Top 10 Best Forgotten College Football Teams
These groups of men were outstanding, unfortunately for them they didn't necessarily win a BCS bowl or the national championship. However, these teams should always be remembered for their outstanding performances in the season.Kellen Moore, one of the top 5 greatest QBs in NCAA history. His 14-0 Boise State team was snubbed from the title game because they "didn't play in a major conference." They ended up beating a great TCU team 17-10 in the Fiesta Bowl.
Definitely, Boise State was good and made the playoff, yet no one really gives them credit.
Okay, hear me out. Is there a little bias here? Maybe, but this '07 Mizzou team was good enough to win the title and even earned our first-ever regular-season #1 ranking! Known as Pinkel's Pack (HC Gary Pinkel), this team featured Heisman finalist Chase Daniel, 1,000-yard rusher Tony Temple, All-Americans Martin Rucker, William Moore, and Jeremy Maclin, All-Big 12 kicker Jeff Wolfert, and future 2008 All-Americans Chase Coffman and Sean Weatherspoon. This was built to be a championship team.
However, they suffered a nail-biting 10-point loss to Oklahoma mid-season, which seemingly ended our national title hopes, right? Wrong. That was a crazy year where none of the top BCS teams were perfect. After we beat Kansas in the most memorable Border War, we finally earned that #1 ranking. But in the Big 12 Championship, we lost 38-17 to Oklahoma - again. (The game was much closer than the 21-point margin suggests.)
So our national title hopes ended, but not our BCS hopes, right? I mean, we were a top 5 team essentially the whole season. Nope. Kansas (a good Kansas team, I'll admit) took our spot because they had one loss compared to our two, even though their loss was to Missouri. So, the ill-fated BCS kicked us out of a BCS game, and we settled for the Cotton Bowl against Arkansas and Darren McFadden. Then, like many other previous teams, we lost, right?
Nope! Wrong again! We destroyed Arkansas 38-7. Tony Temple scored every touchdown except for one, which was a pick-six by William Moore. He scored four touchdowns, a performance still considered the greatest in Cotton Bowl history. Yes, Kansas won their bowl game, but Mizzou definitely deserved the BCS spot.
This team made Alex Smith good! Although he was a complete bust in the NFL, he still had a great season in 2004 and Utah finished undefeated! But as usual, they lost out on their title hopes and will never be remembered by the common fan.
They went on to beat Alabama in their bowl game a couple of years later too!
One of the saddest stories in recent NCAA years (for a team, not personal, like deaths or anything). Case Keenum has a great argument to be the best NCAA QB in history. After all, in 3 of his 4 starting seasons, he threw for over 5,000 yards. He led the Cougars to a 12-0 record and just had to beat Southern Miss. They lost 49-28 and were unfairly dropped from #6 to 17 by the BCS! Maybe dropped to 9th-11th I'd understand, but a team that had the most prolific QB in the game was dropped out of the top 15 as a whole!
People began to say, as they began to play Penn State in the TicketCity Bowl (pretty big drop-off from a BCS bowl if you ask... anyone), and had Penn State, on the heels of the worst scandal since the rape of Katie Hnida at CU, in NCAA history, winning over the Cougars. Houston crushed Penn State 30-14 as Case Keenum had a great farewell and won MVP. This was arguably one of the last straws football had with the BCS.
They had one 5-point loss to a good Washington team and that sunk their title hopes, despite dismantling every team they faced except #1 Florida State. They were snubbed from the BCS Title game and then faced Florida in the Sugar Bowl (where they won by 17).
Many have already forgotten this team. They were overshadowed by the overwhelming superstar season of Cam Newton, who, even I'll admit, was spectacular. Oregon was great as well. They had Casey Matthews, Darron Thomas, Jeremiah Masoli, and LaMichael James and became a powerhouse.
However, due to a great day by Michael Dyer, Chip Kelly's Ducks lost the championship, and like every other team past and present on this list, will fade into obscurity.
The team Brian Kelly coached before Notre Dame. This Bearcats team was the best in school history. Led by the outstanding tandem of Tony Pike and Mardy Gilyard, this Bearcats team finished 12-0 in a conference that had #15 Pitt and #25 West Virginia. But the dirty BCS put them at #3 and they were left out of the title game. Many people forgot the season once they were destroyed in Tim Tebow's final game with Florida, 51-24, in the Sugar Bowl.
Great team. (They deserved more.)
This team had it all. NFL stars Ben Grubbs, Cadillac Williams, Ronnie Brown, and a then-decent Jason Campbell. They even finished the pre-bowl season 12-0. Guess what? Yep, that's right, the damn BCS put them at #3 and denied them a spot in the title game. Sounds like the '09 Bearcats, right? Only thing is, Auburn won their Sugar Bowl game, 16-13, over Virginia Tech. Great job, BCS...
They were undefeated and easily were the winner. They were 13-0, while the next only had 11 wins.
The Newcomers
JaMarcus Russell was once great (in college). LSU seemingly shut down Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl. It would be cool to see a 2006 LSU vs. Florida game rematch.
My Mizzou Tigers. The Dan Devine-led Tigers finished as the non-consensus National Champs after a 10-1 record got turned into an 11-0 record due to Kansas forfeiting their win over Mizzou that year. So I guess they have a title, but you won't find that in the books. They did win the Orange Bowl over #4 Navy. But for a team that was so dominant and probably would've beaten Washington or Minnesota that year.
They went undefeated but were unnoticed due to a post-season ban. This team began the Urban Meyer era, and this team seems to be forgotten.
Surprisingly went undefeated that year. Oklahoma and Miami both went undefeated also, so they had to face Auburn in the Sugar Bowl which ended in a tie.
Forget the fake girlfriend, forget the title game. This was a great Fighting Irish team, possibly the best fielded this century as of right now. In the regular season, they beat FOUR Top 20 football teams, including #8 Oklahoma. Manti Te'o had a legendary season, but it all fell apart and they lost the title game 42-14. At least they'll be remembered for one of the biggest disappointments in title game history.
They were the best team in Tennessee history. They won their first overtime game vs #13 Florida. They went on a 13-0 season the year after Peyton Manning departed for the NFL.