CFB51 College Football Fan Community
The Power Five => Big Ten => Topic started by: OrangeAfroMan on November 30, 2018, 02:56:16 AM
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What if there was a playoff in 1986? Who would win?
The teams:
#1 Miami
11-0
Independent
Ranked #1 most of the season. Beat all 3 ranked teams they played by double digits (@ 13 Florida, 1 OU, 20 FSU). Great passing game for the era, great pass defense as well. Led by Heisman winner Testaverde at QB. Top target was Michael Irvin. Safety Bennie Blades had 10 INT. Strong return game. Only glaring weakness was FG kicking (made 10 of 21 FG att).
#2 Penn State
11-0
Independent
Very weak schedule - played 1 ranked opponent. Won @ #2 Alabama by 20. Did not allow any opponent to score 20 points all season. Unremarkable passing game, but really differientiated itself both running the ball and stopping the run. Opponents only ran for 70 yards per game. PSU ran for an average of 241, led by DJ Dozier. Defense also intercepted 20 passes.
#3 Oklahoma
10-1
Big 8 Champions
Finished #1 in scoring offense and scoring defense nationally. Played 3 ranked opponents: beating #4 UCLA by 35, lost @ #2 Miami by 12, and won @ #5 Nebraska by 3 to win the conference. Held 7 opponents to single-digit scores. Miami was the only team to score over 17 points on the Sooners. OU rarely passed, but ran for over 400 yards per game. FB Carr averaged 5.9 ypc, while the 2 wingbacks both averaged over 7 ypc. TE Keith Jackson averaged 28 yards per catch. Strong in kicking game.
#4 Michigan
11-1
Big Ten Champions
Ranked in top 6 all season. Beat all 3 ranked teams they played (#20 FSU by 2, #8 Iowa by 3, @ #7 OSU by 2). Extra game played @ Hawai'i. Lost to 6-6 Minnesota at home. QB Harbaugh regressed from impressive '85 season, throwing 10 TD and 11 INT. RB Jamie Morris had 1,000 yard season and also served as kick returner. Five game outcomes were 3 points or less, with UM going 4-1 in those games.
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Semifinals:
1 Miami vs 4 Michigan
2 Penn St vs 3 Oklahoma
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Previous Voting Results:
'83 - Nebraska
'84 - Washington/Oklahoma
'85 - Oklahoma
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I'll go with Penn State. I think they would shut down OU's run game and beat Miami (like they did).
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I think Michigan was the best team in 1985, but wasn't included. The 1986 team wasn't nearly as good, but got in.
I know the Canes beat them that year, but that was in September, in the Orange Bowl. Sooners ended the year with a road win in Lincoln, then demolished Arkansas in the Orange Bowl.
I'll take Oklahoma over Miami in a rematch.
Funny how many rematches we get back when good teams used to actually schedule each other OOC.
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That OU defense was pretty fantastic.
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It wouldn't have been the Wolverines.
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I'll go with Penn St because they won over the Canes, but I'm not sure the Canes could beat the Sooners again or Penn State could win over the Canes again
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I voted Penn State, but if the Canes wore business suits instead of camo maybe they'd have pulled it off
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really disliked the Canes back at that time
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Yep, the Jimmie Johnson-era Canes were easy to despise.
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Was not a fan of the Co-Canes back in those days. Still hard, even with Officer Friendly as their coach.
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I'm not over it yet
still don't care for Jimmy Johnson
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Was not a fan of the Co-Canes back in those days. Still hard, even with Officer Friendly as their coach.
I was present at the 1991 Cotton Bowl. I will always, always loathe Miami. And both of their fans, too.
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I was present at the 1991 Cotton Bowl. I will always, always loathe Miami. And both of their fans, too.
With such a pro-Horns crowd, what was it like in the stands, seeing that happen? Were old ladies fainting? I can't imagine.
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I think OU would win this. Remember, guys, in this exercise, the bowls never happened. So if PSU beating Miami was a big upset in reality, then how likely would it happen here?
Miami spanks Michigan. I think Penn St, who is used to giving up so little on the ground, reacts poorly to OU gashing them some, and the floodgates open.
And I think these OU teams in 85, 86, and 87, who went 0-3 vs Miami.....they'd have to beat the Canes sometime, right? So I'll pick it here.
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PSU.
They have the advantage over Miami because they beat them. OU-PSU might have been a tossup but I don't think OU wins vs. Miami. Miami always demolished the wishbone so I don't think OU would have won.
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I'm gonna bet that Testicleverde isn't throwing 5 INTs in another hypothetical game vs the Canes.
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I'd encourage everyone to simply look at the resumes and ignore what happened in the actual bowl games each year. Otherwise there's no point to the exercise.
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I'd encourage everyone to simply look at the resumes and ignore what happened in the actual bowl games each year. Otherwise there's no point to the exercise.
I agree the bowl games are irrelevant for seeding, but I think they serve as additional data for who you think would actually win. Particularly back when the teams didn't necessarily play each other.
I also think people are capable of distinguishing between what actually happened and what they think would happen again.
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yup, those bowl games happened
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Sigh.
Not if we're pretending it's early December and are given these 4 teams by the playoff committee. Is this not clear? Why did you think none of the blurbs included bowl results?!?
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dude, ya gotta understand who you're dealing with here
;)
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Sigh.
Not if we're pretending it's early December and are given these 4 teams by the playoff committee. Is this not clear? Why did you think none of the blurbs included bowl results?!?
That couldn't make less sense. Who would win? Ignore data though. Can we factor in how motivated they would be? I heard Testaverdes girlfriend dumped him, so Miami would have laid an egg against anyone.
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That couldn't make less sense. Who would win? Ignore data though. Can we factor in how motivated they would be? I heard Testaverdes girlfriend dumped him, so Miami would have laid an egg against anyone.
We're looking back. We're putting ourselves back in that time, predicting what would happen given the knowledge we would have had at that time. What's wrong with that?
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Because I don't get why we would artificially limit our knowledge. It's not like we are saying that the bowl results have to repeat themselves. But considering how the bulk of the data points (games against lesser opponents) are useless, I think that removing one of the few relevant data points in creating an opinion as to who would win doesn't make sense to me. I would pick Miami to beat PSU in a rematch. I think people are equally capable of evaluating what is an upset vs. what revealed a meaningful result.
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We're looking back. We're putting ourselves back in that time, predicting what would happen given the knowledge we would have had at that time. What's wrong with that?
nuttin wrong with that a tall
if that's the way ya wanna look at it
if that's the case I'd switch my vote to Miami
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nuttin wrong with that a tall
if that's the way ya wanna look at it
if that's the case I'd switch my vote to Miami
I guess I specified it on the first, 1983 thread only. I should've posted it at the top of each successive thread. My bad.
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know your audience
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I also think the thread title should be changed too. You aren't asking who think would win a playoff, you are asking who we would have thought would win a playoff if you had asked us to fill out a bracket back in November of 1986.
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That's a pretty long title.
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That's fine, it's just two totally different questions.