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re: Matt Leinart settles debate of best team ever
Posted on 8/12/23 at 7:45 am to Globetrotter747
Posted on 8/12/23 at 7:45 am to Globetrotter747
quote:
The most overrated team.
It's difficult to call a team overrated when they averaged a +38 margin of victory through 12 games. Also, you judge a team by the competition relative the year they played and when you do that you come to the obvious question: what team could have beaten Nebraska in 1995? They had already played four teams in the final AP Top 10 and couldn't play themselves, so which of the five remaining Top 10 teams could have beaten them? Tennessee? They got blown out by Florida. Same thing goes for Florida State - though less decisively.
quote:
Nebraska’s kryptonite in the Osborne era was an elite defensive front.
That might have been true throughout the 80s but Osborne took steps in the early-90s to mitigate this. His offensive linemen became bigger, faster, and more physical. You can see the fruits of this labor on display in the 1995 Orange Bowl against Miami. That Miami defensive front was arguably the best front seven Osborne ever faced in all his years in Lincoln, Nebraska. Yet by the fourth quarter Nebraska's physicality at the point of attack wore down such elite players as Warren Sapp, Kenny Holmes, and Ray Lewis.
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Posted on 8/12/23 at 7:54 am to RollTide1987
Floridas defensive front in 1995 was pretty great. We allowed more than 10 first half points only twice and Nebraska just tap danced all over us early and often.
They were a different animal.
They were a different animal.
Posted on 8/12/23 at 10:20 am to RollTide1987
quote:
It's difficult to call a team overrated when they averaged a +38 margin of victory through 12 games.
Look back at Nebraska and Oklahoma scores against the rest of Big 8 in the Switzer-Osborne era. They were always scoring 50+ against teams in that pathetic conference. And then once they played Miami or FSU, they were shut down.
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Also, you judge a team by the competition relative the year they played and when you do that you come to the obvious question: what team could have beaten Nebraska in 1995?
No one expected Arizona State to beat the shite out of Nebraska 19-0 on the same field as the Fiesta Bowl nine months later. No one expected Texas to put 500+ yards of offense on them in the Big 12 championship. No one expected Nebraska to need a fluke catch to force OT against a mediocre Missouri team in 1997.
You roll the dice enough against good teams in hostile environments, you can definitely be beaten.
1995 Nebraska played 12 games total. No non-conference teams that won more than six games, no conference championship, no playoff semifinal, a terrible OU, no huge and hostile stadiums (no one cares about football in Kansas). They literally beat the shite out of the same teams they always beat the shite out of and drew a soft Florida team in the Fiesta Bowl.
quote:
That might have been true throughout the 80s but Osborne took steps in the early-90s to mitigate this. His offensive linemen became bigger, faster, and more physical.
No, they didn’t.
Nebraska had great offensive lines all throughout the Osborne era. They lost a lot of Big 8 titles and bowl games against players like the Selmon bros., Bosworth, Casillas, Cortez Kennedy, Russell Maryland, Marvin Jones, Derrick Brooks, Jesse Armstead, Michael Barrow, Ray Lewis, and Warren Sapp.
Players like that are the reason Osborne was 5-12 against Switzer and lost seven straight bowl games (damn near eight).
1995 Nebraska did not play anyone of that caliber on defense. Not even close.
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Yet by the fourth quarter Nebraska's physicality at the point of attack wore down such elite players as Warren Sapp, Kenny Holmes, and Ray Lewis.
The forgotten point is that Miami’s offense that year was not very good. There was not a Kosar, Testaverde, Walsh, Erickson, Torreta, or Dorsey at QB. All those guys were better than Frank Costa. There also wasn’t a Highsmith, Bratton, Portis type at RB. There wasn’t an Irvin, Kevin Williams, or Andre Johnson type at WR. No future NFL stars on the 1994 Miami O.
Miami lacked firepower in 1994. In spite of that, they held Nebraska to one TD through three quarters. The real problem was Miami couldn’t get a first down in the 4th, Costa overthrew a WR who had ten yards on the Nebraska secondary, and Nebraska started every drive inside between the 40s.
You take a comparable defense (if not better with Vilma, Williams, Wilfork, and Reed) and put the 2001 talent of Dorsey, Portis, Johnson, Shockey, and McKinnie out there on O and now you have problems.
At their best, Miami was too good in the front seven for Nebraska and Oklahoma to run all over them in the I and Wishbone with no passing game.
I don’t consider 2001 Miami the GOAT, but they would be a bad matchup for the 1995 Nebraska team. They could match their physicality up front and Reed would run the alley like a man possessed.
1995 Nebraska was one dimensional. frickin’ Reggie Baul and Clester Johnson aren’t scaring anyone. You think DB’s who faced Andre Johnson, Julio Jones, Amari Cooper, Chase and Jefferson, Smith and Waddle in practice every day are going to struggle against those two and a marginal passer?
Lawrence Phillips? Do you realize how fricked in the head that guy was? Would you want to hitch your wagon to him in hard times against a great defense that was going to pound on him every yard?
The OL? They were all cookie cutter 6’3” 300 lb. white guys. No award winners or high draft picks. Lots of teams have had more talented lines.
Tommie Frazier? He played exclusively under center and ran speed and belly options. None of that is as difficult to defend as all the shite people run now with QB’s out of the gun. He scored zero TD’s against FSU and Miami.
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