Who was the lamest National Championship team?

[SunDodger]

I have to go with 1984 BYU. They are one of only two teams in history that were awarded the National Championship but did not play in either the Rose, Sugar, Orange, Fiesta, or Cotton Bowl.

Michigan was unranked going into the Bowls that year and had lost at home to Washington 20-11, early in the season. Washington was ranked #1 after weeks 7-10 before losing at USC 16-7. Then Nebraska was #1 before losing at home to Oklahoma 17-7. Oklahoma jumped up to #2 behind BYU after the win.

Final Polls Before Bowl Games
UPI-AP
1......1. BYU.................12-0-0
2......2. Oklahoma...........9-1-1
6......3. Florida...............9-1-1
3......4. Washington.......10-1-0
4......5. Nebraska............9-2-0
5......6. Ohio St..............9-2-0

Holiday -- #1 BYU over Michigan 24-17
Orange -- #4 Washington over #2 Oklahoma 28-17
Sugar -- #5 Nebraska over #11 LSU 28-10
Rose -- #18 USC over #6 Ohio St. 20-17
#3 Florida didn't go to a Bowl due to probation.

If strength of schedule had been factored in to the polls that season, I don't think BYU would've been ranked in the top five. The Orange Bowl should've been for the National Championship.

1984-Brigham Young (13-0-0) (WAC)
9/1 @ Pittsburgh (3-7-1) W 20 14
9/8 vs. Baylor (5-6) W 47 13
9/15 vs. Tulsa (6-5) W 38 15
9/22 @ *Hawaii (7-4) W 18 13
10/6 @ *Colorado State (3-8) W 52 9
10/13 vs. *Wyoming (6-6) W 41 38
10/20 @ *Air Force (8-4) W 30 25
10/25 @ *New Mexico (4-8) W 48 0
11/3 vs. *Texas-El Paso (2-9) W 42 9
11/10 vs. *San Diego St. (4-7-1) W 34 3
11/17 @ *Utah (6-5-1) W 24 14
11/24 vs. Utah State (1-10) W 38 13
12/21 vs. Michigan (6-6) W 24 17 @ San Diego, CA Holiday Bowl

1984-Michigan (6-6-0) (Big Ten)
9/8 vs. Miami (Florida) (8-5) W 22 14
9/15 vs. Washington (11-1) L 11 20
9/22 vs. *Wisconsin (7-4-1) W 20 14
9/29 @ *Indiana (0-11) W 14 6
10/6 vs. *Michigan State (6-6) L 7 19
10/13 vs. *Northwestern (2-9) W 31 0
10/20 @ *Iowa (8-4-1) L 0 26
10/27 vs. *Illinois (7-4) W 26 18
11/3 @ *Purdue (7-5) L 29 31
11/10 vs. *Minnesota (4-7) W 31 7
11/17 @ *Ohio State (9-3) L 6 21
12/21 vs. Brigham Young (13-0) L 17 24 @ San Diego, CA Holiday Bowl

1984-Washington (11-1-0) (Pac 10)
9/8 vs. Northwestern (2-9) W 26 0
9/15 @ Michigan (6-6) W 20 11
9/22 vs. Houston (7-5) W 35 7
9/29 vs. Miami (Ohio) (4-7) W 53 7
10/6 @ *Oregon State (2-9) W 19 7
10/13 @ *Stanford (5-6) W 37 15
10/20 vs. *Oregon (6-5) W 17 10
10/27 vs. *Arizona (7-4) W 28 12
11/3 vs. *California (2-9) W 44 14
11/10 @ *Southern California (9-3) L 7 16
11/17 @ *Washington State (6-5) W 38 29
1/1 vs. Oklahoma (9-2-1) W 28 17 @ Miami, FL Orange Bowl

1984-Oklahoma (9-2-1) (Big 8)
9/8 vs. Stanford (5-6) W 19 7
9/15 @ Pittsburgh (3-7-1) W 42 10
9/22 vs. Baylor (5-6) W 34 15
9/29 vs. *Kansas State (3-7-1) W 24 6
10/13 vs. Texas (7-4-1) T 15 15 @ Dallas, TX
10/20 @ *Iowa State (2-7-2) W 12 10
10/27 @ *Kansas (5-6) L 11 28
11/3 vs. *Missouri (3-7-1) W 49 7
11/10 @ *Colorado (1-10) W 42 17
11/17 @ *Nebraska (10-2) W 17 7
11/24 vs. *Oklahoma State (10-2) W 24 14
1/1 vs. Washington (11-1) L 17 28 @ Miami, FL Orange Bowl

 

[born2gamble]

07 lsu

 

[SunDodger]

I just stumbled across this article and figured I'd throw it in here. I think the author would vote for 1993 Florida St.

Another year that sticks out in my mind is 1994. Undefeated Penn St. deserved a share of the Championship.



Controversial National Champions of the last 30 years
February 20, 2008

1978: USC Beat Alabama early in the season. Alabama beat #1 Penn State in the Sugar Bowl. USC beat #5 Michigan in the Rose Bowl. The AP voted (11-1) Alabama #1 while the UPI gave the top spot to (12-1) USC.

1984: BYU beat 3rd ranked Pitt to start 1984 and jumped up to #8 by week two. The only decent team BYU beat was 8-4 Air Force (Pitt finished 3-7). BYU beat unranked (6-5) Michigan in the Holiday Bowl to win the National Title. Oklahoma, Florida, and Washington all lost once during the season. #4 Washington beat #2 Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl. #3 Florida did not go to a bowl game.

1985: Penn State was undefeated and #1 heading into the Bowls. #2 Miami, #3 Oklahoma, and #4 Iowa were all 10-1. Penn State matched up with Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl. Miami, who beat Oklahoma during the regular season, lost to Tennessee in the Sugar Bowl. Iowa lost to UCLA in the Rose Bowl. Oklahoma won the National Title, but Michigan (10-1-1) and Tennessee (9-1-2) had pretty good arguments for the top spot.

1989: #1 Colorado lost to #4 Notre Dame who #2 Miami beat earlier in the season. #2 Miami beat #7 Alabama. #3 Michigan lost to #12 USC. #5 Florida State beat #6 Nebraska. Miami was the new #1. The only problem was that they lost to Florida State who finished #3 behind Notre Dame.

1990: #1 Colorado beat #5 Notre Dame. #2 Georgia Tech beat #19 Nebraska. #3 Texas lost to #4 Miami. Even though Colorado started the season 1-1-1, they were the AP national Champs, while 11-0-1 Georgia Tech won the UPI National Title. Colorado Tied 9-2 Tennessee, beat 10-2 Texas, 10-2 Washington, 8-3 Oklahoma, and 9-3 Nebraska. Their only loss came against 8-4 Illinois. Colorado’s 1990 schedule was one of the toughest in history.

1991: Two and only two undefeated teams #1 Miami and #2 Washington could not play in a bowl game pre-BCS. Miami beat 11-2 Penn State, 11-2 Florida State (wide right I), and 9-2-1 Nebraska while Washington beat 9-2-1 Nebraska, 10-2 Cal, and 10-2 Michigan. The AP voted Miami #1 while the UPI had Washington on top.

1993: #1 Florida State played #2 Nebraska in the Orange Bowl. Sounds great except that FSU lost to Notre Dame the second to last game of the season. The Irish beat #7 Texas A&M in the Cotton Bowl. #3 West Virginia lost to Florida in the Suqar bowl. #5 Auburn was also undefeated, but they were ineligible for a bowl game. The final rankings were 11-1 Florida State #1 and 11-1 Notre Dame #2. If only they could have played, oh wait they did already. This was the worst media screw job since the 1978 Alabama disgrace. Florida State was always so close, and Bobby Bowden was already a legend. The college football world just had to get Bobby his championship. The fact that Florida State moved to #1 over Notre Dame was a joke. Nebraska should have been playing either Notre Dame or West Virginia for the National Title. This is why the BCS has computers in the formula today.

1994: Nebraska and Penn State both finished undefeated, but both polls voted Nebraska #1.

1997: Michigan and Nebraska both finished undefeated and split the National Title.

2000: Florida State edged out Miami for the #2 BCS spot by .32 points in the BCS ratings. Miami beat Florida State earlier in the year, and held the #2 spot in both polls, but thanks to Florida State’s top rank in most computers and a slight schedule strength edge, they were #2. The team that had a better argument was Washington. They played in the very tough PAC-10 (three teams in the final top 7) and finished 11-1 but gave Miami their only loss.

2001: This was the worst nightmare for BCS officials. #4 Nebraska jumped ahead of #2 Oregon and #3 Colorado, who just destroyed Nebraska a week earlier. Colorado had the #2 schedule strength, and had the nations best quality win points. For some reason, the computers gave Colorado a 4.5 average. Nebraska edged out the Buffs by .05 points. Pac-10 champ and clear #2 in the polls, Oregon, thumped Colorado in the Fiesta Bowl.

2003: #1 USC, #2 LSU, and #3 Oklahoma all finished with 1 loss. The BCS had USC third. USC won the rose bowl and the AP national championship, while LSU won the BCS national title.

2004 Auburn won the SEC and finished 13-0. #1 USC beat #2 Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl.

2007: The year of the upset saw every major team except Ohio State with two losses. LSU jumped up from #5 to #2 after they won the SEC championship despite losing their last game of the regular season to Arkansas. LSU beat 6 ranked teams and destroyed BCS #3 Va Tech 48-7 early in the season. There is no real controversy. USC, Georgia, and Oklahoma all made arguments, but LSU was the clear #2.

 

[M.Saracen]

GoSooners once again showing his hatred/bias toward Florida State...

Florida State was wire-to-wire national champion. Absolute joke to include them in this poll.

Ohio State 2001 has to be my answer. I hate Miami and wanted to see OSU win, but that team got lucky all season and they shouldn't have won the game vs. Miami. Pure BS.

 

[TOOTIGHT]

GoSooners once again showing his hatred/bias toward Florida State...

Florida State was wire-to-wire national champion. Absolute joke to include them in this poll.

Ohio State 2001 has to be my answer. I hate Miami and wanted to see OSU win, but that team got lucky all season and they shouldn't have won the game vs. Miami. Pure BS.

Seriously?? I think you forgot that Ohio St. went undefeated despite the Big 10 being the best conference that year (obviously the last year anyone could say that). Ending Miami's win streak solidified an unreal season in one of the best title games of the decade (behind only USC/Texas). "Lucky" doesn't matter when you get the job done. You also forget about Miami getting a lucky call that single handedly gave them the lead in the 4th quarter of that game. You can't blame a game on the refs, you have to win despite bad breaks...PERIOD. In that title game the questionable calls were 50/50 on both sides but everyone chooses to forget. The 2001 Ohio St. team in no way should be on this list.

FSU back in the day used to navigate through a weak ACC, win their only tough game against Florida, and play for all the chips. You didn't have to compete with BC, V Tech, and Miami for a conference title back then.

 

[M.Saracen]

ohio state pulled a lot of games out of their ass that season and they just had the championship magic. i'm not saying they were a weak team, nor do i forget that they went undefeated in the big 10. i watched the games.

but that team could have just as easily had 3-4 losses as they could have won it all like they did. you can't say that about florida state's wire-to-wire team. bring up the SOS all you want, but i don't think fsu's schedule that year was significantly easier than osu's was in '01. georgia tech and miami were both good teams, ncst was a rated team, and florida was #3 in the country. not the SEC, but not a cakewalk either. comparatively, ohio state beat just 4 ranked teams in the regular season as well (and none were as tough as florida)

florida state's '99 team was much stronger than osu's 2001 team.

 

[PowerPlayPicks]

Ohio State was 02'. Miami Fla won it Big in 01'.

 

[TOOTIGHT]

MS, I agree Ohio St. pulled a few games out their ass but you can go back to a 4th down play that makes or breaks an undefeated season for a lot of teams. The year Texas won it all, they were down late in the fourth vs. Ohio St. when Vince Young made a perfect pass on 4th down to basically win the game. If he doesn't complete that one pass, Texas would not have gone to the Rose Bowl and not have won the title that year. Not to mention the 4th down play Texas needed in the title game to beat USC.

Championship teams find a way to pull it out and they have special players that can execute under extreme preasure. That's why I think that Ohio St. team deserves credit. No way can you call them "lame" IMO. I think they are on the list because people are completely obtuse when the name Ohio St. comes up because they got spanked in those 2 title games.

I'm not an Ohio St. fan either in case you thought I was.

Your right though about FSU I forgot they played Miami.

 

[M.Saracen]

i wouldn't call that team lame, either. i agree with you, championship teams get it done and they got it done.

this whole poll is skewed/stupid because any team that manages to win a championship shouldn't truly and honestly be considered "lame" except by someone with a vendetta/agenda...

 

[YourAllAmerican]

this whole poll is skewed/stupid because any team that manages to win a championship shouldn't truly and honestly be considered "lame" except by someone with a vendetta/agenda...

Lighten up, Francis. It's just a conversation-starter for some football talk to fill time in the off-season. Nobody will take away your Seminoles' title.

 

[GoSooners]

Relax guys. I have no agenda against anybody. I was just in a little bit of a bored pissy mood when I made this poll. Michigan probably doesn't belong on here, even though they were coached by Lloyd Carr. And the blind squirrel somehow found the nut that year. And I also had the years mixed up with that team anyway in regards to who their real outside competetion was in the polls.. My Florida St. 1999 argument had more to do with their competetion in the NC game (VT) than the season itself. Although that school is still the real Thug U of Florida and should be ashamed that they've let this behavior go on all of these years under Bowden.. Those are just the facts. It has nothing to do with my feelings or the way I bet on them. Ohio State I put on there because of the way in which they beat Miami in the NC game, and the amount of close calls they had that year. In all fairness to them, the next season, pretty much the same Buckeyes team did beat a pretty good Kansas State team in the Fiesta Bowl, after they had just upset undefeated OU in the Big 12 Championship Game. But you also have to admit the breaks really went their way when they played a very good Miami team. There's no getting around that. Everybody else belongs in this poll for sure imo. And as a few have pointed out, I should have included LSU in this poll. If the team wasn't lame themselves, then the decision to put them in the NC game with two losses definitely was.

 

[TOOTIGHT]

It's all good GS, I didn't mean to flame about the poll. It was a good conversation piece. I think we still all agree, no matter how lame college football is in the way it crowns it's national champ, it's the best sport to follow under the sun. Not to mention the best sport to cap by far.
:toast:

 

[FullWageredMan]

Oklahoma with Jason White. Any team OU makes is usually overrated and when faced against a quality team they get their shit handed to them very quickly and effeciently.

 

[guitarjosh]

Oklahoma with Jason White. Any team OU makes is usually overrated and when faced against a quality team they get their shit handed to them very quickly and effeciently.

Oklahoma didn't win with Jason White, they won with Josh Huepul.

 

[fballplaya]

Seriously?? I think you forgot that Ohio St. went undefeated despite the Big 10 being the best conference that year (obviously the last year anyone could say that). Ending Miami's win streak solidified an unreal season in one of the best title games of the decade (behind only USC/Texas). "Lucky" doesn't matter when you get the job done. You also forget about Miami getting a lucky call that single handedly gave them the lead in the 4th quarter of that game. You can't blame a game on the refs, you have to win despite bad breaks...PERIOD. In that title game the questionable calls were 50/50 on both sides but everyone chooses to forget. The 2001 Ohio St. team in no way should be on this list.

FSU back in the day used to navigate through a weak ACC, win their only tough game against Florida, and play for all the chips. You didn't have to compete with BC, V Tech, and Miami for a conference title back then.

I completely agree...no way should Ohio St even have been an option to be an answer in this question...

14-0 is 14-0....no matter if they win every game by 30 or by 3...didn't that Ohio St team have 14 guys drafted that year? That was a pretty good football team...lol

 

[goblue12]

07 lsu

+1

 

[TOOTIGHT]

Thing with that LSU team was they had some bad luck with injuries. At full strength, they resembled a legit national championship team. Look what they did to a good V-Tech team early in the year before their guys started dropping like flies. I still remember that defense being described as a 600 lb gorilla with a chain saw for a cock.

 

[born2gamble]

Thing with that LSU team was they had some bad luck with injuries. At full strength, they resembled a legit national championship team. Look what they did to a good V-Tech team early in the year before their guys started dropping like flies. I still remember that defense being described as a 600 lb gorilla with a chain saw for a cock.

Injuries are part of the game. SC in the 06 Rose Bowl, had 7 defensive starters out, but that's not an excuse for losing to Texas.

 

[Kevo]

OSU was in 2002, actually. They won so many close games and Miami got screwed out of that game.

 

[GoForIt]

Its Colorado easily, 5 downs??????????? that is ridiculous


and yes the BCS is better than the old system (Pre-BCS)