Revisiting the 2009 college football season with advanced box scores

[Saunders]

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If you’re a casual college football fan and you remember two things about the 2009 season, they’re probably a) this was the year that Alabama became All The Way Back, and b) Ndamukong Suh devoured souls.

 

To be sure, that’s a pretty good place to start. But there was all sorts of entertainment value and plenty of emerging subplots beneath the surface.

 

• What was supposed to be the third act of Bradford vs. McCoy never got off the ground. OU’s Sam Bradford got hurt in the first game of the season, but the Sooners still were the only team to come anywhere close to keeping Colt McCoy and Texas from a 12-0 start. They won their other 11 games by double digits before the epic Big 12 title game vs. Nebraska.

• If there had been a College Football Playoff this season, it’s possible that both Big East champ Cincinnati and MWC champ TCU would have made it. And the Bearcats were one second (in the Texas-Nebraska game) away from the BCS title game as is.

• Chip Kelly took over as head coach at Oregon and watched his best player punch an opposing player in the very first game.

• Ole Miss made it into the top five at one point! And Pitt made it into the top 10!

• We got our first glimpse of Brandon Weeden!

• Georgia Tech won the ACC running the damn triple option.

• Thursday night football was amazing.

 

https://www.footballstudyhall.com/2019/2/13/18222176/2009-college-football-season-highlights

 

 

 

Lotta Huskers talk in here.

[knapplc]

26 minutes ago, Saunders said:

 

 

Lotta Huskers talk in here.

 

Including, tertiarily, this anecdote:

 

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Chip Kelly took over as head coach at Oregon and watched his best player punch an opposing player in the very first game.

 

That was when Frosty just manhandled Blount off the field.

 

 

[Saunders]

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Nebraska finished second in Def. S&P+ ... and 66th in Off. S&P+. A top-40 offense might have meant a national title run. By this point, teams were doing whatever they could to neutralize Suh, and everybody else was making the plays instead. And the only touchdown of the game came on a 1-yard drive.

[RedDenver]

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Looking back, Bama is the most relevant story line for obvious reasons, and ... man ... no one has ever been more screwed out of a Heisman than Suh was this season. (Yeah, I said it, Vols fans.) 

 

[B.B. Hemingway]

If the 2009 offense had a f****** pulse, Nebraska could of played for a National Title that year. It still disgusts me.... Of course, I guess the 2016 Nebraska team could of been title contenders to if Riley wasn't the coach.... and the roster was different.

 

[RedDenver]

Just now, B.B. Hemingway said:

If the 2009 offense had a f****** pulse, Nebraska could of played for a National Title that year. It still disgusts me.... Of course, I guess the 2016 Nebraska team could of been title contenders to if Riley wasn't the coach.... and the roster was different.

 

The 2010 team could have been contenders if the defense didn't suck and TM didn't get hurt. The 83 and 84 teams had a similar problem. It's just hard to put together a complete team that operates at a high level in all phases of the game.

[B.B. Hemingway]

23 minutes ago, RedDenver said:

The 2010 team could have been contenders if the defense didn't suck and TM didn't get hurt. The 83 and 84 teams had a similar problem. It's just hard to put together a complete team that operates at a high level in all phases of the game.

 

Oh, I know. But that 2009 team felt to be as close as we had been since 2001. 

 

The 2010 defense wasn't as good as 2009, but it was still pretty good.

[Moiraine]

18 minutes ago, RedDenver said:

The 2010 team could have been contenders if the defense didn't suck and TM didn't get hurt. The 83 and 84 teams had a similar problem. It's just hard to put together a complete team that operates at a high level in all phases of the game.

 

 

I don’t remember the 2010 defense sucking. 

[Redux]

19 minutes ago, RedDenver said:

The 2010 team could have been contenders if the defense didn't suck and TM didn't get hurt. The 83 and 84 teams had a similar problem. It's just hard to put together a complete team that operates at a high level in all phases of the game.

 

I remember 2010 being the last time we HAD a defense.  It was the reason we kept winning despite our QB being a hobbled mess.

[Saunders]

1 minute ago, Moiraine said:

 

 

I don’t remember the 2010 defense sucking. 

It didn't.

 

We finished 8th in defensive S&P+.

 

https://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/ncaadef2010

[RedDenver]

2 minutes ago, Moiraine said:

 

 

I don’t remember the 2010 defense sucking. 

I guess "suck" is too strong of a term. But I remember the rushing defense not being good.

[RedDenver]

1 minute ago, Saunders said:

It didn't.

 

We finished 8th in defensive S&P+.

 

https://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/ncaadef2010

And 63rd in rush defense: http://web1.ncaa.org/football/exec/rankingSummary?org=463&year=2010&week=19

[Cdog923]

1 hour ago, Saunders said:

 

I have long thought that if Joe Ganz had 1 more year of eligibility, Nebraska is at least a top 4 team in '09, with a damn good shot at the BCS. 

[Redux]

Yeah I still weep thinking how if Ganz had one more year in 2009 or if Martinez were here a year earlier...2009 was our year.

[Saunders]

2 minutes ago, RedDenver said:

And 63rd in rush defense: http://web1.ncaa.org/football/exec/rankingSummary?org=463&year=2010&week=19

Those numbers don't take into account the opponents you play, which is why I prefer S&P+. If you play a bunch of top offenses, and have a top 20 defense, that's more impressive than playing crap offenses and being top 10.