I recently held a lengthy chat with a man with whom I struck a conversation with on a return flight back from San Diego for the Holiday Bowl. A football fan with knowledge of the game beyond words, he fervently argued the legitimacy of BYU being awarded the National Title in 1984. His argument rested entirely with the incontrovertible fact BYU was undefeated. Naturally, I contested his position the 13-0 Cougars were worthy of the title when they played in a decidedly-weak conference and successfully navigated through a soft schedule to remain undefeated and capture the Holiday Bowl crown 24-17 in a comeback victory over a 6-5 Michigan. Furthermore, I argued passionately BYU was awarded the title for sentimental reasons over writers' personal feelings toward LaVell Edwards. A portion of my argument against BYU given the nod lay in the fact writers gave the title in 1993 to Bowden and, again, in 1997 to Osborne for personal reasons.
Full disclosure: I did cite Bowden being a favorite among writers in the football world and in general when I contested his position. Similarly, I did mention writers' only option other than FSU in 1993 was ND, which was unthinkable to some, nauseating to most. Moreover, I did reference NUMEROUS examples of writers' anti-ND bias, particularly the mountain of sh*t writers vomited up in 1993, and the UPI's notorious, frenzied dash to crown Alabama champion in 1973 weeks before the Tide LOST to ND in the Sugar Bowl.
Although math is not my province, I did some simple arithmetic and determined BYU's opponents' combined record was 49-74-2 in 1984, while Michigan's opponents' combined record was 69-58-2.
After healthy, spirited, and nuanced debate in which neither one retreated from our position, we diplomatically shifted the conversation to a different subject. This, however, inspired me to pose the question to the board as a conversation starter.
You can thank me later, because this could amount to stimulating exchanges and could, at the very least, briefly forestall the inevitable "Private versus Public" debate undoubtedly on the horizon.
Full disclosure: I did cite Bowden being a favorite among writers in the football world and in general when I contested his position. Similarly, I did mention writers' only option other than FSU in 1993 was ND, which was unthinkable to some, nauseating to most. Moreover, I did reference NUMEROUS examples of writers' anti-ND bias, particularly the mountain of sh*t writers vomited up in 1993, and the UPI's notorious, frenzied dash to crown Alabama champion in 1973 weeks before the Tide LOST to ND in the Sugar Bowl.
Although math is not my province, I did some simple arithmetic and determined BYU's opponents' combined record was 49-74-2 in 1984, while Michigan's opponents' combined record was 69-58-2.
After healthy, spirited, and nuanced debate in which neither one retreated from our position, we diplomatically shifted the conversation to a different subject. This, however, inspired me to pose the question to the board as a conversation starter.
You can thank me later, because this could amount to stimulating exchanges and could, at the very least, briefly forestall the inevitable "Private versus Public" debate undoubtedly on the horizon.
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