A guy at work sent me an e-mail and asked me if I agreed with his rankings (excerpted from the discussion below). I'm going to post my rankings first and then a portion of his e-mail later (he lurks the site but isn't a registered member because he's afraid of getting banned for arguing). To each their own.
Here are a listing of the games and BCS Champions:
1998 - Tennessee defeats FSU 23-16
1999 - FSU defeats VA Tech 46-29
2000 - Oklahoma defeats FSU 13-2
2001 - Miami defeats Nebraska 37-14
2002 - Ohio State defeats Miami 31-24 (OT)
2003 - LSU defeats Oklahoma 21-14
2004 - USC defeats Oklahoma 55-19
2005 - Texas defeats USC 41-38
2006 - Florida defeats Ohio State 41-14
2007 - LSU defeats Ohio State 38-24
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Here are my rankings of the champions:
1) 2004 USC. Dominant team who went 13-0. They had close games with Stanford, Cal, Oregon State and UCLA but blew everyone else out. Big season for a great team.
2) 2005 Texas. Vince Young's team blew out everyone but Ohio State and USC in the championship game. Undermatched by all Big XII opponents.
3) 2007 LSU. While everyone knows this team underachieved, they had serious health issues throughout the season to numerous key players. I think healthy, as they were in the BCS Championship Game, they play with anyone from the era. Talent at running back may be the most ridiculously deep of all times and the most varied skillset ever (think late 80's Detroit Pistons 9/10 deep team).
4) 2006 Florida - Played a lot of tough games and might have been their best at the end of the season gritting out a tough win in Tallahassee and against Arkansas in the SEC Championship Game and then blowing out outmatched Ohio State.
5) 2001 Miami Hurricanes (probably underranked here. Great players on this team).
6) 1999 FSU Seminoles - Undefeated and perhaps the best FSU team since the 1993 national champions. Team didn't produce that many great NFL players, but they were good in college. Exceptions would be Janikowski and Corey Simon.
Most of the rest of the teams are too subjective for me to rank any further.
Excerpt from his e-mail that got me thinking:
1. 2005 Texas - The championship game was basically two future NFL teams playing one another. The best game in the history of college football. Vince Young. 2005 USC is probably the second best team ever in college football, only behind, obviously, 2005 Texas.
2. 2004 USC - This is basically a younger version of the 2005 powerhouse team. Two future Heisman winners (one tainted, albeit). Absolute demolition of Oklahoma.
3. 2001 Miami - Another team loaded with future NFL players. You could almost make a NFL playoff team from the future players on this roster. Nebraska was completely overmatched. Ironically, the 2002 team, considered better than the 2001 team, lost to a team much lower on this list.
4. 1999 Florida State - Undefeated in the ACC, before the ACC was terrible. Played a game VT team in the Sugar Bowl and still won comfortably.
5. 2006 Florida - This team wasn't spectacular in the regular season. But they were playing great football at the end, and the championship performance was nothing short of dominant.
6. 2000 Oklahoma - This was probably Stoops' best team. They had a great, great defense. Roy Williams was arguably the best player in CFB that year. This year was the pinnacle of OU/Stoops and was the last year where you could call Stoops "Big Game Bob" with a straight face.
7. 2002 Ohio State - Tressel's finest season ever. Pulled out a bunch of close wins, seemingly every week. Miami 2002 was being regarded as one of the most talented teams ever in college football. Ohio State pulled it out. Great coaching, smart kids, mediocre team in the grand scheme of things.
8. 2003 LSU - Split title. Didn't even play the best possible opponent. OU didn't even bother showing up to the bowl game (Stoops trend starting to show). Who knows what would have happened if LSU had played USC, but my money would have been heavily on USC. Not a great team, not the BCS' finest moment.
9. 1998 Tennessee - Meh. Tee Martin?
10. 2007 LSU - First two loss champion in 40+ years. Lost to two mediocre football teams and was thoroughly outcoached in several games. Needed tons of breaks and the most mediocre season of CFB ever to get into the title game. Dominating performance in that game, but there were about 5 teams better than Ohio State. Amazingly talented team that just wasn't that good.
TPS
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Here are a listing of the games and BCS Champions:
1998 - Tennessee defeats FSU 23-16
1999 - FSU defeats VA Tech 46-29
2000 - Oklahoma defeats FSU 13-2
2001 - Miami defeats Nebraska 37-14
2002 - Ohio State defeats Miami 31-24 (OT)
2003 - LSU defeats Oklahoma 21-14
2004 - USC defeats Oklahoma 55-19
2005 - Texas defeats USC 41-38
2006 - Florida defeats Ohio State 41-14
2007 - LSU defeats Ohio State 38-24
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Here are my rankings of the champions:
1) 2004 USC. Dominant team who went 13-0. They had close games with Stanford, Cal, Oregon State and UCLA but blew everyone else out. Big season for a great team.
2) 2005 Texas. Vince Young's team blew out everyone but Ohio State and USC in the championship game. Undermatched by all Big XII opponents.
3) 2007 LSU. While everyone knows this team underachieved, they had serious health issues throughout the season to numerous key players. I think healthy, as they were in the BCS Championship Game, they play with anyone from the era. Talent at running back may be the most ridiculously deep of all times and the most varied skillset ever (think late 80's Detroit Pistons 9/10 deep team).
4) 2006 Florida - Played a lot of tough games and might have been their best at the end of the season gritting out a tough win in Tallahassee and against Arkansas in the SEC Championship Game and then blowing out outmatched Ohio State.
5) 2001 Miami Hurricanes (probably underranked here. Great players on this team).
6) 1999 FSU Seminoles - Undefeated and perhaps the best FSU team since the 1993 national champions. Team didn't produce that many great NFL players, but they were good in college. Exceptions would be Janikowski and Corey Simon.
Most of the rest of the teams are too subjective for me to rank any further.
Excerpt from his e-mail that got me thinking:
1. 2005 Texas - The championship game was basically two future NFL teams playing one another. The best game in the history of college football. Vince Young. 2005 USC is probably the second best team ever in college football, only behind, obviously, 2005 Texas.
2. 2004 USC - This is basically a younger version of the 2005 powerhouse team. Two future Heisman winners (one tainted, albeit). Absolute demolition of Oklahoma.
3. 2001 Miami - Another team loaded with future NFL players. You could almost make a NFL playoff team from the future players on this roster. Nebraska was completely overmatched. Ironically, the 2002 team, considered better than the 2001 team, lost to a team much lower on this list.
4. 1999 Florida State - Undefeated in the ACC, before the ACC was terrible. Played a game VT team in the Sugar Bowl and still won comfortably.
5. 2006 Florida - This team wasn't spectacular in the regular season. But they were playing great football at the end, and the championship performance was nothing short of dominant.
6. 2000 Oklahoma - This was probably Stoops' best team. They had a great, great defense. Roy Williams was arguably the best player in CFB that year. This year was the pinnacle of OU/Stoops and was the last year where you could call Stoops "Big Game Bob" with a straight face.
7. 2002 Ohio State - Tressel's finest season ever. Pulled out a bunch of close wins, seemingly every week. Miami 2002 was being regarded as one of the most talented teams ever in college football. Ohio State pulled it out. Great coaching, smart kids, mediocre team in the grand scheme of things.
8. 2003 LSU - Split title. Didn't even play the best possible opponent. OU didn't even bother showing up to the bowl game (Stoops trend starting to show). Who knows what would have happened if LSU had played USC, but my money would have been heavily on USC. Not a great team, not the BCS' finest moment.
9. 1998 Tennessee - Meh. Tee Martin?
10. 2007 LSU - First two loss champion in 40+ years. Lost to two mediocre football teams and was thoroughly outcoached in several games. Needed tons of breaks and the most mediocre season of CFB ever to get into the title game. Dominating performance in that game, but there were about 5 teams better than Ohio State. Amazingly talented team that just wasn't that good.
TPS
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