(09-30-2019 10:41 AM)cubucks Wrote:  

(09-30-2019 10:14 AM)quo vadis Wrote:  Some things that were going on the week of October 21st, 1986, the last time SMU was ranked in the AP Poll:

1) It was the AP top 20 poll, not top 25. SMU was #18. Miami was #1. Other teams that were in the top 20 that week that are also in the top 25 this week:

#2 Alabama, #4 Michigan, #5 Oklahoma, #6 Penn State (eventual champion), #7 Auburn, #8 Washington, #10 Texas AM, #11 Iowa, #12 LSU, and #16 Clemson. The only teams that were in that week's top 10 that are not ranked right now were #3 Nebraska and #9 Arizona State. The more things change ....

2) Ronald Reagan was President, and would be for another 2 1/2 years. The USSR still existed and nobody had any inkling it would ever not exist.

3) I was 22, a senior at USF. USF wouldn't have a football team for 11 more years, so my dorm hall was filled with Miami, Florida, and FSU banners.

4) The #1 movie was "Crocodlle Dundee", the #1 album was "Fore" by Huey Lewis and the News, and the #1 song was "When I Think of You" by Janet Jackson.

5) October 21st, 1986 was 12,032 days ago, or 1.039 Billion seconds ago.

That's crazy!

Congratulations, SMU and welcome back to the top 25.

BTW, your Buckeyes had a bumpy ride in the polls that year. Ohio State was pre-season #9, but dropped a spot to #10 on losing their first game. When they lost game #2 to fall to 0-2, they fell out of the top 20 entirely. Those first two losses were against #5 Alabama and #17 Washington.

Ohio State was then unranked for the next 6 weeks, which included the last week SMU was ranked. The week SMU dropped out of the poll, October 28, Ohio State re-entered it at #17, after having won six straight games to go to 6-2. Ohio State then jumped to #11 the next week, #9 the week after, and #7 the week after that. They went in to the game vs #6 Michigan, quarterbacked by Jim Harbaugh, on a 9-game winning streak, but upon losing**, fell back to #11. After they beat SWC champ #8 Texas AM in the Cotton Bowl, the Bucks finished #7 in the final AP poll.


** I remember watching that Michigan @ Ohio State game. It was a classic, with the Big 10 title and a trip to the Rose Bowl on the line. Michigan won 26-24 when the OS kicker missed a 45 yard FG with seconds remaining. Michigan would lose to Arizona State in the Rose Bowl. Arizona State was coached by John Cooper, and thanks largely to that win, he would get the Ohio State job in 1988, whereupon in his 13 seasons in Columbus, he would also win one Rose Bowl - in 1996, over Arizona State! He would also only beat Michigan twice during those 13 seasons as well.