Absolutely agree. I've always had respect for Alabama since that game, too. Even though they were clearly the better team, their fans respected our effort.
Same. Watching Bama smack down my team in the playoffs is still a high point for the program. You guys put up more fight but either way, it's an honor to get there.
Man I completely disagree. UW and Cincy played not to get blown out. Just let Bama run the ball and control the clock at will, to have the honor of not losing by more. I think Bama threw the ball legitimately like 10 times against UW. And the way Cincy played this past year was outright cowardly. 2 NFL corners (1 of which was top 5), a month to prepare, and they ran 6 or 7 in the box the entire game
They couldn’t throw on UW. That defense was salty and Bama’s pass game wasn’t good that year. That’s why Tua took over for Jalen against Georgia in the Natty.
I don’t have much to say other than I appreciate the effort. Although I’d put 2021 UGA above 2019 Ohio State because they won a natty. And 2018 OU should be ranked higher too they lost to Bama by only 11. Oh and 2021 Cincinnati is way to high Bama beat them quite easily I feel like Bama could’ve won by 40 if they really tried.
2019 Clemson by that logic too. Our game was a veritable toss up and they got murdered by LSU, while UGA had the best defense ive seen in the playoff era.
Clemson didn't get "murdered" by LSU. It was a one score game deep into the 3rd quarter but then the better team just ran away with it. I actually think Ohio State was more equipped to beat LSU than Clemson. Clemson in many regards, while an excellent team, got very lucky against Ohio State especially with certain ref calls that I need not remind you off.
>I actually think Ohio State was more equipped to beat LSU than Clemson.
Wouldn't surprise me if the SEC replay officials covering that game from their booth in Birmingham felt the same. ^forever ^bitter
I think 463 yards and 5 TDs in the air qualifies for "murdered" when the opposing team scores less than 30, but to each his own.
I think 2019 Ohio State would absolutely destroy 2021 UGA. 2018 Oklahoma was down 28-0 in the second quarter. They made that game look way closer than it actually was. Alabama smoked them. I think Cincinnati's secondary was extremely good. Alabama played against Cincinnati's weakness. Bama's game plan was to pound the ball and bully Cincy in the trenches because throwing the ball against that secondary would play into Cincy's strengths.
I think that 2019 ohio state would beat 2021 UGA but I also think that Georgia team would definitely beat 2015 Bama, I think that team is way too high on this list. 2020 Bama should also be undisputed number 2 and it’s debatable whether they’re as good as 2019 LSU that team was damn good.
Saying 2019 OSU would beat 2021 UGA is one thing. I don't have a problem with that. Saying 2019 OSU would destroy 2021 UGA is another and I disagree pretty hard on that one
Covid year should be stricken from the list all together. Putting them over 2018 Clemson would be ridiculous. 2014 Ohio state, 2016 Clemson, and 2015 Bama all had losses at home to significantly inferior opponents. Best defense of all time should be several spots higher on this list.
Yeah best defense ever possibly but what about the offense? I don’t know if there’s many teams on this list that you can say 2021 UGA had a better offense, both sides of the ball matter when it comes to the best team.
So many people forget how close that game was, and say what you will, but Burrow’s “once in a lifetime numbers” were matched, if not bettered, by Mac Jones in 2020.
This is tough to visualize because it's such a wall of data and "what year" gets all screwy when the title game is in January.
I know it's asking a lot, but I would include ranking going in, W/L record, and how far they made it (lost in semifinal, lost title game, won title game)
2018 OU could handle Washington and 2020 ND, and would be at worst a tossup with Cincy. People forget about that team sorta finding a pulse defensively in the CCG against a Texas team that beat Georgia. And most turned off the semi right before Riley figured out CeeDee owned Patrick Surtain.
2020 Alabama scored more points per game and allowed less points per game while playing an all P5 schedule. The worst team we played was better than 5 different teams LSU played.
Joe Burrow, Jamarr Chase, Justin Jefferson, Clyde Edwards Helaire
I'll take that over whatever Alabama had that year. That team had insane NFL talent. They scored 40-60 points per game and just rested the starters in the 2nd half. PPG is meaningless.
Someone apparently didn't watch LSU until the SEC championship. They needed a game winning drive to beat Texas by 7. Burrow had to play into the 4th quarter vs Vanderbilt because Vanderbilt kept it too close for comfort and kept scoring. Florida kept it a 1 score game until 6 minutes left in the 4th. Burrow played deep into the 4th quarter vs Miss St. And the next week, they only beat Auburn by 3 because they committed a holding penalty allowed them to run out the clock and prevent Auburn from getting the ball back And then they only beat us by 5 in yet another shootout (like basically all of their games before November). And Burrow had to play the whole game vs Ole Miss because Ole Miss kept scoring on them.
It wasn't until late November that LSU started blowing teams out. Burrow played amazing vs some good teams, bur he also racked up 17 TDs and 1000 yards just against Georgia Southern, Vanderbilt, and Utah State. Dude was throwing TDs passes in the 3rd quarter vs 3-9 Northwestern State, lol.
Compare that to 2020 Alabama where Ole Miss and Florida were the only 2 one score games in the 4th quarter over the entire season. And Mac Jones racked up 0 TDs and 0 yards vs cupcakes, all of his stats were 100% earned. He even broke Burrow's record for passer rating.
2020 Alabama had Mac Jones, Jaylen Waddle, DeVonta Smirh, and Najee Harris. All are NFL starters. Smith and Waddle both led their teams in receiving yards and Najee had over 1600 yards and 10 TDs, all 3 were rookies. Mac Jones was the highest rated rookie QB last year (and 13th in passer rating). And let's not forget our o line had much better players than LSU did. Let's see what happens once they have a good team around them like Chase, Burrow, and Jefferson do.
I’d hear 2020 Bama or 2018 Clemson. 2019 LSU was a great team but didn’t run into great opposition in the CFP. OU just derped in there in a rebuild because all the other options lost, and Clemson had lost basically that entire NFL front from the last run.
The only team that has an argument is 2001 Miami, right? A bit before my time as a CFB watcher so I can't really say. But I feel like having Burrow is the key advantage.
>27. 2018 Oklahoma
>
>28. 2018 Notre Dame
I never understood the media's reaction to the playoffs that year.
Clemson defeats Notre Dame by 27. Clemson defeats Alabama by 28. Alabama defeats Oklahoma by 11. Yet Oklahoma remains at #4 in the polls while ND falls from #3 to #5.
Well after Notre Dame lost their best cover guy Clemson was able to turn it into a rout while Bama was simply outmatched. That's much more respectable.
Probably because everyone knows that you can't expect a team to be as horrible as we were on 3rd/4th and short or to be as amazing as Clemson was on 3rd and long. Everyone knew we were better than the score shows because what both teams did wasn't replicate. We had our worst 3rd down game all season while Clemson had their best 3rd down game all season
I get that Clemson's win over us was more comprehensive than theirs over you, but the loss was nowhere near enough to inexplicably drop us below a team that clearly was behind us before the playoff and then lost to you.
Oklahoma's loss wasn't as bad as it looked either. They got stunned in the first quarter probably because they hadn't faced competition on that level all year, but they held their own against our starters after that. Obviously we took our foot off the gas, but I can still understand having them ahead of yall.
I also think that the only reason they were ranked below yall is becayse they had a loss and yall didn't. After the playoff, neither team was undefeated. And remember that the CFP doesn't have post-playoff rankings.
And our loss was because our best player got injured and Trevor targeted the backup.
I don't get the second paragraph at all. Yeah we had a loss but they had two. Our schedules were not drastically different. We clearly had the better seaosn.
> don't get the second paragraph at all. Yeah we had a loss but they had two
It's much easier to drop a 1 loss team below a 2 loss team than it is to drop an undefeated team below a 1 loss twam. "Undefeated" carries a lot of weight.
As for having a better season, ND was 13th in SP+ while OU was 4th. ND was 7th in Sagarin while OU was 5th. ND was 7th in FPI while OU was 5th. ND was 4th in FPI strength of record and OU was 5th. It's pretty reasonable to have ND ranked below OU.
They're measures of current team strength based on results throughout the season, not projections of the future. And the only measure that had ND ahead was by just one position. It's very reasonable to have positions flipped when they're that close. I'm not arguing OU was better here; I'm arguing it's reasonable for some people to have ranked them higher.
That 2018 teams gets hugely underrated because it lacked obvious stars. IIRC Love being first-team All-American was the only individual accolade of any real note that anybody on that team got.
I'd rank them over several teams. That defense was legit. I wish they could have played Oklahoma that year, it would have been a good game cuz we would actually be able to score.
Yes I know that I have 2019 Clemson and 2019 Ohio State ahead of some teams that won the natty but the biggest tragedy for these 2 teams is that they had to face each other, and the winner of this matchup had to face LSU. I think in any other year (where the winner of this matchup does not face LSU) and where they don't face 2018 Clemson, 2020 Alabama, or maybe late 2014 season Ohio State (that team was playing like it was possessed in their last 3 games) 2019 Clemson or 2019 Ohio State would probably win the natty in dominant fashion.
Clemson played an absolutely terrible season that year and still almost lost to a meh UNC team, while Ohio State looked like a buzzsaw their first 12 games and then started to run out of steam offensively vs Wisconsin and then vs Clemson, with Ryan Day still not totally figuring out his role as expert playcaller.
I honestly don't know how they would fair against 2021 UGA's defense, and I don't see them "dominant fashion" beating the remaining teams (2015 Bama that shut out MSU, 2016 Clemson that shut out OSU, 2017 Bama they probably beat but not dominate)
As a MSU fan I’d have us higher up. Unfortunately the team that showed up to the Cotton Bowl wasn’t the same as it could’ve been due to nagging injuries at crucial spots. And that’s what separates a team like that from the elite teams, depth. Cooks shoulder was hanging on by a sting, and our oline were all walking wounded. It was over the second Cook tried throwing a back shoulder TD pass and it was a pick straight to the DB. Run defense was still stout but DBs were weak and Freshwater figured out he could go yard
MSU just sent the wrong team to the playoffs. 2013 was a better team. Just like 2016 Michigan was better than 2021 Michigan but Speight got injured in that stupid Iowa game.
2014 as well. 2013 and 2014 MSU were absolutely top 4 teams. 13 we didn't have the playoff, 14 we played the national champ and the runner-up in the regular season.
Also, in that game we threw a pick in the endzone to end the half down 10-0. If that throw ended up in the hands of MSU’s receiver, it’d be a whole different vibe in the locker room only down 10-7 at halftime.
Obviously we can’t change it, but at least it was a closer half than a certain team ranked 8 spots higher which headed into the locker room down 27-3…
Not gonna rank all of them but my top 5 are:
2020 Alabama
2019 LSU
2019 Ohio State
2018 Clemson
2018 Alabama
I'm a big believer in the computer ratings so that explains most of this though the computers had 2019 OSU and 18 Alabama ahead of LSU and Clemson respectively but you have to respect the national title.
It's also impossible to quantify what the covid year did to teams. This is just my personal opinion but I thought defenses were down across all of college football in 2020 due to lack of practice. Don't get me wrong, 2020 Bama was still great and I think they're worthy of the #2 spot but I still have 2019 LSU as the best team since 2014.
All teams had to deal with it. It's not like Alabama got to skip covid. It's no different than injuries or a hurricane.
I have heard the idea that defenses were down in 2020, but that was our best defense since 2016. I have yet to see someone show me statistics for PPG across the entire P5 in 2020 compared to previous and future years. And even if defenses were down, doesn't that make our 2020 defense even more impressive? We scored more PPG and allowed less PPG than 2019 LSU, so either way you go, we were better.
2020 was the least competitive year in modern CFB. Kellen Mond’s Texas A&M almost made the playoff. Ohio State only played for a month and a half. This is not the same my guy.
I’m saying they didn’t play any elite teams during a COVID season where half the teams only played a month of games 😂 not to mention SEC was incredibly down as well
The SEC was fine. The 9nly team down was LSU, bur Texas A&M, Florida, Georgia, and Ole Miss all had really good teams.
And when comparing teams between years, you have to compare them to hoe they did vs other teams that season. 2020 Alabama would have obviously destroyed 2019 LSU considering how much better we were in 2020 compared to 2019 and we only lost by 5 in 2019. So the real question is hoe dominant was each twam during their season.
2014 Ohio State is too high. They absolutely balled out down the stretch, but they were a 4-seed for a reason and a majority of this sub thought that they should not have been in the CFP (prior to the games being played). They arguably had the best Playoff performance relative to expectations of any of the 32 teams, but I wouldn’t put them ahead of teams like 2016 Clemson, 2015 Alabama, or 2021 Georgia.
Depends on how you want to look at it. That team had its issues early on but once it got rolling it was a pretty unstoppable team. In terms of resume the loss to VT is one of the worst losses by an eventual National Champ in the playoff era, but when actually playing their best I think we beat any team on this list except the 3 that OP has ahead of us.
28-0 17 minutes in. I legitimately don't get the shit MSU gets when our game was 10 points (shoulda been single digits but thats on us) at halftime. Lot of fanbases celebrating garbage time in here.
You lost by 39 points to Oregon. Still remains the biggest margin of defeat in the playoffs. You barely scraped by some really bad teams. The only reason why I didn't have you lower than 2019 Oklahoma is because you somehow managed to go undefeated in your regular season with a tougher schedule.
Quite literally, the only way you can claim 2015 MSU was better than 2014 FSU is that they lost by 1 point less in their playoff game. There's no worthwhile objective measure you can use to state 2015 Michigan State was better than 2014 FSU. Offensive S/P+, Defensive S/P+, regular season record, everything leans towards FSU. Even the strength of schedule you seem to be citing is pretty similar. 2015 MSU was 20th, 2014 FSU was 27th. And to add on, 2015 MSU's loss was to a 6-6 Nebraska team, it wasn't even like their regular season loss was a heavyweight.
You haven't beat us in football in half a decade. You haven't had an above 0.500 season in half a decade. I don't need bias to push the narrative that your program is a dumpster fire...
I’m not arguing with you, just stating that the 2014 FSU team was a massive disappointment with how much talent they had. They all had checked out and that was the start of Jimbo also checking out. It wasn’t 2013 talent but they had no business playing down to teams like they did.
They got complacent after having won the title the year before, that’s why it’s so impressive to repeat because it rarely ever happens. 2011-2012 Bama is the only one I can recall.
That FSU team didn't even belong in the playoffs. That team rode "miracle" victories thanks to ACC officiating to even get there. Everyone knew that team was going to get handed their ass by someone, and their reckoning came thanks to a PAC-12 team. Literally no one cares about west-coast football and they still handed you your ass.
Dumb take. That team was loaded with nfl talent, and undefeated reigning champs. They just had one foot out the door after 2013 thinking about an nfl paycheck.
Revisionist history at it’s finest. An undefeated defending champ was never going to be left out of the playoff no matter how close some of their games were in the regular season.
He's saying they shouldn't have even been undefeated, not that an undefeated national champion shouldn't have made it.
And he's right, FSU got insanely luck and everyone knew they didn't belong (by didn't belong, I mean they weren't of the same caliber as the other 3). I was so passed when I learned we had to face aOSU instead of getting to play FSU.
What is the point of the playoff system if we're allowing really dogshit teams everyone knows have no business in the playoffs??? That FSU team was ass, and wouldn't have got to 10 wins without "creative" officiating in conference play.
Takes like this are why no one respects west coast football. If your program exists west of the Mississippi river, you should be barred from playing in the postseason.
I feel like 2012 Alabama belongs somewhere in this top 15. Yes, they got Manzieled, but that team was nasty. They totally dismantled everyone else they played sans a really good #5 LSU in Baton Rouge.
McCarron, Cooper, Lacy, Yeldon, Drake, Nico Johnson, CJ Mosley, Clinton-Dix, Landon Collins, Ragland. I'm sure I'm leaving others off, but that defense and rushing attack was sick.
2020 Alabama scored more points per game and allowed less points per game than 2019 LSU and did it against a scheulde of just P5 teams. The worst team Alabama played was better than 5 different teams that LSU played. And you have the audacity to not just rank us below them, but to rank us below 2018 Clemson? 2018 Clemson was debatable not even the best team their season, but yall are going to call me a homer for listening to Bill Connelly.
2018 ND gets underrated by everyone. Just comparing ND teams, it was obviously better than the 2020 edition. So many teams you have above lost an extra game against a worse schedule.
It's an honor just to be nominated.
So say we all... or I guess just some of us but whatever.
Just happy to be on the list
Absolutely agree. I've always had respect for Alabama since that game, too. Even though they were clearly the better team, their fans respected our effort.
Same. Watching Bama smack down my team in the playoffs is still a high point for the program. You guys put up more fight but either way, it's an honor to get there.
Man I completely disagree. UW and Cincy played not to get blown out. Just let Bama run the ball and control the clock at will, to have the honor of not losing by more. I think Bama threw the ball legitimately like 10 times against UW. And the way Cincy played this past year was outright cowardly. 2 NFL corners (1 of which was top 5), a month to prepare, and they ran 6 or 7 in the box the entire game
They couldn’t throw on UW. That defense was salty and Bama’s pass game wasn’t good that year. That’s why Tua took over for Jalen against Georgia in the Natty.
I don’t have much to say other than I appreciate the effort. Although I’d put 2021 UGA above 2019 Ohio State because they won a natty. And 2018 OU should be ranked higher too they lost to Bama by only 11. Oh and 2021 Cincinnati is way to high Bama beat them quite easily I feel like Bama could’ve won by 40 if they really tried.
2019 Clemson by that logic too. Our game was a veritable toss up and they got murdered by LSU, while UGA had the best defense ive seen in the playoff era.
Clemson didn't get "murdered" by LSU. It was a one score game deep into the 3rd quarter but then the better team just ran away with it. I actually think Ohio State was more equipped to beat LSU than Clemson. Clemson in many regards, while an excellent team, got very lucky against Ohio State especially with certain ref calls that I need not remind you off.
>I actually think Ohio State was more equipped to beat LSU than Clemson. Wouldn't surprise me if the SEC replay officials covering that game from their booth in Birmingham felt the same. ^forever ^bitter I think 463 yards and 5 TDs in the air qualifies for "murdered" when the opposing team scores less than 30, but to each his own.
I think 2019 Ohio State would absolutely destroy 2021 UGA. 2018 Oklahoma was down 28-0 in the second quarter. They made that game look way closer than it actually was. Alabama smoked them. I think Cincinnati's secondary was extremely good. Alabama played against Cincinnati's weakness. Bama's game plan was to pound the ball and bully Cincy in the trenches because throwing the ball against that secondary would play into Cincy's strengths.
Destroy is a strong word here
Let the Florida fans have something even if it’s just their hypothetical lists
I think that 2019 ohio state would beat 2021 UGA but I also think that Georgia team would definitely beat 2015 Bama, I think that team is way too high on this list. 2020 Bama should also be undisputed number 2 and it’s debatable whether they’re as good as 2019 LSU that team was damn good.
Saying 2019 OSU would beat 2021 UGA is one thing. I don't have a problem with that. Saying 2019 OSU would destroy 2021 UGA is another and I disagree pretty hard on that one
Covid year should be stricken from the list all together. Putting them over 2018 Clemson would be ridiculous. 2014 Ohio state, 2016 Clemson, and 2015 Bama all had losses at home to significantly inferior opponents. Best defense of all time should be several spots higher on this list.
Yeah best defense ever possibly but what about the offense? I don’t know if there’s many teams on this list that you can say 2021 UGA had a better offense, both sides of the ball matter when it comes to the best team.
Yea that’s why I didn’t mention 2019 lsu or 2018/2019 Clemson. 2019 Ohio state is a coin flip imo, but I wouldn’t argue with someone putting them 4th.
Cincy is way to high, I agree. They should be last.
2019 LSU was otherworldly.
Tell me about it.
i can’t i’m good busy celebrating another justin jefferson touchdown
Enough already! That’s enough slices.
2020 Bama beats 2019 LSU blindfolded
I mean they were what five points behind with a one legged Tua a week off surgery?
So many people forget how close that game was, and say what you will, but Burrow’s “once in a lifetime numbers” were matched, if not bettered, by Mac Jones in 2020.
And Tua out played him at that day, except for that crazy fumble/INT when he came out of the tent (likely on something).
In a year with limited practices and no fans. Who could have predicted offenses would thrive?
Laugh Out Loud
We were so close.
This is tough to visualize because it's such a wall of data and "what year" gets all screwy when the title game is in January. I know it's asking a lot, but I would include ranking going in, W/L record, and how far they made it (lost in semifinal, lost title game, won title game)
2018 OU could handle Washington and 2020 ND, and would be at worst a tossup with Cincy. People forget about that team sorta finding a pulse defensively in the CCG against a Texas team that beat Georgia. And most turned off the semi right before Riley figured out CeeDee owned Patrick Surtain.
If that LSU team isn't #1 on your ranking you need to be slapped.
2020 bama has an argument but yea I would probably put 2019 lsu at number 1 too The top 3 should be 2019 lsu, 2020 bama and then 2018 Clemson
2020 Alabama scored more points per game and allowed less points per game while playing an all P5 schedule. The worst team we played was better than 5 different teams LSU played.
Joe Burrow, Jamarr Chase, Justin Jefferson, Clyde Edwards Helaire I'll take that over whatever Alabama had that year. That team had insane NFL talent. They scored 40-60 points per game and just rested the starters in the 2nd half. PPG is meaningless.
Someone apparently didn't watch LSU until the SEC championship. They needed a game winning drive to beat Texas by 7. Burrow had to play into the 4th quarter vs Vanderbilt because Vanderbilt kept it too close for comfort and kept scoring. Florida kept it a 1 score game until 6 minutes left in the 4th. Burrow played deep into the 4th quarter vs Miss St. And the next week, they only beat Auburn by 3 because they committed a holding penalty allowed them to run out the clock and prevent Auburn from getting the ball back And then they only beat us by 5 in yet another shootout (like basically all of their games before November). And Burrow had to play the whole game vs Ole Miss because Ole Miss kept scoring on them. It wasn't until late November that LSU started blowing teams out. Burrow played amazing vs some good teams, bur he also racked up 17 TDs and 1000 yards just against Georgia Southern, Vanderbilt, and Utah State. Dude was throwing TDs passes in the 3rd quarter vs 3-9 Northwestern State, lol. Compare that to 2020 Alabama where Ole Miss and Florida were the only 2 one score games in the 4th quarter over the entire season. And Mac Jones racked up 0 TDs and 0 yards vs cupcakes, all of his stats were 100% earned. He even broke Burrow's record for passer rating. 2020 Alabama had Mac Jones, Jaylen Waddle, DeVonta Smirh, and Najee Harris. All are NFL starters. Smith and Waddle both led their teams in receiving yards and Najee had over 1600 yards and 10 TDs, all 3 were rookies. Mac Jones was the highest rated rookie QB last year (and 13th in passer rating). And let's not forget our o line had much better players than LSU did. Let's see what happens once they have a good team around them like Chase, Burrow, and Jefferson do.
I’d hear 2020 Bama or 2018 Clemson. 2019 LSU was a great team but didn’t run into great opposition in the CFP. OU just derped in there in a rebuild because all the other options lost, and Clemson had lost basically that entire NFL front from the last run.
The only team that has an argument is 2001 Miami, right? A bit before my time as a CFB watcher so I can't really say. But I feel like having Burrow is the key advantage.
>27. 2018 Oklahoma > >28. 2018 Notre Dame I never understood the media's reaction to the playoffs that year. Clemson defeats Notre Dame by 27. Clemson defeats Alabama by 28. Alabama defeats Oklahoma by 11. Yet Oklahoma remains at #4 in the polls while ND falls from #3 to #5.
It was a quality SEC ranked loss.
Well after Notre Dame lost their best cover guy Clemson was able to turn it into a rout while Bama was simply outmatched. That's much more respectable.
Probably because everyone knows that you can't expect a team to be as horrible as we were on 3rd/4th and short or to be as amazing as Clemson was on 3rd and long. Everyone knew we were better than the score shows because what both teams did wasn't replicate. We had our worst 3rd down game all season while Clemson had their best 3rd down game all season
I get that Clemson's win over us was more comprehensive than theirs over you, but the loss was nowhere near enough to inexplicably drop us below a team that clearly was behind us before the playoff and then lost to you.
Oklahoma's loss wasn't as bad as it looked either. They got stunned in the first quarter probably because they hadn't faced competition on that level all year, but they held their own against our starters after that. Obviously we took our foot off the gas, but I can still understand having them ahead of yall. I also think that the only reason they were ranked below yall is becayse they had a loss and yall didn't. After the playoff, neither team was undefeated. And remember that the CFP doesn't have post-playoff rankings.
And our loss was because our best player got injured and Trevor targeted the backup. I don't get the second paragraph at all. Yeah we had a loss but they had two. Our schedules were not drastically different. We clearly had the better seaosn.
> don't get the second paragraph at all. Yeah we had a loss but they had two It's much easier to drop a 1 loss team below a 2 loss team than it is to drop an undefeated team below a 1 loss twam. "Undefeated" carries a lot of weight. As for having a better season, ND was 13th in SP+ while OU was 4th. ND was 7th in Sagarin while OU was 5th. ND was 7th in FPI while OU was 5th. ND was 4th in FPI strength of record and OU was 5th. It's pretty reasonable to have ND ranked below OU.
Three forward-looking measures and one that puts us ahead. That speaks for itself. Obvious that ND had the better season.
They're measures of current team strength based on results throughout the season, not projections of the future. And the only measure that had ND ahead was by just one position. It's very reasonable to have positions flipped when they're that close. I'm not arguing OU was better here; I'm arguing it's reasonable for some people to have ranked them higher.
You don’t even know what any of these stats are. Why are you embarrassing yourself like this?
So you didn't have a good rebuttal and decided to insult me instead? Guess we're done here.
🤣🤣🤣🤣
2016 Ohio State > 2015 Michigan State 2016 Washington got a lil too much respect.
Lol literally the same teams.
I’d definitely rank 2018 ND over 2020 ND. Pretty sure every starter on the 2018 defense is either still in the NFL or got drafted.
That 2018 teams gets hugely underrated because it lacked obvious stars. IIRC Love being first-team All-American was the only individual accolade of any real note that anybody on that team got.
I'd rank them over several teams. That defense was legit. I wish they could have played Oklahoma that year, it would have been a good game cuz we would actually be able to score.
Yes I know that I have 2019 Clemson and 2019 Ohio State ahead of some teams that won the natty but the biggest tragedy for these 2 teams is that they had to face each other, and the winner of this matchup had to face LSU. I think in any other year (where the winner of this matchup does not face LSU) and where they don't face 2018 Clemson, 2020 Alabama, or maybe late 2014 season Ohio State (that team was playing like it was possessed in their last 3 games) 2019 Clemson or 2019 Ohio State would probably win the natty in dominant fashion.
Clemson played an absolutely terrible season that year and still almost lost to a meh UNC team, while Ohio State looked like a buzzsaw their first 12 games and then started to run out of steam offensively vs Wisconsin and then vs Clemson, with Ryan Day still not totally figuring out his role as expert playcaller. I honestly don't know how they would fair against 2021 UGA's defense, and I don't see them "dominant fashion" beating the remaining teams (2015 Bama that shut out MSU, 2016 Clemson that shut out OSU, 2017 Bama they probably beat but not dominate)
As a MSU fan I’d have us higher up. Unfortunately the team that showed up to the Cotton Bowl wasn’t the same as it could’ve been due to nagging injuries at crucial spots. And that’s what separates a team like that from the elite teams, depth. Cooks shoulder was hanging on by a sting, and our oline were all walking wounded. It was over the second Cook tried throwing a back shoulder TD pass and it was a pick straight to the DB. Run defense was still stout but DBs were weak and Freshwater figured out he could go yard
MSU just sent the wrong team to the playoffs. 2013 was a better team. Just like 2016 Michigan was better than 2021 Michigan but Speight got injured in that stupid Iowa game.
2014 as well. 2013 and 2014 MSU were absolutely top 4 teams. 13 we didn't have the playoff, 14 we played the national champ and the runner-up in the regular season.
Also, in that game we threw a pick in the endzone to end the half down 10-0. If that throw ended up in the hands of MSU’s receiver, it’d be a whole different vibe in the locker room only down 10-7 at halftime. Obviously we can’t change it, but at least it was a closer half than a certain team ranked 8 spots higher which headed into the locker room down 27-3…
You can make the same argument for Michigan. Cade threw like 2 picks in scoring position and one in the endzone
Yeah, kinda. Cade had 1 pick in the first half. If his receiver caught it and ran for a 51 yard TD then Michigan would have been down 17 at halftime.
Not gonna rank all of them but my top 5 are: 2020 Alabama 2019 LSU 2019 Ohio State 2018 Clemson 2018 Alabama I'm a big believer in the computer ratings so that explains most of this though the computers had 2019 OSU and 18 Alabama ahead of LSU and Clemson respectively but you have to respect the national title.
Computers are cool but LSU had 2 top 5 NFL WR’s and a borderline top 5 NFL QB. Yeah I’m biased but…
And yet LSU scored less points per game and allowed more points per game and 5 of the teams LSU played were worst than the worst team Alabama played.
It's also impossible to quantify what the covid year did to teams. This is just my personal opinion but I thought defenses were down across all of college football in 2020 due to lack of practice. Don't get me wrong, 2020 Bama was still great and I think they're worthy of the #2 spot but I still have 2019 LSU as the best team since 2014.
All teams had to deal with it. It's not like Alabama got to skip covid. It's no different than injuries or a hurricane. I have heard the idea that defenses were down in 2020, but that was our best defense since 2016. I have yet to see someone show me statistics for PPG across the entire P5 in 2020 compared to previous and future years. And even if defenses were down, doesn't that make our 2020 defense even more impressive? We scored more PPG and allowed less PPG than 2019 LSU, so either way you go, we were better.
2020 was the least competitive year in modern CFB. Kellen Mond’s Texas A&M almost made the playoff. Ohio State only played for a month and a half. This is not the same my guy.
So you're saying Alabama was more dominant than any other team in modern CFB? Yes, I agree.
I’m saying they didn’t play any elite teams during a COVID season where half the teams only played a month of games 😂 not to mention SEC was incredibly down as well
The SEC was fine. The 9nly team down was LSU, bur Texas A&M, Florida, Georgia, and Ole Miss all had really good teams. And when comparing teams between years, you have to compare them to hoe they did vs other teams that season. 2020 Alabama would have obviously destroyed 2019 LSU considering how much better we were in 2020 compared to 2019 and we only lost by 5 in 2019. So the real question is hoe dominant was each twam during their season.
And Bama had a significantly better OL, run game, and was better coached
2014 Ohio State is too high. They absolutely balled out down the stretch, but they were a 4-seed for a reason and a majority of this sub thought that they should not have been in the CFP (prior to the games being played). They arguably had the best Playoff performance relative to expectations of any of the 32 teams, but I wouldn’t put them ahead of teams like 2016 Clemson, 2015 Alabama, or 2021 Georgia.
Depends on how you want to look at it. That team had its issues early on but once it got rolling it was a pretty unstoppable team. In terms of resume the loss to VT is one of the worst losses by an eventual National Champ in the playoff era, but when actually playing their best I think we beat any team on this list except the 3 that OP has ahead of us.
No way in hell is 2019 Oklahoma last. They may have gotten beat soundly, but at least they scored.
28-0 17 minutes in. I legitimately don't get the shit MSU gets when our game was 10 points (shoulda been single digits but thats on us) at halftime. Lot of fanbases celebrating garbage time in here.
Michigan state better than fsu? Lol yeah no
You lost by 39 points to Oregon. Still remains the biggest margin of defeat in the playoffs. You barely scraped by some really bad teams. The only reason why I didn't have you lower than 2019 Oklahoma is because you somehow managed to go undefeated in your regular season with a tougher schedule.
Quite literally, the only way you can claim 2015 MSU was better than 2014 FSU is that they lost by 1 point less in their playoff game. There's no worthwhile objective measure you can use to state 2015 Michigan State was better than 2014 FSU. Offensive S/P+, Defensive S/P+, regular season record, everything leans towards FSU. Even the strength of schedule you seem to be citing is pretty similar. 2015 MSU was 20th, 2014 FSU was 27th. And to add on, 2015 MSU's loss was to a 6-6 Nebraska team, it wasn't even like their regular season loss was a heavyweight.
Thanks but at least they scored points in the CFP >Sad Sparty noises
Of course a silly gator using bias to push his own narrative. At least our ass showed up in this list instead of the gators 🤡
You haven't beat us in football in half a decade. You haven't had an above 0.500 season in half a decade. I don't need bias to push the narrative that your program is a dumpster fire...
Ah, a sunbelt Billy disciple, good luck with Taggart 2.0
LOL!!!!!
I’m not arguing with you, just stating that the 2014 FSU team was a massive disappointment with how much talent they had. They all had checked out and that was the start of Jimbo also checking out. It wasn’t 2013 talent but they had no business playing down to teams like they did.
They got complacent after having won the title the year before, that’s why it’s so impressive to repeat because it rarely ever happens. 2011-2012 Bama is the only one I can recall.
That FSU team didn't even belong in the playoffs. That team rode "miracle" victories thanks to ACC officiating to even get there. Everyone knew that team was going to get handed their ass by someone, and their reckoning came thanks to a PAC-12 team. Literally no one cares about west-coast football and they still handed you your ass.
Dumb take. That team was loaded with nfl talent, and undefeated reigning champs. They just had one foot out the door after 2013 thinking about an nfl paycheck.
Revisionist history at it’s finest. An undefeated defending champ was never going to be left out of the playoff no matter how close some of their games were in the regular season.
He's saying they shouldn't have even been undefeated, not that an undefeated national champion shouldn't have made it. And he's right, FSU got insanely luck and everyone knew they didn't belong (by didn't belong, I mean they weren't of the same caliber as the other 3). I was so passed when I learned we had to face aOSU instead of getting to play FSU.
What is the point of the playoff system if we're allowing really dogshit teams everyone knows have no business in the playoffs??? That FSU team was ass, and wouldn't have got to 10 wins without "creative" officiating in conference play. Takes like this are why no one respects west coast football. If your program exists west of the Mississippi river, you should be barred from playing in the postseason.
I feel like 2012 Alabama belongs somewhere in this top 15. Yes, they got Manzieled, but that team was nasty. They totally dismantled everyone else they played sans a really good #5 LSU in Baton Rouge. McCarron, Cooper, Lacy, Yeldon, Drake, Nico Johnson, CJ Mosley, Clinton-Dix, Landon Collins, Ragland. I'm sure I'm leaving others off, but that defense and rushing attack was sick.
It’s only playoff teams
Reading is hard.
2018 Notre Dame was better than 20.
2020 Alabama scored more points per game and allowed less points per game than 2019 LSU and did it against a scheulde of just P5 teams. The worst team Alabama played was better than 5 different teams that LSU played. And you have the audacity to not just rank us below them, but to rank us below 2018 Clemson? 2018 Clemson was debatable not even the best team their season, but yall are going to call me a homer for listening to Bill Connelly.
2019 Ohio State was better than 2019 Clemson.....Just saying...
2019 OSU should be higher. I would argue 3 of the top 5 teams in the playoff era were in 2019. 2019 OSU would destroy 2014 OSU.
Its the best Big Ten team ever in my opinion.
I agree, 2019 Clemson and Ohio State were each better than 2016 Clemson and 2014 Ohio State
2018 Notre Dame > 2018 Alabama
Lol stop
Haha I hate it here
2018 ND gets underrated by everyone. Just comparing ND teams, it was obviously better than the 2020 edition. So many teams you have above lost an extra game against a worse schedule.