College football national champions of the past 20 years ranked

#1
dduncan4163

dduncan4163

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#1
College football national champions of the past 20 years ranked


18. 1998 Tennessee Volunteers

The Vols followed up their SEC championship in 1997 with their first national championship in nearly a half century a year later and did so on the heels of having the greatest quarterback in school history, Peyton Manning, depart for the NFL. Tennessee went unbeaten and became the first national champion of the BCS era. The Vols beat eight bowl teams that season and four nationally ranked teams away from home. But their breakthrough win came in the third week of the season in a 20-17 overtime win at home against Florida, which had beaten Tennessee five straight times. The Vols' defense was led by fiery All-America linebacker Al Wilson, the centerpiece of a unit that held 10 of its 13 opponents under 20 points that season, including seven of the nine SEC foes the Vols faced. There were 26 players who played during the 1998 season for Tennessee who would go on to be selected in the NFL draft, including nine of the 11 defensive starters. -- Low


Thoughts?
 
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#3
#3
A local Miami sports talk show was talking about this on my way home from work. The number of draft picks their 2001 time had is staggering.

Of course, I am a homer so I think the Vols should be higher. And Texas number 1 is silly, though Vince in that game was off the charts good.
 
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#4
#4
"The Vols' defense was led by fiery All-America linebacker Al Wilson, the centerpiece of a unit that held 10 of its 13 opponents under 20 points that season, including seven of the nine SEC foes the Vols faced.*


That was arguably the most elite defense we've had in the modern era.
 
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#5
#5
NorCalVol67 said:
A local Miami sports talk show was talking about this on my way home from work. The number of draft picks their 2001 time had is staggering.

Of course, I am a homer so I think the Vols should be higher. And Texas number 1 is silly, though Vince in that game was off the charts good.
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I agree, that 2001 Miami squad is number one with a bullet. They were basically an NFL squad talent wise
 
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#6
#6
2005 Texas at #1 is complete garbage. They should’ve been beaten by 3 scores that day vs USC. Those U teams were stacked.
 
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#8
#8
NorCalVol67 said:
We would have beat them if not for the backup QB curse in the SEC championship game. 😬
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giphy.gif
 
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#9
#9
I think the '99 team was more talented overall and better defensively but didn't get the job done against a couple of teams. We were just a freaking BEAST from '96-'01 better than bama by far but UF was our Achilles heel it seemed. If it were not for them we would have played for 2 maybe 3 nattys
 
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#10
#10
Volteacher said:
I think the '99 team was more talented overall and better defensively but didn't get the job done against a couple of teams. We were just a freaking BEAST from '96-'01 better than bama by far but UF was our Achilles heel it seemed. If it were not for them we would have played for 2 maybe 3 nattys
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2001 had nothing to do with Florida. That was all on us for screwing up the SEC Championship game.
 
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#11
#11
Volteacher said:
I think the '99 team was more talented overall and better defensively but didn't get the job done against a couple of teams. We were just a freaking BEAST from '96-'01 better than bama by far but UF was our Achilles heel it seemed. If it were not for them we would have played for 2 maybe 3 nattys
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I would add the 95 squad too. We were a second half meltdown away from an undefeated season.



Damn I hate the gators with an undying passion.
 
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#15
#15
dduncan4163 said:
We were able to beat a Florida team that Spurrier said was his most talented squad so who knows.
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I think we would have played better than Nebraska, but I don't think we would have won. That Miami team was next level. They had 1 close game the whole season.
 
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#16
#16
A natty is something no one can ever take away from you, but let’s be honest. The 4th down interference call at Syracuse, the Stoerner fumble, and playing a Weinke-less FSU (who shouldn’t have even been there if not for epic meltdowns by UCLA and K-State on the last day of the regular season) made us very lucky to win it that year.
 
#17
#17
fade route said:
A natty is something no one can ever take away from you, but let’s be honest. The 4th down interference call at Syracuse, the Stoerner fumble, and playing a Weinke-less FSU (who shouldn’t have even been there if not for epic meltdowns by UCLA and K-State on the last day of the regular season) made us very lucky to win it that year.
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Syracuse shouldn’t have interfered, Stoerner shouldn’t have fumbled, Weinkie shouldn’t have gotten hurt, UCLA and K-State shouldn’t have choked. Think how much better we would have been if Jamal and Al had played all year.
 
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#19
#19
fade route said:
A natty is something no one can ever take away from you, but let’s be honest. The 4th down interference call at Syracuse, the Stoerner fumble, and playing a Weinke-less FSU (who shouldn’t have even been there if not for epic meltdowns by UCLA and K-State on the last day of the regular season) made us very lucky to win it that year.
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Wienke was 26 years old wasnt he ? Come on thats an advantage itself for FSU
 
#20
#20
On pure talent....in no particular order....

2001 Miami
2004 USC
2014 Ohio State
Name your Alabama team....

Were loaded with NFL talent.

What separates Miami at this point is that a lot of those dudes didn’t just make the league, they were pro bowlers.

Ed Reed, Frank Gore and Andre Johnson have legitimate arguments for the hall of fame and Sean Taylor would be in there as well if he hadn’t died
 
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#21
#21
HoptownVol said:
#18 is about right. It was a miracle we didn't lose 3 games in the regular season.
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Oh I remember that well. We had close calls that could have ruined our chances.

But I agree with several others, that Miami team should be first.
 
#22
#22
Miami should be #1 followed by 2011 Alabama. Texas was really good but not deserving of the top spot.

I think if we would have had better QB play in 1998, we would be ranked higher.
 
#23
#23
Miami #1 and it's not particularly close. Something like 17 first round picks and 37 drafted overall.... I mean sean taylor was a BACKUP on that team. and Frank Gore was the 3rd string back...
 
#24
#24
Iam4utalways said:
Syracuse shouldn’t have interfered, Stoerner shouldn’t have fumbled, Weinkie shouldn’t have gotten hurt, UCLA and K-State shouldn’t have choked. Think how much better we would have been if Jamal and Al had played all year.
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I doubt Jamal could have matched the production of the Travis’ for the rest of the year. And Al’s injury had nothing to do with the 2 plays I mentioned, or FSU being without Weinke
 
#25
#25
dduncan4163 said:
College football national champions of the past 20 years ranked


18. 1998 Tennessee Volunteers

The Vols followed up their SEC championship in 1997 with their first national championship in nearly a half century a year later and did so on the heels of having the greatest quarterback in school history, Peyton Manning, depart for the NFL. Tennessee went unbeaten and became the first national champion of the BCS era. The Vols beat eight bowl teams that season and four nationally ranked teams away from home. But their breakthrough win came in the third week of the season in a 20-17 overtime win at home against Florida, which had beaten Tennessee five straight times. The Vols' defense was led by fiery All-America linebacker Al Wilson, the centerpiece of a unit that held 10 of its 13 opponents under 20 points that season, including seven of the nine SEC foes the Vols faced. There were 26 players who played during the 1998 season for Tennessee who would go on to be selected in the NFL draft, including nine of the 11 defensive starters. -- Low


Thoughts?
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We should have been Top 7.

First off those 3 USC teams should be disqualified for paying recruits to play there. And those titles have already been vacated.

Also, essentially the FSU team that we spanked in 98 is ranked much higher than us in 99.

We should also be ranked higher than LSU. Didn't they lose 2 games?

How can Alabama claim 22 National Championships in 20 years?
 
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