CFB51 College Football Fan Community
The Power Five => Big Ten => Topic started by: medinabuckeye1 on May 23, 2022, 04:26:58 PM
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This one interests me because it was the last season before the "Big2 / Little8" took effect. In the 10 years after 1967 no team other than Ohio State and Michigan won the league. Even when that "ended" in 1978 it was only by MSU sharing the title with Michigan. After 1967 it wasn't until 1983 that neither tOSU nor Michigan won the league. By comparison in the 10 years prior to 1968 (1958-1967) all of the following teams won at least a share of the league title:
- Iowa (58, 60)
- Wisconsin (59, 62)
- Minnesota (60, 67)
- Ohio State (61)
- Illinois (63)
- Michigan (64)
- Michigan State (65, 66)
- Indiana (67)
- Purdue (67)
So in the 10 years from 1958-1967 every team except Northwestern won at least a share of a title and in the 10 years from 1968-1977 only two teams won even a share.
Anyway, in 1967 the Hoosiers, Gophers, and Boilermakers shared the title at 6-1. Ohio State was fourth at 5-2 and the other six teams all finished sub .500. Those top four each lost an OOC game:
- IU lost the Rose Bowl to USC
- Minnesota lost to Nebraska in Lincoln
- Purdue beat Notre Dame but lost at home to Oregon State
- Ohio State lost at home to Arizona
This remains the most recent league title for both the Hoosiers and the Gophers. Looking at the final standings:
- 6-1 Indiana lost 33-7 at Minnesota, didn't play tOSU or NU
- 6-1 Minnesota lost 41-12 at Purdue, didn't play tOSU or NU
- 6-1 Purdue lost 19-14 at IU, didn't play M or UW
- 5-2 Ohio State lost 41-6 vs PU and 17-13 vs IL, didn't play MN or IU
In retrospect I believe that Purdue was the best team. The three co-champs each went 1-1 against each other but:
- Purdue had a blowout win (41-12 over MN) and a close loss (19-14 to IU)
- Minnesota had a blowout win (33-7 over IU) and a blowout loss (41-12 to PU)
- Indiana had a close win (19-14 over PU) and a blowout loss (33-7 to MN)
Thus, I'd rank them as above, PU>MN>IU.
Indiana got the Rose Bowl bid based either on overall record or the longest loser rule and lost the Rose Bowl to USC. It is hard to tell if Ohio State was any good or not. With two of the three co-champs not on tOSU's schedule the Buckeyes' SoS was abysmal. The best team the Buckeyes defeated was a pre-Bo Michigan squad that finished 4-6.
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The Rose Bowl results would suggest it was the Little 2 and the Littler 8
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The Rose Bowl results would suggest it was the Little 2 and the Littler 8
Yep. Yuck.
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The Rose Bowl results would suggest it was the Little 2 and the Littler 8
Yep. Yuck.
From 1947-1959 our league (the Big Nine at first) went 12-1 against the PAC (in it's various iterations). During the 10 years cited here (1969-1978) the BigTen went 2-8 against the PAC (various iterations).
I'll submit that our league probably wasn't THAT much better in 47-59 and wasn't THAT much worse in 69-78.
During the 12-1 run from 1947-1959 we had the following one-score wins:
- Northwestern by six over Cal in 1949
- Ohio State by three over Cal in 1950
- Michigan by eight over Cal in 1951
- Michigan State by eight over UCLA in 1954
- Michigan State by three over UCLA in 1956
- Ohio State by three over Oregon in 1958
During the 2-8 run from 1969-1978 we had the following one-score losses:
- Michigan by three to USC in 1970
- Michigan by one to Stanford in 1972
- Ohio State by one to USC in 1975
- Michigan by eight to USC in 1977
- Michigan by seven to Washington in 1978
Flip a few of those one-possession wins in the 50's and the PAC is even with us. Flip a few of those one-possession losses in the 70's and we are even with the PAC.
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Whatever allows UM and OSU to continue to glorify their years as the tallest midgets I suppose