1987 AP FINAL POLL
National champion: Miami
Undefeated teams: Syracuse 11-0-1 (undefeated in regular season, tied in Sugar Bowl)
UPI Champion: Miami
1) "If we could just do away with tie games...."
Ties played an unusually large role in the outcome of the 1987 season. The teams ranked 4 through 8 wound up there largely because of tie ballgames that took all of them out of the running. The most egregious case involved Syracue but more on that in a moment.
Tennessee played for a tie with Auburn in September, sending out a PAT kicker in a situation that demanded a two-point conversion try with 80 seconds remaining against Auburn. On the same day, LSU wound up with a tie against Ohio State in a game they desperately tried to win and wound up throwing an end zone interception as well as one in their own end of the field that nearly lost them the game. The tie in September looked good - until Ohio State imploded in November coming down the stretch and wound up 6-4-1. Illinois blocked a winning field goal attempt by Michigan State at the final gun to forge a 14-14 tie in late October, but it didn't matter much as Sparty already had two losses. And then there was the loudest tie in college football since perhaps 1966, when Auburn Coach Pat Dye spoiled an atttempt by Syracuse to complete a dream undefeated season by kicking a field goal with 4 seconds left to end an excellent Sugar Bowl game in an unsatisfying 16-16 tie, the first in the 54-year history of the Sugar Bowl. Dye's decision befuddled even his own players as Auburn was at the Syracuse 13 in a bowl game that wasn't going to overly affect Auburn's ranking one way or another. Of course, nothing is ever as simple as the media makes it sound, and while the narrative has long been "Dye cost Syracuse a possible national title," such musings are absurd. Syracuse never led the entire game until they kicked a field goal with 2:04 remaining. Auburn then drove the length of the field, converting a fourth and five in the process and then escaped New Orleans with a tie that set off outrage from coast to coast.
The fact Dye's decision probably kept the sport from having a long-running "but what if" scenario from Syracuse has never been appreciated despite the fact Dye would have been better served playing for the win. After the game, Syracuse's head coach Dick MacPherson absoultely would not shut up, and a batch of ties were sent to Auburn, which they actually sold and made a profit. Auburn responded by sending Syracuse some literal sour grapes, fourth class mail no less. MacPherson didn't shut up his whining until Auburn offered to play Syracuse in a ten-year home/home series similar to Alabama/Penn State.
2) And if that Bowden fella had just gone to Alabama....
1987 was the year Bobby Bowden sprouted in full bloom, and the nation first became aware of a valiant effort by Florida State that ended in heroic defeat and gave the Noles the #2 ranking as the season ended. In early January, Bowden was considered a lock to replace the departed Ray Perkins at Alabama. But a mishandled "interview" resulted in Bowden remaining at Florida State for what turned out to be the rest of his career. On October 3, Bowden's Noles blew a 19-3 third quarter lead and fell behind Miami, but a courageous effort to close the game to a single point - and an even more courageous decision to play for the win that fell short - elevated Bowden and Florida State in the public's eye.
One week after Bowden's public acclaim began, Alabama lost a stunning upset to Memphis State that helped ensure the tenure of Tide coach Bill Curry would never get fully off the ground.
3) The Big Two, the Little Six, and Another Blown National Championship
Continuing a tradition begun by 1978 Oklahoma AND Nebraska, the 1987 Sooners became the seventh Big Eight team in eight tries (bailed out only by the lucky 1985 Sooners) to blow a surefire national championship by losing the one game that actually meant something. OU began the year on top and save for a one-week drop when the pollsters migrated to the idea Nebraska was better, they remained there until facing Miami in the Orange Bowl. Miami, who has lost just enough high profile games since beating Nebraska in 1984 for the title, owned the game from start to finish and crossed the threshold to Jimmy Johnson's first national championship. But the usual question remained: why not Syracuse?
4) Syracuse and the Strength of Schedule Dilemma
Syracuse demonstrated once again how selective SoS arguments are when nobody seriously considered them to be a potential national champion. Because OU and Nebraska reached their mammoth showdown undefeated, Miami's best option was to take a home field Orange Bowl against the winner and hope. Syracuse left much richer thanks to the Sugar Bowl, but national championship consideration was never rendered.
Why not?
Syracuse played much the same schedule Penn State had played in 1986 en route to the title. Five of their opponents were the exact same teams, and they played each other. Penn State's one shining opponent in 1986 was then #2 Alabama and yes, they played Notre Dame, but the Irish weren't that good in 1986 anyway. Penn State's SoS received a large boost because they got the chance to play - and beat - Miami. Syracuse also had the nation's best passer and - in all honesty - the guy who probably should have won the Heisman Trophy, Don MacPherson (no relation to coach Dick).
Syracuse wasn't hurt by the fact their schedule was basically the Penn State one, they were hurt by two factors they couldn't control:
1) the role of dominant and undefeated indepdendent was filled by Miami, who had just won a title in 1983
2) they began the season unranked and had to play catch up
By struggling as they did against an Auburn team playing for little more than pride, Syracuse's performance validated (fairly or unfairly) the idea that against powerful teams they would not have finished the year undefeated. Miami, known for careful scheduling, wound up playing the 2nd toughest schedule in the nation in 1987, and absolutely deserved the national championship.
5) Think How Close We Came To Utter Chaos.....
Folks don't think this one through, but the most important result in the 1987 season was actually Alabama's stunning upset of then unbeaten LSU, 22-10, in Baton Rouge on November 7. Why? Because if LSU wins that game, the Sugar Bowl winds up matching up UNDEFEATED (and one tie) LSU against UNDEFEATED Syracuse, and you think there wouldn't have been a lot of clamor for a split national title? If Syracuse beats LSU IN New Orleans by any score, they're no longer a (oops!) paper tiger. LSU's win may be offset by a tie, but it also would have given LSU a tougher schedule than Miami faced, too.
The irony? Everyone thought that Miami and Florida State were the two best teams, similar to 2011 Alabama and LSU. Yet a BCS -style championship matches up Miami and Oklahoma while a four-team playoff (if LSU beats Alabama, which was the expected result) ALSO excludes Florida State: Miami, OU, Syracuse, and LSU.
Sometimes the most important results are the most obscure at the time.
National champion: Miami
Undefeated teams: Syracuse 11-0-1 (undefeated in regular season, tied in Sugar Bowl)
UPI Champion: Miami
1) "If we could just do away with tie games...."
Ties played an unusually large role in the outcome of the 1987 season. The teams ranked 4 through 8 wound up there largely because of tie ballgames that took all of them out of the running. The most egregious case involved Syracue but more on that in a moment.
Tennessee played for a tie with Auburn in September, sending out a PAT kicker in a situation that demanded a two-point conversion try with 80 seconds remaining against Auburn. On the same day, LSU wound up with a tie against Ohio State in a game they desperately tried to win and wound up throwing an end zone interception as well as one in their own end of the field that nearly lost them the game. The tie in September looked good - until Ohio State imploded in November coming down the stretch and wound up 6-4-1. Illinois blocked a winning field goal attempt by Michigan State at the final gun to forge a 14-14 tie in late October, but it didn't matter much as Sparty already had two losses. And then there was the loudest tie in college football since perhaps 1966, when Auburn Coach Pat Dye spoiled an atttempt by Syracuse to complete a dream undefeated season by kicking a field goal with 4 seconds left to end an excellent Sugar Bowl game in an unsatisfying 16-16 tie, the first in the 54-year history of the Sugar Bowl. Dye's decision befuddled even his own players as Auburn was at the Syracuse 13 in a bowl game that wasn't going to overly affect Auburn's ranking one way or another. Of course, nothing is ever as simple as the media makes it sound, and while the narrative has long been "Dye cost Syracuse a possible national title," such musings are absurd. Syracuse never led the entire game until they kicked a field goal with 2:04 remaining. Auburn then drove the length of the field, converting a fourth and five in the process and then escaped New Orleans with a tie that set off outrage from coast to coast.
The fact Dye's decision probably kept the sport from having a long-running "but what if" scenario from Syracuse has never been appreciated despite the fact Dye would have been better served playing for the win. After the game, Syracuse's head coach Dick MacPherson absoultely would not shut up, and a batch of ties were sent to Auburn, which they actually sold and made a profit. Auburn responded by sending Syracuse some literal sour grapes, fourth class mail no less. MacPherson didn't shut up his whining until Auburn offered to play Syracuse in a ten-year home/home series similar to Alabama/Penn State.
2) And if that Bowden fella had just gone to Alabama....
1987 was the year Bobby Bowden sprouted in full bloom, and the nation first became aware of a valiant effort by Florida State that ended in heroic defeat and gave the Noles the #2 ranking as the season ended. In early January, Bowden was considered a lock to replace the departed Ray Perkins at Alabama. But a mishandled "interview" resulted in Bowden remaining at Florida State for what turned out to be the rest of his career. On October 3, Bowden's Noles blew a 19-3 third quarter lead and fell behind Miami, but a courageous effort to close the game to a single point - and an even more courageous decision to play for the win that fell short - elevated Bowden and Florida State in the public's eye.
One week after Bowden's public acclaim began, Alabama lost a stunning upset to Memphis State that helped ensure the tenure of Tide coach Bill Curry would never get fully off the ground.
3) The Big Two, the Little Six, and Another Blown National Championship
Continuing a tradition begun by 1978 Oklahoma AND Nebraska, the 1987 Sooners became the seventh Big Eight team in eight tries (bailed out only by the lucky 1985 Sooners) to blow a surefire national championship by losing the one game that actually meant something. OU began the year on top and save for a one-week drop when the pollsters migrated to the idea Nebraska was better, they remained there until facing Miami in the Orange Bowl. Miami, who has lost just enough high profile games since beating Nebraska in 1984 for the title, owned the game from start to finish and crossed the threshold to Jimmy Johnson's first national championship. But the usual question remained: why not Syracuse?
4) Syracuse and the Strength of Schedule Dilemma
Syracuse demonstrated once again how selective SoS arguments are when nobody seriously considered them to be a potential national champion. Because OU and Nebraska reached their mammoth showdown undefeated, Miami's best option was to take a home field Orange Bowl against the winner and hope. Syracuse left much richer thanks to the Sugar Bowl, but national championship consideration was never rendered.
Why not?
Syracuse played much the same schedule Penn State had played in 1986 en route to the title. Five of their opponents were the exact same teams, and they played each other. Penn State's one shining opponent in 1986 was then #2 Alabama and yes, they played Notre Dame, but the Irish weren't that good in 1986 anyway. Penn State's SoS received a large boost because they got the chance to play - and beat - Miami. Syracuse also had the nation's best passer and - in all honesty - the guy who probably should have won the Heisman Trophy, Don MacPherson (no relation to coach Dick).
Syracuse wasn't hurt by the fact their schedule was basically the Penn State one, they were hurt by two factors they couldn't control:
1) the role of dominant and undefeated indepdendent was filled by Miami, who had just won a title in 1983
2) they began the season unranked and had to play catch up
By struggling as they did against an Auburn team playing for little more than pride, Syracuse's performance validated (fairly or unfairly) the idea that against powerful teams they would not have finished the year undefeated. Miami, known for careful scheduling, wound up playing the 2nd toughest schedule in the nation in 1987, and absolutely deserved the national championship.
5) Think How Close We Came To Utter Chaos.....
Folks don't think this one through, but the most important result in the 1987 season was actually Alabama's stunning upset of then unbeaten LSU, 22-10, in Baton Rouge on November 7. Why? Because if LSU wins that game, the Sugar Bowl winds up matching up UNDEFEATED (and one tie) LSU against UNDEFEATED Syracuse, and you think there wouldn't have been a lot of clamor for a split national title? If Syracuse beats LSU IN New Orleans by any score, they're no longer a (oops!) paper tiger. LSU's win may be offset by a tie, but it also would have given LSU a tougher schedule than Miami faced, too.
The irony? Everyone thought that Miami and Florida State were the two best teams, similar to 2011 Alabama and LSU. Yet a BCS -style championship matches up Miami and Oklahoma while a four-team playoff (if LSU beats Alabama, which was the expected result) ALSO excludes Florida State: Miami, OU, Syracuse, and LSU.
Sometimes the most important results are the most obscure at the time.
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