Selma-Not to argue with you but the Barn getting screwed in 1983
Btw, I'm not against any Tide fans with this as it IS sorta funny. I'm just pointing out that Miami's titles were far from undisputed.
and Notre Dame getting blown out in 1985 were my favorite parts of their run.
Let me comment on this and my comments MAY surprise those who have read the whole thread thus far.
I think Miami got a bum rap for the whole "running up the score" allegation. That's the ONE THING I disagree with regarding the story about Miami. From 1985-1992 (eight seasons), Miami had TEN GAMES where they scored 50 points or more, an average of a little more than once a year. Twice they topped 60. So let's use those as a barometer of "running up the score." And keep in mind that in several of those ten games they were playing terrible teams like Cincinnati or Cal St Long Beach, who EVERYONE scored a bunch of points on.
Now just compare:
Nebraska (1993-1997, five years) - NINETEEN times they topped 50 points, including ELEVEN TIMES topping 60 and SIX TIMES topping 70.
Nobody EVER accused Nebraska of running up the score and yet Miami never topped 70 points.
Oklahoma (1984-1988, five years) - THIRTEEN times they topped 50 points, including 60 five times and 70 three times.
And nobody EVER accused them of running up the score, either.
So Miami in nearly double the time ran up the score fewer times than those two schools - yet only Miami got ciriticized for it. And why? Well, mostly because they humiliated Notre Dame on TV in Gerry Faust's final game. And btw - I don't know if this would have been such a big story if former Irish coach Ara Parseghian had not been the color commentator. He was whining about it during the game.
But look at some of the scores in Ara's career and pay special attention to 1966:
1965 - Pitt, 69-13
1966 - Duke, 64-0
1966 - USC, 51-0 (right after he played for a TIE against Michigan St)
1967 - Iowa, 56-6
1968 - Illinois, 58-8
1968 - Pitt, 56-7
1970 - Army, 51-10
1970 - Navy, 56-7
1971 - Northwestern, 50-7
1971 - Pitt, 56-7
1973 - Army, 62-3
(Do you not seriously think he ran it up on USC - a ranked team no less - to make up for his tie against Michigan St? Of course he did, and he was rewarded with a national title). Ara Parseghian crying about someone running up the score is about like Charles Manson calling OJ Simpson a murderer.
Regarding the 1985 Notre Dame-Miami game, you have to remember the context: for some reason, the AP and UPI polls had Oklahoma ranked at 2 and Miami at 3. Both had one loss - oh, except for the fact Oklahoma's one loss was AT HOME to......Miami!!!! Yes, that's right, Miami had beaten OU, 27-14 in Norman and dominated the game, yet the pollsters had the Sooners ranked higher in both polls. THAT is why Jimmy DID run up the score in that one particular game. The pollsters left him with no choice. "Hey, if I can whack Notre Dame then based solely on their inflated reputation we might gain poll votes." And they did, rising to number two in the UPI poll.
This is the ONE AREA where in my judgment Miami was harshly judged unfairly.
Also, was the 1988 ND game not the one where they lost by one point on the road aided by a really bad call by the officials?
Yes, although turning the ball over SIX times probably had as much or more to do with the loss
It seems like after Schnellenberger is when their thuggery started to emerge.
Yes, you're correct here. Bernie Kosar was the big star on the 1983 team, and they had some others. The thuggery really seemed to "start" with the win over Notre Dame in 1985 (they went to the media afterwards and cried about the polls - they actually had a point, but then they basically told the world they were going to run the score up on Tennessee and got smoked) and escalated with the 1987 Fiesta Bowl pre-game steak dinner.
I honestly think that if Miami had not worn the fatigues and walked out - and the press reported it - I honestly don't think their rep would have been as bad as it was. But even after losing to Penn St they had several players saying classless things like "they didn't beat us, we beat ourselves," which is true but something you still don't say. You didn't hear Alabama telling the media that after the 2011 LSU loss.
He'd have been viewed as a Nick Saban if he'd stayed.
Not quite. I think Schnell was a very good coach and he has another old Saban trait of moving around from job to job. He played for Coach Bryant at Kentucky so a lot of Tide fans loved him - and IIRC he was the OC on our 1961-64-65 title teams (he even had Joe Namath at the 1984 Orange Bowl on the sidelines to help inspire his underdog Miami to beat unbeateable Nebraska).
But if he had stayed? He probably wins another title for sure, maybe two. He built Louisville up to a 10-1 team that thumped our beloved Tide in the Fiesta Bowl in 1991.
I have seen it before and agree it was well done. (Marcus Dupree was another good one). But I always chuckle when the 1993 Sugar Bowl winds up on the editing room floor.
Yeah, and the thing was that was the day the entire dynasty crumbled. I think Dick Schaap realized it when on the Sunday after the game when he said, "The king is dead, there's a new king in college football."
Nobody had said that about Miami when they lost to Penn State or Notre Dame, but this was a shellacking of the highest order. It should have been included plus commentary from some guys on that team about it.
