggest problems with it was
1 - WHEN you lost mattered WAY too much
2 - the voters ranking teams based on number of losses
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Well, take two hypotheticals, Team A goes 0-2 out of the gate, and finished 12-2, Team B goes 12-0 and finishes 12-2. Similar schedules and opponents.
Team B is probably ranked #1 at 12-0, drops to maybe 5 after loss one and drops to maybe 7 after loss 2.
Team a is ranked say 10 preseason and drops out, but climbs back in and is ranked say 9th at 10-2. Yeah, they end up higher.
I still viewed it as fun, given no system is "perfect" (e.g., aligned with what I could think).