The Rearview 8/29

Oh, thank goodness this weekend is finally upon us.   The College Football season got kicked off last night as most of us probably watched South Carolina dismantle an undermanned and offensively inept North Carolina State Wolf pack team that fit the billing as a lower tier ACC team.  The good news about that game…….the SEC didn’t get embarrassed by, let’s face it, a bad ACC team.  The bad news……eh, there isn’t any.  USC beat a team they should have.  Good for them.  Vandy got a semi decent road win and Wake Forest destroyed the Baylor Bears.  Nice appetizers.  Bring on the steak and potatoes.

But first, since this is the 1^st weekend of our beloved sport and for over 5 months we’ve all been pining on who would do this or that, I think it best to take a look back (finally, as the title suggests…..).

What does it really take to win and win big?  X’s and O’s have to be there.  You have to have players.  You have to have coaches.  And a little luck never hurt either.  I looked back at the last 15 National Champions, and while all of them were very good teams obviously, virtually all of them had “help” if you will.  And this kind of help can’t be predicted or gleaned from a pre season magazine.  This is the kind of help that will just have you scratching your head and saying “well what do ya think about that?”

Let’s talk 1992 Alabama.  Now this was a very good team, they had a great defense and every Vol fan’s favorite QB, Jay Barker.  Gene Stallings was in his prime as the head man for the tide, and at the end of the year, no one doubted that Bama earned this championship.  But this same team that dismantled the vaunted Miami Hurricanes in the Sugar bowl had 4 games that season decided by a touchdown or less.  Which, really is quite impressive, they did finish 13-0.  So 9 times they basically handled their opponent.  And the teams they did struggle against were ranked and on the road.  #13 TN in Knoxville, 17-10 winner, #16 Miss. St. in Starkville, 24-19 winner and #12 Florida 28-21 at a (wink, wink) neutral site for the SEC title game in Birmingham.  But the 4^th one was a squeaker against Southern Miss in Birmingham, a 17-10 ball game way back in September before Bama ‘found themselves’.  Who knows, a turnover here or there…..and the storied 92 Tide never happens (which as it turns out, didn’t since the 92 record got wiped out due to infractions the Tide committed later on…it makes me laugh…..)

The very next year, you had the perfect example of lady luck cutting in to save the day.  Florida State won the National Championship in 1993.  But, there was the ‘game of the year’ where FSU and Notre Dame hooked up in a true clash of the titans.  It was a great game, and Notre Dame left the field victorious, seemingly dashing FSU’s title hopes.  The very next week, Notre Dame welcomed Boston College in to town and BC (oddly enough in maroon and gold colors no less) pulled the upset that put FSU back in the Orange bowl picture, and ultimately allowed them to go on to beat Nebraska for Bobby Bowden’s 1^st national title.

In 1994, there was a great debate over Penn State and Nebraska at season’s end.  So much so, Penn State fans have basically pulled a bammer and claimed it for themselves. Nebraska came from behind to beat Miami in the Orange Bowl to win its first National Title for Tom Osborne.  Joe Pa was a bride’s maid once again……..the lady luck in this season though was simply the pollster’s opinions.  That’s the only thing that determined who would win it all in 1994.

In 1995, Nebraska left no doubt.  This is one of the few teams that really had no weaknesses…….they were just good.  They ran thru their schedule and over the SEC Champion Florida Gators en route to their 2^nd consecutive National Title.

In 1996, Florida got back in to the title chase, but the biggest stroke of luck I think they had was they got a rematch with FSU in the Sugar Bowl.  And they took advantage of what they learned from their loss to the Noles in the regular season and took home the trophy.  Which as it turned out was to get in to the ref’s faces about roughing their Heisman winning QB.  They got the calls in the Sugar Bowl they didn’t get in the regular season match up.

In 1997, we had a split title, much to Joe Paterno’s chagrin.  Michigan and Nebraska both finished undefeated and won one of the major polls a piece.  Though many would say Nebraska would destroy Michigan, we’ll just never know.  For the purposes of this dissertation we’ll stick to Nebraska.  This Nebraska team was good, but there was one game I’ll never forget.  And this, like another play almost a year later, gives credence as to why coaches can say and believe: “we’re just a play or two away”.  The game was against Missouri.  It was a tightly fought game and Nebraska had the ball in scoring position, and needed a touch down to win.  The play was run, the ball was thrown, and as it was falling to the ground for an incompletion, and impending Missouri victory celebration, the Nebraska WR’s toe inadvertently kicks the ball back up in to the air, and the receiver catches the ball while lying on his back.  Nebraska wins and proceeds to destroy our Tennessee Vols in the Orange bowl for their share of the title.

In 1998, well, we won it all by going 13-0.  But I don’t think anyone would be foolish enough to say we didn’t have some luck along the way………the Syracuse game was a ridiculous opener……an inauspicious start to what would become one of the greatest seasons for our Vols.  Then you go to the FL game and the FG miss to the Arkansas game which wound up being the epitome of luck in football (just like the Nebraska kick/catch in the end zone).  I still can’t believe he fumbled the ball.  Then just when you think that’s not enough, the team we’re going to play changes like 3 times, and we wind up with Florida State.  Damn.  But then Chris Weinke goes down and we’re left playing something called “The Rooster”.  Awesome.  4 months of anxiety ridden football culminated in one of the best memories I have of a football season.  And I’d take it all over again, lucky or not.

In 1999, FSU basically went wire to wire and won their 2^nd title for Bobby.  They did have a few drops of sweat along the way.  Georgia Tech went punch for punch with them for 3 ½ quarters and Miami stayed with them for a half before being outscored 10-0 in the 2^nd half.  They squeaked one out against Clemson, as Clemson led at the half and out rushed the Noles.  14 2^nd half points turned out to be enough in a 17-14 winner.  And in the Florida game, turns out a 4 yard run for a TD in the 1^st quarter was the difference as both teams scored the exact same amount of points in each remaining quarter of the game.  The Gators watched the comeback bid slip by as the last pass fell incomplete in the end zone.  FSU went on to beat Va Tech and the Mike Vick show in the Sugar Bowl.

In 2000 Oklahoma won it all, and did so in impressive defensive fashion.  They had arguably one of the more difficult schedules to navigate to get where they were going, and they got there.  The Big 12 title game provided the drama as they eked out a 3 point victory over Kansas St. to earn the trip to the Orange Bowl, where they beat FSU in what was an ugly baseball game, 13-2.

In 2001 arguably one of the best college football teams of all time won it all.  The 2001 Miami Hurricanes maybe could have won the NFC North that year.  Talent was not an issue.  But they had one of those games that could have cost them.  That year at Chestnut Hill against BC, one of the strangest plays I’ve ever seen helped seal Miami’s championship dreams.  BC had the ball, I believe they had a slim lead at the time, and it was very late in the game.  BC ran their play, the ball carrier fumbled the ball directly in to the Miami defensive back’s arms and he ran it back for what would be the game winning score.  Another stroke of luck…….everyone else that was in contention for the Rose Bowl that year lost, so Miami got to destroy a Nebraska team that finished 3^rd in it’s own conference.

In 2002, Ohio State got its shot against those Miami Hurricanes.  This one is easy.  As great as this game was, and as much fun as it was to watch, the luck factor for the Buckeye’s is wrapped up in little yellow flags.  I’m sorry, but it’s true.  Take the flags away, Miami wins.   And as it turned out, this proved to be a little bit of a starting point for some bad luck for the Buckeyes as soon after this the whole Maurice Clarrett soap opera began, and we know how the last two bids for National Titles have worked out for the Buckeyes since then…….

In 2003 LSU and USC split the title in the BCS era……which wasn’t supposed to even be possible.  How can two teams win the title in a system that’s set up to put #1 vs. #2?  Well, there in lies the rub…….that’s the luck of it all.  Had they played each other, one of them wouldn’t have a ring today.

In 2004 USC went undefeated to capture back to back national titles.  They really were good, and for the most part didn’t really struggle, other than the usual one or two games they pull out and leave you scratching your head…….that year it was a 3 pt win against Stanford.  Oh, and this was also the year that an undefeated Auburn got left out……no one will ever know if Auburn could have done more than get blown out 55-19 like the Sooners did that January…

In 2005, we got treated to one of the greatest national title games ever.  USC vs. Texas.  An instant classic.   Texas won it all, validating Mack Brown’s career that had been otherwise considered underachieving with the resources and talent he’d been able to round up in Austin all those years.  And he did it against the team of this decade.  But that game in and of itself had play after play that had it gone the other way, well, USC would just be the only team to ever win 3 in a row.  All that said, the biggest luck factor in this one……..the fact that Vince Young decided to come to Texas.

In 2006 Florida wins a national title on the 10 year anniversary of the 1^st one.  Nice.  But as we all know, they had their fair share of luck as well.  I know of a particular TD that was called back in Knoxville.  I know if not for a blocked kick against South Carolina, we aren’t talking about this today.  I know that Florida was the 1^st national champion to be one of the most penalized teams in the country.  They had a kicker that could barely make an extra point.  But they could play defense and they had enough speed on offense.  And they got to play Ohio State.  And hindsight being what it is was as overrated as Nebraska was back in 01.  The other, probably larger, stroke of luck……USC lost to UCLA.  USC beats UCLA like they are supposed to, and Florida is in the Sugar Bowl.

And that brings us up to last season where LSU became the 1^st team win a national title with two losses since……………..the 1960 Minnesota Golden Gophers. Do we need to even go in to this one?

What does all this teach us?  Nothing really and it won’t make picking who’s going to win the title this year any easier.  But as we all saw each year, it generally makes it much more entertaining.

Here’s to another year of this whacky sport called college football.  Let the games begin, see you in January.

Until next week when we can rehash the weekend that was………

Go Vols.