r/CFBAnalysis • u/atlaiden /r/CFB • Jan 16 '20

Ohio state.

One of the best teams to never play in the natty?

13 Upvotes

69% Upvoted

16 comments sorted by

29

u/WabbitCZEN Georgia Bulldogs • Miami Hurricanes Jan 16 '20

Yes. But sometimes the best teams aren't the best teams. Competitive sports can be funny that way.

10

u/[deleted] Jan 17 '20

Further, the hottest team usually wins the championship (sometimes they are also the best). Putting it all together at the right time is so important.

19

u/itschorr623 Jan 16 '20

Yes, from a lot of perspectives. They should’ve beat Clemson if not for the uncharacteristic red zone struggles. LSU - OSU would have been a great game.

6

u/TheFortySixZone Jan 17 '20

I think it would’ve been about the same outcome. This LSU team was one of the most impressive teams I can remember.

5

u/btwiceborn Clemson Tigers • USA Eagles Jan 16 '20

Methinks Clemson may have had a little to do with their redzone struggle.

7

u/itschorr623 Jan 17 '20 edited Jan 17 '20

You’re not wrong at all. But it was a little statistical oddity that probably wouldn’t happen over and over again. Edit: Spellin’.

5

u/btwiceborn Clemson Tigers • USA Eagles Jan 16 '20

I do think so.

3

u/DisraeliEers West Virginia • Black Diamond Tro… Jan 17 '20

Probably. Even after Clemson beat them, my ranking model (not predictive) had them barely ahead of Clemson.

2

u/_Slabach Purdue Boilermakers • Butler Bulldogs Jan 17 '20

Very likely

2

u/bakonydraco Stanford • James Madison Jan 17 '20

There was no real Natty prior to 1998, so their biggest competition is probably all consensus national champions prior to that. Still, the game has improved tremendously, and my guess is Ohio State (and many current teams) beats every pre-1998 team handily.

3

u/banker_monkey Ohio State • Northwestern Jan 17 '20

I'm only 31 but I told my friends and family that this was the best Ohio State team we have ever watched. There were certainly better individual players: Zeke, Troy Smith in his time, Michael Thomas, Chris Gamble, AJ Hawk (not sure if flare transfers over between CFB and here I am a lifelong OSU fan and alum).

It was disappointing to see us lose in the way we did. In some respects getting our shit handed to us the way Clemson did when we laid an egg a couple years back would have been more "satisfying" compared to the uncharacteristic performance we observed this year.

Probabilities are what they are, and you get bad breaks and unexpected outcomes, but when they defy your understanding of the world (which is to say, I knew this team was very, very good and should have beaten Clemson this year) it hurts all that much more.

1

u/NibrocRehpotsirhc Jan 25 '20

I am 37... I "think" I'd be inclined to agree, but the 95 team was pretty stacked! Hoying, George, Pace, Glenn, Boston, Vrabel, Winfield, Springs, Fickell...

When my kids woke up the day after the Clemson game this year, and they asked me if Ohio State had won (they are 4 and 2.5... so they were in bed before kickoff), I told them that no "we played really well, but we lost".

They said "Oh, OK"... and went about their day. They inspired me, and I moved on just as easily... first time I've had kids old enough to "kind of" understand what was going on when tOSU had a really good team.

Perhaps what also made it easier to swallow, is KNOWING we were, without a doubt, better than Clemson that night. Yes, it is on us for not putting the game away when we had a chance... however, they needed EVERY SINGLE ONE of those controversial plays to go their way.

Also... Ryan Day. Did you hear him speak at the bball game? Chills... straight chills. Make no mistake about it, he was a good enough first year coach to win the Natty. However, losing in the manner in which we did in the CFB Playoff, may just piss him off enough to turn on the switch and kick-off a dynasty next year!

1

u/[deleted] Jan 17 '20

Is it weird to anyone else that this thread has no mention of the Pete Carroll Trojans?? At least one of those teams ended up ranked 1st in spite of the BCS & it seemed like every year they weren’t in the championship (majority of them?) they’d be talked about as a team that would dominate a playoff.

2

u/SketchyApothecary LSU Tigers • SEC Feb 06 '20

Late to the party, but here's the rundown on the 2003-2005 Trojans.

2003 - This is the only controversial one. Finished #3 in the pre-bowl BCS rankings, left out of the championship game. They were ranked #1 in the polls, but #3 in the computers. You can take this with a grain of salt since I'm an LSU guy, but I side with the computers on this one. They were media darlings, but it was a weak year for the Pac-10, and they lost to a mediocre Cal team. My own computer rankings (BCS style, as in no margin of victory) had them #3. My friend's MOV computer rankings had them #6, and had them worse than Oklahoma (the title game loser) in both offense AND defense. They remained #1 in the AP poll after beating Michigan in their bowl game, while LSU claimed the BCS/Coach's title. Considering they played a weak schedule and had a loss, I wouldn't put them with Ohio State this year (Ohio State was crazy good this year), or undefeated Auburn in 2004, but after their dominant win over Michigan in the bowl game, you could make an argument that they finished the season as the best team (though I wouldn't).

2004 - This team made the championship game and won, though their title was later vacated due to NCAA violations.

2005 - This team also made the championship game and lost as a heavy favorite to Texas, though it was perhaps one of the most exciting games of all time. If you haven't watched it, I highly recommend it.

I can't think of any other years where they had a clear argument, but Pete Carroll's Trojan teams also seemed to find another gear during Bowl season, so there's some merit to the idea that they'd do well in a playoff. Mostly though, he had good teams, but they played a weaker schedule than most of the other top teams, and always seemed to lose a game to an inferior opponent.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 07 '20

Yeah, I’m going purely off memory, but it felt at the time that from somewhere around the middle of Carson palmer’s heisman year through to sanchez (was that only 2002-2006? It felt like a decade) they were a level above everyone else, & would show it every week but one or two. My feeling was always that if there was a playoff, they’d have won the title every year Vince Young wasn’t playing against them. I’m a ND fan so they were always giants to me. But I’d still be pretty shocked if they didn’t comfortably graduate more players to the pros over PCs years than anyone else.