(06-21-2022 11:15 AM)bullet Wrote:  

(06-21-2022 10:35 AM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(06-21-2022 09:49 AM)bullet Wrote:  

(06-20-2022 01:14 PM)Big Frog II Wrote:  TCU 2014

I always felt like TCU had the best team in 2010 as well.

They didn't have a Cam Newton, but had a vastly better defense than Auburn.

People said Auburn's defense wasn't that good, but they held Oregon's "point a minute" offense to 19 points in the BCS title game.

IMO, it's difficult to compare a TCU defense that faced MW opponents during the season to an AU defense that played an SEC schedule.

Auburn did well against Oregon but had one of the worst defenses of any national champion. ULM-3, MSU-14, S. Carolina and LSU-17 were the only teams that scored less than Oregon did. They gave up 43 to Arkansas, 34 to Kentucky and were giving up the 20s and 30s to everyone else. Auburn did have one of the greatest college QBs to offset that. TCU held 8 of their 13 opponents to 10 or less and held Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl to 19, who had scored more against everyone else and scored 31 or more against all but 2 teams.

So yes, its difficult to compare, but TCU was top 10 all year and the final #2, getting a few #1 votes, despite being in the lower profile MWC.

Yeah but ......

IIRC, in most of those games where Auburn gave up big points, they were way ahead. Yeah they gave up 43 to Arkansas but scored 65. They gave up 31 to Ole Miss and to Georgia, but won those games by 18 and 20 points. They gave up 26 to Arkansas State but scored over 50. IMO, judging a defense in those games makes little sense, because you are cruising. The only really bad game was giving up 34 to Kentucky. That was a 37-34 nail-biter. Even though, UK had a very good offense that season. They haven't scored as many points as they did in 2010 since, and only have scored more in one other season since 2000.

OTOH, holding SC and LSU under 20 were big deals. The SC game was the SEC title game, and LSU was a very good team, an 11-win Cotton Bowl winner. They only scored 24 vs LSU so couldn't afford to give up big points, and didn't. Even Mississippi State was a 9-game winner that scored over 50 points routing Michigan in the Gator Bowl. Auburn only scored 17 against them so needed the defense to stand up, and it did. So in big games when it mattered or when games were close, the defense showed up, shutting down the other team in the SEC title game and the BCS title game.

OTOH, TCU was shutting down mostly bad teams, a bunch of single-digit scorelines vs Air Force, BYU, Colorado State, Wyoming, etc. Not the same level of competition as 2010-era SEC IMO, so not comparable to me.