Kirk Herbstreit is PISSED - and so are we
Let’s get one thing straight: I used to love Nebraska football. Loved it. The option offense, Tommy Frazier, Lawrence Phillips, The Blackshirts, Eric Crouch … loved the whole package, even if I knew Crouch was destined for the NFL’s version of physical retardation.
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On the other hand, though I never loved them, I respected the 2001 Miami Hurricanes, who, with the possible exception of the 2004 USC Trojans, are the best team in the history of college football.
Of course, the ‘01 Canes can’t exactly take on the ‘95 Huskers, so last night ESPN hosted a sublimely brilliant show designed to settle these exact sorts of disputes. The greatest teams of all time were seeded and put to a vote on ESPN.com, with possibly persuasive but usually feckless commentary from ESPN’s college football people. The votes ruled the day.
The most destructive example of the voting system? Two Nebraska teams - the 1995 machine and the 1971 archetype - ended up in the championship. Along the way, they dethroned both the ‘04 Trojans and the ‘01 Hurricanes. (The final winner, as if it matters, was the ‘95-ers.) Lou Holtz attempted to defend the decision, and Kirk Herbstreit, ever reasonable, got more than a little upset with the process and subsequent caterwauling. Observe below.
I actually saw this live, and my reaction was anger - but even I was surprised by Herbstreit’s tantrum. Relax, Kirk. This is by no means definitive.
Anyway, those corn belt neighbors of mine were surely voting at a much higher rate than anywhere else in the country, because there’s no way the 1971 Cornhuskers - who’d never heard of the forward pass, much less attempted it - would stand a chance against the semi-pro team known as the ‘01 Canes. From the Miami Hurricanes Wikipedia page:
The 2001 Miami Hurricanes scored 512 (42.6 ppg) points while yielding only 117 (9.75 papg). The Hurricanes beat opponents by an average of 32.9 points per game, the largest margin in the school’s history, and set the NCAA record for largest margin of victory over consecutive ranked teams (124-7). The offense set the school scoring record, while the stout defense led the nation in scoring defense (fewest points allowed), pass defense, and turnover margin. Additionally, the Hurricane D scored eight touchdowns of its own. Six players earned All-American status and six players were finalists for national awards, including Maxwell Award winner, Ken Dorsey, and Outland Trophy winner, Bryant McKinnie. Dorsey was also a Heisman finalist, finishing third.
Among the numerous stars on the 2001 Miami squad were: Dorsey; running backs Clinton Portis, Willis McGahee, Najeh Davenport, and Frank Gore; tight end Jeremy Shockey; wide receiver Andre Johnson; tackles Bryant McKinnie and Joaquin Gonzalez; defensive linemen Jerome McDougle, William Joseph, and Vince Wilfork; linebackers Jonathan Vilma and D.J. Williams; and defensive backs Ed Reed, Mike Rumph, and Phillip Buchanon. Additional contributors included future stars Kellen Winslow II, Sean Taylor, Antrel Rolle, Vernon Carey, and Eric Winston. In all, an extraordinary 16 players from the 2001 Miami football team were drafted in the first-round of the NFL Draft (5 in the 2002 NFL Draft: Buchanon, McKinnie, Reed, Rumph, and Shockey; 4 in 2003: Johnson, Joseph, McDougle, and McGahee; 6 in 2004: Carey, Taylor, Vilma, Wilfork, Williams, and Winslow; and 1 in 2005: Rolle).
The 2001 Miami Hurricanes are considered one of the greatest teams in college football history, and some would argue the greatest.
Um, yeah. Look at those four running backs - are you serious? That’s three of the top 10 running backs in the league right now. Look at that secondary. Mike Rumph, Ed Reed, Sean Taylor, Antrel Rolle, and Philip Buchanon? 16 guys, all first-round picks in the NFL draft, were from this single program.
Sure, the 1971 team could TOTALLY have taken these guys. Get the fuck out.
19 Responses to “ Kirk Herbstreit is PISSED - and so are we”
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So the “corn belt neighbors were surely voting at a much higher rate than anywhere else in the country ” to me would mean that they have a better fan base than “THUG U” down in Miami and Pete Carrolls 04 “rubbers” that by the way, like Switzer said on the show, run the offence of the 95 Cornhuskers without the option cause they didn’t have a option QB. And another great quote on the show last night was Switzer telling Kirk he would have never recruited him!
hahaha
Neb Husker fan:
That Nebraska has a better, or bigger, fan base than Miami is probably true. Miami has trouble selling a lot of games out in the Orange Bowl, especially recently. And while USC has had a lot of success and fan attention lately, when they’re bad, their fans don’t show up at the same rate as Nebraska fans.
Being from Iowa, I would connect the large Nebraska fan base to the total lack of professional teams in the area. I mean, who else is there to root for?
But just because a team has a better fan base doesn’t mean that team is actually better - and there’s no way, good as they were, that the 1971 or 1995 Huskers were better than either the 2004 USC Trojans or (especially, I think) the 2001 Hurricanes. They might have been “thuggish,” but they were also astronomically good.
And yeah, Switzer telling off Herbstreit was hilarious. At the end, Switzer made a crack to Corso about not getting to coach the same level players as he did in his day, a clear swipe at Corso’s inferior program history. Pretty hilarious. Ol’ Barry was on fire last night.
This was a great clip. How about Herbstreit smacking Reece’s ass - too funny. I bet Harold Reynolds was fired for much less!
Thanks for posting that vid. I agree about the 71′ team not being as good as USC, but I do think the 95 team is the best team ever. Seems like the player panel didn’t really know alot about any of the teams holistically pre-2000, well that is besides their own schools. I gotta give Blackledge a little credit because he seemed like the only one who would admit when he didn’t know alot about certain teams. However some of these guys were just barking out stuff that didn’t hold much water. Kirk mentioned something about the 95 Neb team not playing anybody that year, and according to the schedule results they beat #8 Kansas State 49-25, beat #7 Colorado 44-21, beat #10 Kansas 41-3, and beat #2 Florida 62-24. Very entertaining show though……definitely humorous.
hard to ever associate Ken Dorsey with Thug U. I went to high school with Dorsey and he grew up in a very affluent, nearly all-white suburb of San Francisco. the guy is about the complete opposite of a thug; he’s actually kind of a brick wall…
still that Miami team would fuck up damn near anyone they’d take on.
The 71 team wasn’t an option team no matter what Holtz says. So on your comment on whether or not they had attempted a forward pass the answer is YES. They didn’t put in the option until Osborne was head coach. They were a prety balanced team in 71. Threw for like 160 yards in the orange bowl that year. Just to let you know.
Husker guy:
Good point. I think my overarching meaning here is not that the 1971 team couldn’t pass, just that they were - as many teams from earlier eras are - completely outmatched by the sheer physical force of the modern day game. That’s not universal trait, but it certainly applies here. I mean, I think everyone can pretty much agree that ‘01 Miami or ‘04 USC would have been the superior team head-to-head.
Yes, but NEB ‘95 never played a close game–even on the road, whereas MIA narrowly escaped BC in Chestnut Hill and needed a dropped two-point conversion to put away VT. Who did MIA beat that year, truly? Anyone as good as FLA ‘95? As for USC ‘04, people forget their lucky, lucky escape against California at home; they were beaten everywhere but on the scoreboard. Kudos to them for finding a way, but NEB ‘95 has no such games. I had TX ‘05 (with the greatest college football player of all time) against NEB ‘95 for the title. The field reeked to start, especially how they matched up teams from consecutive years just so voters HAD to put one through. ND ‘24? USC ‘32? They wouldn’t score, period.
I’m going to have to disagree with your statement about “sheer physical force of the modern day game”. The players may be stronger, bigger, and faster, but it’s debatable whether or not the game is more physical.
The ‘modern day’ has given us a lot more roughing the passer calls, pass interference, and a much tigher-controlled game in the lines. The game was much more vicious, so if you’re going to play 71 versus 2001, whose rules and calls are you going to play by, because neither team could survive well in the other’s time.
That ‘71 team beat the #2, #3, and #4 teams, beating Alabama 38-0. That’s pretty darned impressive, no matter what decade.
1. NEBRASKA 1995 12-0-0 1 117.05
2. NEBRASKA 1971 13-0-0 1 116.47
3. Mississippi 1959 10-1-0 2 109.74
4. Oklahoma 1971 11-1-0 2 109.68
5. Ohio State 1973 10-0-1 2 109.51
6. Washington 1991 12-0-0 2 109.47
7. Oklahoma 1973 10-0-1 3 109.40
8. Oklahoma 1974 11-0-0 1 108.19
9. Southern Cal 1972 12-0-0 1 107.66
10. NEBRASKA 1972 9-2-1 4 106.96
11. Texas 2005 13-0-0 1 106.93
12. Oklahoma 1972 11-1-0 2 106.50
13. Florida St. 1987 11-1-0 2 106.44
14. Miami, Fla. 2001 12-0-0 1 106.36
15. Oklahoma 1986 11-1-0 3 106.33
16. Notre Dame 1966 9-0-1 1 106.32
17. Notre Dame 1970 10-1-0 2 106.09
18. Penn State 1994 12-0-0 2 105.82
19. Florida State 1993 12-1-0 1 105.28
20. NEBRASKA 1997 13-0-0 2 104.99
21. Alabama 1971 11-1-0 4 104.61
22. Miami, Fla. 1988 11-1-0 2 104.33
23. Texas 1970 10-1-0 3 104.22
24. Syracuse 1959 11-0-0 1 104.13
25. Notre Dame 1988 12-0-0 1 103.86
26. Miami, Fla. 1987 12-0-0 1 103.79
27. NEBRASKA 1970 11-0-1 1 103.58
Herbstreit’s a joke. It seems that according to him if it didn’t happen in the last 5 or 6 years it just doesn’t matter. He’s probably still pissed because he made a big deal about the 05 USC team being the “best ever” and they promptly got beat by Texas. What an ass.
Kirky was pooping in his pants at the time, but the 71 Nebraska team averaged what was then a school-record 437.7 yards on offense, including a Big Eight-leading 179.3 yards passing, and ranked third nationally in scoring. In addition, they had what was considered to be the best defense in the nation, and that was considered the strength of the team. Other than that, Kirky’s right (not that he knew any of this) they sucked.
Be ticked all you want. Doesn’t change the fact that NU 95 would kick their ass….period.
interesting
you do have to give it up the the 95 cornhuskers because they didn’t have any close games, but neither did the ‘83 nebraska team…that is until thety met miami. history would have truly repeated itself.
Sorry
Nice…
That debate has been settled. How to calculate the greatest college football team ever:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/691023/how_to_calculate_the_greatest_college.html
The 01 Canes D should have stopped the 01 Skers stone cold, shouldn’t have given up anything, especially rushing yardage, yet 01 NU had 200 yds rushing with a one man show on offense, a truly unathletic, not very good o line, at least by Skers standards of mid 90’s no rb threat and absolutely no threat of a passing game.
Why is this important? Because 01 Canes D and coaches come into that game knowing they don’t have to respect the pass, or D. Diedrick, all they have to do is stop Crouch. That means they play 8-9 men in the box all day, they know whats, coming, the CROCUH run game and yet knowing this they still didn’t get it stopped as much as they should have.
Put that 01 Canes d up against a 95 o line with a nasty, physical, agile group of future long term NFL starters, Frazier, three NFL rb’s two of which, barring LP’s stupidity should each have near 9000-1000 yds rushing in the NFL and that Canes d of 01 gets dismantled. Oh and by the way, Frazier could pass in that offense.
So, goo ahead, play that 8-9 guys in the box, 01 NU proved they could run on that, and 95 would do the same with much much BETEER players EVERYwhere. At some point playing 8-9 guys in the box is going to hurt call for a Frazier pass off the option or a play action and burn that D over the top.
Then the Miami D is in a quandry. Why? They can”t stop 95 Skers from running with 8-9 guys in the box, 01 NU could run on the Canes,95 WILL TOO and for big yardage so at some point the Canes D backs up into a more honest two deep safeties look to protect the deep pass, after the D having been burnt a time or two or three by Frazier throws over the top of the D.
Now, 01 canes D couldn’t stop the run game with 8-9 guys in the box and they certainly aren’t going to stop it after being forced to abandon the 8-9 guys in box to playing a two deep coverage. That leaves the 01 caens D vulnerable to everything the NU play book offers especially getting gashed by the power run plays, i.e the counters, stretch plays, counter traps, power sweeps, iso’s, straight handoffs to rb, pitch plays, traps, dives, fb dives, oh and these all to rb’s like LP and Green behind that nasty o line and than they start to hit that D with run plays for Frazier and maybe then start seeing option l or r to make them defend the entire field.
There ain’t no question about it. Take it to the bank
It is also worth mentioning that the 1995 Cornhuskers beat 4 top 10 (AND ALSO 10 win) teams by no less than 23 points.
Additionally, the 1995 Cornhuskers allowed 0, yes, zero, sacks on the season. This includes the 62-24 thrashing of Florida in the Fiesta Bowl.