Home
1974
College Football National Championship
Alas,
I've only written one National Championship article in the last 6
years. Just been too busy! I would still like to write full articles
about each season like I have for 1901-1969, but for now, what I am
going to do instead is write partial articles that do nothing more than
explain my reasoning for my Mythical National Championship selections.
Full profiles of the teams and their seasons will have to wait until I
have time to write those up.
Here
is how
all of the organizations listed in the NCAA Records Book see the 1974
mythical
national championship (omitting selections made by a single magazine or
by math/computer
ratings, which are not generally accepted as MNCs):
11-0 Oklahoma:
AP
Poll, CFB Researchers, Helms (tie), National Championship
Foundation (tie)
10-1-1 Southern Cal: UPI Poll
(coaches), Football
Writers Association of America, National Football Foundation, Helms (tie), National Championship
Foundation (tie)
Look
at that! More organizations chose 10-1-1 Southern Cal as 1974 MNC than
11-0 Oklahoma. USC must have played an amazing schedule, eh? Well, no.
USC played 3 rated opponents (fixed AP poll),
Oklahoma 5. The only issue here is that Oklahoma was on "probation"
this season and made ineligible for bowls or television appearances.
Several organizations, led by the coaches' poll, also made Oklahoma
ineligible for rating or MNC selection, and a couple more (Helms and
the NCF) decided to name 2 champions: one overall champion (Oklahoma) and one "non-probation" "champion" (USC).
For my part, I do not consider "probation" or other NCAA penalties
to be grounds for MNC ineligibility. If a college football team played
a college football season at all, then that team is eligible for the
MNC.
Making the decisions of these USC-selecting organizations even more
ridiculous is the fact that Oklahoma was also on probation and
ineligible for bowl games in 1973, yet was still ranked by the coaches'
poll that year, and their penalties continued into 1975 with
ineligibility for television appearances, yet all of these
organizations select the Sooners as MNC of 1975. It makes no sense, and
clearly the decisions made in 1974 were arbitrary and inconsistent.
My MNC selections are based on absolutely consistent criteria across
all time, and I have no interest in MNC selections based on criteria
that shift wildly from one season to the next.
I should note that Southern Cal 1974 had a terrific last 2 games,
smashing #6 Notre Dame 55-24 and edging #3 Ohio State 18-17 in the Rose
Bowl. Those opponents are higher-rated than anyone Oklahoma played in
1974. However, while that is interesting, it really doesn't matter,
because USC lost 22-7 to #21 Arkansas and they tied unrated Cal 15-15
at home, and they are not even a legitimate "contender" for the 1974
MNC. Oklahoma was very impressive against a schedule that, again,
included 5 rated opponents, and no unrated opponent came within 2
touchdowns of them.