re: Who deserved the 1980 national championship?

I would also argue about Pitt's schedule. Sure, they beat a #5 Penn Stat, but the only other ranked opponent they played was Florida State and they got trucked 36-22 by FSU. (They did play South Carolina in the bowl game who was ranked #18, though)

Pitt really did not become a factor...a BIG factor until 1981.

quote:

---

not that any of those teams were bad.

---

Huh?All were very good and the '82 team was the best team at the end of the regular season.Too bad Dooley was a notoriously bad post season coach.

'83 was another top 5 team (w/out HW) and the schedule included the champions of the ACC (Clemson)SEC Auburn Pac 10 (UCLA) and SWC (Texas)

quote:

---

Huh?All were very good and the '82 team was the best team at the end of the regular season.Too bad Dooley was a notoriously bad post season coach.

'83 was another top 5 team (w/out HW) and the schedule included the champions of the ACC (Clemson)SEC Auburn Pac 10 (UCLA) and SWC (Texas)

---

I agree. But after that we kind of leveled off and only had really good years here and there. Georgia has, as a whole, been consistent, but not really great on a National level consistently.

The ACC was cake walk when FSU joined...they didn't lose conference til almost their 4th season.You actually think they woulda had that run in the SEC?

Georgia

quote:

---

The ACC was cake walk when FSU joined...they didn't lose conference til almost their 4th season.You actually think they woulda had that run in the SEC?

---

End of the year regular season ranked opponents for FSU in the 90s below. Trying to insinuate their run was due to weak schedules is hilarious




Lets compare to UGAs regular season run to their title game this year

quote:

---

They should've played Pitt in the Sugar Bowl or FSU. FSU and UGA would've been a great game. I think Pitt would've beat them like they did 2 years later. Walker was great but I'd take Marino

---

True. But remember not only were the selections and tie-ins different then,so were the pay-outs.The Orange could pay more than the Sugar because of their contract with NBC vs the Sugar's contract vs ABC.

Now going into November of 1980 it looked like the Sugar was going to win the lottery. They were on schedule to have #1 Alabama play #2 Notre Dame, or #3 Georgia.Alabama lost and #2 and #3 moved up.Georgia and Lindsey Scott beat Florida and Notre Dame tied 1-8 Georgia Tech ,3-3.

Now, the Fiesta was a year away from joining the New Year's Day bowls and 6 years from being a "big bowl" so to speak.So you still had the Rose with the Big 10 champ vs Pac 10 champ (the Pac 10 had five teams on probation and ineligible for bowls), SWC with Cotton,SEC with Sugar and Big 8 with Orange.

Pittsburgh and Florida State were still independents without a national following. But the Orange wanted Florida State who was third at the time even though they risked a rematch with Nebraska. The Cotton, with 11th ranked Baylor looking to host was looking more to ratings than "the best team available." So, Pitt was going to be left out of the "Big Four- really Big 3."

The Notre Dame-Alabama game which concluded after Georgia won the SEC with a 31-21 win over Auburn was for a berth in the Sugar Bowl. The Sugar had incentives with ABC for ratings and rankings so Pittsburgh was going to get knocked out for Notre Dame and Alabama.

Had Alabama not had fumbled on its two (after a weird exchange of fumbles by both teams) the game might have ended 0-0 and who knows what the Sugar would have done. But Notre Dame won, 7-0 and as Notre Dame they went from 6th to 2nd and the Sugar looked brilliant. But two weeks later Southern Cal smoked Notre Dame, 20-3.

Pittsburgh was #3 and crushed South Carolina in the Gator Bowl. Had Notre Dame upset Georgia, they would have been #1 as Oklahoma edged #2 Florida State, 18-17 in the Orange.

Oddly enough, had Georgia beaten Auburn in 1978 instead of tying them, the Gator very well could have hosted a National Title game between Penn State and Alabama, instead of them playing in the Sugar.

quote:

---

No, I read the article and decided to post it here.

---

In that case...
Good choice. I found it interesting and a worthwhile way to spend a few minutes. I wish we had more threads like this instead of the constant troll threads and "Which are the best stadiums/uniforms/etc" threads we get every off season.

quote:

---

FSU was probably the best team in 1980

---

FSU lost to a 3-loss Miami team, 10-9. Miami ended up ranked #18.

I'm sure that hurt their chances, even though an unbeaten UGA had the much weaker schedule. They did, however, win all of them, and nobody else did. So...UGA deserved the title.

UGA. Other teams had losses.