CFB51 College Football Fan Community
The Power Five => Big Ten => Topic started by: OrangeAfroMan on February 15, 2019, 07:11:01 PM
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It's December 6th, 1982. Here is the college football playoff match-ups:
#1 Georgia vs #4 SMU
#2 Penn State vs #3 Nebraska
Who will win the national championship playoff???
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#1 Georgia, 11-0, SEC Champions
23rd in scoring offense
10th in scoring defense
28th in strength of schedule
The Dawgs spent the entire season ranked in the top 10. They had several close wins along the way, including the season-opener vs #11 Clemson, winning by 6. Georgia's only other ranked opponent was Florida in the WLOCP, with UGA taking it easily, 44-0. That win springboarded them to #1.
Offensively, Georgia is pretty simple: Herschel left, Herschel right, Herschel up the middle. RB Walker is UGA's biggest trheat by far, with 1700+ yards and 16 TDs. The passing game is an afterthought and ineffective, with a poor completion % and overall rating (99.0). No other RB had 70 carries for the Dawgs and no receiver had as many as 13 catches. Walker had 340 touches.
Defensively, UGA was better at preventing points than yards. The run D wasn't special, and teams could pass some on the Dawgs, but UGA picked off a lot of passes on the year (35!!!!). That turnover ratio helped keep Georgia undefeated, for sure.
Good special teams, with the highlight being kicker Kevin Butler's 81% FG rate.
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#2 Penn State, 10-1, Independent
5th in scoring offense
22nd in scoring defense
3rd in strength of schedule
Like UGA, the Nittany Lions spent all year in the top 10. While PSU did suffer a loss (at #4 Alabama, by 21), they also faced a much tougher schedule. Penn State beat #2 Nebraska by 3, shut out #13 WV on the road, went into South Bend and beat #13 ND by ten, then finished the regular season with a win over #5 Pitt.
Unlike UGA, Penn State's offense was diverse. QB Blackledge had a high volume of pass attempts for the era, and threw for 22 TDs. He had several targets to choose from, including Kenny Jackson and G.Garrity. RB Curt Warner (1,000+ yds) kept the chains moving, as he and backup J.Williams averaged over 5.2 ypc and each caught over 20 passes.
PSU's defense swiped 20 passes of their own in 1982, but did allow it's fair share of yardage - both through the air and on the ground.
PSU boasts a strong return game and punter, and had 2 kickers - one good, one not.
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#3 Nebraska, 11-1, Big 8 Champions
1st in scoring offense
8th in scoring defense
38th in strength of schedule
Nebraska spent all year in the top 8, despite its September loss to Penn State. After losing on the road by 3, the Huskers didn't look back, reeling off 9 straight wins, including at #20 Auburn 41-7 and vs rival #11 OU by four. Unfortunately, the rest of the schedule wasn't very tough.
The option offense hit on all cylinders in '82, scoring 40+ points in eight of the twelve games. The offensive steamroller ran for 395 yards per game and QB Gill was careful with the ball (11 TD, 3 INT). RB Rozier had nearly 1700 yds at 7 yards per carry and 15 TD. Four other ball-carriers contributed 400+ yards and good averages. Nebraska's passing game actually had 3 threats - Brown, Williams, and Fryar.
Six Husker foes couldn't put up over 10 points. The pass D kept teams to 48% completions and the run D was good/not great.
While the special teams were mostly average, the punt return game was all-time great. RB Jeff Smith and WR Fryar both averaged over 15 yards per return and a TD each.
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#4 SMU, 10-0-1, SWC Champions
16th in scoring offense
11th in scoring defense
73rd in strength of schedule
As with the other three teams in the playoff, SMU spent the season ranked in the top 10. With several close wins vs unranked teams (by 3 vs TCU, by 3 at Baylor, by 6 vs Houston, by 7 vs TexTech), SMU seemed to play to its level of competition. The Mustangs beat #19 Texas in Austin by two scores and ended the season with a tie vs #9 Arkansas.
SMU didn't pass much, and when they passed, they didn't complete many of their attempts (47.5%), but when they completed them, the passing game was great (high yards per attempt average, good pass rating, strong ratio - 10 TD to 3 INT). The strength of the offense was the Pony Express RB Eric Dickerson (1600 yds, 7.0 ypc, 17 TD) and Craig James (900 yds).
The defense kept opposing running games in check, allowing under 3 yards per carry. Opponents completed just 47% of their passes. Only one team scored over 20 points vs SMU. Picking off 22 passes probably helped a lot with that stat.
The Mustangs didn't have a good return game and the kicker was average, but RB James, as the punter, was great (45 yd avg).
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Award Winners and Notable Players Involved:
RB Herschel Walker, Georgia - Heisman, Camp, Maxwell, All-American
QB Todd Blackledge, Penn State - O'Brien
C Dave Rimington, Nebraska - Outland, Lombardi, AA
HC Joe Paterno, Penn State - Coach of the Year
RB Mike Rozier, Nebraska - AA
DB Terry Hoage, Georgia - AA
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What say you?!?
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The RBs alone in this one - Herschel, Dickerson, Rozier.....Curt Warner as the worst one - that's sick. I also had no idea Craig James punted and punted well, lol. This is a fun one. We have a rematch, but from a September game where the home team won by 3....so who knows what would happen in the playoff?!?
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It wouldn't have been the Wolverines.
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Penn st wouldn't stand a chance in the rematch with the Huskers after stealing the sept game
and I'll take the Huskers over the Dawgs in the final
Blackshirts were solid vs the run
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I'd go with either PSU or Nebraska. UGA was too one dimensional. Their best team was the year before when Belue was still at QB. They needed a QB who could pass a bit even if it was to Walker who was quite a good receiver out of the backfield.
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Georgia did beat Auburn that year 19-14, Auburn was 9-3 and ranked 13th finally. That was the "Look at the sugar falling from the sky!" game. HUNKER DOWN ONE MORE TIME!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJtKr1_05XA
They beat BYU barely 17-14 at home, BYU was 8-4.
Clemson finished 9-1-1 and ranked 9th. They beat Miss State (5-6) 29-22 on the road.
They had the kind of team able to demolish anyone who couldn't stack the box, but lack the balance to compete with the top level teams. The 44-0 game with Florida was an anomaly really.
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UNL.
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Munson was a treat. I love listening to his calls, even though I typically eschew downright homers. "I broke my chair. I just came through the chair a metal steel chair" and the "We just stepped on their face with a hobnail boot and broke their nose....we just crushed their face!" are my favorites.
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PSU over Georgia, with PSU-Nebraska in the semis being the de facto national championship
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I think UGA's number of interceptions isn't being given its due.
Walker would run all over SMU.
If Penn State beat Nebraska and faced UGA, they passed a lot for a team in 1982 and Blackledge threw plenty of INTs. I think UGA wins by picking him off a few times in a low-scoring game.
If Nebraska beat Penn State and faced UGA, they'd win if they just ran the ball. But this Nebraska team had receiving threats and that would risk throwing INTs. I'd pick the Huskers if they kept things on the ground, but if they opened up the offense too much, I'd go with UGA.
Dr Tom would/should be smart enough to just run, run, run.
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UGA had my favorite Dawg of all time, Terry Hoage, now runs a winery in CA. He had a 3.9 GPA with a major in genetics.
He apparently took little talent and worked himself into a great player, even on Sundays.
OK, they had another Dawg that was also pretty good.
There are currently four numbers which have been retired by UGA: #21 (Frank Sinkwich), #34 (Herschel Walker), #40 (Theron Sapp), and #62 (Charley Trippi).Jul 21, 2014
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Munson was a treat. I love listening to his calls, even though I typically eschew downright homers. "I broke my chair. I just came through the chair a metal steel chair" and the "We just stepped on their face with a hobnail boot and broke their nose....we just crushed their face!" are my favorites.
Yeah, he sounds a lot like a caricature of what a home announcer sounds like, but it's his style. To an objective observer, you might take him or leave him. But with that style, you almost have to imagine yourself as a 10 year old listening to the radio back in the 60s - and in that situation, he's golden. If you close your eyes and listen, his style is the reason people would sit around a radio.
Paired with TV coverage, it might be a bit much, but he's super engaging if all you have are his words.
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When Munson started, he was down the middle, not much of a homer really. He said there was a game at Kentucky somewhere along the way that swayed him.
He went full homer. If you grew up as I did, he was the Voice of the Dawgs. You bled and cried with him. I got a lot of my pessimism about the Dawgs from him and Dooley, even if we're playing SE Dakota Teachers College.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMi9nwILsu4
https://ugawire.usatoday.com/2017/12/10/larry-munsons-top-10-favorite-calls/