CFB51 College Football Fan Community
The Power Five => Big Ten => Topic started by: Cincydawg on January 12, 2022, 08:48:14 AM
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Post it here. I would say 1942, but then ...
You could also post your team's most disappointing year ...
This is from a fan's perspective, not necessarily the best team, but you could opine there as well.
Hey. It's the off season already.
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Pretty easy for me, 20005 with Vince Young.
I really loved the 2008 Longhorns with Colt McCoy as well.
1990 was a fun year (until the Cotton Bowl). That was my freshman year in college and Texas had been pretty down for 6 or 7 years, then had that unexpected run.
And 1998 was good, Mack Brown's first year, Ricky Williams' Heisman.
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Best for me?
1993. No-brainer.
Worst for me (and everyone else)?
2020. No-brainer
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Hmmm. 2017 was pretty satisfying. So was 2009, just because they stopped a “slide”
Honestly, 2018 might have bummed me out more than 2020, though 2020 was a real slow bleed. Honestly, 2008 was the worst slog, but that also spoke to being less jaded and younger.
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Pretty easy for me, even if you split it into UM/MSU fan hoods. 1997 for Michigan, 2013 for Michigan State.
So, let me take those off the table, because they are so obvious.
For Michigan, which would be 1984-2004 (although 1990 was the first I remember), I think it's a tossup between 1991 and 1999. 1999 had the back to back losses to MSU and Illinois in the middle, but recovered and beat Alabama in OT in the Orange Bowl. But I'm going to lean 1991. They went 10-2, and both losses were ugly, but losing ugly to Florida State and Washington in 1991 was not the worst thing. It was my first UM Rose Bowl experience, and I remember after Desmond Howard's Notre Dame catch, we stopped playing catch in the backyard, we started trying to exclusively throw diving catches to each other after school.
MSU, being 2005 to present, 2021 actually absolutely has to be in the hunt. But, as fun as Kenneth Walker was, there's just a different feel to having a guy on campus for a year, and then leaving. 2015 resulted in a CFP, but that year was more of a walking heart attack than anything. Beat Oregon by 3 on a late 4th down overthrow; led Central Michigan by 6 with 5 minutes left; beat Purdue by 3; beat Rutgers by 7; beat Michigan on the trouble with the snap play; trailed Indiana in the 4th quarter; lost late at Nebraska; beat OSU on a walk off field goal; beat Iowa in the CCG in the final minute. I think it's 2010. It seemed like Dantonio was building towards something. He ended MSU's 4 year bowlless drought with a season ending comeback win against Penn State in 2007; then moved up to a NYD Bowl in 2008; but the wheels sort of fell off in 2009; with bad losses to CMU and Minnesota, and only getting bowl eligible with a comeback win at Purdue. But then 2010 started with low expectations, until they got the Little Giants OT win over Notre Dame. Two weeks later they upset Wisconsin, with Dantonio at home recovering from a heart attack, and followed that up with a blowout win at Michigan. They ran into a buzzsaw at Iowa, but needing a road win in Happy Valley in the final week to win their first Big Ten title in 20 years, they delivered.
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Easy for me 1969 OSU national Champs. Listening to most games on the radio, watch the replay on Sunday. Then having all the family gathered around the TV for the Rose Bowl where we beat Orange Juice Simpson. Childhood memories are the best
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RR I was but a lad but remember it well - 2002 is right there because of the 34 yr wait.The browns or Indians weren't giving me much in the rooting interest dept
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Easy for me 1969 OSU national Champs. Listening to most games on the radio, watch the replay on Sunday. Then having all the family gathered around the TV for the Rose Bowl where we beat Orange Juice Simpson. Childhood memories are the best
This was before my time.
RR I was but a lad but remember it well - 2002 is right there because of the 34 yr wait.The browns or Indians weren't giving me much in the rooting interest dept
I also have to go with 2002.
I was born in the mid-70's so really don't remember any of Woody Hayes' teams or even Earle Bruce's great year in 1979 that came up just short. After that the Buckeyes were generally pretty mediocre for most of the 1980's. Coach Earle Bruce famously lost exactly three games every year for I think seven straight years. My recollection begins somewhere in there but those seasons kinda blend together in my memory because they were all about the same, good but not great.
Then there were the dark times: Bruce's last year was a mess except for the upset win over Michigan and after that Cooper's first five years were a disaster. In addition to not being very good overall the Buckeyes went 0-4-1 against TTUN from 1988-1992.
My freshman year at Ohio State was 1993 which is convenient because the Buckeyes have been on an incredible tear since 1993. I was on campus for five seasons (1993-1997) and of those I'd have to say 1996. The loss to Michigan (Cooper's 8th in 10 tries) obviously sucked but the Buckeyes still ended a LONG Rose Bowl drought. My parents, brother, and I drove to that Rose Bowl and had great seats for a classic game. The Buckeyes beat undefeated and #2 ranked Arizona State on a late TD 20-17. Then on the drive home we listened to the #1 FSU vs #3 UF game hoping for a sloppy and terrible looking Florida win, LoL.
1998 may well be the best overall team in my lifetime but they lost to Michigan State (coached by none other than Nick Saban) and just missed the inaugural BCSNCG.
2002 had everything. New (second year) coach, first trip to the BCSNCG, close games seemingly every week, a David vs Goliath feel to the NCG, and a double-OT win over Goliath in said NCG.
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1983 until the 2-point conversion try
1994,1995 are better than 97 in my opinion
1971 - greatest Husker season ever if you can remember it. I can barely
1971 - game of the century vs the Sooners - Orange bowl dominance of Bear and Bama - Heisman for Johnny the Jet
Larry Jacobson ….Outland Trophy, presented to the outstanding guard or tackle in the nation by the Football Writers Association of America; Vince Lombardi Trophy finalist.
Rich Glover …….John L. Young Trophy, presented to the Outstanding Intercollegiate lineman by the Gridiron Club of Washington, D.C. National Lineman of the Week by the Associated Press for his play against Oklahoma; Vince Lombardl Trophy finalist.
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2002
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1996, easy.
But 1991 and Florida's first official, kept, non-secret-double-probation SEC championship was special. Spurrier was Spurrier, but he lucked into a loaded defense upon his arrival. Jerome Bettis messed up the ending, though.
I liked the 2008 NC more than the 06 one, because in 06 we sort of came out of nowhere. 08 was more fun, too, because the OU offense was built up as a juggernaut, but we held them to 14 points.
As far as non-NC seasons, I was too young for the 83-85 teams....the 01 Gators were special, going 10-0 with the starting RB and 0-2 without him. If that same exact season happened today, Grossman would win the Heisman.
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1995, I saw all but one in person, they trailed for about 9 game minutes, all games were decided by halftime and they smoked the hell out 4 T 10 teams. Didn't allow a sack all season and made Spurrier quite uncomfortable.
True, more giddiness watching '94 and '97 teams but I won't witness anything like that team again.
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And yes, I was in attendance at the Washington St. game
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Hmm. 1988 was the best team but I was 12 and didn’t appreciate it enough and the memories are aren’t as vivid. That leaves 93 and 05 for me. Both equally unexpected great seasons.
93 played a better schedule and won some exciting games but getting hammered by Florida was a tough way to cap it.
05 came out of nowhere. I had very low expectations for that team. Then White and Slaton exploded on the scene in an epic comeback against Louisville and that started a fun 3 years. And that team finished better with a great Sugar Bowl win against Georgia. WVU’s first major bowl win. So, yeah, 05 for me.
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Ohio State 2002
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Hmm. 1988 was the best team but I was 12 and didn’t appreciate it enough and the memories are aren’t as vivid.
Interesting. I would say age 12 was peak sports following age for me. I was old enough to get it, but too young to be distracted by girls. I think I would do better on mid 90s sports trivia than any other era.
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Interesting. I would say age 12 was peak sports following age for me. I was old enough to get it, but too young to be distracted by girls. I think I would do better on mid 90s sports trivia than any other era.
Yeah, a couple things contributed to that. I didn’t appreciate how rare or hard that was, especially for a school like WVU. I think in my mind WVU finally was playing like I thought they should have been all along. I didn’t understand the haves and have nots like I do now.
Also, they just weren’t on tv that much back then. I have memories of watching 4 games and then the bowl game against ND made 5. That leaves 7 games untelevised. There may have been more but I’m just going by memory. My dad and I would listen on the radio every week but we’d be watching another game on tv or washing the car or whatever so I wasn’t always super engaged to the radio.
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And yes, I was in attendance at the Washington St. game
I remember watching a replay of that game some years later and noticing a mangy kid named Ryan Leaf making a tackle covering a punt. If memory serves Jeff Mackovicka fumbled on the opening drive inside the Wazzu 20, and then some speedy skinny back Madu busted a 85 yd td run to put Nebraska in a early 7-0 hole. He might have gained 3 more yards that day. That was pretty much the only stress Nebraska had on the field during the regular season.
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When I was about 13-16, I could probably name every starting player on every team of the 3 big sports, aside from a handfull of offensive linemen.
I tried getting into hockey, but I just couldn't.
I was the only one from my group of sports nerd fanatic friends who actually played football, though. Although, many a concussion occurred when we'd play pickup football at the field by my house. No protection, no holding back.
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So NOW we know what happened to you.;)
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Ha!
I was kind of unfair when it came to playing football with my friends. I was the heftiest one, but was in shape from playing HS football. They made a rule that whoever didn't pick first got the next 2 picks.
I was not a fan of that rule.
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Obviously 2000 for Purdue. Beat Michigan, beat OSU, win the Big Ten, and go to the Rose Bowl.
A runner up would be the 1998 season. 1997 announced that Purdue didn't suck, but 1998 was a strong season and the bowl win over KSU was a heck of a lot of fun, and something that nobody was really expecting.
Worst? The entire 4 years of the Darrell Hazell era. That was not only the worst coaching era of my lifetime for Purdue football, that was historically the worst coaching era EVER for Purdue football.
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Worst? The entire 4 years of the Darrell Hazell era. That was not only the worst coaching era of my lifetime for Purdue football, that was historically the worst coaching era EVER for Purdue football.
Hazell is a coach I find fascinating because he was a sign of how we approach the assessment hiring of small school coaches and extending big school coaches so incorrectly.
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1992 holds a special place in my heart. a young kid just getting into the sport, first title since the legendary bear bryant, arguably the best d in cfb history, and some of the most iconic plays in bama and cfb history (the strip, technically non-plays as it was negated by penalty), the parades and fanfare after... just oozes good memories and nostalgia, but i barely remember most of it.
2009 was also really great. first title since 1992 and the late 90-00's coaching and probation issues, wasn't sure we'd ever get back there. so many things i wasn't sure i'd ever see for bama happened that season. bama played (and won) in the rose bowl again, bama winning a title again, and first heisman. i also happened just have just graduated from bama and went to most games that season, including the rose bowl. tons of fun memories and probably one of the most underappreciated bama teams by bama fans. everyone just thinks of gmac being the qb and not being what we're used to now, but he was really good at what we needed him to do that season. and also beat a stacked uf team with sr tebow leading it in seccg and had one of the gutsiest games and plays in seccg with his tip toe down the sideline for a first down.
2020 i also have fond memories of the team and our season, but not the cfb season as a whole. but that bama team did something never done, played all sec regular season, 11 straight sec games including the seccg (and the only 2 teams not faced were the worst teams record wise that season) the faced nd and osu in the cfp, going undefeated in one of the most dominant seasons in cfb history vs arguably the toughest schedule in cfb history, beat 3 top 5 teams, 4 top 10, and 5 top 15, all end of season rankings. and were 1 late score (under 2 minutes left) in seccg from beating all those teams by 2 tds or more. had 3 heisman finalists, including a non-traditional position winner, and a ridiculous amount of other awards. set and/or broke multiple sec, ncaa and cfp records. this team really should be regarded as one of the all time greats and in the convo for best ever with 95 'skers, 01 'canes, etc. i'd have loved to see what this team could have done with a normal season. truly a special team with a special season that's tainted by something awful and completely out of their control.
if you're wondering about worst season, easily 2000. started out preseason #3, season opened at ucla and first series we force a punt and freddie milons took it back to the house. that's literally the only good thing i remember about that season. ended up winning only 3 games and also just after the season was when the means infractions came to light and we were under ncaa investigation. i remember being in hs and one of my best friend's dad was head coach for a non-football team at bama and when that crap came out we all asked him and he said the university/ad doesn't seem worried about it. lol maybe they should have been. just a complete shitshow of a season and the lead in to the worst period in bama history outside of the 1950s.
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Hazell is a coach I find fascinating because he was a sign of how we approach the assessment hiring of small school coaches and extending big school coaches so incorrectly.
Yeah, it was not a good stretch. The previous AD, Morgan Burke, and the university Presidents he worked under, were not the ones who wanted to join the "college football arms race". Burke did a lot of good--he hired Tiller, Painter, he did a lot for the non-revenue sports and facilities, but it was clear that spending with the big boys on football wasn't his thing.
Purdue tried to follow the Alvarez->Bielema "HC in waiting" thing. They'd done it successfully with Keady and Painter, and then tried to do it with Tiller and Hope. They were able to snag Hope for bargain-basement prices because he had no better options, but he'd had previous success as our OL coach, and Tiller wanted him.
Well, Hope failed. Against weak OOC competition including yearly FCS schools, he was able to put together somewhat middling records and the fan base was livid because we were getting discount results which we attributed to paying discount prices.
When Hazell was hired, Burke finally "opened the pocketbook" which made fans happy. He had only been a HC for two years, but actually taking Kent State to a bowl game was something to point to as a rising "up and comer". I was openly critical of the hire on one sense though--he was a Tressel disciple and I wasn't sure he'd figure out how to win with Tressel methods and a Purdue talent level. But I was also willing to give him the chance to prove me wrong. And for all the damage he did to the program on the field (and via recruiting), one thing I'll say about Hazell is he was an exemplary face of the program off it.
But he couldn't recruit, and the results on the field were quite literally the worst in Purdue's history. The talent hole he dug left a huge task for Brohm, and it's taken years for him to actually get this roster to a competitive level.
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So if we are talking worst season as a fan, it was probably 1978, Art Schlichter's freshman year.
All the talk about Ohio State having a True QB for the first time, not just another RB that could throw. Still remember vividly the 19-0 blow out by Penn State on Opening day. And of course it all ended with Woody throwing the punch that got him fired.
I am still relatively convinced if they had beat UCLA for 1975 National Championship he would have retired with Archie graduating. Of course College coaches are a different breed maybe I am wrong.
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I was a little young to understand what was going in in 1969 (I was only 5 yrs old), but I vaguely remember my dad listening to the games on the radio.
The 1975 season is probably my earliest memory of following Ohio State and having a good understanding of it. I remember they beat UCLA by a pretty good margin early in the season and then were to face them in the Rose Bowl. I remember my dad stating that "We beat them easily last time, we should smoke them again" or something to that affect. Anyway, it didn't pan out that way and I was pretty bummed about that.
The 1979 season was Earle Bruce's first season and was a great one until the one point loss in the Rose Bowl to USC where Charles White ran for over 200 yds. That was a disappointing ending to a great season where no one thought the Buckeyes would do much.
The 2002 season was such a nail biter every week that it seemed like they could have lost to almost anyone after M.Clarett hurt his shoulder. Never the less, knocking off Miami in the Fiesta bowl for the NC, was thrilling and got the monkey of their back.
However, I cannot find more satisfaction than the 2014 season. Losing your starting QB before a down is played, then losing the 2nd string QB, who was in contention for the HypesMan in a tight game against TTUN and having to rely on a 3rd string QB with every limited game experience and what appeared to be a bad attitude in the process, made that season all the more improbable. Then they have a teammate come up missing and later found deceased just before the Big Ten title game in which they are big underdogs was a gut punch.
But that last 3 game run has to be one of the best 3 games series in team history if not all of CFP history. All three of those teams featured either a HypesMan trophy winner or finalist only to be upstaged by a lesser known and not very hyped running back in all three games. And then finally beating a good SEC team in a bowl game.
I have to say that 2014 has to be my favorite. Not sure it was the best, but most satisfying.
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As for the worst teams in my lifetime, I will refer to the Cooper years. Nuff said.
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So if we are talking worst season as a fan, it was probably 1978, Art Schlichter's freshman year.
All the talk about Ohio State having a True QB for the first time, not just another RB that could throw. Still remember vividly the 19-0 blow out by Penn State on Opening day. And of course it all ended with Woody throwing the punch that got him fired.
I am still relatively convinced if they had beat UCLA for 1975 National Championship he would have retired with Archie graduating. Of course College coaches are a different breed maybe I am wrong.
I was born in 1975 so I have no recollection of either the 1975 or 1978 seasons but that 1975 RB loss to UCLA is one of the most frustrating in tOSU history. The Buckeyes had destroyed that very same UCLA team in that very same stadium a few months earlier and were ranked #1 so the game should have been nothing more than a confirmation of tOSU's NC but it was not to be.
Worst season as a fan for me is a toss up between:
- 1999, 6-6: The team was phenomenal in 1998, went 11-1, and finished #2 it the polls for the second time in three years (also 1996). I expected SOME drop-off but had high hopes that were not met. To be fair, the Big11Ten was absolutely LOADED that year. Wisconsin was unranked when they beat tOSU, finished #4. Michigan was #10 when they beat tOSU, finished #5. Michigan State was #19 when they beat tOSU, finished #7. Penn State was #2 when they beat tOSU, finished #11. Minnesota was #24 when tOSU beat them, finished #18. Illinois was unranked when they beat tOSU, finished #24. Purdue was #18 when tOSU beat them, finished #25. In total that is seven Big11Ten teams and one OOC (Miami,FL) that tOSU played that finished ranked and tOSU went 2-6 against them plus UCLA was #14 at game time. If they hadn't had such a brutal schedule this team might have gone 8-4 or even 9-3. If the schedule had included IU and NU (3-5 and 1-7 in conference) instead of UW and MSU (7-1 and 6-2) then the Buckeyes would have probably been 8-4/5-3 and if they hadn't been in the Kickoff Classic against Miami,FL they'd have been 8-3/5-3 and gone to a pretty decent bowl.
- 2004, 8-4: 8-4 isn't a bad record but the team went 25-2 over the previous two years, won the NC in '02, and finished #4 in '03. We didn't expect to lose four games in 2004. Also because I drove to Evanston for the NU game that year and that is the ONLY time in my lifetime that NU has defeated tOSU in football.
- 2011, 6-7: In the spring the 2011 team was expected to continue where it had left off. The Buckeyes had won the league and finished the previous six seasons (2005-2010) in the top-10 including five of the six in the top-5 and hadn't lost more than three games since 2004 nor more than four since 2001 (Tressel's first year) so at that point we (as fans) were just used to it and expected it every year. The team started out by beating Akron 42-0 so everything looked fine. Even when they looked questionable in a 27-22 win over Toledo the next week and a loss at Miami,FL the week after that it still looked like they might be able to keep their BigTen and Top-10 streaks going. The highlight of the season was a thrilling win over top-10 Wisconsin which was sandwiched between wins at Illinois and vs Indiana but after that the bottom fell out. The Buckeyes were 6-3 after the IU win but lost their last four games (PU, PSU, M, UF) to finish below .500 for the first time since John Cooper's first year (1988). After almost 25 years we (as fans) just didn't think that sub .500 years ever happened in Columbus.
Earle Bruce's last season (6-4-1 in '87) and John Cooper's first season (4-6-1 in '88) were about as bad as 1999 and 2011 but less was expected of those teams so it wasn't as bad from a fan's perspective because the gap between expectations and results was not as severe.
if you're wondering about worst season, easily 2000. started out preseason #3, season opened at ucla and first series we force a punt and freddie milons took it back to the house. that's literally the only good thing i remember about that season. ended up winning only 3 games and also just after the season was when the means infractions came to light and we were under ncaa investigation. i remember being in hs and one of my best friend's dad was head coach for a non-football team at bama and when that crap came out we all asked him and he said the university/ad doesn't seem worried about it. lol maybe they should have been. just a complete shitshow of a season and the lead in to the worst period in bama history outside of the 1950s.
This is exactly what I meant above when I talked about the gap between expectations and results. Having a bad season like Bama in 2000 or Ohio State in 1999 is MUCH worse when you are expecting to be a NC contender. When you start out #3 playing in the Rose Bowl (stadium not game), you expect your team to be a NC contender. Same for Ohio State in 1999 when they started #9 playing #12 Miami,FL. To have that season end in a sub .500 quagmire just sucks.
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Unquestionably 2002. I went to law school at OSU over Notre Dame mostly because I thought OSU would have a better football team, and how right I was. I was a 2L, had season tickets, and even ended up going out to the championship game with my dad and brother. Which was also good. I'm not sure there was ever a more entertaining season for a team.
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What was your team's worst season in your lifetime?
Definitely 2011 for OSU, seeing as it was the second worst season in school history, and the worst was clear back in the eighteen dicketies.
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Florida's had 2 losing seasons since the year before I was born.
2013 - Muschamp...the year after going 11-2, everyone got hurt and we sucked and by the end of the season, there were anonymous walk-ons playing on defense. Wound up losing the last 7 games. But this one wasn't the worst, because at least there was a reason. I forget the actual number, but late in the year, of the 22 starters, double digits were out. Was preseason #10, lol.
2017 - McIlwain....this is the worst one. We had absolutely no offense - the leading WR was 5'8" and averaged under 10 yards per catch. No rush defense. We went 4-7, but could have easily been 2-10. One game was cancelled. We beat Tennessee on a hail mary and Kentucky inexplicably just didn't cover a WR 2 separate times!!!! in a 1-point win. The only 2 comfortable wins were against Vandy and UAB. The highlight of the team was the kicker. For real.
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The Kentucky thing will never happen ever again. No tricks, no weirdness, the defense simply failed to have a guy across from the main, outside WR.
One was a long TD catch.
The other was a short, game-winning TD catch.
INCONCEIVABLE!!!
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This is a tough one. Iowa has had some magical seasons tainted by disappointing bowl losses and some regular seasons not as great but that finished strong with big bow wins.
Magical seasons tainted by disappointing bowl losses
1985 - Iowa started 7-0 and was ranked #1 for 5 straight weeks. Includes classic win in #1 Iowa vs. #2 Michigan game. Outright Big Ten champions. Chuck Long was runner up in Heisman to Bo Jackson. Season Tainted by Rose Bowl loss to UCLA.
2002 - Iowa went 8-0 in Big Ten and 11-2 overall . Co- big ten champs. Including wins over MSU, PSU, Mich. Did not play OSU. QB Brad Banks was runner up in Heisman race to Carson Palmer. Tainted by Orange Bowl loss to USC.
2015 - Iowa started 12-0, went 8-0 in Big Ten and won the West. Lost Big Ten CCG to MSU 13-9. Tainted by Rose Bowl loss to Stanford.
2021 started out like a magical season, with Iowa starting 6-0, rising to #2 in the rankings with big wins over #19 Ind, #9 ISU and #4 PSU , but it was all a mirage, Iowa ended up 10-4. All those ranked teams Iowa beat ended up unranked in the end. Iowa's offense was exposed as just plain awful. Still somehow Iowa found a way to win the Big Ten West.
Magical Seasons with strong finishes
2004 - Iowa started 2-2, including a 44-7 loss to Arizona St, and was down to its 6th string RB when somehow Iowa finished 10-2 overall and was Big Ten co champs at 7-1. Included classic 6-4 win over PSU. Finished season with dramatic last second win in Cap One (citrus) bowl over Nick Saban and LSU.
2009 - Iowa started 9-0 with one improbable win after another. Blocking 2 FGs against UNI. Last second TD against MSU. A weird ping-pong pick 6 against Indiana. All ended when QB Ricky Stanzi got hurt against NW. In the defacto Big Ten championship game at OSU, Iowa's backup QB almost pulled out an upset, but Iowa lost in OT 27-24. Still Iowa rebounded and won the Orange Bowl with Ricky Stanzi back at QB. To finish 11-2.
I am going to have think about this. I am going to go with 1985. It truly was a special season despite the Rose Bowl loss.
But it was tempting to go with 2004 or 2009. Both seasons had bizarre, exciting, fun and unlikely wins topped off by big bowl wins.
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1985 for Iowa, unless you're too young to remember it
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What was your team's worst season in your lifetime?
Definitely 2011 for OSU, seeing as it was the second worst season in school history, and the worst was clear back in the eighteen dicketies.
I don't want to talk about it
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https://youtu.be/_TbfQPRgcS8
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1985 for Iowa, unless you're too young to remember it
I will agree with 1985 for Iowa's best season in my lifetime.
For Iowa's worst season, I was too young to remember it, but 1973 might be the worst season in my lifetime. IOWA went 0-11 with few notable accomplishments and the head coach got fired. Although it might be worth noting the team had Jim Caldwell and Dan McCarney as players, who went on to long coaching careers. And one notable assistant coach on that 1973 team was Jack Harbaugh, which means when Jim Harbaugh was a kid, he had to spend at least 1 year living in Iowa City.
Runner-up for worst team might be Kirk Ferentz first team that finished 1-10 in 1999. Its amazing to think about that by 20002, Iowa went 11-2 and 8-0 in the Big Ten. Remarkable turn around.
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I will agree with 1985 for Iowa's best season in my lifetime.
For Iowa's worst season, I was too young to remember it, but 1973 might be the worst season in my lifetime. IOWA went 0-11 with few notable accomplishments and the head coach got fired. Although it might be worth noting the team had Jim Caldwell and Dan McCarney as players, who went on to long coaching careers. And one notable assistant coach on that 1973 team was Jack Harbaugh, which means when Jim Harbaugh was a kid, he had to spend at least 1 year living in Iowa City.
Runner-up for worst team might be Kirk Ferentz first team that finished 1-10 in 1999. Its amazing to think about that by 20002, Iowa went 11-2 and 8-0 in the Big Ten. Remarkable turn around.
Remarkably familiar to Alvarez in Madison. 1990: 1-10, followed by 5-6, 5-6, 10-1-1.
Rose Bowl champs.
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I was in Kinnick for Kirk's first game in 99.
the endzones were RED, I enjoyed the game
the Ex (Hawk fan) did not and was a drunken disturbance
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What was your team's worst season in your lifetime?
BTW I pretty much consider my "lifetime" as it relates to Purdue football as starting in 1996. I didn't follow college football [other than hating Notre Dame on principle] prior to coming to Purdue, so no college football history between '78 and '95 was relevant to me.
Of course, that's not relevant to this question, because as mentioned, when it comes to the worst season of my lifetime it would still be whichever is the worst season of Darrell Hazell's tenure.
So let's go to the videotape...
- 2013: Finished 1-11, 0-8 in conference. Only win was a narrow 20-14 win over FCS Indiana State. Only close losses were a 7-point loss to Notre Dame and a 4-point loss to Illinois. Obviously the season was bad on paper... But do I excuse it as Hazell's first season and with a hope he was actually building something?
- 2014: 3-9, 1-7 in conference. Wins were Western Michigan, FCS Southern Illinois, and Illinois. I think this can't be it because even though the season was terrible, it finally included beating two FBS teams, and I recall seeing at least a glimmer of offensive hope.
- 2015: 2-10, 1-7 in conference. Wins over FCS Indiana State and over Nebraska. This season could be a strong contender, in that it was the season that saw any hope from 2014 evaporate. This was the season that I actually wrote a letter to Morgan Burke (https://www.hammerandrails.com/2015/10/20/9579849/my-letter-to-mjb) imploring that they fire John Shoop after the Wisconsin game, because it was so terrible.
- 2016: Hazell won three games but was fired after 6, so no matter how bad it was to finish 0-6 with an interim coach, this season can't be the worst because it meant he was gone.
So it's between 2013 and 2015. Tie goes to the season that we didn't even beat a single FBS team, and were only briefly competitive in two other games. But it's close...
2013 is the worst.
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I am still relatively convinced if they had beat UCLA for 1975 National Championship he would have retired with Archie graduating. Of course College coaches are a different breed maybe I am wrong.
Yup the Bucks took the Bruins behind the woodshed in October 3months later they returned the fasvor
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Husker's worst season
2007
Won 5, Lost 7
Big 12: Won 2, Lost 6, tie fifth place North
Coach Bill Callahan
11/03 #Kansas Lawrence L 39-76
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Brad Banks was awesome.
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Brad Banks was awesome.
I only wish Kik Ferentz had enough sense to start him for more than 1 season, but at least it was one magical 2002 season.
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Husker's worst season
2007
Won 5, Lost 7
Big 12: Won 2, Lost 6, tie fifth place North
Coach Bill Callahan
11/03 #Kansas Lawrence L 39-76
remarkably, that team managed to score 73 points the very next week (73-31 vs KSU). I still think that's the only time that's happened in I-A history. Of course they lost 65-51 to close out the season. I still put 2004 and '15 as the worst. Billy C's arrogance and total cluelessness was so obnoxious. His gameplans, specifically @ Lubbock, and his attitude towards OU were enough, he should've been sent packing immediately. Riley's '15 season was bewildering. The lowest moment of them all since the Bill Jennings era, the Ryker Fyfe game @ Purdue giving up double nickel on a dreary, sleepy gathering of about 10,000 people, coupled with some mind numbing games (@ Ill in particular, throwing deep balls in blowing wind, clock mgmt disasters all year).
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Oof. I really envy some of you, at least you've had some great seasons mixed in with bad ones, maybe if if you're lucky a NC or two. Dang it must be easy to be a fan of a certain school.
For A&M I think we're a lot like Iowa. We've had some great seasons that ended with a disappointing bowl loss, particularly the 1998 Big 12 Champions. Started off with a close loss to highly ranked FSU (top 5, maybe #1 or 2), defeated #2 NU and #1 KSU in the Big 12 CCG, close loss to Texas/Ricky Williams (last second field goal if my memory serves and Ricky broke the record against a very stout Ag defense), and then lost to a very highly, should have won it all, OSU Buckeye team in the Sugar Bowl. We have had some good and great teams since, especially the 2012 Johnny Hesiman team but even though we beat the snot out of a Big 12 champion OU we could have and should have played in a much better bowl. This was still during the BCS era.
I'm like BART. My fandom starts in 1996, even though I've been on this planet since '75. There were a lot of great Ag teams from the 80's/90's, but they peaked at the same time the SWC was waning, and I don't think we got much credit due to the competition. We had several undefeated teams during that time*, and some good Cotton bowl victories vs Auburn/ND and a couple of cotton bowl close losses to FSU. Had we been in a better conference during that time I think those teams would have finished much higher ranked.
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Oof. I really envy some of you, at least you've had some great seasons mixed in with bad ones, maybe if if you're lucky a NC or two. Dang it must be easy to be a fan of a certain school.
i know this is directed at bama fans and i understand why. no denying this is an incredible run and certainly easy to be a fan right now.
but it hasn't always been this way. there was a time i wasn't sure we'd ever compete for a title, much less win a title again.
growing up in the 80's, i never got to experience the "glory days" of bryant. but you can bet your ass i knew all about it. grew up expecting to get back there one day and as a pre-teen got to see one first hand.
but after that, there was what can best be described as turmoil. serious infractions kept us out of bowls and off tv for a few years, cost us a good coach, and when it seems we've come through it about 5 years later, BAM... all over again.
another solid coach left us (for your ags, wtf happened to him there btw?) high and dry, can't really blame him, we got mike price who disgraced us and himself before even coaching a game, and we had to scramble literally in the summer before the season to hire shula. unheard of time to hire a coach. and one with no experience, no spring practice, biggest thing going for him was his last name. and while i think alabama and it's fans really aught to appreciate shula and what he did far FAR more than we do, he wasn't ever going to take us to the heights we aspired. He took over when no one wanted it, and rightfully so. got us through some of the harshest penalties in ncaa history, brought at least a modicum of respectability back to bama, kept us clean and laid a foundation for a future. we really do owe him a wealth of gratitude that he doesn't get.
during his reign, i wasn't sure we'd ever recover. i remember thinking and saying that we shouldn't have fired him. not because he was a great coach, but because i thought he was the best we could do right then. i said if we could get a coach like saban (lsu saban which was still a huge step up and one of best in cfb, but not juggernaut bama saban) then we should, but i really didn't think we could. we had the same problem it seems texas is dealing with now. and probably most of the big time schools. too many powers that want to call the shots and have unreasonable control on the program. no way i thought any coach in saban's caliber would take that on with the baggage that we had at the time.
and i was at least partially right. saban demanded full control and not meddling from anyone. and to the powers at bama's credit, they stepped aside and gave him that. hoefully we've learned our lesson and won't revert back when he's gone.
long winded way to say there was a long section of my life, roughly half at this point, in which bama was in utter disarray with no sign of coming out of it, just digging deeper. it hasn't always been easy. was in fact quite hard for a long while.
i had to have this convo with my 10yo son just yesterday actually. said something about should have won the title or something, we're the best ever, how could they beat us they haven't won one in forever, etc, i told him to appreciate being there and appreciate this run, because it's extremely unlikely to happen again and it most certainly hasn't always been that way. bama is probably/arguably the best program all time, but that doesn't mean we're always the best program/team. in fact, until quite recently (which happens to be his entire life) we were far from the best even in our own state, much less the sec or cfb as a whole. so enjoys the wins, the titles, even the close losses, because too soon for us and not soon enough for everyone else, we will drop back to at least just another good team with the chance. in fact, we should hope that's as far as we fall.
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i know this is directed at bama fans and i understand why. no denying this is an incredible run and certainly easy to be a fan right now.
BTW I didn't take it that way. More that CFB sites in general are dominated by fans from teams which have had a lot of success, especially recent success. Obviously this B1G board is dominated by OSU and Michigan fans with living memories of national titles. Nebraska is represented, and they don't look so good right now, but they at least have living memories of titles. Then we have a few fans of OOC teams with lots of success that hang around, like Florida [OAM], Texas [94/320], Georgia [CD], Bama [yourself] and the occasional OU or LSU fan.
Outside of the helmet teams, we're probably overrepresented in Badger and Purdue fans, I think we've got one regular Spartan, one or two Iowa fans, a Minny fan or two, and ONE Indiana fan that shows up on rare occasion. Our Illinois fan only shows up for basketball season, our only Northwestern fan sadly passed away a couple years ago, our only Maryland fan got banned, our PSU fan only shows up randomly, and I don't think we have any Rutgers fans.
Literally I think we have roughly the same number of regular OSU/UM posters as regular posters of all other B1G teams combined.
Hence GigEm's point--there are a lot of people here who are either currently very happy with their team's performance or at least have semi-recent memories of being at heights (national titles) that some other teams here [like my Boilermakers] have never even gotten CLOSE to, much less in our recent/living memories.
So yes, it was directed at Bama fans, but only as a subset of all the helmet team fans that are represented here with tremendous CFB histories.
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I wasn't necessarily calling out Bama fans, just fans of certain schools that have to think real hard about best season in your lifetime because there are some good ones and the result is either a NC or close NC. Bama, tOSU, Clemson, OU. They're all in there.
For Texas fans, the Mack Brown era culminated with the 2005 MNC, OU fans would could probably draw from 2000 or even ?86. But either way they've been very, very successful. Obviously Georgia has been really successful over the last ~10 years but even then someone born in the 70's could pick from either the 1980 championship or this years.
Nebraska, while not highly successful in the last 20 years still have a lot to hang their hat on during the 90's. LSU has been lucky enough to win a MNC under three different consecutive coaches, and one was with two losses to boot to add insult to injury. Can you imagine how many teams that had one or two losses that could not play for a title while LSU did it with two losses? A&M's 2012 team lost early to Florida in the first game with a new coach, beat #1 Bama, beat everyone else except a talented LSU team and could have very easily won that game. IIRC we missed a few easy field goals that would have won the game or at least changed the outcome.
For A&M, it would have to go back 82 years. 1939. That my friend is a very long time.
Always next year I guess!
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BTW, a lot of people wonder WTF happened to Fran as well. Honestly, he was a horrible coach for us. We had two losing seasons our of 5 years with him, and not only did we fall further behind OU/UT in the Big 12 but we started losing to Iowa State, Kansas, Baylor, and lots of other Big 12 programs that we had not lost to in the past under RC Slocum. His 2003 team was memorably bad, 77-0 bad, and we got our ass kicked with regularity with him as our coach. Not just losing, but losing by a lot, a lot. Even then, somehow he almost managed a decent season in 2006, narrowly losing to OU because he refused to play our best player in a situation where you would always use the guy. Mike Sherman, while he was a good to great recruiter, was a horrible game day coach. The man could not win the 2nd half to save his life.
The funny thing is that most Ags very much dislike Kevin Sumlin, but if you look at the year 4 records of KS and Jimbo Fisher they are about even. Sumlin may even have a win or two more, which is skewed by the short 2020 season but I guess we could have had another loss or two in there as well so I consider it a draw at best. Maybe a couple of cup cake wins.
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I really thought Franchione was going to do well at Texas A&M. He had great connections within the state, some solid coaching history, and plenty of swagger.
My ag FIL tells me that Fran probably had TOO MUCH swagger, came off as arrogant and aloof. My FIL was a pretty generous donor back around that time and rubbed shoulders with the coaching staff and administration, so he'd know a lot better than I would.
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My attitude is in direct correlation of my age and when Spurrier got it going for the Gators. In my viewing lifetime, Florida is 4th in win% (not counting Boise), has 3 NCs and reached a #1 ranking in 7 different seasons.
So yeah, I think we're hot shit. There's a reason.
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If Florida is hot shit, then UCF must be scorching. :D
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If Florida is hot shit, then UCF must be scorching. :D
RIght, and by that logic, UM is a better program than OSU. :88:
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My attitude is in direct correlation of my age and when Spurrier got it going for the Gators. In my viewing lifetime, Florida is 4th in win% (not counting Boise), has 3 NCs and reached a #1 ranking in 7 different seasons.
So yeah, I think we're hot shit. There's a reason.
The frustration of being a fan of Ohio State is the amazing consistency of the Buckeyes. Without knowing when exactly your "viewing lifetime" began, I already know that Ohio State is one of the three programs ahead of yours in winning percentage. I do take pride in that, but note that UF has three NC's (1996, 2006, 2008) while tOSU only has two (2002, 2014).
Depending on exactly when your "viewing lifetime" started Ohio State is almost certainly #1 in winning percentage but I would guess that the majority of the teams in that top group each have more NC's than Ohio State.
It is a good and a bad thing. Ohio State has had very few bad seasons and they haven't strung together a decade or more of them in about a century. No other program has accomplished anywhere close to that level of consistent performance. That is the good part. The bad part is that Ohio State hasn't peaked as high as most of the other programs in Ohio State's universe and "only" has two NC's in the last 50 years.
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I think we need to convince @medinabuckeye1 (https://www.cfb51.com/index.php?action=profile;u=1547) to be our new @ftbobs (https://www.cfb51.com/index.php?action=profile;u=54) .
Everyone else agree?
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I think we need to convince @medinabuckeye1 (https://www.cfb51.com/index.php?action=profile;u=1547) to be our new @ftbobs (https://www.cfb51.com/index.php?action=profile;u=54) .
Everyone else agree?
Yup.
He's already close to halfway there. He just needs a massive database.
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Maybe we can try to find that.
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The frustration of being a fan of Ohio State is the amazing consistency of the Buckeyes. Without knowing when exactly your "viewing lifetime" began, I already know that Ohio State is one of the three programs ahead of yours in winning percentage. I do take pride in that, but note that UF has three NC's (1996, 2006, 2008) while tOSU only has two (2002, 2014).
Depending on exactly when your "viewing lifetime" started Ohio State is almost certainly #1 in winning percentage but I would guess that the majority of the teams in that top group each have more NC's than Ohio State.
It is a good and a bad thing. Ohio State has had very few bad seasons and they haven't strung together a decade or more of them in about a century. No other program has accomplished anywhere close to that level of consistent performance. That is the good part. The bad part is that Ohio State hasn't peaked as high as most of the other programs in Ohio State's universe and "only" has two NC's in the last 50 years.
(https://c.tenor.com/KgaNE2deR7UAAAAM/violin-tiny.gif)
Damn, only 2?
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I can count UW's MNC's with no fingers.
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(https://c.tenor.com/KgaNE2deR7UAAAAM/violin-tiny.gif)
Damn, only 2?
LoL, I deserved this.
I get it, and I didn't mean it as complaining that my school "only" has two NC's in my lifetime. I'm lucky and I know it. That said, given how consistently good Ohio State has been, the Buckeyes probably have more near misses than any other school. Compare to Alabama which is going to make pretty much any school look bad. Here is the thing, the vast majority of schools aren't anywhere close to Alabama's long-term winning percentage so it isn't surprising that they have less NC's. When you compare Ohio State to Alabama, the Buckeyes are actually ahead of Alabama in winning percentage over most time frames but the Buckeyes have nowhere near the number of NC's because the Tide and Buckeyes achieved their high winning percentages in very different ways. Upthread, @rolltidefan (https://www.cfb51.com/index.php?action=profile;u=12) talked about Bama's "malaise era" when the Tide just plain sucked. As amazing as this is today, Alabama actually had a losing record over a ten year period as recently as when they went 49-54 or 0.476 from 1998-2007. The plain fact is that Bama sucked for most of that time but they've compensated by being amazing in other times. The Buckeyes haven't had a sub .500 decade in a century which is great but the Buckeyes also haven't quite hit the heights that other programs in Ohio State's neighborhood have hit.
Near misses are frustrating no matter what school you root for and that applies to near misses at beating your rival, near misses at knocking off #1, near misses at league titles, and also near misses at NC's. That last category, near-miss NC's is a category that I'm positive Ohio State leads the country in. Just since the BCS started:
- 1998: The Buckeyes were ranked #1 to start the year and held that until losing at home to unranked MSU. They won the rest of their games including over #11 Michigan the last week of the regular season and over #8 aTm in the Sugar Bowl and finished the season ranked #2 behind only BCSNCG winner Tennessee. This was a near-miss in multiple ways. First, if the Buckeyes simply hadn't coughed up the MSU upset, they'd have been in the inaugural BCSNCG. Second, there were a slew of upsets in the CG's that year and Tennessee almost lost to Arkansas which also would have gotten the Buckeyes in.
- 2003: The Buckeyes lost twice, to UW in Madison and to M in Ann Arbor. Both were competitive games and a win in either one probably puts the Buckeyes back in the BCSNCG against Oklahoma.
- 2005: The Buckeyes lost two games early and both were close. They lost to a Vince Young led Longhorn team that ended up winning the NC then lost on the road to a Penn State team that finished #3. If Ohio State had beaten Texas then the final poll would have been a mess. All else being equal, Texas would have been 11-1 with a loss to tOSU. Ohio State would have been 10-1 with a win over TX and a loss to PSU. PSU would have been 10-1 with a win over tOSU. One of the three would have played USC for the NC but I can't say which one as you can make a decent case for any of the three.
- 2006: #1 to start the year, undefeated heading into the BCSNCG, lost.
- 2007: Lost BCSNCG to LSU.
- 2010: It ended up being vacated due to something about tattoos but the team finished 12-1 and #5.
- 2012: Undefeated but had a postseason ban.
- 2013: Undefeated and #2 heading into the B1GCG and although the loss there was by 10 points, the game was CLOSE with the Buckeyes holding an early 4th quarter lead and being within a FG until the last two minutes.
- 2015: Upset at home by MSU and finished 12-1 and #4.
- 2016: Lost CFP semi-final.
- 2017: Lost two games and JUST missed CFP, would have been in with a win in either.
- 2018: Upset by Purdue and JUST missed CFP. Finished 13-1 and #3.
- 2019: Lost CFP semi-final EXTREMELY close game.
- 2020: Lost CFP CG.
- 2021: Lost two games (vs Oregon and at Michigan) and probably would have made CFP with a win in either. A win over Michigan would have resulted in a B!GCG appearance as a big favorite. A win over Oregon would have left tOSU at 11-1 when the CFP was seeded so the final spot in the CFP would have come down to 13-0 Cincy or 11-1 Ohio State with Ohio State having obviously a MUCH better SoS and a loss to a team ranked higher than any that Cincy played but a loss which Cincy didn't have.
I do appreciate my team being in contention and I don't mean this as a "woe is me" type thing. I understand that the vast majority of fanbases would trade their team's record for my team's in a heartbeat. All of that said, it is frustrating to be OH-SO-CLOSE.
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I think we need to convince @medinabuckeye1 (https://www.cfb51.com/index.php?action=profile;u=1547) to be our new @ftbobs (https://www.cfb51.com/index.php?action=profile;u=54) .
Everyone else agree?
I'm an accountant and I'm REALLY good with spreadsheets but I'm sub basic at databases. I really miss ftbobs and the old Stassen site because I don't know where to look this stuff up anymore but I'm not the guy to do it. I'm not good with databases and I know next-to-nothing about websites.
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The frustration of being a fan of Ohio State is the amazing consistency of the Buckeyes. Without knowing when exactly your "viewing lifetime" began, I already know that Ohio State is one of the three programs ahead of yours in winning percentage. I do take pride in that, but note that UF has three NC's (1996, 2006, 2008) while tOSU only has two (2002, 2014).
Depending on exactly when your "viewing lifetime" started Ohio State is almost certainly #1 in winning percentage but I would guess that the majority of the teams in that top group each have more NC's than Ohio State.
It is a good and a bad thing. Ohio State has had very few bad seasons and they haven't strung together a decade or more of them in about a century. No other program has accomplished anywhere close to that level of consistent performance. That is the good part. The bad part is that Ohio State hasn't peaked as high as most of the other programs in Ohio State's universe and "only" has two NC's in the last 50 years.
Man, you just made me feel old. Saw the last line and thought no 3 NCs and then I realized :03:
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Man, you just made me feel old. Saw the last line and thought no 3 NCs and then I realized :03:
The 1968 NC was before I was born but the loudest cheer I think I ever heard in Ohio Stadium was during a game in my freshman year in 1993 when they had the 1968 guys back for their 25th anniversary.
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I wasn't necessarily calling out Bama fans, ...
didn't mean to sound offended if i did. i didn't take offense to it anyway. just pointing out bama fans in my lifetime have had a more than rough period as well. but it sounded directed at bama cause you listing things applied to several schools and the seemed to single out a "certain school". my bad, doesn't matter either way, and i agree anyway, it is easy to be a bama fan right now.
BTW, a lot of people wonder WTF happened to Fran as well. Honestly, he was a horrible coach for us. We had two losing seasons our of 5 years with him, and not only did we fall further behind OU/UT in the Big 12 but we started losing to Iowa State, Kansas, Baylor, and lots of other Big 12 programs that we had not lost to in the past under RC Slocum. His 2003 team was memorably bad, 77-0 bad, and we got our ass kicked with regularity with him as our coach. Not just losing, but losing by a lot, a lot. Even then, somehow he almost managed a decent season in 2006, narrowly losing to OU because he refused to play our best player in a situation where you would always use the guy. Mike Sherman, while he was a good to great recruiter, was a horrible game day coach. The man could not win the 2nd half to save his life.
The funny thing is that most Ags very much dislike Kevin Sumlin, but if you look at the year 4 records of KS and Jimbo Fisher they are about even. Sumlin may even have a win or two more, which is skewed by the short 2020 season but I guess we could have had another loss or two in there as well so I consider it a draw at best. Maybe a couple of cup cake wins.
i remember his tenure there. must say, i enjoyed it. :) but i was very surprised. really thought he'd do well there, for same reasons below...
I really thought Franchione was going to do well at Texas A&M. He had great connections within the state, some solid coaching history, and plenty of swagger.
My ag FIL tells me that Fran probably had TOO MUCH swagger, came off as arrogant and aloof. My FIL was a pretty generous donor back around that time and rubbed shoulders with the coaching staff and administration, so he'd know a lot better than I would.
have a friend whose dad was a hc for a non-football program at bama during his tenure here. similar stories, but at least during his time here he was mostly living up to the haughtiness.
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I'm an accountant and I'm REALLY good with spreadsheets but I'm sub basic at databases. I really miss ftbobs and the old Stassen site because I don't know where to look this stuff up anymore but I'm not the guy to do it. I'm not good with databases and I know next-to-nothing about websites.
are you me?
talked to the bobs few days ago, btw. said he's doing fine. didn't discuss his database.
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Upthread, @rolltidefan (https://www.cfb51.com/index.php?action=profile;u=12) talked about Bama's "malaise era" when the Tide just plain sucked. As amazing as this is today, Alabama actually had a losing record over a ten year period as recently as when they went 49-54 or 0.476 from 1998-2007. The plain fact is that Bama sucked for most of that time but they've compensated by being amazing in other times. The Buckeyes haven't had a sub .500 decade in a century which is great but the Buckeyes also haven't quite hit the heights that other programs in Ohio State's neighborhood have hit.
fwiw, officially it's 49-54, but on field it was 70-54. had 21 wins vacated for textbook scandal.
but, and i've said this before, osu's consistency is remarkable and i must admit makes me jealous when seeing the stats.
on of my favorite stats for bama is every head coach going back to 1920 (xen scott) has had a 10 win season at bama, except for ears withworth in late 1950s who went 4-24-2 and was precursor to bryant. 12 out of last 13 head coaches had at least 1 stellar season.
i'd imagine osu has a similar stat for their head coaches.
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So yeah, I think we're hot shit.
FIFY
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are you me?
talked to the bobs few days ago, btw. said he's doing fine. didn't discuss his database.
Tell him we miss him.
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Outside of the helmet teams, we're probably overrepresented in Badger and Purdue fans, I think we've got one regular Spartan, one or two Iowa fans, a Minny fan or two, and ONE Indiana fan that shows up on rare occasion. Our Illinois fan only shows up for basketball season, our only Northwestern fan sadly passed away a couple years ago, our only Maryland fan got banned, our PSU fan only shows up randomly, and I don't think we have any Rutgers fans.
And time for the random appearance from a PSU fan.
PSU's best season during my lifetime and fandom would easily be 1994, undefeated with a dominant offense. I started college in 1987, and I wasn't really a Penn State fan until I started school. I worked a lot of Saturday's in my early career, so I didn't see much of that season.
Of the seasons that I followed closely, it would be 2005. PSU finished ranked #3, beating FSU in the Orange Bowl. Our only loss was at Michigan in a game that went to the wire. There were a couple questionable calls, but that is a discussion for another day.
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And time for the random appearance from a PSU fan.
PSU's best season during my lifetime and fandom would easily be 1994, undefeated with a dominant offense. I started college in 1987, and I wasn't really a Penn State fan until I started school. I worked a lot of Saturday's in my early career, so I didn't see much of that season.
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. That wouldn't be impressive if the Buckeyes had sucked but they didn't. The Buckeyes were #21 at game time and actually finished the season even higher than that (#9 Coaches, #14 AP). The Buckeyes also finished second in the league and their other three losses that year were:
- By 9 in Seattle to #25 (at gametime) Washington
- By 14 at home to Illinois
- By 7 in the Citrus Bowl to #6 (at gametime, finished 4/5) Alabama
My point is that Ohio State wasn't a bad team of the type that you expect to see on the losing end of a 63-14 shellacking. The Buckeyes weren't great but they were hardly chopped liver and Penn State just obliterated them. I remember watching that game in Athens (I was there for their Halloween Party) and it was competitive for about a quarter. Then Penn State just ran away with the game. Defending the combination of Heisman Trophy candidates at QB (Kerry Collins), RB (Ki-Jana Carter), and WR (Bobby Engram) plus a stout line and quality TE was just nearly impossible. That was a phenomenal team.
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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.
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I'm an accountant and I'm REALLY good with spreadsheets but I'm sub basic at databases. I really miss ftbobs and the old Stassen site because I don't know where to look this stuff up anymore but I'm not the guy to do it. I'm not good with databases and I know next-to-nothing about websites.
The stassen site is still there. Just google 'stassen college football.'
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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.
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And time for the random appearance from a PSU fan.
PSU's best season during my lifetime and fandom would easily be 1994, undefeated with a dominant offense. I started college in 1987, and I wasn't really a Penn State fan until I started school. I worked a lot of Saturday's in my early career, so I didn't see much of that season.
Of the seasons that I followed closely, it would be 2005. PSU finished ranked #3, beating FSU in the Orange Bowl. Our only loss was at Michigan in a game that went to the wire. There were a couple questionable calls, but that is a discussion for another day.
Howdy.
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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.
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The stassen site is still there. Just google 'stassen college football.'
Since I have access to Stassen again, I think this will illustrate the point I was trying to make above.
This is the top 20 teams in winning percentage from 1969-2021 (includes only teams that played at least 80% of those years at the 1a level) along with their AP NC's during that time:
- .788 Ohio State, 2 NC's 2014, 2002
- .769 Oklahoma, 4 NC's 2000, 1985, 1975, 1974
- .752 Alabama, 9 NC's 2020, 2017, 2015, 2012, 2011, 2009, 1992, 1979, 1978
- .738 Nebraska, 4 NC's 1995, 1994, 1971, 1970
- .734 Michigan, 1 NC 1997
- .727 Penn State, 2 NC's 1986, 1982
- .713 Georgia, 2 NC's 2021, 1980
- .696 Florida State, 3 NC's 2013, 1999, 1993
- .695 Southern Cal, 3 NC's 2004, 2003, 1972
- .688 Texas, 2 NC's 2005, 1969
- .686 Notre Dame, 3 NC's 1988, 1977, 1973
- .684 Florida, 3 NC's 2008, 2006, 1996
- .675 Brigham Young, 1 NC 1984
- .674 Clemson, 3 NC's 2018, 2016, 1981
- .670 Auburn, 1 NC 2010
- .666 Louisiana State, 2 NC's 2019, 2007
- .662 Miami, FL, 5 NC's 2001, 1991, 1989, 1987, 1983
- .653 Tennessee, 1 NC 1998
- .625 Texas A&M, 0 NC's
- .615 Arizona State, 0 NC's
My point wasn't that it sucks to "only" have two NC's. My point was that it is odd statistically to have far-and-away the best overall winning percentage and yet to have less NC's than a lot of the other 19 teams in the top-20. The second (OU), third (Bama), and fourth (UNL) best teams overall in those 53 years each have at least twice as many NC's as Ohio State.
Within that top-20:
- 9 Bama
- 5 Miami-FL
- 4 OU, UNL
- 3 FSU, USC, ND, UF, Clemson,
- 2 tOSU, PSU, UGA, TX, LSU
- 1 M, BYU, Auburn, TN
- 0 aTm, ASU
Those top-20 in winning percentage have 51 of the 53 AP NC's with the exceptions being Colorado's 1990 NC and Pittsburgh's 1976 NC. The Buffalos are 54th in winning percentage, barely over .500 while the Panthers are 37th.
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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.
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Yeah, Miami is an outlier when it comes to wins/NCs. Ohio State could be, on the other end, but considering UM as well, perhaps a better case could be made that the B1G is the other outlier.
All the coverage, all the respect, all the talent, all the monies. 3 NC in.......50+ years. For the entire conference.
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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).
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Penn St won 2 - '82 and '86. And I think 3 undefeated non-NCs before '94.
Talking variety for the ACC - Clemson in '81, GT in '90, FSU's 3, and the recent Clemson pair. 3 schools and 6 NCs in 41 years...not bad.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Those top-20 in winning percentage have 51 of the 53 AP NC's with the exceptions being Colorado's 1990 NC and Pittsburgh's 1976 NC. The Buffalos are 54th in winning percentage, barely over .500 while the Panthers are 37th.
Boy, 1990 was an all-time BLIP year.
One NC winner had a loss, tie, AND phantom win (5th down).
friggin buffs
stoopid Ralphie
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The 1968 NC was before I was born but the loudest cheer I think I ever heard in Ohio Stadium was during a game in my freshman year in 1993 when they had the 1968 guys back for their 25th anniversary.
I was 6 years old in 68 and this is my first memory of college football
I was a Buckeye fan until 1981, my freshman year at Nebraska
they brainwashed me
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My point is that Ohio State wasn't a bad team of the type that you expect to see on the losing end of a 63-14 shellacking. The Buckeyes weren't great but they were hardly chopped liver and Penn State just obliterated them. I remember watching that game in Athens (I was there for their Halloween Party) and it was competitive for about a quarter. Then Penn State just ran away with the game. Defending the combination of Heisman Trophy candidates at QB (Kerry Collins), RB (Ki-Jana Carter), and WR (Bobby Engram) plus a stout line and quality TE was just nearly impossible. That was a phenomenal team.
if I could only pick one game to create, I'd pick 94 Nebraska vs Penn St. over 97 Nebraska vs Michigan
It's a damn shame the granddaddy of them all cost college football those two games
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Well, its' been said on this board that some of them would prefer a trip to the RB than to the NC game for their team.
Lunacy.
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if I could only pick one game to create, I'd pick 94 Nebraska vs Penn St. over 97 Nebraska vs Michigan
It's a damn shame the granddaddy of them all cost college football those two games
Fortunately, there's a game like WHOA NELLIE COLLEGE FOOTBALL out there to play these games out and discover who would have won!
https://whoanelliecollegefootball.com/
:72: (https://whoanelliecollegefootball.com/)
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Well, its' been said on this board that some of them would prefer a trip to the RB than to the NC game for their team.
Lunacy.
some on this board used to say this
haven't heard anyone admit this lately
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friggin buffs
stoopid Ralphie
Fun fact: Ralphie is a girl. If it was a male, you'd need 4 new wranglers each week.
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Fwiw, 2001 Miami rarely wins when I pit them against other all time teams I have. They did humiliate 1990 Colorado though.
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How many draft picks you have on a team doesn't put points on the board. 01 Miami is a very strong all-around team, but the only super-elite aspect to them is their pass D.
Their weakness, in terms of game play, is that they pass a relatively high % of the time (45%) while having a pedestrian (for an all-time great) yards per pass attempt.
Which all makes sense to me, as despite all the accolades, Ken Dorsey was probably the weak link of the team.
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Fortunately, there's a game like WHOA NELLIE COLLEGE FOOTBALL out there to play these games out and discover who would have won!
https://whoanelliecollegefootball.com/
:72: (https://whoanelliecollegefootball.com/)
(https://media.tenor.com/images/e4ae71099eeeccdaaf1495af637ac4c7/tenor.gif)
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I was 6 years old in 68 and this is my first memory of college football
I was a Buckeye fan until 1981, my freshman year at Nebraska
they brainwashed me
Sounds like Keggs & Eggs to me
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you're familiar with the era
1pm kickoffs and early morning pre-game parties near the stadium
hung out with the rasslin team and the other athletes
friggin redshirt and frosh team football players and basketball and rasslers and baseball players. Big boys played quarters with quart cups. Keg sitting next to the kitchen table.
tough duty for mere mortals
some porches were dislodged from the front of rental houses
more kegs than eggs
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7 years of college down the drain
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only 4 for me
I got a summer job and never went back
turned out OK
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Welcome to the NFL......either the 4 or 6 seed is making the Super Bowl from the NFC.
WOO HOOO
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Heaven forbid
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it's fun to have Cinderella at the ball
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Naked, except for the glass slippers.
Sure.
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I knew you were into the animated stuff...
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I still have a hard time believing UGA finally did it, and they didn't even win the conference, much as Bama did back when.
That's two nonconference champs winning the NC, which I suppose was rare preBCS, no? (aside from indies)
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Plenty of co-champions won it, I believe.
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How many teams that did not win their conference won the NC preBCS? (Teams in conferences only.)
None come to mind.
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Eastern Michigan
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How many teams that did not win their conference won the NC preBCS? (Teams in conferences only.)
None come to mind.
Probably none, since all of the big bowls were tied to conference champions back then.
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I think it was 1971 when the Big 8 had the top three teams, maybe the NC winner didn't win the conference?
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UNL won the Big 8 that year, and the MNC.
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Probably none, since all of the big bowls were tied to conference champions back then.
I think in the 60s and before this was not the case. UGA went to the Orange Bowl on several occasions I don't think they had a tie in with the SEC. Usually a conference champ would make the major bowl of course. In 1971(2), Oklahoma played in the Sugar Bowl and UNL in the Orange.
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How many teams that did not win their conference won the NC preBCS? (Teams in conferences only.)
None come to mind.
none of them "won" the titles because no one won them. they were awarded. bama was awarded (and claims, ridiculously) the 1941 title by houlgate despite going 10-2 (5-2), finishing #20 in ap, while msu went 4-0-1 in sec (back then they had uneven schedules for some reason).
interestingly, it happened in the first ever ap poll.
1936 minn claims ap title despite going 4-1 in bigten, while northwestern went 6-0.
1942 osu won ap, going 5-1 in bigten, but lost to wisconsin who was 4-1. technically osu won bigten, so doesn't apply, but they won due to the uneven schedules.
1951 tenn won ap, went 5-0 in sec, but ga tech won sec with 7-0 record. ga tech also went 11-0-1 overall while tenn went 10-1-0.
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I think in the 60s and before this was not the case. UGA went to the Orange Bowl on several occasions I don't think they had a tie in with the SEC. Usually a conference champ would make the major bowl of course. In 1971(2), Oklahoma played in the Sugar Bowl and UNL in the Orange.
Big 8 champ was tied to the Orange and the other slot was invitational.
SEC champ was tied to the Sugar and the other slot was invitational.
SWC champ was tied to the Cotton and the other slot was invitational.
Rose Bowl, of course, was slotted with both the B10 and PAC champs.
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The Sugar Bowl SEC tie in was late 60s I think. UGA won or tied for the conference championship and went to the Orange fairly often.
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The internets told me the SEC had an unofficial tie-in with the Sugar Bowl from 1935-1974 and it didn't become official until 1975.
Looking at Sugar Bowl participants over that time, there was very most often an SEC team, but not necessarily the champion of the conference.
With only 6 conference games, the champ didn't always have the best or even 2nd-best record. But if it did, it had the freedom to accept other bowl invites.
Hell, in the '74 season, Florida went to the Sugar and tied for 4th in the conference. That may have led to the "official" tie-in starting in 1975.
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Speaking of bowl invites, there was a bad football game on Super Nintendo back in the day called Super Play-Action football.
It was unique in that it had NFL, college, and high school levels to play.
I've mentioned it before, as without college licensing, it was creative with the school names: South Bend instead of ND, Pursue instead of Purdue, Smart Mouth instead of Dartmouth, etc.
It featured a diagonal look at the field, so much of the area you wanted to run to and all of your pass-catchers were off-screen and largely a mystery.
A long TD run would take upwards of 30 seconds. But it had college teams and actual option plays, so I played the hell out of it.
SO ANYWAYS, when you had a good season, the bowl invites would start rolling in. It did a great job of the lower bowls offering first, building up to the big ones at the end of the season. And if you played season after season, you'd really focus on the matchup in the bowl and if you'd been to one 2-3-4 seasons in a row, you'd accept a different bowl invite just for the sake of variety.
I'm 99% sure that some of those OU and Nebraska teams that kept going to the Orange Bowl year after year would have enjoyed some variety.
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Which programs had the best and worst seasons this year?
Obviously, UGA, but other than them? It relates to expectations, I imagine Texas expected better, Michigan may have expected worse, they missed the preseason rankings. Tennessee had a decent year I think. Florida didn't.
Purdue had an exciting season. Ohio State? They won the RB, but then ... expectations were higher. Which fans are generally happy and excited versus not?
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Seasons like OSU's are weird. A playoff-or-bust expectation level is going to create a pissy fanbase, no matter the school (even Bama's, on a long-enough timeline).
You could say OSU simply lost the wrong game. If they lost any other game on their regular season schedule, they'd have been fine. Probably still not in the playoff, but it would have snipped out the 'got in the RB, but weren't B1G champs' weirdness from their season.
It wouldn't have been seen as super successful, but it would have been a good one.
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I suspect a 12-1 OSU makes the playoffs. But they are a program with a NC or bust mentality, no doubt, which is both good and bad.
My Bama friends are not TOO upset over losing to Smart, or claim they aren't. They won the SEC with a team that perhaps was not quite up to standard and had injuries.