1975 AP FINAL POLL
National champion: Oklahoma 11-1
Unbeaten teams: #2 Arizona St
UPI Champion: Oklahoma
1) Like flies on a rib roast....part 2
Ohio State ended the regular season on top once again. It was a game played three days AFTER the final regular season poll, though, that led to some of the most mass confusion ever unleashed on college football.
Texas A/M was riding high at #2 in the polls and had only to get past Arkansas to inject some serious confusion into the national title race. But as it turned out, their 31-6 blowout loss caused more confusion than had the Aggies won (unless, of course, they and Ohio State both lost their bowl games - and wouldn't you know who won that pony?).
The bowl games - once again - got set up a little bit too early. As a reminder - in 1975, the Orange and Sugar Bowls DID NOT have a tie-in with the conferences. But the Cotton Bowl did, which threw the entire enterprise into the garbage. And the Big Ten now decided to become one of the Five Families, and they wanted their cut of those other bowl monies. With the brand name and a reputation for choking that would make Heimlich blush, Michigan set out to throw their monkey wrench into the conclusion.
Cotton: #18 Arkansas vs #12 Georgia
Orange: #3 Oklahoma vs #5 Michigan
Rose: #1 Ohio St vs #11 UCLA
Sugar: #4 Alabama vs #8 Penn St
Even a few of the other games are tantalizing to say the least:
Bluebonnet Bowl: #9 Texas vs #10 Colorado
Fiesta Bowl: #7 Arizona St vs #6 Nebraska
2) Tom Osborne vs Paul Bryant, Bryant With a First-Round Knockout
The Fiesta Bowl was not - in 1975 - a very desirable bowl game financially. Tom Osborne proceeded to make an ass of himself after Paul Bryant (allegedly) vetoed Nebraska's performance and set up a Sugar Bowl in the brand new Superdome with "Joey Come Lately" Penn State. The Big 8 reacted predictably, screaming that "Alabama is skeered of us!" The reality, though, is they could have cared less about Alabama, they were just upset that Penn State was going to walk away with a cut of the larger loot of the Sugar Bowl. New Year's bowls drew bigger money than early ones. Nebraska was also no doubt hurt by the fact that they had played the previous Sugar Bowl against Florida before a half empty stadium. The Big Eight began making noises about not playing the SEC or not playing in the Sugar Bowl, which was funny since what they were protesting was "not playing in the Sugar Bow," so shouldn't they have been happy? Given that Oklahoma was the only proven draw at the time, it was also one of the emptiest threats ever given.
Nebraska went through a public charade of "well, we may not play any bowl at all," but the fact is that it was a choice between "some" money and "no" money, and with US economy in recession and Title IX taking hold, Nebraska had zero leverage. This did not, however, fail to ignite the fire of Arizona State, who had just completed their third "we get no respect" season in seven years. ASU shocked the world by beating Nebraska, and the upset would send reverberations out for years that would alter the face of college football forever. Bryant finally won a bowl game for the first time since the early days of the Vietnam War, and his bringing Penn State to New Orleans generated a sellout, a huge TV rating, and elevated Penn State to the level of the Alabamas and Oklahomas when they lost a closely fought contest. Paul Bryant always played the long game, and this decision would wind up helping him nab another national title at Penn State's expense three years later.
3) Another train wreck ensues...
If Ohio State won then it was simple, but a Buckeyes loss would mean all bets were off. In what was starting to become an annual tradition, the Pac 8 rep (UCLA) thumped the Buckeyes, 23-10, and viewers had to look elsewhere for a national champion. Oklahoma likely ensured their championship with an 8-point win over Michigan, a team Ohio State had beaten by 7. The real wildcard in the deck, though, was Arizona State. Their shocking upset of Nebraska had completed an unbeaten season, and although Oklahoma had played in the Orange Bowl, they were still "technically" on probation.
An unbeaten team with no path to play in the game, a Blue Blood. Advantage: Blue Blood.
4) Did the right team win the national championship?
The answer to this one is, "Probably." It IS very likely that Sooners juggernaut would have floored Arizona State, but what 1975 exposed more than anything was the inherent flaws in the process. After all, nobody gave ASU a chance against Nebraska, either. That, however, is an unacceptable answer in the realm of reality.
a) Not taking a poll after the last game was played was highly problematic
The loss by Texas A/M AFTER the last regular season poll created a false template that set the stage for what occurred in the final vote. A/M never dropped as would have been expected. In all likelihood, Oklahoma would have been #2.
b) the ranking of Alabama over Nebraska is, well, kind of ridiculous
Weird as it now seems, Alabama was ranked #4 and Nebraska #5. WHY this is is also not a mystery: Alabama lost by 13 in September while Nebraska lost by 25 on November 22. But this is ludicrous. Alabama's 13-point loss came to a team that Nebraska had beaten ON THE ROAD by 23 points. Nebraska played the tougher schedule than Alabama, the Big 8 had a better OOC record than the SEC did, and the alleged chicanery that led to the Sugar Bowl matchup while defensible from a dollars aspect would usually lead to a poll drop if voters suspected a team was ducking another one (whether true or not).
Nebraska and Alabama had 3 common opponents in 1975: LSU, TCU, and Missouri. Nebraska went 3-0 against those teams, Alabama 2-1. Alabama DID beat LSU by 13 points to Nebraska's 3, but Nebraska beat the Missouri team Alabama did not, and the TCU game showed Alabama win by 45 and Nebraska by 42.
Alabama's ranking over Nebraska was almost assuredly because they lost first.
This was a common thing, though. Two teams play same set of teams, results are close to the same but with one outlier, and the team that loses first gets their loss forgiven regardless. Alabama DID deserve to be ranked above Nebraska in the final poll, but it was flat out absurd to have them ranked higher prior to the bowl games.
c) the problem of using bowl games to determine national champions
If you look at bowl games, you will see an unusually high number of upsets. It should not take a genius very long to understand exactly how this works, and it's an inherent flaw in the setup.
When you set up a bowl game six weeks out with a contractual obligation, you wind up creating a matchup of "this team is truly awesome" versus "this team is just lucky to be here." The teams hear that for six weeks, and the motivation for the second team is clearly an advantage over the first. One team spends six weeks answering questions about "if you win the national championship" and the other often spends six weeks answering "aren't you just happy to be in the game", and the outcome of those is inevitable. The powerhouse team is distracted and not firing on all cylinders like they would be if they played the game the first or second week of December. Teams like 1983 Nebraska and 2008 Alabama come up dramatically short of what is seen earlier.
You will notice, however, this problem pretty well stopped (as far as the lead teams are concerned) once the games actually meant something. Look over the CFP semi-final results and tell me exactly how many of those outcomes were indisputable and bona fide upsets? How many? Try none of them. There have been a few SURPRISES - that Clemson creamed Ohio State by 31 in 2016 was a shocker, but it wasn't a surprise they won the game. The teams are so evenly matched, of course, that a true "upset" is nearly impossible. Indeed, in only two cases I can think of - if Washington had beaten Alabama in 2016 or if Oklahoma had beaten LSU in 2019 - would the results have been stunning. MAYBE if Sparty had beaten UA in 2015. Maybe. But these don't happen. Why? Because you have the best teams squaring off against each other in games that mean something.
In 1976, a series of decisions the bowl games and conferences make will irretrievably lock in a system that creates a lot of controversy and interest - and, quite frankly, a series of champions who had no business winning the national title. That's where we head next as we examine the question of, "Just how the hell did Pitt win a title in 1976?"
