2004 USC or 2015 OSU?
Without having played a down yet this year, my money is already on 2004 USC that we played at FedEx for the following reasons:
1. Less suspensions. USC had Reggie Bush, Matt Leinart, and everyone else that I can remember, whereas OSU already has several suspensions / injuries that is common knowledge.
2. Offense. Mainly for us. If we believe the hype (and believe me...we're drinking it hard...), then our O should be better than what it was in 2004, when it was the Bryan Randall show for the first game.
3. Defense - This is a wash; USC defense that I can remember was lights-out all year including against us, and certainly OSU will be good too. Even we were good in 2004 on D, and hopefully we will be this year too! I have faith.
Bottom line is that my gut instinct says that this OSU team is a highly anticipated match-up, but me thinks that USC back then was the bigger challenge.
Thoughts?
Comments
+1 bud.
In all seriousness I agree with you on the USC assessment. Fact is, no matter what the outcome of this game, people will always note how many guys OSU had out
5 years from now, nobody will remember the injuries. They'll just remember that we bookended Ohio State's National Championship run with losses on both ends
@Alum07 -
You guys have been great over the past couple of months. I would imagine that the tension will begin to escalate throughout the week, so please bear with us as the homerism rolls out in full force. Looking forward to a hard fought, injury free game that the refs don't screw up.
lol only because I have been looking for an opportunity to use this gif
Well played, Alum! That's good stuff.
My only potential point about our offense; people were very hyped about Brewer after last year's game with anOSU. He played well, looked athletic, and made some great strikes. He then looked completely out of sorts the rest of the season. I think nagging injuries had a lot to do with that. If he is legitimately healthy after a long off season, I think he could surprise people with his new found comfort in the offense and a deeper understanding.
I wanted to say '04 USC, but the thing to keep in mind is that after the suspensions are up, OSU becomes a better team. Another thing to keep in mind is that Elliot has a real chance to break out and compete for the Heisman trophy, so that puts the RB spot at a wash.
I do think this game plays out an awful lot like the '04 USC game, where we can keep this game close with defense and an insane crowd. Hopefully, the ending plays out better than the USC game
I was at both the 03 Miami and the 04 USC game (dating myself here....), and that 04 USC game was as crunked, if not more, than the 03 Miami game. I remember the week after we lost, Lavar Arrington said something along the lines that the loudest he's ever heard FedEx field was when we played USC!
How is that dating yourself? Old and young people go to football games.
(Unless you are inferring that you took yourself out on a date to those games...which in my opinion is an excellent choice if you are having date night with yourself.)
self date FTW
I was there too...it was a great crowd. SOOO loud.
No mention of 2001 Miami, or are they too much of a ringer?
Fair point - but I wasn't a VT hokie then - still in highschool! Just going off of the games I remember / went to!
2001 Miami might be the best team we've ever played, including 2015 Ohio State
2001 Miami is pretty close to the best team anyone has ever played.
The only demerit they had was they were coached by Larry Coker....Croker?...I can't even remember.
And to think... we were a dropped 2pt conversion by Wilford away from beating them
We were also very Noel'd.
I was at that game. Heartbreaking.
In reading the recap of that game because of this thread, I forgot that we had the ball back even after the dropped 2 PT at the 50, needing just a FG to win, and Noel threw another pick to Ed Reed.
Yeah, it was brutal.
We were ranked 14th in that game, but look back at our talent. Besides KJ (160 rushing), we didn't have much else. Ferguson was a mythical figure and had 2 goal line TD's and a 42 yard reception. Andre Davis didn't catch a pass (Noel only completed 4!). Burns was a good punter. Even on defense, we had Pile (18 tackles!), McCadam, Ronyell, Daniels, Taylor, Welch, Houseright, Beasley, Pugh, NAdibi, Cobb, Lallis, Colas, Green. How many of those guys would start on the 2015 defense? Taylor, Welch and Pile? Pugh and Beasley were a great pair, but only Beasley had even a minimal NFL career.
Guys like Noel, EJohnson, RJohnson, DeMasi, Owens, Slowikowski, Burnell, Warley, Wynn, Wilds.....these were important players at that time. The talent level is much better now but we're not a top 15 team.
Hokie offensive line from '99 to '02 made those teams top 15.
There was a ton of talent on the '99-'00 teams. 2001 and 2002 were supposed to be (sort of) rebuilding years with 2003 being the year everything came together again...
A friend of mine quoted Beamer as saying the 2003 team was the most talented team he had ever coached. Yes, better than 1999. He said they just fought everywhere they went though. The dining hall, the locker room, practice, and even in games (Deangelo Hall blowing up on Keith Willis after getting ejected from the Miami game comes to mind).
The last of his 4 for the game. Which is the same number of passes he completed to his teammates IIRC.
Didn't realize until just now that Noel completed just as many passes to Miami as he did Virginia Tech
And he broke the tie by fumbling one away as well.
I thought it was too tie?
It was, but it sounds better to say that we were a dropped pass from beating them.
Other than that play what broke our backs happened earlier in the game. Miami had a 3rd and long near mid-field, we rushed Ken Dorsey and forced him to run for his life out of the pocket and throw back across his body incomplete. They have to punt, right? Wrong. On the way back to the huddle Cols Colas (probably spelled wrong) walks past Dorsey and gives him a stiff arm to the chest, knocking him to the ground and drawing a 15 yard Personal Foul with a first down. They get a field goal out of that drive. We lost by two.
I remember it was at least 2 plays after that that Colas would even look toward our sideline. Foster was having a fit on the sideline, I've never seen him so mad.
Oh sweet baby jesus I remember that play now...Cols Colas....It was such an idiotic penalty.
I just got fired up and CBF angry.
Cols Colas picked up a personal foul for going after their field goal holder in the 2003 game. Cols is now a member of the Miami staff ironically.
I don't think there's any might to this one. The most talented college football team I have seen.
The Tommy Frazier 1995 Nebraska team is commonly held as the best team of the modern era. Very, very different team than 2001 Miami. Polar opposites. Miami was loaded with talent and didn't need to bother with coaching. Nebraska in 1995 was the culmination of all that Triple Option and Blackshirt Defense coaching.
That would be a fun one to put on EA Sports and just let the computer play it out.
Agreed
Yea I say Nebraska was the best ever, Miami 2001 was the best #1.
still wasn't a offensive pass interference...
I found that pass interference call quite offensive.
2001 Miami was the best team Virginia Tech (and pretty much every other team on their schedule that year) has ever played.
No disrespect to OSU, but right now its not even close. That Miami team had 38 draft picks on it. The destroyed Penn St. @ Beaver Stadium. They destroyed FSU, WVU, Syracuse and Washington (when those were both very respectable football teams) and Nebraska.
Don't disagree - just going off of the games I have been privy to watch as a VT fan!
In that case, you are very young and that makes me sad.
I would rank USC as the better team because of the Bosa suspension. If Bosa (and the other three) were eligible, I would rank this as the 2nd best team I've ever seen VT play....to the 2001 Miami team. And it would be close between Full Ohio State and Miami.
I can't compare it to the Bama team that beat VT 77-6 in 1973. That's before my time, but that team was 11-1 with a 24-23 loss to Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl.
Lol, why are you sad?
I know ! Just a different generation!
Hypothetical: if this year's OSU team doesn't make the playoff, where would you put the OSU team we played against last year (factoring in the early season aspect of the game and such)?
2014 Ohio State is an interesting case....especially from VT's perspective. Obviously they improved more than most teams have ever done. They were terrible against us, I thought they would lose a couple more games. Then they got better and better....and Barrett set all the B10 records...and breaks his ankle. Then they go to Cardale, a middling recruit, a backup player with very little experience, and he gets scorching hot.
it's almost like 2015 Ohio St has to verify 2014 Ohio St.
Compare them to the 2013 Bama team. Loaded with talent, blew threw their schedule.....then had a blocked FG run back for a TD and laid an egg against Big Game Bob in the Sugar Bowl. They blew their last game (+1 play), but it looked like just as good of a team (or better) as 2014 OSU.
Slight correction on the Bama loss to Auburn - it was a long field goal try (that was completely unnecessary) with just a few seconds left on the clock that came up short, not a block. The dude ran it back like 109 yards or something as time expired. One of the craziest endings I've ever seen. A buddy of mine was at the game and said it was insane. Can you imagine being there for that? To beat your arch rival and keep them out of the MNC game? Ridiculous!
Not arguing with you, just sharing my thoughts. That 2001 Miami game in Lane was the loudest I have ever heard that stadium. I can't imagine what it would have been like in its current incarnation, but then the South endzone stands did not exist. Even with that, still the loudest I have ever heard our stadium when we blocked that punt and ran it in.
Can confirm. Lost my voice for three days after that one.
Watching the Miami-Nebraska game I felt the end of an era... That being major programs running a strictly option offense. I know GT still hangs on but they are far from a top-tier program.
I don't think people are giving 2007 LSU enough credit either.....That was the most physical, hit-you-in-the-mouth offense we've ever played. 3rd and 3? Jacob Hester for 4 yards 100% of the time.
That team was talented. Matt Flynn, Glen Dorsey, Jacob Hester, Trindon Holliday, Ricky Jean-Francois, Craig Steltz, Terrance Tolliver, Keiland Williams, Brandon LaFell are all guys who I remember who I think became NFL guys.
To be fair, they all became "who?" NFL guys. And they also lost 2 games to fair to middling teams at that. No one from that LSU 2007 team is going to the HOF, I can think of a couple Miami players that are.
That Miami team had a starting WR that is still being selected in current fantasy football drafts.
Honestly don't know how that team lost 2 games. They absolutely destroyed teams.
I don't know of a better LSU name than "Ricky Jean-Francois."
2001 Miami was the greatest assembly of college football talent and moxie that has ever graced a field
2004 USC > 2015 Buckeyes
But the 2015 Buckeyes are in the conversation with 2004 USC, which is still high praise
I wanted to share a GIF here of Andy Samberg as Nick Cage, but my phone is not cooperating.
that 2002 Miami team was pretty good, too. They did lose a game though.
I'm really tired of the OSU hype. Their team last year was significantly better, and I really struggle to see why this team is a unanimous #1. They lost 4 key starters on both offense and defense, and their best player in Bosa will not be on the field on the 7th.
USC was better, Miami was better, but so were many non-#1 teams. LSU in 2007 stomped us and went on to be national champs, Stanford went 12-1 and whooped us in the 2011 Orange Bowl, and Auburn was 12-0 after beating us in the 2005 Sugar Bowl.
BUST THEM NUTS!
I was just looking at their depth chart. They have a ton of Fr and So on their 2 Deep right now. 3/5 of their OL is a Snr but if they go down, it's all really young guys backing them up. I'm a little confused at the hype of "the greatest team ever!!!!11111!111!!111!" I agree they will be a great team, but there are lots of great teams out there right now.
Won't more educated answers and a fuller perspective be available on September 8th?
Which Fuller's perspective are you interested in?
Momma Fuller's. What is her secret to a genetically superior football player?
I am anxiously awaiting a Fuller perspective on the games result next Monday
As a fan of the game of CFB, I will be interested in a fuller perspective AND Fuller's perspective. :)
The land bridge that has brought the upbeat OSU colonists to this utopian native society of TKP is rapidly being swallowed by the north pacific due to global warming of the fanbases desire for football and a sever outbreak of homerisms. Hopefully we don't all get smallpox and can show up to scream for our guys to kick ass Monday. Hats off to all.
GO Hokies!!! And btw 2001 Miami was legit. And we worked hard to lose that game. And we succeeded.
I think the natives on both islands are getting restless. if I were you guys I'd be sick of all the hype too. I'm sick of it and its my team.
My homerism tells me that you / 11W are more hommer than we / TKP are.
this jerkoff team called FSU on 1/4/00 was ok.
2001 Miami
This only possible answer to the question you asked is '04 USC because we have the benefit of hindsight and '15 OSU has not played a single down. But frankly, USC wasn't even the best team we played that year. Auburn was.
They weren't #1 but that Nebraska team we played in the orange bowl was nasty, just my opinion but that may be 1 of the best teams we've ever played, they were big and nasty.
And, worse, they were mad. We hung in there for 3 quarters.
I agree with AZHokie22 and some others above - without a doubt, 2001 Miami was the best team VT has ever played.
USC 2004 (Nat Champs), Bama (Nat Champs), OSU 2014 (Nat Champs), and possibly OSU 2015 (possibly repeat Nat Champs, but unsure how great since they haven't played a game yet) are all great teams....but at this point Miami 2001 was the best we've played.
I'll go with 2001 Miami. Even though we beat them in the title game in 2002, I still think they had much more overall talent on that roster. That roster had like 40 future NFL draft picks on it. They lost jeremy shockey after 2001 and then just replaced him with Kellen Winslow Jr. like it was nothing. Lose Clinton Portis after 2001 and replaced him with Willis McGahee! Are you kidding me? Those two years of canes football stand alone in my opinion. And they somehow won almost all their games despite having Larry Coker as their coach. The USC dynasty was great, but the canes dysnasty has performed soooo much better in the NFL. I think that speaks to just how deep they were at every position for two years.
Lose Willis McGahee after 2002, replace him with Frank Gore, who had actually beaten out McGahee and backed up Portis prior to an injury. The depth on that team was unreal. 2004 USC is really close, though. A ton of NFL talent on that team as well.
Good insight on the Gore comment. Funny, Gore has had a better career than all of them. Kind of funny considering Portis/McGahee were always regarded as more athletic while Gore was considered the bruiser.
'09 Alabama, '04 USC, '01 Miami and '99 FSU were all undefeated national champions. That '04 Auburn team was also undefeated really good, though not #1. '15 OSU certainly has the potential to get there, but I think it would be presumptuous to compare them to those teams right now.