since Urban brought it up; who do you guys think had the best cfb team of all time

(06-17-2014 09:00 PM)Gopper Wrote:  since Urban brought it up; who do you guys think had the best cfb team of all time

Nebraska 1995

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1949_Notre_...tball_team

72 USC Trojans

2001 Miami Hurricanes

pretty much every starter on the team as well as many of their backups made an NFL roster, and a bunch became stars too.

Player Position Round Pick Year NFL Team
Andre Johnson Wide Receiver 1 3 2003 Houston Texans
Sean Taylor Defensive Back 1 5 2004 Washington Redskins
Kellen Winslow II Tight End 1 6 2004 Cleveland Browns
Bryant McKinnie Tackle 1 7 2002 Minnesota Vikings
Antrel Rolle Defensive Back 1 8 2005 Arizona Cardinals
Jonathan Vilma Linebacker 1 12 2004 New York Jets
Jeremy Shockey Tight End 1 14 2002 New York Giants
Jerome McDougle Defensive Line 1 15 2003 Philadelphia Eagles
Phillip Buchanon Defensive Back 1 17 2002 Oakland Raiders
D. J. Williams Linebacker 1 18 2004 Denver Broncos
Vernon Carey Tackle 1 19 2004 Miami Dolphins
Vince Wilfork Defensive Line 1 21 2004 New England Patriots
Willis McGahee Running Back 1 23 2003 Buffalo Bills
Ed Reed Defensive Back 1 24 2002 Baltimore Ravens
William Joseph Defensive Line 1 25 2003 New York Giants
Mike Rumph Defensive Back 1 27 2002 San Francisco 49ers
Kelly Jennings Defensive Back 1 31 2006 Seattle Seahawks
Rocky McIntosh Linebacker 2 35 2006 Washington Redskins
Clinton Portis Running Back 2 51 2002 Denver Broncos
Roscoe Parrish Wide Receiver 2 55 2005 Buffalo Bills
Frank Gore Running Back 3 65 2005 San Francisco 49ers
Andrew Williams Defensive Line 3 89 2003 San Francisco 49ers
Rashad Butler Tackle 3 89 2006 Carolina Panthers
Leon Williams Linebacker 4 110 2006 Cleveland Browns
Martin Bibla Guard 4 116 2002 Atlanta Falcons
Jamaal Green Defensive Line 4 131 2003 Philadelphia Eagles
Orien Harris Defensive Line 4 133 2006 Pittsburgh Steelers
Najeh Davenport Running Back 4 135 2002 Green Bay Packers
Matt Walters Defensive Line 5 150 2003 New York Jets
Marcus Maxey Defensive Back 5 154 2006 Kansas City Chiefs
James Lewis Defensive Back 6 183 2002 Indianapolis Colts
Chris Myers Guard 6 200 2005 Denver Broncos
Darrell McClover Linebacker 7 213 2004 New York Jets
Alfonso Marshall Defensive Back 7 215 2004 Chicago Bears
Daryl Jones Wide Receiver 7 226 2002 New York Giants
Joaquin Gonzalez Tackle 7 227 2002 Cleveland Browns
Ken Dorsey Quarterback 7 241 2003 San Francisco 49ers
Carlos Joseph Tackle 7 254 2004 San Diego Chargers

(06-17-2014 10:23 PM)AntiG Wrote:  2001 Miami Hurricanes

pretty much every starter on the team as well as many of their backups made an NFL roster, and a bunch became stars too.

Player Position Round Pick Year NFL Team
Andre Johnson Wide Receiver 1 3 2003 Houston Texans
Sean Taylor Defensive Back 1 5 2004 Washington Redskins
Kellen Winslow II Tight End 1 6 2004 Cleveland Browns
Bryant McKinnie Tackle 1 7 2002 Minnesota Vikings
Antrel Rolle Defensive Back 1 8 2005 Arizona Cardinals
Jonathan Vilma Linebacker 1 12 2004 New York Jets
Jeremy Shockey Tight End 1 14 2002 New York Giants
Jerome McDougle Defensive Line 1 15 2003 Philadelphia Eagles
Phillip Buchanon Defensive Back 1 17 2002 Oakland Raiders
D. J. Williams Linebacker 1 18 2004 Denver Broncos
Vernon Carey Tackle 1 19 2004 Miami Dolphins
Vince Wilfork Defensive Line 1 21 2004 New England Patriots
Willis McGahee Running Back 1 23 2003 Buffalo Bills
Ed Reed Defensive Back 1 24 2002 Baltimore Ravens
William Joseph Defensive Line 1 25 2003 New York Giants
Mike Rumph Defensive Back 1 27 2002 San Francisco 49ers
Kelly Jennings Defensive Back 1 31 2006 Seattle Seahawks
Rocky McIntosh Linebacker 2 35 2006 Washington Redskins
Clinton Portis Running Back 2 51 2002 Denver Broncos
Roscoe Parrish Wide Receiver 2 55 2005 Buffalo Bills
Frank Gore Running Back 3 65 2005 San Francisco 49ers
Andrew Williams Defensive Line 3 89 2003 San Francisco 49ers
Rashad Butler Tackle 3 89 2006 Carolina Panthers
Leon Williams Linebacker 4 110 2006 Cleveland Browns
Martin Bibla Guard 4 116 2002 Atlanta Falcons
Jamaal Green Defensive Line 4 131 2003 Philadelphia Eagles
Orien Harris Defensive Line 4 133 2006 Pittsburgh Steelers
Najeh Davenport Running Back 4 135 2002 Green Bay Packers
Matt Walters Defensive Line 5 150 2003 New York Jets
Marcus Maxey Defensive Back 5 154 2006 Kansas City Chiefs
James Lewis Defensive Back 6 183 2002 Indianapolis Colts
Chris Myers Guard 6 200 2005 Denver Broncos
Darrell McClover Linebacker 7 213 2004 New York Jets
Alfonso Marshall Defensive Back 7 215 2004 Chicago Bears
Daryl Jones Wide Receiver 7 226 2002 New York Giants
Joaquin Gonzalez Tackle 7 227 2002 Cleveland Browns
Ken Dorsey Quarterback 7 241 2003 San Francisco 49ers
Carlos Joseph Tackle 7 254 2004 San Diego Chargers

They're 2nd on my list behind 1995 Nebraska. Only 1 team (14 points) came within 23 points of Nebraska. They won the "title" game 62-24.
August 31 7:00 PM at Oklahoma State #2 Lewis Field • Stillwater, OK ESPN W 64–21 42,100
September 9 2:30 PM at Michigan State* #2 Spartan Stadium • East Lansing, MI ABC W 50–10 73,891
September 16 1:00 PM Arizona State* #2 Memorial Stadium • Lincoln, NE W 77–28 75,418
September 23 1:00 PM Pacific* #2 Memorial Stadium • Lincoln, NE W 49–7 75,630
September 30 1:00 PM Washington State* #2 Memorial Stadium • Lincoln, NE W 35–21 75,777
October 14 1:00 PM Missouri #2 Memorial Stadium • Lincoln, NE (Rivalry) W 57–0 75,552
October 21 2:30 PM #8 Kansas Statedagger #2 Memorial Stadium • Lincoln, NE ABC W 49–25 76,072
October 28 2:30 PM at #7 Colorado #2 Folsom Field • Boulder, CO (Rivalry) ABC W 44–21 54,063
November 4 1:00 PM Iowa State #1 Memorial Stadium • Lincoln, NE W 73–14 75,505
November 11 2:30 PM at #10 Kansas #1 Memorial Stadium • Lawrence, KS ABC W 41–3 47,880
November 24 2:30 PM Oklahoma 1 #1 Memorial Stadium • Lincoln, NE (Rivalry) ABC W 37–0 75,662
January 2 7:00 PM vs. #2 Florida* #1 Sun Devil Stadium • Tempe, AZ (Fiesta Bowl) CBS W 62–24 79,864

1994 Penn State.

Only close game was against a top-5 Michigan team in Ann Arbor.
They did have a closer one against Illinois's top 5 defense...but Illinois had to give the team food poisoning the night before and set off a fire alarm in the middle of the night to get close to that PSU squad. That was the year we needed a BCS championship game badly.

(06-17-2014 11:05 PM)allthatyoucantleavebehind Wrote:  1994 Penn State.

Only close game was against a top-5 Michigan team in Ann Arbor.
They did have a closer one against Illinois's top 5 defense...but Illinois had to give the team food poisoning the night before and set off a fire alarm in the middle of the night to get close to that PSU squad. That was the year we needed a BCS championship game badly.

Did you forget they got lucky to beat Indiana? Most people outside Pennsylvania didn't think PSU was the best team that year. 1994 Nebraska was picked #1 by most systems.

Since 1990 my top group would be:

1991 Washington
1991 Miami
1995 Nebraska
2001 Miami
2004 USC
2005 Texas
2008 Florida

If you put all the unbeatens or national champs since 1990 in a giant round robin this group would make it out with the best record IMO. Inside this group I would see each one taking lumps from the contenders they don't match up against very well and dishing it out to the others.

If 2008 Florida is the best team of all time then what does that make 2008 Ole Miss?

(06-17-2014 11:05 PM)allthatyoucantleavebehind Wrote:  1994 Penn State.

Only close game was against a top-5 Michigan team in Ann Arbor.
They did have a closer one against Illinois's top 5 defense...but Illinois had to give the team food poisoning the night before and set off a fire alarm in the middle of the night to get close to that PSU squad. That was the year we needed a BCS championship game badly.

That defense would catch up to them in a hurry. Sandusky's basic cover 3 shell barely survived Oregon's primitive spread in what was a down year for "Linebacker U" and the defense. Since then teams have added some man concepts to C3 that teams weren't running much back then to make it a lot stronger. No telling how bad it would get with Tebow, VY, Leinart, Dorsey, etc running more advanced passing schemes than the mid-90's offered up. The offense would give them a punchers chance to knock some teams off though. This is the backwards PSU team that had a suspect defense but an incredibly strong offense with Collins, Engram, Carter, Brady, and a really strong OL.

It would be a lot of fun to see that PSU team vs 2010 Auburn. It would likely be a shootout of epic proportions.

Miami 2001 was my 2nd choice. Miami had some great teams

If you're judging by dominance, the 1901 Michigan team didn't allow a single point scored all season, going 11-0 with an average score of 55-0. They won the first Rose Bowl 49-0 over Stanford.

Michigan's 11-0 1902 team came close, only allowing 14 points scored against. They had a higher score differential than the 1901 team, scoring over 85 points in 4 games.

If you are going by how much better a team was than everybody else that year there are a bunch of choices.

If you are going by the single best te to ever play who would beat the best teams from any other year then you'd have to say one of the last 10 or so. Teams from the 90s or earlier would get murdered by one of those because they are so much faster etc.

(06-18-2014 09:42 AM)HeartOfDixie Wrote:  If you are going by how much better a team was than everybody else that year there are a bunch of choices.

If you are going by the single best te to ever play who would beat the best teams from any other year then you'd have to say one of the last 10 or so. Teams from the 90s or earlier would get murdered by one of those because they are so much faster etc.

I'd include the 90's teams. Late 80's is where the disparity in rosters really starts mounting compared to now. The 91 Huskies and 95 Huskers have plenty of athletes to keep up. The issue with them is adjusting to better passing opponents.

(06-18-2014 07:53 AM)1845 Bear Wrote:  

(06-17-2014 11:05 PM)allthatyoucantleavebehind Wrote:  1994 Penn State.

Only close game was against a top-5 Michigan team in Ann Arbor.
They did have a closer one against Illinois's top 5 defense...but Illinois had to give the team food poisoning the night before and set off a fire alarm in the middle of the night to get close to that PSU squad. That was the year we needed a BCS championship game badly.

That defense would catch up to them in a hurry. Sandusky's basic cover 3 shell barely survived Oregon's primitive spread in what was a down year for "Linebacker U" and the defense. Since then teams have added some man concepts to C3 that teams weren't running much back then to make it a lot stronger. No telling how bad it would get with Tebow, VY, Leinart, Dorsey, etc running more advanced passing schemes than the mid-90's offered up. The offense would give them a punchers chance to knock some teams off though. This is the backwards PSU team that had a suspect defense but an incredibly strong offense with Collins, Engram, Carter, Brady, and a really strong OL.

It would be a lot of fun to see that PSU team vs 2010 Auburn. It would likely be a shootout of epic proportions.

"Barely beat Indiana"...two TDs by Indiana's first team against PSU's second after PSU had amassed a 20 pt. lead made that game look closer than it was. (And Indiana that year was in the midst of almost its best 3-year stretch of football in its history, FWIW.)

That PSU defense wasn't its best, for sure. It was a rare year when PSU's offense was stellar but its defense just good.

The "nobody outside of PA" argument is only true because the teams that PSU beat up on all year (the Big Ten) hated/feared PSU's entrance into the league. Voting them into a NC in PSU's second year in the league was not part of the plan. Give OSU or UM the same record in Big Ten play in 1994 and the whole Big Ten region would have been clamoring for a title.

Lastly, the 18-point bowl win over Oregon (a top 20 team) was decent considering the team knew they had no shot at the national title--even with a 63-14 win (like they did to #14 Ohio State earlier in the year). The "NC title game" was the Orange Bowl with #1 Nebraska.

(06-18-2014 10:13 AM)1845 Bear Wrote:  

(06-18-2014 09:42 AM)HeartOfDixie Wrote:  If you are going by how much better a team was than everybody else that year there are a bunch of choices.

If you are going by the single best te to ever play who would beat the best teams from any other year then you'd have to say one of the last 10 or so. Teams from the 90s or earlier would get murdered by one of those because they are so much faster etc.

I'd include the 90's teams. Late 80's is where the disparity in rosters really starts mounting compared to now. The 91 Huskies and 95 Huskers have plenty of athletes to keep up. The issue with them is adjusting to better passing opponents.

You have to decide how to evaluate. Do you pit them all together with a time machine? Do you compare them to their peers, assuming there are decent peers that year (some years are just unusually strong or weak)? Do you try to evaluate what they would have done with today's training methods?

Unless you are using the time machine method, a team like '71 Nebraska ought to be in anyone's top 5. Now if you use the time machine, they might go winless with the 2013 Nebraska schedule.

(06-18-2014 11:41 AM)bullet Wrote:  

(06-18-2014 10:13 AM)1845 Bear Wrote:  

(06-18-2014 09:42 AM)HeartOfDixie Wrote:  If you are going by how much better a team was than everybody else that year there are a bunch of choices.

If you are going by the single best te to ever play who would beat the best teams from any other year then you'd have to say one of the last 10 or so. Teams from the 90s or earlier would get murdered by one of those because they are so much faster etc.

I'd include the 90's teams. Late 80's is where the disparity in rosters really starts mounting compared to now. The 91 Huskies and 95 Huskers have plenty of athletes to keep up. The issue with them is adjusting to better passing opponents.

You have to decide how to evaluate. Do you pit them all together with a time machine? Do you compare them to their peers, assuming there are decent peers that year (some years are just unusually strong or weak)? Do you try to evaluate what they would have done with today's training methods?

Unless you are using the time machine method, a team like '71 Nebraska ought to be in anyone's top 5. Now if you use the time machine, they might go winless with the 2013 Nebraska schedule.

If I had to set criteria to settle it all I would go with:

- Time machine method: Pluck them out of time and have them line up and play.

- Who would I give the win over the other team in a best of 7 series assuming no major injuries? All of these teams are good enough to beat another on the right day, who would win more often?

Do that for all realistic contenders in a round robin and then rank the results.

Teams I would expect to make it out the best are the ones I listed before.

(06-18-2014 11:34 AM)allthatyoucantleavebehind Wrote:  

(06-18-2014 07:53 AM)1845 Bear Wrote:  

(06-17-2014 11:05 PM)allthatyoucantleavebehind Wrote:  1994 Penn State.

Only close game was against a top-5 Michigan team in Ann Arbor.
They did have a closer one against Illinois's top 5 defense...but Illinois had to give the team food poisoning the night before and set off a fire alarm in the middle of the night to get close to that PSU squad. That was the year we needed a BCS championship game badly.

That defense would catch up to them in a hurry. Sandusky's basic cover 3 shell barely survived Oregon's primitive spread in what was a down year for "Linebacker U" and the defense. Since then teams have added some man concepts to C3 that teams weren't running much back then to make it a lot stronger. No telling how bad it would get with Tebow, VY, Leinart, Dorsey, etc running more advanced passing schemes than the mid-90's offered up. The offense would give them a punchers chance to knock some teams off though. This is the backwards PSU team that had a suspect defense but an incredibly strong offense with Collins, Engram, Carter, Brady, and a really strong OL.

It would be a lot of fun to see that PSU team vs 2010 Auburn. It would likely be a shootout of epic proportions.

That PSU defense wasn't its best, for sure. It was a rare year when PSU's offense was stellar but its defense just good.

...

Lastly, the 18-point bowl win over Oregon (a top 20 team) was decent considering the team knew they had no shot at the national title--even with a 63-14 win (like they did to #14 Ohio State earlier in the year). The "NC title game" was the Orange Bowl with #1 Nebraska.

The defense may have been serviceable in 94' but it's easily the weakest defense in the discussion of title teams and major unbeatens. Oregon threw for 450+ on them and was the only thing resembling a spread attack PSU saw and it wasn't up to modern standards. They did this with a noodle arm QB and an OL that was not the best in pass pro. Michigan and Northwestern ran all over them and I don't see PSU's defense holding up.

That defense gave up 401 yards per game, 150 on the ground, and 60% completions. I don't give it good odds to hold up against most of the field. 401 yards per game on defense is common now as offenses have improved but wasn't then. PSU's offense would keep them in almost any game but it would lose most of these matchups because the defense lacked enough talent & modern scheme.

1899 Sewanee

October 21, 1899 vs. Georgia Atlanta, GA W 12–0
October 23, 1899 at Georgia Tech Atlanta, GA W 32–0
October 28, 1899 Tennessee Sewanee, TN W 46–0
November 3, 1899 Southwestern Presbyterian* Sewanee, TN W 54–0
November 9, 1899 at Texas Austin, TX W 12–0
November 10, 1899 vs. Texas A&M* Herald Park • Houston, TX W 10–0
November 11, 1899 at Tulane New Orleans, LA W 23–0
November 13, 1899 at LSU Baton Rouge, LA W 34–0
November 14, 1899 vs. Ole Miss Memphis, TN W 12–0
November 20, 1899 Cumberland Sewanee, TN W 71–0
November 30, 1899 vs. Auburn Montgomery, AL W 11–10
December 2, 1899 vs. North Carolina Atlanta, GA W 5–0
*Non-conference game.