Best Husker Team to Not Win a National Title Game 1: 1983 Nebraska vs. 2009 Nebraska

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Cdog923

Cdog923

All-American
Your nominations have been tallied, and we have a tournament! First up in the BHTtNWaNT tournament: 1983 Nebraska vs. 2009 Nebraska. Here's the bracket: https://challonge.com/v1yter3q. Now, to the tale of the tape!

#1: 1983 Nebraska:

  • Record: 12-1 
  • Rank: 2nd (AP), 2nd (Coaches)
  • Conference Record: 7-0
  • Coach: Tom Osborne (12-1)
  • Points For: 654
  • Points/G: 50.3 (1st of 112)
  • Points Against: 217
  • Opp Pts/G: 16.7 (26th of 112)
  • SRS: 22.61 (2nd of 112)
  • SOS: 3.84 (37th of 112)
  • Bowl Game: Lost Orange Bowl 31-30 versus Miami, FL
  • Notable Players: Mike Rozier, Turner Gill, Irving Fryar
  • Notable Games: vs. #4 PSU (W, 44-6), vs. #5 Miami, FL (L, 31-30)



#8: 2009 Nebraska: 

  • Record: 10-4
  • Rank: 14th (AP), 14th (Coaches)
  • Conference Record: 6-2
  • Coach: Bo Pelini (10-4)
  • Points For: 352
  • Points/G: 25.1 (75th of 120)
  • Points Against: 146
  • Opp Pts/G: 10.4 (1st of 120)
  • SRS: 11.41 (19th of 120)
  • SOS: 2.69 (36th of 120)
  • Bowl Game: Won Holiday Bowl 33-0 versus Arizona
  • Notable Players: Ndamukong Suh, Jared Crick, Roy Helu
  • Notable Games: vs. #13 Virginia Tech (L, 16-15), vs. #3 Texas (L, 10-9)

 

A matchup of perhaps the best offense in school history vs. perhaps the best defense. One team littered with stars on offense vs. one with a singular juggernaut on D, surrounded by professional talent. '83 benefits from having a much more well-rounded team; one of the greatest "What Ifs" in program history will be "what if 2009 had a capable QB?". The sky might have been the limit with that type of defense. This one might seem like an easy choice, but that O vs. that D would have been a sight to see. 

(A note on statistics: all stats are taken from sports-reference.com. SRS refers to a Simple Rating System, described here: https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/about/glossary.html#srs. SOS refers to Strength of Schedule, described here: https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/about/glossary.html#sos)

 
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Gotta go with the 83 team as the '09 team was so inept on offense that eventually you gotta think the '83 team would breakthrough.

 
Also, a reminder: this is not necessarily "who would win in a straight-up game"; if that were the case, poor 1965 would end up in the hospital. This is looking objectively at statistics, rosters, coaches and results, and determining which team was better based on their body of work. 

 
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1983, and I'll bet you if they played head-to-head (in a time warp where everyone had the same kind of S&C from middle school on up) that the game would end up a lot like 2001 Miami vs NU.

One team clearly superior, but the other putting up enough of a fight that the final would only be a few scores difference.  This wouldn't be 62-24, more like 37-14.

 
1983 would win I think in a landslide  - as great as SUH was, the  2009 O would have been shut down.  1983 we had the Pipeline in full operation mode and I think they keep SUH at bay and pancakes on the table.   

 
'83 wins fairly comfortably. I could see a defensive struggle opening up with a flurry of points late, which was '83s modus operandi.

Suh would have been facing one of the greatest offensive lines ever assembled. I suspect 83 would have just run wide away from him much of the time anyway.

 
83 wins every time due to the 09 offense being disgustingly terrible. A great match-up of teams not to win the title would be 83 vs 93. Both dominate only to fall short in the Orange Bowl.

 
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