What is the worst college football team to win/share a national title?

[Mizzougrad96]

The two that jump out at me are 1984 BYU and 1990 Georgia Tech.

 

[txsportsscribe]

byu in a rout

 

[Mizzougrad96]

byu in a rout

I tend to agree, so who other than BYU?

 

[TimmyP]

Wasn't there a Colorado team that shared a title? Maybe the year of the fifth-down game?

 

[Sans_Serif_Font]

A one-loss, one-tie Colorado team (that needed a fifth down to beat Mizzou) shared a national championship with the aforementioned GaTech side. No winners there.

 

[Gator]

The two that jump out at me are 1984 BYU and 1990 Georgia Tech.

1990 Colorado team, which actually had two losses and a tie. Surprised you didn't mention this Mizzou.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

The two that jump out at me are 1984 BYU and 1990 Georgia Tech.

1990 Colorado team, which actually had two losses and a tie. Surprised you didn't mention this Mizzou.

There's a difference between being the worst team and being undeserving. Did Colorado deserve to win the national title that year? No. Would the Buffs have destroyed Georgia Tech? Almost definitely. That was a good Colorado team.

 

[Stoney]

[

The two that jump out at me are 1984 BYU and 1990 Georgia Tech.

1990 Colorado team, which actually had two losses and a tie. Surprised you didn't mention this Mizzou.

This. The famous 5th down fiasco was all that saved that Colorado team from a 9-2-1 regular season record, and then they were damn lucky to squeeze out that 10-9 Orange Bowl win after Ismail's game winning TD got called back.

1990 was the year they should've just declared no champion. Neither Colorado nor Ga Tech passed the smell test. The best team that year was probably Miami, but they had two losses.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

A one-loss, one-tie Colorado team (that needed a fifth down to beat Mizzou) shared a national championship with the aforementioned GaTech side. No winners there.

Agreed.

There was a story, I think Dufresne wrote it the last time there was a split title about which team would have been favored (on a neutral field) if the split champs (the recent ones) had to play each other.

CU would have been a 17 point favorite over Georgia Tech.
Miami would have been a 10 point favorite over Washington.
Nebraska would have been a 3 point favorite over Michigan.
USC would have been a 10 point favorite over LSU.

Does it mean anything? No, but it's pretty interesting.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

The two-loss LSU team needs to be mentioned as well.

 

[Mystery Meat II]

Colorado only had one loss and one tie, and the fifth-down win against the Miz. They also needed a clipping penalty on Rocket Ismail's kickoff return in the fourth quarter to escape the Orange Bowl with a 10-9 win that year.

 

[Mystery Meat II]

The two-loss LSU team needs to be mentioned as well.

In the sense they had two losses, but they were both triple-OT games. They smashed then-#9 Virginia Tech 48-7 and beat five other ranked teams before defeating #1 Ohio State 38-24. Nowhere near as unworthy as BYU and Colorado.

 

[nmmetsfan]

Washington would have wiped the field with Miami in 1991

 

[cyclingwriter]

Getting back to the original two shots at BYU. Why do feel that way. Because they played in the old WAC? And if Boise or TCU wins, will they get the same scorn?

 

[Stoney]

Getting back to the original two shots at BYU. Why do feel that way. Because they played in the old WAC? And if Boise or TCU wins, will they get the same scorn?

No, Boise and TCU would be far more deserving than that BYU team was. BYU's big non-conference game that year was a 20-14 win over a crappy Pitt team that finished 3-7-1; and BYU's bowl game was a 24-17 Holiday Bowl win over a very poor Michigan team that finished 6-6 that year. I don't believe they had a Top 25 opponent that entire season.

 

[LongTimeListener]

The 1966 Notre Dame Kneelin' Pussies.

 

[Bubbler]

Getting back to the original two shots at BYU. Why do feel that way. Because they played in the old WAC? And if Boise or TCU wins, will they get the same scorn?

Yeah. This.

Nearly every team disparaged here is not a traditional power. Does that somehow lessen what they did? Is a national title somehow more valid if a traditional power wins it?

Is BYU one of the great teams? No.

On the other hand, would any team in a major conference in 1984 step up and play BYU in a bowl for a national title? No, they all shut them out, forcing BYU to play a 5-loss Michigan team in the Holiday Bowl. And this was during a period where the bowls could basically do whatever the hell they wanted, short of the Big Ten-Pac 10 matchup in the Rose Bowl. It isn't BYU's fault the powers that be wouldn't "lower" themselves to let them play in a major bowl.

The more things change ...

 

[SEC Guy]

LSU was very deserving, two losses or not. That was a great team. I kind of feel the same way about Colorado in 1990, although I think Miami was the best team that year.

I've been covering college football for 26 years now and the only time I thought the final vote was a tough decision was in 1997 between Michigan and Nebraska.

 

[Stoney]

I've been covering college football for 26 years now and the only time I thought the final vote was a tough decision was in 1997 between Michigan and Nebraska.

I don't know how anybody who puts real thought into it could believe this, there've been so many years when a vote easily could go either way. For example, how were Nebraska over Penn State in 94, and FSU over ND in 93 not "tough decisions", at the very least? I see little basis for those votes other than perhaps regional bias and the sentimental desire to give it to the coach who'd not won it yet.

 

[doctorx]

I've been covering college football for 26 years now and the only time I thought the final vote was a tough decision was in 1997 between Michigan and Nebraska.

I don't know how anybody who puts real thought into it could believe this, there've been so many years when a vote easily could go either way. For example, how were Nebraska over Penn State in 94, and FSU over ND in 93 not "tough decisions", at the very least? I see little basis for those votes other than perhaps regional bias and the sentimental desire to give it to the coach who'd not won it yet.

FSU's title in 1993 was the Bobby Bowden Lifetime Achievement Award.