what was the deepest SU team of modern era?

[orangenauburn]

My guess would be 87

 

[44PRIDE]

87 was most successful. As for deep, I'm guessing somewhere in the 93-97 time frame...

 

[Eric15]

My guess would be 87

IMO, either 1996 or 1997. I'll go with 97.

 

[FreakTalksAboutSU]

Goddamn 97 was deep.

I was there from 95-99, and I totally took that team for granted.

McNabb, Darius, Konrad, Mungro, Allen, Bullock, Jones, Greenwood...all had solid or better NFL careers.
Nevermind the whole next tier of guys who were great collegians like Ponds, Sikand, Spotwood, McIntosh, etc.

 

[Orangello]

IMO, either 1996 or 1997. I'll go with 97.

My left arm for that '97 squad. Wow.

 

[Eric15]

My left arm for that '97 squad. Wow.

To this day, that home game vs. NC State is still the most depressed I have ever been following an SU football game. I was DEAD inside.

 

[Chip]

The interesting thing about the 90s when we seemed so deep is that we generally stayed injury free. The depth wasn't all that tested. 1993, Conley went down early, the season went down with him, we had no depth at inside linebacker. 1995 we lost Ponds and Abrams late, they missed the Miami game, which we still almost pulled off. But the glaring difference that day was Miami taking advantage of the two that didn't play. From there to the Spotwood injury, it's tough to remember anything significant.

We were obviously deeper in the 90's than anything since that decade, because younger talent was replacing older talent every year. But it's hard to pinpoint when exactly we thought we could weather a storm of injuries in any given year. And since we used so many starters on STs, it's easier to notice the talent difference vs. the depth difference.

 

[orangenauburn]

I said 87 because the guys after them on that team continued great success. My thoughts were we were not deep at qb or on the lines in the mid 90s

 

[Eric15]

I said 87 because the guys after them on that team continued great success. My thoughts were we were not deep at qb or on the lines in the mid 90s

I know the 1987 team is beloved, and rightfully so, but in reality, it's undefeated record was probably a result of a very weak regular season schedule. We played one ranked team during the regular season (Penn State), who ended up finishing 8-4.

 

[orangenauburn]

Yes but I said deepest because the guys who played after 87the won a lot of games too implying depth

 

[Scooch]

Asking what SU football team is the "deepest" is pretty much just like asking who's the world's tallest midget.

We're never deep.

 

[OrangePA]

In 1995 when Harrison was a senior and McNabb a RF.