Who's #1?

Who's Now? Clearly not "Who's Now." That much we found out.

 

Whatever.

Look, it's very simple: If you go undefeated and play in the SEC you should play for the national title. In fact, it should be an amendment to the Constitution.

 

The worst teams to ever win or share a national title are the 1984 BYU team and the 1990 Georgia Tech team... If memory serves, BYU beat a 6-5 Michigan team in the Holiday Bowl and Tech beat a bad Nebraska team...

The only defense of the 1990 sharing of the title by Colorado and Georgia Tech is that it's almost certainly the craziest college football season ever. Miami was the best team that year, but somehow they lost twice...

 

Miami abused Texas in the Cotton Bowl that year, I think, 46-3 in a game that was a mockery to the penalty system in college football and common decency. They racked up more than 300 yards in penalties and had at least seven unsportsmanslike conduct penalties. On one drive they made it past midfield, got sent back to their own 20 and had something crazy like 2nd and 50 only to earn it all back on a 75 + yard touchdown pass.

 

Naw, that was a couple years later. Like New Year's Day '92. That was Warren Sapp grabbing his manhood on national TV while standing on the bench facing the 'Horn fans. Such an indelible image.

1997 Nebraska team... FRAUD!

 

Disagree. If that team went through Vandy, Ole Miss and Mississippi State as part of the schedule, I don't see why that team ought to get a free pass. Especially when the non-conference schedule might have been filled with Louisiana-Monroe, Louisiana-Lafayette, Louisiana Tech and The Citadel.

In fact, I was ticked that in 2003, Utah got matched up with Pitt and not Auburn, partly because I wanted to see two BCS game feature two unbeaten teams, and partly because I wondered whether that Utah team could have put a serious dent into the ego of SEC fans everywhere. That Utah-Auburn game that never happened would have been a good one.

 

I don't have a ton of sympathy for 1994 Penn State since Nebraska was so good that year... For my money, the 1995 Nebraska team was the best of my lifetime...

Nebraska in 1997 was bullshit and they got the title in large part because the coaches wanted to honor Osborne...

 

That was definitely New Year's Day '91, and Warren Sapp was nowhere to be found. Unless, that is, he was a true freshman and took a redshirt year later on (Sapp was drafted in '95). And the penalty yardage wasn't over 300, but it was pretty damn close.

Few other points...

1. The real blame in the '03 LSU/USC issue should go to the pollsters that saw Oklahoma get beaten 35-7 in the Big 12 Championship, but only dropped them to 3rd in the polls. That wasn't the BCS fault. That's good ol' human error. Yeah, many of us thought that OU team was one of the best ever before that game. Still, that whoopin' they took was worth more than a couple of spots in the polls. You can also blame the pollsters that looked at the final score of the FSU/ND game in '93, ignoring that one of those FSU touchdowns came on a flukish tipped pass in the back of the end zone, and kept FSU close enough to the top of the polls to put them in position to win the title. Points are points, yes, but the final score was used to show FSU played a better game than it did.

2. Phantom clip in the '90 Orange Bowl? Not if I recall. Maybe according to the NBC broadcast team that covered that game, but I remember seeing that clear as day. Granted, I was 10 years old, but I'm pretty sure on that one.

3. Ummm, anyone remember that "pass interference" call in the Miami/Ohio State Fiesta Bowl? Even if the call was legit, no playground on Earth would allow a call that late.

 

I'd rather an official get a call right, even if it takes a few seconds, than to be instantly and decisively wrong on a call both teams will live with for the rest of their lives. This need of ours for a quick call, even if it's wrong ... do not understand it.

Denkinger didn't hesitate, as I recall.

 

Just mentioning the name Don Denkinger in my house usually results in a round of high fives...

The 1985 Royals may be my favorite sports team of all-time...

 

That is true, but there was no debating with Denkinger. I don't think that was PI in the Fiesta Bowl.

A little hesitation, and Denkinger would have had time to wait for Orta's foot to hit the base before making the call.

 

I would argue that the PI call in the Fiesta Bowl may have been the worst call ever... If I remember correctly, he did hesitate...