VOTE - Who would win the 1995 CFP?

[FearlessF]

after a quick search my memory was refreshed that the NCAA and the NFL banned roids around 1987

I know Husker players were roiding heavily in the early 80s when I was in school.  My feeling is that once roids were banned by the NCAA the athletes at UNL cut WAY down.  Just my feeling, but I suppose there were those that thought they could beat the drug test or thought the risk was worth it, but with the Husker's success of the renowned strength & conditioning program there was a huge bullseye on the program.  I'm sure they were tested as much as any program and Osborne certainly didn't want a slew of failed tests and a black eye,

the other thing that came up in the quick search is that roid/PED use is still very active today.

One interesting story is about a Florida QB, not a lineman.

https://sports.vice.com/en_us/article/78y5zx/college-football-is-probably-juiced-but-does-anyone-really-care

 It was one those cute bloggy space-fillers we tend to skim and then forget about altogether, passed along from one site to the next with a series of jokes about peanut-butter sandwiches and the freshman 15: a University of Florida quarterback named Will Grier had bulked up from 172 pounds to 215 pounds in the course of the offseason. Only in retrospect did it become suspicious; only after Grier tested positive for some sort of banned substance this week, precipitating a one-year suspension, did we all look back and wonder what the hell had just happened.

[FearlessF]

as for the mid-90s Husker teams....... I'm certain they were pushing the boundaries of legal PEDs.  Using everything and anything that was NOT banned

not sure about illegal roids, but obviously it's very possible Christian Peter was using something illegal.  We may never know.  Or perhaps Christian has since fessed up, but I just don't remember it from his interviews.

[Cincydawg]

I have been going to a fantasy baseball camp for a few years (missed last year for a family emergency thing).  The 'roid discussion often comes up.

The pros there are folks like Sid Bream, Steve Avery, Marvin Freeman, and some special guests like Andruw Jones this year and Dale Murphy a couple years back.  None of them say they partook, and they all said one of the main advantages was healing faster.  A discussion this year was about how wearing a 162 game season was on even young bodies.  I was surprised to hear them say that by May they were all dinged up, bruised, sore, the starting pitchers less so.

The "cream" or whatever would enable some to heal up faster, aside from any strength building aspect.

The players at the camp range from 25 to 74, I was second oldest at mid60s, and after 3 days of playing, we were nearly all limping or bruised or whatever, after 3 days.  Some of these guys appear to have been in good shape otherwise, one of the guys on our team was a 43 year old who played in the NFL (WR) for quite a few years (nice guy).  He was banged up too, on our team and two lockers down from me so we chatted quite a bit.  He said he had stayed in good shape but was really feeling it after 2-3 days.  

I trained pretty hard this year and was barely able to run by Day 5, but I'm at an age where recovery is going to be slow, and I had a slight pull in a quad on Day 2 I was trying to save.  I'm still a bit sore 2 weeks later.

In football of course, the bodily damage is going to be greater, and the desire to build effective muscularity greater still.  UGA has been running a two back system for several years now and the comments by the running backs tell me they appreciate that even if it means they don't put up gaudy numbers.  Of course it helps when you take out a Chubb and put in a Michel.

I know these guys are 20 and in incredible shape, but the pounding they take is incredible also. 

[FearlessF]

the dudes in the 60s and 70s were some tough hard nosed players

and the earlier guys played both ways

w/o modern medicine and procedures

[Hoss]

Well we could joke around or have a real conversation. 

A real conversation would require evidence, of which you have none..besides the degree of ass-whooping your team took. 
This is a good point to stop digging the hole you're in and just go with the "I'm probably wrong/sour grapes" approach. 

[MaximumSam]

as for the mid-90s Husker teams....... I'm certain they were pushing the boundaries of legal PEDs.  Using everything and anything that was NOT banned

not sure about illegal roids, but obviously it's very possible Christian Peter was using something illegal.  We may never know.  Or perhaps Christian has since fessed up, but I just don't remember it from his interviews.

They were the spiritual fathers of 2018 Clemson

[Cincydawg]

Players in each era were tough kids.  Imagine playing with no face guard.

My story is about Georgia facing Nebraska in the 1969 Sun Bowl, I think it was.  Nebraska lost late in the year and had a national championship caliber team fall to a minor bowl.  Dooley commented that he got an object lesson in the need for organized weight training.  Before that, weight lifting was a kind of casual voluntary thing at UGA.

[Hoss]

I'm probably projecting a little too much with Ross, Higgins and Lawrence. Granted, they're all good as hell. I still think the more modern offense would cause some issues with that base 4-3, but as you said, UF was more modern than most at the time, and Neb did its damage just the same.

This is one of those situations where personnel comes into play. Nebraska ran a 43 with a WILL, MIKE and SAM backer, but the OLBs were more like SSs so we had six defenders on the field with Man-coverage skills. The MIKE backer typically didn't draw coverage responsibilities; he was an A gap filler or Robber. Everybody else in the backfield would man-up in some coverage scheme, although the FS spent the majority of his snaps playing centerfield in C1 and its variations.

We had some bigger fellas to bring in at OLB for short yardage scenarios, but over time we just kept the more athletic Base dudes in for most every scenario.

[OrangeAfroMan]

A real conversation would require evidence, of which you have none..besides the degree of ass-whooping your team took.
This is a good point to stop digging the hole you're in and just go with the "I'm probably wrong/sour grapes" approach.

You're getting snippy.  It's 24 years later.  Chill.  
I'll ask again - would you bet $1 or $10,000 the UNL linemen would pass an independent drug test that night?

[OrangeAfroMan]

Players in each era were tough kids.  Imagine playing with no face guard.

My story is about Georgia facing Nebraska in the 1969 Sun Bowl, I think it was.  Nebraska lost late in the year and had a national championship caliber team fall to a minor bowl.  Dooley commented that he got an object lesson in the need for organized weight training.  Before that, weight lifting was a kind of casual voluntary thing at UGA.

Right, and steroids aren't a replacement for weight training, then enable you to do more of it.
It's funny, I think the masses treat roids as a replacement to hard work - a short cut.  Except they're the opposite of that - they let you go hard, beyond your natural ability.  But you have to be willing to put in the work.
Yet whenever they're brought up, the accused get pissy and offended.

[ELA]

I wouldn't bet $1,000 in 1995 or 2018 that any lineman at any big time football program would pass a drug test that was ahead of the curve, that they didn't know was coming.

[MrNubbz]

Good point ELA friend of mine's son played H.S. & some small college ball before knee problems.He was gym rat and they all were heavy on supplements from which I gathered at the time were the building blocks for PEDs.This kid wasn't a drug user either and was put together real good.

[Cincydawg]

With the contact in football today generated by the momentum of very fast, very heavy players, I don't see how many skill players survive long.

A linebacker in say 1970 in college average what, maybe 220?  215?  200?  

[FearlessF]

200