It is funny that we Bama fans talk about the 80s as very frustrating because we didn't win any national titles, but from 80-89 we still won 85 games overall and six bowl games. Many schools would celebrate that as the best decade they ever had. We are truly spoiled and wouldn't have it any other way. Roll Tide!
If you look at the top teams in:
a) college football
b) the SEC
it isn't difficult to determine why the 1980s were considered so frustrating.
Who was better than we were?
Note: while I'm a firm believer in counting only ranked wins on the basis of season-ending rankings, for simplicity's sake, I reviewed them based on rank at the time of the game played. In other words, Miami was unranked in 1985 when they beat OU, so that counts as a win over a ranked team for Miami but not as a loss for OU. BYU gets credit for a win over #3 Pitt in 1984 despite the Panthers being awful.
Here's the data.
Miami 99-20, .832, 3 national titles (31-16 against ranked teams, including 2-0 against Nebraska), 5-3 bowl record
Nebraska 103-20, .837, 0 national titles, 5 Big Eight titles (22-17 against ranked teams), 4-6 bowl record
Florida State 87-29-3, .744, 0 national titles (20-22 against ranked teams, started 10-19 in early decade), 7-1-1 bowl record
Oklahoma 91-26-2, .773, 1 national title, 5 Big Eight titles (17-18-2 against ranked teams), 4-4 bowl record*
Michigan 90-29-2, .752, 0 national titles, 5 Big Ten titles (22-19 against ranked teams), 5-5 bowl record
Alabama 85-33-2, .717, 0 national titles, 2 SEC titles (18-19-1 against ranked teams) - 1 losing season, 6-3 bowl record
Notre Dame 76-39-2, .658, 1 national title (25-23 against ranked teams, started poorly but ended spectacularly) - 3 losing seasons, 3-3 bowls
UCLA 82-30-6, .720, 0 national titles, 4 Pac Ten titles (21-11-3 against ranked teams) - 1 losing season, 7-1 bowl record
Auburn 86-31-2, .731, 0 national titles, 4 SEC titles (19-19-2 against ranked teams, started 0-8) - 2 losing seasons, 5-2-1 bowl record
Georgia 89-27-4, .758, 1 national title, 3 SEC titles (13-14-1 against ranked teams), 4-4-2 bowl record
Florida 76-38-3, .662, 0 national titles, 0 SEC titles (17-24-1 against ranked teams), 3-4 bowl record, 2 NCAA probations
USC 78-36-3, .679, 0 national titles, 4 Pac Ten titles (22-17-1 against ranked teams), 2-5 bowl record, 1 losing season
Penn St 89-28-2, .756, 2 national titles (22-17-1 against ranked teams), 6-2 bowl record, 1 losing season
BYU 102-27-0, .791, 1 national title, 7 WAC titles (6-8 against ranked teams), 5-5 bowl record
Clemson 87-25-4, .767, 1 national title, 5 ACC titles (18-10-1 against ranked teams), 5-1 bowl record
Ohio St 82-35-2, .697, 0 national titles, 3 Big Ten titles (13-17-1 against ranked teams), 5-3 bowl record, 1 losing season
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So let's see where we rank:
2nd in bowl wins (behind UCLA)
At least 11 teams above us in winning pct
At least 11 teams with more wins
Auburn and Georgia BOTH were better than Alabama overall in the 1980s.
Georgia won a national title and 3 SEC titles.
Auburn got robbed of a title and won 4 SEC titles.
CLEMSON had a better decade than we did in the 1980s. More wins, higher pct, and a national title.
But how would you rank these teams overall? Here's my ranking (and not every team is ranked). Discussion in next post.
1) Miami
2) Penn St
3) Oklahoma
4) Nebraska
5) UCLA (shocked the hell out of me)
6) Clemson
7) Michigan
8) Georgia
9) Auburn
10) Florida St
11) Alabama
(I'm sorry, but the mere fact BYU was 6-8 against ranked teams and had several years they didn't face any or only in the bowl game shows me that despite a national title, they're not top ten).