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Message: [QUOTE="SWC75, post: 4284601, member: 289"] 1980-81 [URL unfurl="true"]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980_NCAA_Division_I-A_football_rankings[/URL] [URL unfurl="true"]http://www.tiptop25.com/fixing1980.html[/URL] [URL unfurl="true"]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1981_NCAA_Division_I-A_football_rankings[/URL] [URL unfurl="true"]http://www.tiptop25.com/fixing1981.html[/URL] The 1980 Georgia and 1981 Clemson teams were not all-time great teams but they both ran the table when nobody else did and thus were not controversial national champions in the end, although there were many that questioned them along the way. Both were coming off 6-5 season and thus t heir rise to 12-0 was comparable to Syracuse’s rise from 5-6 to 11-0-1 in 1987. In fact I think that Syracuse team could have competed for the title better in 1980-81 than they could do in 1987 with U of Miami, Florida State and Oklahoma at the height of their power. Georgia didn’t play Alabama in 1980. Prior to their Sugar Bowl game with a 9-1-1, 7th ranked Notre Dame team, the best they’d played were 8-4 teams from South Carolina and Florida. Their regular season opposition had a combine record of 46-76-1. The consensus was that the Irish, who had been ranked #1 at the beginning of November and in the top 5 until a season ending loss to Southern California, who show Georgia that they’d been lucky to get to the #1 ranking. But the consensus was wrong: Sugar Bowl [MEDIA=youtube]-YItjsq___0[/MEDIA] Notice the size of the offensive linemen as read off by Keith Jackson: everybody is 250-260. The ACC was still a backwater in 1981. Clemson had run the table in 1948 and had only a tie spoiling a perfect record in 1950 but were not considered major contenders for the national championship. In 1978 they were 11-1 but ranked too low to be included in the four-team tournament “Li Mu” ran that year. But this year they went 12-0 and could not be ignored. The two ‘tent poles’ of their claim for the national championship were their 13-3 victory over defending champion Georgia on September 19th and their 22-15 Orange Bowl victory over #4 Nebraska in the Orange Bowl. By winning percent age, their opposition, (63-61-0) were much better than Georgia’s had been in 1980. Orange Bowl: [URL="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFFK5_iG1hI"]1982 Orange Bowl #1 Clemson vs #4 Nebraska No Huddle[/URL] There was no need for a Li Mu playoff in either year. [/QUOTE]

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