Worst Team to Win a Championship

Indiana had a pretty good shot at them in the title game, but went ice cold in the last 8 minutes and Juan Dixon took over.

grrrrrrrr. As an Indiana alum/fanboi, that one wasn't as painful as 1992 & 1993, largely because IU really wasn't a great team (and, had IU won, probably would be in this discussion), but a pretty gritty one that got a break by getting to face three double-digit seeds en route to the Final Four.

 

Nebraska was no slouch in the Citrus Bowl. And people forget Tech won at No. 1 Virginia late in the season. Buffs needed a pair of officiating blunders to avoid 8-3-1.

 

Correction: 9-3-1. Tennessee was a "classic" game back when that bought you an extra date on the schedule.

 

What exactly was wrong with last year's Mavs? They had a elite player in Dirk and a fantastic supporting cast and played great D.

As for the '04 Pistons, they had the best defense in the league (possibly the best in league history) and absolutely throttled a Lakers team that was more loaded than the '02 squad that won it all.


You want bad championship teams, the Carolina Hurricanes, this years Kings (both mediocre teams who had hot goalies in the playoffs), the last two Giants Super Bowl winners (though the defensive line the first time around puts that team ahead of the '11 squad) and basically every NBA champ from the 1970s.

 

The Kings weren't mediocre, just massive underachievers who hit the turbo button at the perfect time. Taking down the top three seeds in your conference is no fluke.

 

'11 Cardinals. Bastards. [/bitterness]

 

No doubt. That was the year college football should've just cancelled naming a national champion because none were deserving.

That Colorado team was really 9-2-1 when you re-adjust for the absolute undeserved gift victory they got in the Missouri 5th down game. And the only reason they weren't 8-3-1 is because of Ismail's game winning touchdown return being called back by a questionable call.

As I see it, 1990 was essentially the year without a champion in college football.

 

I don't think I have a dog in this fight, but I find the subject fascinating.
Because the answer to the question can't be to find the most overachieving team.
Overachieving is a tribute to greatness, not a detractor.
Most overachieving champs, or come-out-of-nowhere champs have a magical story behind them.
And I don't think a "worst team" can also be magical.

I think what you're looking for here is a team that, even after it won, looking back, it seems like it did it with smoke and mirrors. For instance, this year's L.A. Kings is a great example of a team that does NOT belong on this list. Because that team, even though it sneaked into the playoffs, was the best team in the playoffs. There was nothing fluky about its winning the Stanley Cup.

Don't know if that's helpful, but I think it's an important point.

 

Buffs tied Tennessee 31-31.

And they went 11-1-1 in 1990. C'mon, dixie. That 8-3-1 was the following year, and they didn't win shit in 1991.

Oh, I tried to resist (well, maybe not ). But here goes.

--- The PI was not an "atrocious" call. It was, at worst, a bang-bang call you might EXPECT the home team to get. But the receiver was hit before the ball arrived. That's pretty much the definition of PI. Pasqualoni never even protested. His look said it all: "Shit, they called it." He knew.

--- They absolutely needed a gift from the heavens to beat Arkansas. But nobody remembers why they needed that gift.

One series before, Arkansas punter ran down a high snap over his head and kicked the ball out of his own end zone. Referee ruled it a safety --- which kept Arkansas ahead 24-22. The RULE says Tennessee should have been given the ball on the 5-yard line (SEC affirmed such the following day). So instead of driving 5 yards for the winning TD, they had to drive 70, failed, then were bailed out by Stoerner.

--- FSU was missing QB Chris Weinke. Tennessee was missing RB Jamal Lewis (torn ACL in Week 5) and its offensive coordinator (Cutcliffe left for Ole Miss after the SEC title game). FSU had Marcus Outzen (ouch) as the backup. Tennessee had Travis Henry as the backup. Isn't superior depth indicative of a strong team? Isn't having Travis Henry on your SECOND team indicative of a strong team?

--- 13-0. This wasn't some 11-2 team that happened to back into a championship.

--- And finally, 21 starters on that team found some time on an NFL roster.

Best team to win a title? Certainly not.

But worst team? Certainly not.

 

The 2007 and 2011 Giants are forming one of the lamest dynasties of all time.

 

I don't see why it didn't type out "tied" in front of Tennessee, other than this Blackberry is a piece of shit cleaved from Satan's right cankle. I accounted for the tie (along with dubious wins against Mizzou and ND) in my final record. Trying to think what the CU-UT game in Anaheim was called, Pigskin Classic maybe?

 

The 2004 Pistons didn't really "win" the championship as much as they picked up the pieces after Kobe and Shaq decided they were going to try to out hissy-fit the other in a pageant for ultimate team supremacy. Any over-.500 team would have beat the Lakers at that point. All you had to do was play decently, don't fuck up and wait for the Lakers to self-immolate. Which they did.