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2023 College Football Thread

Saw an article on ESPNs paywall about ranking the best teams of every decade since the 1920s. I’ll post it here when I can
 

1980s​

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1. Nebraska (97.3 percentile, eight top-fives, four No. 1s)

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2. Miami (93.4, four top-fives, four No. 1s)

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3. Oklahoma (92.8, three top-fives)

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4. Michigan (91.5, two top-fives, one No. 1)

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5. Alabama (90.4, one top-five)

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6. Georgia (89.6, one top-five)

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7. Florida State (89.4, three top-fives)

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8. UCLA (87.6, one top-five)

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9. Auburn (86.4, two top-fives)

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10. Arkansas (85.5)

Other No. 1s: Pitt

Like the 1950s, the decade of the 1980s was one of change, and for similar reasons. While plenty of big-name coaches continued to dominate -- Switzer, Nebraska's Tom Osborne, Michigan's Bo Schembechler, Penn State's Joe Paterno -- others like Bryant and Ohio State's Woody Hayes retired. From 1980 to 1984, five straight teams won their first AP titles; this was a parity-friendly blip the sport hadn't really seen before.

By the mid-1980s, however, power had coagulated once again. New heavyweights Miami and Florida State dominated next to OU, Nebraska and others, but honestly, things could have easily turned out much differently. Nebraska graded out as the No. 1 team in 1980, 1982, 1983 and 1984, going a combined 44-6 in those seasons, but managed to always lose the one game they couldn't in the national title race. (Most notable, of course: their Orange Bowl loss to Miami in 1983's de facto national title game.)

Five best teams: 1980 Nebraska (99.5%), 1983 Nebraska (99.4%), 1980 Pitt (99.2%), 1986 Miami (99.1%), 1987 Miami (99.1%)

Nebraska wasn't the only "lose the game you can't afford to" team of the decade. It's pretty noticeable that of the five most highly graded teams, only one (1987 Miami) actually won the national title. It's fascinating to think of what might have unfolded had a playoff been in place.

If we're calling 1971 Nebraska the best team of all time, by the way, I guess we'll call the 1980 Huskers the best two-loss team ever. They lost to Florida State (third in SP+) and Oklahoma (seventh) by a combined eight points and outscored 10 other opponents by an average of 44-7.

Five best offenses: 1983 Nebraska (99.98%), 1988 Oklahoma State (99.95%), 1980 Nebraska (99.9%), 1980 BYU (99.9%), 1981 BYU (99.8%)

It's nice when numbers and narratives align properly. Barry Sanders' otherworldly 1988 season not only produced numbers we've never seen, it also produced one of the most perfect offenses ever.


Five best defenses: 1988 Auburn (99.3), 1980 Florida State (99.2), 1980 Pitt (98.9), 1983 Texas (98.7), 1986 Auburn (98.7)

Yep, they were still playing the defense-and-field-position game down in the SEC, none better than Pat Dye and Auburn, who produced a pair of the decade's best defenses in a three-year span.
 
1990s


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1. Florida State (97.0 percentile, eight top-fives, three No. 1s)
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2. Nebraska (96.1, six top-fives, two No. 1s)
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3. Florida (94.5, five top-fives)
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4. Tennessee (93.6, two top-fives)
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5. Penn State (92.8, two top-fives, one No. 1)
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6. Michigan (92.0, one top-five)
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7. Ohio State (90.1, three top-fives, one No. 1)
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8. Texas A&M (88.4, two top-fives)
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9. Miami (87.4, two top-fives, one No. 1)
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10. Notre Dame (87.2, two top-fives)
Other No. 1s: Alabama, Washington
Even with both Miami and Oklahoma fading under the cloud of NCAA penalties and coaching changes -- and even with the 85-man scholarship limit instituted to encourage parity -- we still had a "Nebraska vs. the state of Florida" vibe going for much of the 1990s.

Osborne's Huskers lost to Miami and Florida State in respective Orange Bowls before finally breaking through and winning national titles in 1994, 1995 and 1997. FSU finished in the AP top four in every year of the decade and won a pair of titles, while Florida enjoyed its all-time peak with a run of five top-five finishes and the 1996 title. Half of the top 10 changed between the 1980s and 1990s, but this was still a pretty parity-unfriendly time.

Five best teams: 1995 Nebraska (99.7), 1991 Washington (99.3), 1998 Ohio State (98.9), 1998 Kansas State (98.9), 1994 Penn State (98.8)

The 1998 season was loaded with what-ifs. Both Bill Snyder's miraculous turnaround at Kansas State and John Cooper's Ohio State rebuild peaked with brilliant teams in 1998. But the Buckeyes suffered an all-time upset (28-24 to Nick Saban's Michigan State), and Kansas State, finally out of Nebraska's shadow, stumbled in a Big 12 championship game classic against Texas A&M. That opened the door for Tennessee (third in SP+) to beat FSU (seventh) for the national title. A College Football Playoff that year would have been incredible.

Five best offenses: 1995 Nebraska (99.9), 1994 Penn State (99.9), 1990 Houston (99.6), 1998 Tulane (99.2), 1994 Florida (99.2)

I guess a CFP -- or at least a BCS -- would have also been useful in 1994, huh? While the 1995 Nebraska team was indeed an all-timer, the 1994 team had to scrape by without star quarterback Tommie Frazier (out with blood clots) and was, on average, inferior to a Penn State team that finished second in both the AP and coaches polls.

The PSU offense, led by All-Americans Kerry Collins, Ki-Jana Carter, Bobby Engram and Kyle Brady, was nearly perfect.
Five best defenses: 1992 Alabama (99.2), 1990 Clemson (98.9), 1999 Wisconsin (98.8), 1999 Mississippi State (98.7), 1992 Arizona (98.7)

Bama endured some ups and downs in the 1990s, but the Tide snared another title (and No. 1 SP+ ranking) in 1992 thanks to a Bryant-esque defense that allowed only two of 13 opponents to score more than 13 points.
 
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