NO CHAMPIONSHIP?
Best Team NOT to Win a National Title
I would take any of these teams below against the best you can come up with. They didn't win a title but on a neutral field for one game....I'd take mychances with any one of these teams.
1998 Ohio St (11-1) Ranked 2nd AP/Coaches
It is hard to pick between the '98 team and the '96 team and the 1975 team was a pretty solid too. Rolling to a perfect 11-0 record before having to play UCLA for a second time in the Rose Bowl, OSU had already beaten the Bruins in L.A. earlier in the year, the '75 Buckeyes' title hopes were crushed with a 41-20 loss. We however, think the '98 team was probably the best of the bunch based on a tougher schedule and the balanced attack. The '98 Buckeyes had a 1,000 yard rusher in Michael Wiley, a 1,000 yard receiver in David Boston and a 3,000 yard passer in . The Buckeyes defeated 12th ranked W. Virginia (34-17), 19th ranked Missouri (35-14), 7th ranked Penn St. (28-9), 11th ranked Michigan (31-16) and finished off the year defeating the Big 12 Champion Texas A&M Aggies 24-14 in the Sugar Bowl. The only blemish being the inexplicable 28-24 loss at home to an average Michigan State team. If ever a team wanted and deserved a mulligan this team did.
1966 Alabama (11-0) Ranked 3rd AP/UPI
On our list, only the '94 PSU team can relate to how screwed the '66 Crimson Tide football team felt. Alabama was the only major college football team in the country to finish the season unbeaten and untied. In 1966 the polls decided to crown the national champion prior to the bowl games and Notre Dame (9-0-1) was tabbed at the best. Michigan St. (9-0-1), who tied the Irish, came in second. Neither team played in a bowl game, yet both were ranked higher than a 10-0 Alabama team after the regular season. It was not like the Tide stumbled into their perfect record. Bama outscored its opposition 301-44, picking up wins against Clemson (26-0), LSU (21-0), Auburn (31-0), Ole Miss (17-7) and crushing Nebraska in the Sugar Bowl (34-7). While we can't verify the statement, Coach Lombardi is said to have responded to the question of how it felt to be the greatest team in the world after winning the Super Bowl "I don't know, we haven't played Alabama yet." We figure the Coach said it best and there isn't much else we can do to elaborate on that.
1971 Oklahoma (11-1) Ranked 2nd AP/UPI
Pick any other year and this Sooner team would probably have gone down as one of the best teams of all time period. Unfortunately, in 1971 the Big 8 enjoyed perhaps the greatest year a single conference ever enjoyed in terms of the strength of its top teams. This team dismantled, in succession, powerhouses Southern Cal (33-20), Texas (48-27) and Colorado (45-17). Only Missouri had held Oklahoma under 30 points all year, losing 20-3. The team's only loss, a 35-31 defeat in THE Game of the Century to eventual National Champion Nebraska. Oklahoma bounced back by ripping Auburn and Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Pat Sullivan, 40-22, in the Sugar Bowl. Why was the Big 8 so strong? Well, in addition to the 1-2 finish of Nebraska and Oklahoma in the polls Colorado finished third for an unprecedented 1-2-3 national finish. Simply put this Oklahoma team was an offensive juggernaut. Greg Pruitt (1,665) and Jack Mildren (1,140) were both thousand yard rushers as the Sooners established an NCAA record by averaging 472.4 rushing yards, a mark that still stands. That season, they had 980 yards more than the next-best offensive team in the country and racked up 535 total points.
1983 Nebraska (12-1) Ranked 2nd AP/UPI
If Turner Gill had been able to complete the two point conversion to beat Miami in the Orange Bowl, this Husker team would be in the running for the best team of all time, though the quality of competition was lacking. The 1983 Huskers averaged an amazing 52 points per game on offense led by Heisman Trophy winner Mike Rozier, Turner Gill and Irvin Fryar. The Huskers posted wins over 4th ranked Penn St. (44-6), scored an amazing 84 points against the hapless Minnesota Gophers (84-13), UCLA (42-10), Syracuse (63-7), and scored 48 points in the third quarter alone against Colorado (69-19). This team would produce the first two overall picks in the '84 NFL draft in Irvin Fryar and Dean Steinkuhler. What is even more heart breaking if you are a Cornhusker fan is that most everyone agrees had Osborne taken the conservative approach and kicked the tying extra point, Nebraska would have most likely been crown national champion. Kudos for Coach Osborne for rolling the dice.
1979 Southern Cal (11-0-1) Ranked 2nd AP/UPI
The 1979 Trojans tied Stanford 17-17 and blasted everyone else up until the Rose Bowl but came up just short of winning another national title due to Alabama�s perfect season. Anthony Munoz and Brad Budde opened holes for Charles White in his landslide Heisman season. The secondary featured Ronnie Lott and Dennis Smith at safety. The Men of Troy were truly road warriors in 1979, as the Trojans beat 20th ranked LSU in Death Valley 17-12, defeated 9th ranked Notre Dame in South Bend 42-23 and 15th ranked Washington 24-17 in Seattle. The dream season also included a destruction of rival UCLA 49-14. The season ended with a bang beating top ranked and undefeated Ohio State 17-16 in the Rose Bowl. The Trojans outscored their opposition 389-171.
1986 Miami (11-1) Ranked 2nd AP/Coaches
This group of Hurricanes might have been the most talented Miami team ever to take the field. Miami boasted Heisman winner Vinny Testaverde, Alonzo Highsmith, Jerome Brown, Michael Irvin, Bennie Blades, Daniel Stubbs, and Brett Perriman to name a few. The talent and depth was so great on this team that even with the loss of Testaverde, Highsmith and Brown the Canes would come back to win the national title the following year. The highlight for the '86 team was a 28-16 win over No. 1 Oklahoma and a state title by virtue of its wins over Florida (23-15) and FSU (41-23). The '86 Canes simply destroyed every team in its path with a dominating defense outscoring the opposition 430-150. Only one team, Florida State, scored more than 20 points and that included a kickoff return for a touchdown. However, this team will always be remembered for that 14-10 loss to Penn State in the Fiesta Bowl which is the true litmus test for any Hurricane team.
1980 Pitt Panthers (11-1) Ranked 2nd AP/UPI
This may have been as close to a championship as Dan Marino ever came. The 1980 Pitt team was denied a national championship due to a 36-22 loss at Florida State. This team sent 12 seniors to the NFL, including every starting offensive and defensive lineman, all of whom went on to start in the NFL. Overall, 30 players from this team went on to the NFL, including seven first round picks and All Pros Marino, Hugh Green, Jimbo Covert, Mark May, Russ Grimm and Rickey Jackson. The Panthers outscored the opposition, 380-130, including home wins over Boston College (14-6), Maryland (38-9), W. Virginia (42-14) and road victories over Tennessee (30-6), Syracuse (43-6) and Penn St. (14-9). The Panthers, led by Hugh Green who was the runner-up for the Heisman, wrapped up their near perfect season with a Gator Bowl match up against S. Carolina and their Heisman Trophy winner George Rogers. The game was never in doubt as Pitt destroyed the Gamecocks and rolled to a 37-9 victory. If you doubt how good this team was ask Bobby Bowden who told a reporter, "I've said it many times, in all my years of coaching, that Pitt team was the best college football team I have ever seen."
1994 Penn State (12-0) Ranked 2nd AP/Coaches
In its second season in the Big Ten, this Penn State team has never gotten respect that it deserves. Penn State suffered from having its magical season in the same year that Tom Osborne finally had an unbeaten team and suffered from the media's illogical desire for large margin of victories. A 35-29 win over Indiana, where the Hoosiers scored meaningless scores at the end of the game, allowed Nebraska to leapfrog over Penn St. that would ultimately seal the door on the Lions' title hopes. This PSU team was probably more talented than the Huskers with Ki-Jana Carter, Kerry Collins and Kyle Brady each going within the first nine picks of the 1995 NFL Draft and had ten more players go in the 1996 draft. The Nittany Lions dream season included a win over 14th ranked Southern Cal 38-14, a 31-24 win over No. 5 Michigan, a 63-14 win over No. 21 Ohio State and Coach Paterno's lone Rose Bowl victory, a 38-20 win over 12th ranked Oregon. Only three teams finished within 14 points of this offensive juggernaut in 1994, a team that outscored its opposition 564-252. Penn St. scord 50+ points five times was only held under 35 points once when it scored 31 points against 5th ranked Michigan.
