My combing through - literally - thousands of newspapers to prepare my write-up for 1966 (it will be up before we the Louisville kickoff, but I can't say much more than that) and the fallout the infamous "Tie One for the Gipper" provided has pushed me to ask what I think is an obvious question:
What if Tom Osborne had kicked the PAT against Miami to tie the 1984 Orange Bowl?
What would have happened?
And I'm thoroughly convinced that Nebraska would have won the national championship regardless - and because of the circumstances, nobody really would care all that much now anyway.
Here's your poll prior to the bowl games:
1) Nebraska, 12-0 (51)
2) Texas, 11-0 (3)
3) Auburn, 10-1
4) Illinois, 10-1
5) Miami, 10-1
6) SMU, 10-1
7) Georgia, 9-1-1
8) Michigan, 9-2
9) BYU, 10-1
10) Iowa, 9-2
You eliminate the two-loss teams, so Iowa and Michigan are out anyway.
BYU didn't play anyone, either.
Alabama wipes out SMU in the Sun Bowl.
On New Year's Day - PRIOR to the Nebraska game:
Georgia shocks Texas, 10-9
UCLA ramrods Illinois, 45-9
Concurrent with the Orange Bowl, Auburn beats Michigan late in the Sugar Bowl, 9-7.
At this point, there are only THREE potential champions......and since Auburn lost to Texas and both have one loss, it's pretty hard to make the case for them anyway. That leaves us with Miami and Nebraska........and Miami's ENTIRE case for their national title that year is, "We beat Nebraska," aka "we beat the team the press spent all autumn hyping as the greatest ever football team."
Without the win, Miami has NO CASE AT ALL for a title. And seriously, how can you put them in ahead of Auburn without the win over Nebraska?
You can't. Since Nebraska had the advantage of knowing that Texas had already lost, they could have pulled an Ara Parseghian and walked away with a title. There were no unbeaten teams behind them like happened in 1966. I think it's good they played for the win, but I'm also convinced that Nebraska could have won with a tie anyway.
Trivia: Tom Osborne may have brought additional baggage to the game. He was an assistant on that 1966 Nebraska team that Alabama rolled in the bowl game. If Nebraska had not tripped up against Oklahoma that year (right after the tie), the Huskers would have had a legit claim of "the winner of our game should be national champions".
Just my two pennies worth. He would have been lambasted and years later it wouldn't have mattered anyway.
Your thoughts?
What if Tom Osborne had kicked the PAT against Miami to tie the 1984 Orange Bowl?
What would have happened?
And I'm thoroughly convinced that Nebraska would have won the national championship regardless - and because of the circumstances, nobody really would care all that much now anyway.
Here's your poll prior to the bowl games:
1) Nebraska, 12-0 (51)
2) Texas, 11-0 (3)
3) Auburn, 10-1
4) Illinois, 10-1
5) Miami, 10-1
6) SMU, 10-1
7) Georgia, 9-1-1
8) Michigan, 9-2
9) BYU, 10-1
10) Iowa, 9-2
You eliminate the two-loss teams, so Iowa and Michigan are out anyway.
BYU didn't play anyone, either.
Alabama wipes out SMU in the Sun Bowl.
On New Year's Day - PRIOR to the Nebraska game:
Georgia shocks Texas, 10-9
UCLA ramrods Illinois, 45-9
Concurrent with the Orange Bowl, Auburn beats Michigan late in the Sugar Bowl, 9-7.
At this point, there are only THREE potential champions......and since Auburn lost to Texas and both have one loss, it's pretty hard to make the case for them anyway. That leaves us with Miami and Nebraska........and Miami's ENTIRE case for their national title that year is, "We beat Nebraska," aka "we beat the team the press spent all autumn hyping as the greatest ever football team."
Without the win, Miami has NO CASE AT ALL for a title. And seriously, how can you put them in ahead of Auburn without the win over Nebraska?
You can't. Since Nebraska had the advantage of knowing that Texas had already lost, they could have pulled an Ara Parseghian and walked away with a title. There were no unbeaten teams behind them like happened in 1966. I think it's good they played for the win, but I'm also convinced that Nebraska could have won with a tie anyway.
Trivia: Tom Osborne may have brought additional baggage to the game. He was an assistant on that 1966 Nebraska team that Alabama rolled in the bowl game. If Nebraska had not tripped up against Oklahoma that year (right after the tie), the Huskers would have had a legit claim of "the winner of our game should be national champions".
Just my two pennies worth. He would have been lambasted and years later it wouldn't have mattered anyway.
Your thoughts?