greatest college teams

[soberdennis]

We have a thread on the greatest pro teams and college games. How about college teams. My Top 10
1. Nebraska 1995
2.USC 1972
3. Miami 2001
4. Army 1945
5. Oklahoma 1956
6. Michigan 1905
7. Notre Dame 1924
8. Ohio State 1968
9. Minnesota 1934
10. Oklahoma 1973

I have been following football since 1966, so I have seen many of these teams, but obviously not all.
95 Huskers were awesome. They destroyed Florida in the Fiesta Bowl to finish a second straight unbeaten season.
Number 10 may raise eyebrows. The 73 Sooners was the start of a run that lost only one game in three years. But the 73 team was on probation and had to stay home while Notre Dame and Alabama met in a classic Sugar Bowl. That team opened with a tie with defending champ USC and rolled over their next 10 foes, schedule that included 7 bowl teams. I think they would have easily handled Irish or Tide.

[cbenson5]

Three Alabama teams:

1961- 11-0 scored 297 points only gave up 25 points
1966- 11-0 scored 301 points only gave up 44 points
1979- 12-0 scored 383 points only gave up 67 points

[soberdennis]

Three Alabama teams:

1961- 11-0 scored 297 points only gave up 25 points
1966- 11-0 scored 301 points only gave up 44 points
1979- 12-0 scored 383 points only gave up 67 points
You aren't a little biased, are you.

[brady_branch]

The early 1900's Michigan teams were the best ever for quite a while. The '30's Michigan teams were very good as well, with Benny Friedman and Bennie Oosterbaan.

[football junkie]

They probably weren't the greatest college team every but the 1997 Tennessee Volunteers were awfully good: Peyton Manning at QB; Jamal Lewis at RB; Peerless Price at WR. That team was loaded.

I'd probably also include just about any Syracuse University team from 1954 to '56 and '59 to 1961. Those of course overlapped the careers of Jim Brown and Ernie Davis. Davis and the Orangemen won it all in 1959 and Davis won the Heisman in 1961. -- Three time All-American Floyd Little wasn't too shabby either. They all wore #44.

[Snake]

1 1995 Nebraska - Totally pulvarized every team they played. The Big 8 had 4 teams in the top 10 that year, Nebraska mauled the other 3. They also did something No other team had ever done; shut up Steve Spurrier :eek:
2 1971 Nebraska - This is really weird, I really don't like Nebraska, yet have them as the 2 top teams, lol. If you had the priviledge of seeing these guys, you wouldn't argue it though. Stifling Defense, great Offense, and Special teams lead by one of the most exciting Kick/Punt Returner/Flankers you will ever see in Johnny Rodgers. Not only beat Oklahoma in the "Game of the Century" this year, but "rolled" the Tide 38-6 in the Orange Bowl.
3 1972 USC - You old timers remember the line: "USC wasn't the best team in the country, the Miami Dolphins were better" ;) A team that never trailed in the second half, and lead by Pat Haden, Sam "Bam" Cunningham, and one of the most gracefull WRs of all time, Lynn Swann.
4 1945 Army - I wish I could have seen this team play. Fresh off of victory in WWII, Army continued to put the whoop a$$ on all they went up against. Led by Mr. Inside (Doc Blanchard) and Mr.Outside (Glen Davis) Army ran over everyone in their path to a national championship. Hmm..could be the first official "Thunder and Lightning" RB tandem.
5 1959 Syracuse - I can not believe the lack of respect this team gets. All they did was lead the NCAA in points, yards gained, rushing yards, TD passes, first downs, yards given up, and rushing yards given up. Set a record that may never be broken in ratio of yards gained to yards given up per game - 451 to 96. Thats right, they gave up only 96 total yds per game for the season. And only 19 rushing yards a game allowed :eek: Besides the stingy defense, they were lead by one of the greatest college RBs of all time, Ernie Davis. Beat Texas in the Cotton Bowl 23-14
6 2001 Miami - Wow, one of the most talent laden teams I have ever seen, no matter what position you looked at, their player was one of the best in the country. Too many big names for me to list them all here, but I wll say that heir defensive backfield had to be all time best one ever, with Mike Rumph and Phillip Buchanon at CBs and Ed Reed at Safety. Average margin of victory was 34. If their offense and defense wasn't enough for you, their special teams could kill you at any moment.
7 1994 Penn St - Wait a minute Snake, you say, they didn't even win the National Title that year. I say BS, I gave them the title that year. They were robbed due to the sportswriters trying to be nice to Tom Osbourne. Without a doubt, Penn St was the best team that year. All 5 of PSUs starting O line played in the NFL, 2 of them still playing today. They also only allowed 4 sacks all year. The team also featured Kerry Collins, Ki-Jana Carter (7.9 yds per carry!!), Bobby Engram, and Kyle Brady. If JoePa wasn't the ultimate sportsman, and didn't refuse to run up the score just to look good in the polls, they could have beaten everone they played by 50 or more points.
8 1956 Oklahoma - Smack dab in the middle of Bud Wilkinson's incredible 47 game winning streak. Averaged 47 points a game, and pitched 6 shut outs that year. RB Tommy McDonald finished 3rd in Heisman voting, pretty good. Lineman Jerry Tubbs finished 4th :eek: Now that's impressive!!
9 1947 Notre Dame - Didn't really think I would leave th Irish out, did ya? 3 of the all time 100 greatest college players were on this team. QB Johnny Lujack (won the Heisman in 47), Lineman Leon Hart (won Heisman in 49!!) and Tackle George Connor. Although Michigan fans screamed foul at the National Championship awarded Notre Dame in 47, they were legitimate. 41 players from that team played proffessional football. Thats an amazing feat from those days.
10 1947 Michigan - Should have been named co-champs in 47. Another of those teams that I really would have liked to have watched. Though I seriously doubt the cameras would be able to stay on the ball. The "Mad Magicians" used plays that would make Harry Blackstone envious. Usual plays consisted of 3 people handling the ball, and sometimes up to 5 people handling the ball on 1 play. Michigan also finished 47 undefeated along with the Irish. After they beat the wheels off of USC in the Rose Bowl, 49-0, there was an unofficial after season AP poll which put them at #1


Obviously, there are a lot more great college teams out there, and I am sure my to 10 differs vastly from some. Some other teams that were considered:

Notre Dame (1919, 1924, 1930, 1949, 1988)
Michigan (1905,1941, 1948, 1997)
Oklahoma (1955,1974, 2000)
Alabama (1961, 1992)
USC (1932, 1962)
Army (1944)
Florida State (1999)
Florida (1996)
Minnesota (1940)
Ohio State (1968)
Pittsburgh (1976)
TCU (1938)
Texas (1969)
Washington (1991)

[soberdennis]

1 1995 Nebraska - Totally pulvarized every team they played. The Big 8 had 4 teams in the top 10 that year, Nebraska mauled the other 3. They also did something No other team had ever done; shut up Steve Spurrier :eek:
2 1971 Nebraska - This is really weird, I really don't like Nebraska, yet have them as the 2 top teams, lol. If you had the priviledge of seeing these guys, you wouldn't argue it though. Stifling Defense, great Offense, and Special teams lead by one of the most exciting Kick/Punt Returner/Flankers you will ever see in Johnny Rodgers. Not only beat Oklahoma in the "Game of the Century" this year, but "rolled" the Tide 38-6 in the Orange Bowl.
3 1972 USC - You old timers remember the line: "USC wasn't the best team in the country, the Miami Dolphins were better" ;) A team that never trailed in the second half, and lead by Pat Haden, Sam "Bam" Cunningham, and one of the most gracefull WRs of all time, Lynn Swann.
4 1945 Army - I wish I could have seen this team play. Fresh off of victory in WWII, Army continued to put the whoop a$$ on all they went up against. Led by Mr. Inside (Doc Blanchard) and Mr.Outside (Glen Davis) Army ran over everyone in their path to a national championship. Hmm..could be the first official "Thunder and Lightning" RB tandem.
5 1959 Syracuse - I can not believe the lack of respect this team gets. All they did was lead the NCAA in points, yards gained, rushing yards, TD passes, first downs, yards given up, and rushing yards given up. Set a record that may never be broken in ratio of yards gained to yards given up per game - 451 to 96. Thats right, they gave up only 96 total yds per game for the season. And only 19 rushing yards a game allowed :eek: Besides the stingy defense, they were lead by one of the greatest college RBs of all time, Ernie Davis. Beat Texas in the Cotton Bowl 23-14
6 2001 Miami - Wow, one of the most talent laden teams I have ever seen, no matter what position you looked at, their player was one of the best in the country. Too many big names for me to list them all here, but I wll say that heir defensive backfield had to be all time best one ever, with Mike Rumph and Phillip Buchanon at CBs and Ed Reed at Safety. Average margin of victory was 34. If their offense and defense wasn't enough for you, their special teams could kill you at any moment.
7 1994 Penn St - Wait a minute Snake, you say, they didn't even win the National Title that year. I say BS, I gave them the title that year. They were robbed due to the sportswriters trying to be nice to Tom Osbourne. Without a doubt, Penn St was the best team that year. All 5 of PSUs starting O line played in the NFL, 2 of them still playing today. They also only allowed 4 sacks all year. The team also featured Kerry Collins, Ki-Jana Carter (7.9 yds per carry!!), Bobby Engram, and Kyle Brady. If JoePa wasn't the ultimate sportsman, and didn't refuse to run up the score just to look good in the polls, they could have beaten everone they played by 50 or more points.
8 1956 Oklahoma - Smack dab in the middle of Bud Wilkinson's incredible 47 game winning streak. Averaged 47 points a game, and pitched 6 shut outs that year. RB Tommy McDonald finished 3rd in Heisman voting, pretty good. Lineman Jerry Tubbs finished 4th :eek: Now that's impressive!!
9 1947 Notre Dame - Didn't really think I would leave th Irish out, did ya? 3 of the all time 100 greatest college players were on this team. QB Johnny Lujack (won the Heisman in 47), Lineman Leon Hart (won Heisman in 49!!) and Tackle George Connor. Although Michigan fans screamed foul at the National Championship awarded Notre Dame in 47, they were legitimate. 41 players from that team played proffessional football. Thats an amazing feat from those days.
10 1947 Michigan - Should have been named co-champs in 47. Another of those teams that I really would have liked to have watched. Though I seriously doubt the cameras would be able to stay on the ball. The "Mad Magicians" used plays that would make Harry Blackstone envious. Usual plays consisted of 3 people handling the ball, and sometimes up to 5 people handling the ball on 1 play. Michigan also finished 47 undefeated along with the Irish. After they beat the wheels off of USC in the Rose Bowl, 49-0, there was an unofficial after season AP poll which put them at #1


Obviously, there are a lot more great college teams out there, and I am sure my to 10 differs vastly from some. Some other teams that were considered:

Notre Dame (1919, 1924, 1930, 1949, 1988)
Michigan (1941, 1948, 1997)
Oklahoma (1955,1974, 2000)
Alabama (1961, 1992)
USC (1932, 1962)
Army (1944)
Florida State (1999)
Florida (1996)
Minnesota (1940)
Ohio State (1968)
Pittsburgh (1976)
TCU (1938)
Texas (1969)
Washington (1991)
Many of your picks agree with mine, if you compare.
I too felt that PSU was the best team in 94. But I can't imagine anyone better than 95 Huskers. We agree on that too.
Thanks for elaborating on your picks.

[Wolverine]

[LIST=1] 5 1959 Syracuse - I can not believe the lack of respect this team gets. All they did was lead the NCAA in points, yards gained, rushing yards, TD passes, first downs, yards given up, and rushing yards given up. Set a record that may never be broken in ratio of yards gained to yards given up per game - 451 to 96. Thats right, they gave up only 96 total yds per game for the season. And only 19 rushing yards a game allowed :eek: Besides the stingy defense, they were lead by one of the greatest college RBs of all time, Ernie Davis. Beat Texas in the Cotton Bowl 23-14

One reason this team doesn't get as much respect is that two of its biggest wins were over Colgate (71-0) and Boston University (46-0). A lot of people tend to feel that those performances helped inflate the offensive statistics. They may have a point. However I think SU was still fairly strong that year and would have beaten any other bowl team. Five of its last 6 games (Cotton Bowl included) were on the road, including wins at Pitt (6-4), Penn St (9-2), and UCLA (5-4-1).

Some people have rated Mississippi higher (8 shutouts including 21-0 over LSU in the Sugar Bowl), but Ole Miss lost a game during the 1959 season. I think most polls ranked them second, so it would have been an interesting match up, but due to racial policies Mississippi would have refused to play Syracuse had a bid been offered. Mississippi State turned down a couple of NCAA basketball tournament bids during this era for the same reason. I don't think either school played an integrated team until the 1970s.

[Wolverine]

1956 Oklahoma - Smack dab in the middle of Bud Wilkinson's incredible 47 game winning streak. Averaged 47 points a game, and pitched 6 shut outs that year. RB Tommy McDonald finished 3rd in Heisman voting, pretty good. Lineman Jerry Tubbs finished 4th

Last fall I did a little research on the Oklahoma teams of the late 1940s and 1950s.

Perhaps even more remarkable than the 47 game winning streak was OU's performance in the league. After losing at Kansas on November 9, 1946, Oklahoma did not lose a Big 6 (later Big 7; they apparently didn't officially become the Big 8 until 1960) conference game until a 25-21 defeat at Nebraska on October 31, 1959. How in the world did they do it? They had a great coach in Wilkinson and a number of great players, but they surely owed much of their success to the very poor quality of their conference opposition.

I looked at all the teams' records from 1947 to 1958. Over these seasons only Oklahmoa and Colorado were usually strong. The bottom three teams averaged only one winning season every 6 years. With so many teams consistently down Wilkinson probably was able to play his reserves frequently in the second half and minimize injuries to starters. Here are the conference schools' winning seasons during this 12 year period:

Oklahoma - 12
Colorado - 9
Mizou - 6
Kansas - 6
OSU - 5
Nebraska - 3
KSU - 2
ISU - 1

That works out to winning seasons 45.8% of the time. Today I checked the Big 8 records from the glory years of the 1970s. During that decade the conference's teams had winning seasons 57.5% of the time. It was a far stronger league then than in the 1950s and I would have to take one of the OU teams from that era over any of Wilkinsons.

The Oklahoma schedule was extremely weak in 1955-56 when they played only 3 of 20 regular season games against teams with winning records (Pitt in 1955 and Colorado both years; the conference's bottom 6 were a collective 35-78-6). In their toughest game OU trailed the Buffs 19-7 at the half in Boulder in 1956 but fought back to win.

OU beat Maryland 20-6 in the 1956 Orange Bowl, which might have been the only time in those two seasons that they played a top 10 team. Oklahoma didn't play in a bowl after the 1956 season, presumably because the conference had a no repeat rule.

Oklahoma scores:

http://www.jhowell.net/cf/scores/Oklahoma.htm

I always liked Bud Wilkinson. I thought he was a great college coach and I enjoyed his work as an analyst on ABC telecasts. But his teams have to be seen in proper perspective. The Oklahoma teams of the 70s might not have been able to run off a 47 game winning streak (their best run was 36-0-1) but they played in a more competitive environment, both inside and outside the league (e.g., Texas was much stronger in the 70s than in the 50s), and were probably better overall.

[soberdennis]

Last fall I did a little research on the Oklahoma teams of the late 1940s and 1950s.

Perhaps even more remarkable than the 47 game winning streak was OU's performance in the league. After losing at Kansas on November 9, 1946, Oklahoma did not lose a Big 6 (later Big 7; they apparently didn't officially become the Big 8 until 1960) conference game until a 25-21 defeat at Nebraska on October 31, 1959. How in the world did they do it? They had a great coach in Wilkinson and a number of great players, but they surely owed much of their success to the very poor quality of their conference opposition.

I looked at all the teams' records from 1947 to 1958. Over these seasons only Oklahmoa and Colorado were usually strong. The bottom three teams averaged only one winning season every 6 years. With so many teams consistently down Wilkinson probably was able to play his reserves frequently in the second half and minimize injuries to starters. Here are the conference schools' winning seasons during this 12 year period:

Oklahoma - 12
Colorado - 9
Mizou - 6
Kansas - 6
OSU - 5
Nebraska - 3
KSU - 2
ISU - 1

That works out to winning seasons 45.8% of the time. Today I checked the Big 8 records from the glory years of the 1970s. During that decade the conference's teams had winning seasons 57.5% of the time. It was a far stronger league then than in the 1950s and I would have to take one of the OU teams from that era over any of Wilkinsons.

The Oklahoma schedule was extremely weak in 1955-56 when they played only 3 of 20 regular season games against teams with winning records (Pitt in 1955 and Colorado both years; the conference's bottom 6 were a collective 35-78-6). In their toughest game OU trailed the Buffs 19-7 at the half in Boulder in 1956 but fought back to win.

OU beat Maryland 20-6 in the 1956 Orange Bowl, which might have been the only time in those two seasons that they played a top 10 team. Oklahoma didn't play in a bowl after the 1956 season, presumably because the conference had a no repeat rule.

Oklahoma scores:

http://www.jhowell.net/cf/scores/Oklahoma.htm

I always liked Bud Wilkinson. I thought he was a great college coach and I enjoyed his work as an analyst on ABC telecasts. But his teams have to be seen in proper perspective. The Oklahoma teams of the 70s might not have been able to run off a 47 game winning streak (their best run was 36-0-1) but they played in a more competitive environment, both inside and outside the league (e.g., Texas was much stronger in the 70s than in the 50s), and were probably better overall.
I find it hard to ignore 47 wins in a row against anyone, though.
Pls note that I have the 73 team ranked too. Also read my reasoning.

[Snake]

Very good analysis Wolverine, you obviously have done a lot of research on the topic. However, like Dennis said, 47 wins in a row against anybody is awesome. Is it Wilkinson's fault that the competition was not as good as he was? They were all still Division 1 football programs, not like he was beating up on D-2 or D-3 opponents. Another point I would like to bring up is that you can only legitimately compare Wilkinson's teams against others of his own era. Maybe the competition was better in the 70's, maybe OU dropped off some in the 70's, maybe Wilkinson would have done the same thing with the OU teams in the 70's, nobody will ever know for certain. What I do know for certain is that you can't compare teams of different eras against each other, and get it right. Do you really believe that the 1945 Army team would run over anyone today? I don't. But when comparing them against other teams in their era, they stand way out. That's what I attempted to do. Judge teams solely against the other teams in their respective eras. It was nice to see that Dennis was thinking along the same lines as me for a fair amount of those teams.

[soberdennis]

It's like the 05 Michigan team gave up 2 points all year while scoring over 400. That would be impressive against a bunch of old ladies from Pasadena.
I do recognize that the competition in 05 could not have been the calibur of Mebraska's 90 years later. That Husker team was awesome and tore apart a pretty fair Florida team.

[brady_branch]

Snake, you do need to at least give an honorable mention to the early 1900s Michigan teams. Especially the 1905 team.

[Snake]

I did, you musta missed it ;)

[Wolverine]

I don't have a system. Here's Billingsley's, which ranks all national champions back to 1869:

http://www.cfrc.com/Archives/NC_Rating_2005.htm

1 - Nebraska 1971
2 - Tennessee 1998
3 - Texas 2005
4 - Nebraska 1994
5 - Nebraska 1995
6 - Miami 1991
7 - Alabama 1992
8 - Florida St 1999
9 - Oklahoma 1974
10 - Nebraska 1997

He has always had a Big 8 bias, in my opinion. An ideal listing of greatest teams would include a number of non-champions (e.g., USC 2005, Nebraska 1983) that were better than many actual champions.

The CFRC main page has a link to Billingsley's explanation of his system, though I'm not sure how strictly he applied it to the all time rankings:

http://www.cfrc.com/

Eight of Billingsley's top 10 are from the last 15 years and 14 of his top 20 are from the last 20 years. Of course a top team from the 90s most likely is going to beat a top team from the 50s or 60s and probably most strong teams from the 70s or 80s, since players keep getting bigger, stronger, faster, and probably smarter. However, it doesn't appear that those factors have influenced Billingsley's ratings.

Another option is to try to determine which teams were most dominant within their own eras and somehow rank them on that basis against teams from other eras, the theory being that a team from the 20s could be ranked Number One because it was more dominant in its decade than any other teams were in their respective decades. This is much more subjective, partly because it requires a subjective ranking of eras, but it's more fun than any mathmatical system. However, one problem with this is that people often are swayed by the power of myth and tend to overvalue certain teams that have legendary reputations, while overlooking teams from the same era which sometimes proved their superiority in direct match-ups.

I don't have the time today to expand on this last point, but I will try to lay out a brief thesis tomorrow or over the weekend. Most likely this will discuss only one or two eras. I'm not going to try to develop a "unified field theory" of college football.

[soberdennis]

I don't have a system. Here's Billingsley's, which ranks all national champions back to 1869:

http://www.cfrc.com/Archives/NC_Rating_2005.htm

1 - Nebraska 1971
2 - Tennessee 1998
3 - Texas 2005
4 - Nebraska 1994
5 - Nebraska 1995
6 - Miami 1991
7 - Alabama 1992
8 - Florida St 1999
9 - Oklahoma 1974
10 - Nebraska 1997

He has always had a Big 8 bias, in my opinion. An ideal listing of greatest teams would include a number of non-champions (e.g., USC 2005, Nebraska 1983) that were better than many actual champions.

The CFRC main page has a link to Billingsley's explanation of his system, though I'm not sure how strictly he applied it to the all time rankings:

http://www.cfrc.com/

Eight of Billingsley's top 10 are from the last 15 years and 14 of his top 20 are from the last 20 years. Of course a top team from the 90s most likely is going to beat a top team from the 50s or 60s and probably most strong teams from the 70s or 80s, since players keep getting bigger, stronger, faster, and probably smarter. However, it doesn't appear that those factors have influenced Billingsley's ratings.

Another option is to try to determine which teams were most dominant within their own eras and somehow rank them on that basis against teams from other eras, the theory being that a team from the 20s could be ranked Number One because it was more dominant in its decade than any other teams were in their respective decades. This is much more subjective, partly because it requires a subjective ranking of eras, but it's more fun than any mathmatical system. However, one problem with this is that people often are swayed by the power of myth and tend to overvalue certain teams that have legendary reputations, while overlooking teams from the same era which sometimes proved their superiority in direct match-ups.

I don't have the time today to expand on this last point, but I will try to lay out a brief thesis tomorrow or over the weekend. Most likely this will discuss only one or two eras. I'm not going to try to develop a "unified field theory" of college football.
I tend to go by the era under the assumption that the great players of the 20's and 30's would be even better today with the modernized training methods and equipment. Not to say the greats of today would not be great back then. But they would be great without the modern conveniences.

[Wolverine]

Haven't gotten very far in my research, though I ran across something very interesting while looking at Notre Dame's records.

In Rockne's last year Notre Dame finished 10-0. This was before the AP poll, but most surveys awarded them the national championshiip. What stands out is that they defeated nine teams with winning records. They dealt Army (at Soldier Field) and Northwestern (at Dyche Stadium) their only losses. They shut out USC 27-0 (in Los Angeles).

Southern Cal's only previous loss was 7-6 to Washington State at Pullman. The Cougars only loss was in the Rose Bowl to Alabama. Some reserachers have named Bama the 1930 champion, largely on the strength of their 24-0 win in Pasadena. Bama was good. They defeated seven teams with winning records, but they played all but two of their regular season games in Tuscaloosa, Birmingham, or Montgomery. It's too bad that the 1930 Rose Bowl wasn't between the Irish and the Tide, but these two powers did not meet until 1973 (and have not met since 1987).

But back to Notre Dame. Here's the schedule (records in paren):

SMU - 20-14 (6-3-1)
Navy - 26-2 (6-5)
Carngie Tech - 21-6 (6-3)
at Pitt - 35-19 (6-2-1)
Indiana - 27-0 (2-5-1)
at Penn - 60-20 (5-4)
Drake - 28-7 (5-4)
at Northwestern - 14-0 (7-1)
Army - 7-6 (9-1-1)
at USC - 27-0 (8-2)

Many of these programs don't amount to much today, but I doubt any team played a tougher schedule in 1930. Notre Dame's great 1924 team defeated six teams with winning records (excluding non-1A Wabash and Lombard) and knocked off undefeated Stanford in the Rose Bowl, but I have to think the 1930 team was better. Billingsley ranks it as the fourth greatest Notre Dame team behind 1988, 1949, and 1973. I believe it was Number One.

Rockne turned 43 the month he died. He finished 105-12-5. Who knows what he might have accomplished had he lived another 20 years.

[Wolverine]

I didn't think I'd find a team that played more than nine teams with winnnig records. Incredibly, I just found one that played eleven!

In 1978 Southern Cal beat Alabama in Birmingham and beat Michigan in the Rose Bowl to finish 12-1, but in October they lost a game at Arizona State, 20-7. The AP named Bama the champion on the strength of their 14-7 Sugar Bowl win over Penn State. The UPI gave the title to USC. The only teams on the Trojan's schedule that didn't have winning records were Oregon and Oregon State. Were it not for that loss in Tempe, this team might have had a claim on the greatest of all time.

[soberdennis]

I didn't think I'd find a team that played more than nine teams with winnnig records. Incredibly, I just found one that played eleven!

In 1978 Southern Cal beat Alabama in Birmingham and beat Michigan in the Rose Bowl to finish 12-1, but in October they lost a game at Arizona State, 20-7. The AP named Bama the champion on the strength of their 14-7 Sugar Bowl win over Penn State. The UPI gave the title to USC. The only teams on the Trojan's schedule that didn't have winning records were Oregon and Oregon State. Were it not for that loss in Tempe, this team might have had a claim on the greatest of all time.
I still wonder what the 73 Oklahoma team would have been had they not been on probation and ineligible for a bowl.
1.Tied defending champion USC, whose team the year before is considered by some the greatest ever.
2. Went undefeated in the Big 8, unquestionably the toughest conference in the country back then.
3. Beat 7 bowl teams. This was before you just needed to have a winning record to go to the bowl of the week club. Many of today's bowls did not exist yet.

The 1973 Sugar Bowl (played on New Years Eve back then rather than New Years Day, 1974.) pitted NO. 1 and NO.2 Notre Dame and Alabama with the Irish winning 24-23 in one of the greatest bowl games ever. I wonder How these teams would have done against the Sooners.
Between 1973 and 1975 Oklahoma 32-1-1, won the AP title in 1974 while still on probation and won the unanamous title in 75, the year they suffered their one loss. A pretty good three year span. But to me the 73 team was the best under Chuck Fairbanks.

[soberdennis]

Oklahoma's record in the 1970's was a pretty fair 101-13-3. 4 of those losses came in the lean year of 1970. From 71-79, they were 94-9-2.
And this was in the Big 8 in the 70's, arguably the toughest conference over a decade of all time. Their record in the conference during the decade was 65-6.
Just how good was the Big 8 back then. Consider the final rankings in the AP poll in 1971.
1. Nebraska
2. Oklahoma
3. Colorado

Never before or since has the top three in the final poll come from the same conference.