Thank you!! Everyone talks about the “good ole days” but there was 3 repeat champions in the decade of 1970’s
71-72 Nebraska
74-75 Oklahoma
78-79 Alabama
Notre dame split in 1973 and won in 77
So 4 teams won 80 percent of the national titles in the decade of the 70’s. The only Cinderella was Pitt in 1976
Oh the other champion in 1970 was Ohio state
9 out of 10 years a traditional power won the national title.
If there would have been a playoff from 1983-1992. With the exception of 1984 and MAYBE 1990. People would be complaining about Miami getting a shot all the time.
IF there would have been a playoff from 1988-2000 people would be talking about how sick they were of Florida state because they finished top 5 every year.
It gets worse than that.
CHAMPIONS FROM 1961-1979 (38 possible with splits)
Alabama 6 (3 straight, 3 splits)
USC 5 (3 straight, 2 splits)
Texas 3 (2 straight, 1 split)
Notre Dame 3 (2 straight, 1 split)
Nebraska 2 (1 straight, 1 split)
Oklahoma 2 (1 straight, 1 split)
Total - 33 of 38 possible national championships in 19 years won by six teams.
The other "five" champions?
Michigan State 1965 split
Ohio State 1968 straight
Pitt 1976 straight
(Note - straight means they won BOTH the AP and UPI national titles, split means they didn't A straight counts as TWO in the sum total of 38 titles).
Pitt's was an out and out fluke. The other two teams - Sparty and Ohio State - won OTHER "less prestigious" national titles with good teams during the time frame.
In other words, as we entered the TV age, the national champions were six Blue Blood programs, Nebraska (temporarily in that neighborhood), Ohio State (also a blue blood), Sparty and Pitt.
Now look at the NEXT 21-year span with 40 possible champions (because of the BCS)
CHAMPIONS FROM 1980-2001
Miami (3 straight, 1 split, 1 BCS)
Penn State (2 straight)
Florida State (2 straight)
Nebraska (2 straight, 1 split)
Oklahoma (1 straight, 1 BCS)
25 of the 40 possible national championships were won by ONLY FIVE TEAMS. Okay, so that's not as many as before, but what makes this era different? Well, the bowl contractual obligations weren't locked in in the previous era nor in the later one.
But they WERE locked in solidly prior to 1991...and the locks were sealed in 1976.......
Orange Bowl tie-in with Big 8 - started in 1976
Sugar Bowl tie-in with SEC - started in 1976
Cotton Bowl tie-in with SWC - started in 1941
Citrus Bowl tie-in with ACC - started in 1987
The Big Ten did not permit teams to play in games other than the Rose Bowl until 1975.
Notre Dame avoided bowl games (save one) until 1970.
It was the locking in of contracts and - to a lesser extent - the participation of the Big 10 in OTHER bowls that caused the ILLUSION that any team can win the title. Just go look at what would have happened if the old years were played by the current rules:
1980 - Georgia had to play the Sugar Bowl - and beating Notre Dame in 1980 was as good as gold.
1981 - #2 Georgia is obligated to the Sugar Bowl; Clemson is a free agent that takes Nebraska; bear in mind that this game was set before Pitt imploded against Penn St and lifted the Tigers to number one.
(If UGA plays Clemson, the Bulldogs probably win back-to-back national titles).
1982 - Georgia did play Penn State but there was a controversy when unbeaten SMU (obligated to the Cotton Bowl) was excluded.
1983 - Nebraska (Orange)
could not play Texas (Cotton), so #5 pole vaulted and won the title.
1984 - BYU (Holiday)
could not play #2 Oklahoma (Orange), #3 Florida (taking bowl ban), and #4 Washington didn't win the Pac 10 is the only reason they played Oklahoma. Who was fifth? Nebraska.
1985 - Penn St (free agent) takes the bigger money and name, Oklahoma (Orange), even though they're #3 and Miami is #2. If only someone had maybe thought, "We could match up 1 and 2 in the Fiesta Bowl since they're both Independents.."
1986 - it's probably no accident the two teams accounting for the most titles in this time frame were undefeated and played each other when (wait for it) someone decided, "We could match up 1 and 2 in the Fiesta Bowl since they're both independents..."
1987 - #1 Oklahoma was obligated to the Orange; the next 3 teams were all Independents. Without that circumstance, there's no national title game.
1988 - The top 4 teams are indepdendents with no conference affiliation. (Are you starting to see what a difference that makes? One-loss #5 USC was obligated to the Rose Bowl. If they had beaten Notre Dame, they would have been #1 and forced into a game with 8-2-1 Michigan.
1989 - #1 Colorado is obligated to the Orange Bowl while #2 Miami only moved up after the games were announced and #3 Michigan is obligated to the Rose Bowl. Colorado faces the highest-ranked team at the time of game selections with no affiliation, Notre Dame.
1990 - #1 Colorado (Orange), #2 Georgia Tech (Citrus), #3 Texas (Cotton) are all bowl obligated. The top team without a bowl was the second to choose because at the time they were ranked lower, which is why Miami played (and blew out) Texas; Notre Dame went for a rematch in the Orange
1991 - #2 Washington is obligated to the Rose, freeing up #1 Miami to go wherever they wanted, which was to stay home. Nowadays, the two teams would play and ONE team would be the champion.
Bowl Coalition Begins
1992 - #1 Miami is obligated to face #2 in a bowl game IF that bowl has an opening. If Alabama had lost to Florida, Miami would have faced FSU in a rematch in the Fiesta Bowl while Florida would have played in the Sugar Bowl and Alabama probably would have faced Nebraska in the Orange Bowl.
1993 - #1 Florida State is obligated to play the highest ranked team with a bowl opening which is #2 Nebraska in the Orange Bowl. This arrangement freezes out #4 Notre Dame...who beat the Noles.
1994 - #1 Nebraska is obligated to play the highest ranked team with a bowl opening. But #2 Penn State is obligated to go to the Rose Bowl, so the Huskers get an undeserved #3 Miami contest and win.
Bowl Alliance Begins
1995 - it worked out and 1 played 2.
1996 - #1 Florida St is obligated to face the highest ranked team in a bowl but #2 Arizona St is obligated to go to the Rose Bowl, which is how #3 Florida winds up winning the title.
1997 - #1 Michigan is obligated to the Rose Bowl, blocking out any chance at a game with Nebraska.
CHAMPIONS 2002-2020 (20 possible champions*)
Alabama 6
LSU 3
Ohio State 2
USC 2
Florida 2
Clemson 2
17 of 20 possible champions were one of six teams; the other champions were high profile programs Texas, FSU, and Auburn.
SUMMARY
1961-1979 -
six teams won 86.8% of the championships
1980-2001 - five teams won 62.5% of the championships
2002-2020 -
six teams have won 85% of the championships
Now.....don't the TWO eras WITHOUT bowl contacts show.....
a) the same number of teams
b) virtually the same number of championshps
All that changed was the names. Some of them.