Sloopy45 said:
Secondly, to anyone who's followed the Bucks for a period of time, the 90's were as heartbreaking (over and over again) as any team in Pro or College Sports. Finally winning, and finally getting to say, "We're the best" after all the almost-wins, the heartbreaks to scUM and Michigan State was more gratifying than I can even describe.
The Buffalo Bills might disagree with that statement, but I'm willing to comment on it based solely on Buckeye history. The 1990's were not as heartbreaking as the 1970's to this Buckeye fan. Time to look back at some painful history once again.
In 1973, we spent 8 weeks at #1, dropping after a tie on the road when our QB had a broken thumb and completed zero passes in The Game. We then beat the defending NC Trojans 42-21 in the Rose bowl to finish #2.
In 1974, we spent 7 weeks at #1, dropping after a road 'loss' than took the referees and Big-10 commissioner Wayne Duke over 30 minutes to determine who won the game after we ended up in the end zone on the game's last play. Oklahoma won 1/2 the NC, avoiding a possible bowl game loss because of probation. USC won the UPI NC by defeating us in the Rose Bowl on a bomb in the last 2 minutes, followed by an unbelievable diving catch on the 2-point conversion. This, unfortunately for me, occurred right in front of my 2nd row seats behind the USC band in the corner of the end zone. If Shelton Diggs didn't make that great catch, a recovery of an on-side kick was probably all we needed to win the UPI NC.
In 1975,
we were #1 in every AP poll taken during the months of October, November, and December. We went out to LA to play UCLA. No problem, we'd already beat them 41-20 that year in LA. Then came what was for me the most painful loss in Buckeye history.
So for 3 years in a row, we were voted #1 in the polls the most times each year, but never won the NC. We also lost NC's in the Rose Bowls following the 1970 and 1979 seasons. So in ten years, we lost 5 NC's, one due to a tie in AA, and 4 in the Rose Bowl.
Now let's look at the 1990's.
In 1993, the highest we got in the polls was #3.
In 1995, we got up to #2, but without the BCS in place, even if we had gone undefeated that year we would have remained #2 to that powerhouse Nebraska team, without a chance to nail them in a Bowl game.
In 1996, we were #2 before the slip, and would have needed a Rose Bowl win followed by a Florida revenge win against FSU to get #1, even if we had won The Game. Would Florida have had enough motivation to beat FSU if they knew that an undefeated tOSU team would be #1 if Florida downed FSU? Who knows.
In 1997, we got up to #4 before The Game. If we had won it, we wouldn't have been able to get around a supposedly undefeated Nebraska team. (I say that because of the kicked ball on the last play of regulation against Mizzou, in which Nebraska scored the tying TD).
In 1998, we spent 10 weeks at #1, before a shanked punt turned around the MSU game we were leading 24-9 in the middle of the 3rd quarter at home. Now that loss was painful, as was the BCS decision to send Florida State to play the very lucky Tennessee team that year.
The 1990's has some great Buckeye teams that had some chances at NC's, but those years were not near as 'heartbreaking' as the 1970's. For me, as I've said before, the 2002 NC made up for the near misses in the 1990's, but for what happened back in the 1970's I still need some more satisfaction.
I did vote for the 2003 Fiesta bowl, since it brought the NC I'd waited 30 years for.
