January, 7, 2015
JAN 7
9:25
AM ET
By Brett Edgerton | ESPN.com
For many of you, a national-title game without an SEC team is a welcome sight. For some of you, it might be hard to even remember a time when that conference -- a remarkable 7-1 in title games during that stretch -- didn't have a representative in the final game of the college football season.
For the record, it was the BCS title game at the end of the 2005 season, a 41-38 Texas win over USC on an unforgettable night at the Rose Bowl. Who could have ever guessed that it would take another nine years until we saw the next championship decided without the SEC involved?
Oregon and Ohio State will do just that, but any way you look at it, it's been a loooooong time since we didn't have some Southern flavor in the title game. How long? Let's take a look ...
USA TODAY Sports, Getty Images
Vince Young and Matt Leinart were the QBs in the last title game that didn't involve an SEC team.
Quarterbacks, Then And Now: The signal-callers in that much-hyped Longhorns/Trojans matchup were both considered can't-miss NFL prospects: A Heisman-winner from the Pac-12 (Matt Leinart) and a do-everything star from Texas (Vince Young). Both were drafted in the top 10, but it's been more than three years since either of them took a snap in the NFL. In the pros, their combined postseason record was 0-1.
Meanwhile, the two quarterbacks in this non-SEC title game -- Oregon's Marcus Mariota and Ohio State's Cardale Jones -- were both 12-year-olds in the seventh grade. The freshmen who will take part in Monday's championship game were fourth-graders.
Icon Sportswire, Courtesy University of New Hampshire
Coaching giants now, Jim Harbaugh and Chip Kelly were FCS coaches back in 2005.
The Coaching Carousel: Urban Meyer was in his first season at Florida and just one year removed from being a rising coaching prospect from the Mountain West. Mark Helfrich was a 32-year-old quarterbacks coach at Arizona State, and the man he replaced at Oregon, Chip Kelly, wasn't even in Eugene yet. He was still offensive coordinator in the FCS at New Hampshire.
You know who else was coaching in the FCS? Jim Harbaugh, then in his second year at the University of San Diego. And you know who wasn't even in college football? Nick Saban, then in his first year with the Miami Dolphins. He eventually replaced a man who was falling off press conference podiums right around the time the SEC was last shut out of the title game.
AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez
Baylor has won 41 games over the past four seasons, but had a 1-6 stretch back in '05.
These Programs Still Stunk At The Time: Duke was 1-10, the 11th of 18 straight losing seasons from 1995-2012. Baylor had just finished its 10th of 14 straight losing seasons from 1996-2009. Eventual Big 12 rival TCU did not stink, but had just finished its first season in the Mountain West after leaving Conference USA. Ole Miss and Mississippi State, who formed the center of the college football world briefly this fall, were both 3-8 (1-7 in the SEC) in 2005. Other schools that had a losing record in '05: Kansas State, Texas A&M, Michigan State and Stanford.
USA TODAY Sports
Adam Morrison was once part of a classic POY race. He can now be found at the end of the bench.
Elsewhere In The Sports World: How long ago was the last non-SEC title game? The Chicago White Sox had just won the World Series. (They've won a total of one playoff game since.) As they are now, the San Antonio Spurs were the defending NBA champion, so nothing much has changed there. Except that one of their big rivals these days, the Oklahoma City Thunder, were still the Seattle SuperSonics.
Along with J.J. Redick, Adam Morrison was considered the best player in college basketball. He last played in Turkey in 2012 and is currently a student assistant back at Gonzaga. Pete Carroll was still at USC and Mike Holmgren was still considered an offensive genius in Seattle. Led by MVP Shaun Alexander, the Seahawks were the No. 1 seed in the NFC, as they are right now. Over in the AFC, five of the six playoff teams back then are in this year's field too (With the Ravens replacing the Jaguars). Chicago's Lovie Smith was NFL Coach of the Year. This year he has the No. 1 pick after a 2-14 season in Tampa Bay.
AP Photo/Lawrence Jackson
Remember when the Obamas looked like this?
Elsewhere In The Regular World: The last time we didn't have an SEC team playing in the season's final college football game, Barack Obama was a first-year U.S. senator and just a year removed from being a state senator in Illinois. Saddam Hussein was still alive and facing his first trial that fall. In 2005, Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston broke up and the world became familiar with the term "Brangelina." By almost any measure, Mariah Carey was the most successful singer of the year. The now-indispensable YouTube was in its very first year, Facebook was still only available to people with a college e-mail address, Twitter wasn't even a thing and Instagram wasn't even close to being a thing. How long ago was it? MySpace was THE thing.
It's been a while, folks.
https://espn.go.com/blog/ncfnation/...ere-was-a-national-title-game-without-the-sec
JAN 7
9:25
AM ET
By Brett Edgerton | ESPN.com
For many of you, a national-title game without an SEC team is a welcome sight. For some of you, it might be hard to even remember a time when that conference -- a remarkable 7-1 in title games during that stretch -- didn't have a representative in the final game of the college football season.
For the record, it was the BCS title game at the end of the 2005 season, a 41-38 Texas win over USC on an unforgettable night at the Rose Bowl. Who could have ever guessed that it would take another nine years until we saw the next championship decided without the SEC involved?
Oregon and Ohio State will do just that, but any way you look at it, it's been a loooooong time since we didn't have some Southern flavor in the title game. How long? Let's take a look ...
Vince Young and Matt Leinart were the QBs in the last title game that didn't involve an SEC team.
Quarterbacks, Then And Now: The signal-callers in that much-hyped Longhorns/Trojans matchup were both considered can't-miss NFL prospects: A Heisman-winner from the Pac-12 (Matt Leinart) and a do-everything star from Texas (Vince Young). Both were drafted in the top 10, but it's been more than three years since either of them took a snap in the NFL. In the pros, their combined postseason record was 0-1.
Meanwhile, the two quarterbacks in this non-SEC title game -- Oregon's Marcus Mariota and Ohio State's Cardale Jones -- were both 12-year-olds in the seventh grade. The freshmen who will take part in Monday's championship game were fourth-graders.
Coaching giants now, Jim Harbaugh and Chip Kelly were FCS coaches back in 2005.
The Coaching Carousel: Urban Meyer was in his first season at Florida and just one year removed from being a rising coaching prospect from the Mountain West. Mark Helfrich was a 32-year-old quarterbacks coach at Arizona State, and the man he replaced at Oregon, Chip Kelly, wasn't even in Eugene yet. He was still offensive coordinator in the FCS at New Hampshire.
You know who else was coaching in the FCS? Jim Harbaugh, then in his second year at the University of San Diego. And you know who wasn't even in college football? Nick Saban, then in his first year with the Miami Dolphins. He eventually replaced a man who was falling off press conference podiums right around the time the SEC was last shut out of the title game.
Baylor has won 41 games over the past four seasons, but had a 1-6 stretch back in '05.
These Programs Still Stunk At The Time: Duke was 1-10, the 11th of 18 straight losing seasons from 1995-2012. Baylor had just finished its 10th of 14 straight losing seasons from 1996-2009. Eventual Big 12 rival TCU did not stink, but had just finished its first season in the Mountain West after leaving Conference USA. Ole Miss and Mississippi State, who formed the center of the college football world briefly this fall, were both 3-8 (1-7 in the SEC) in 2005. Other schools that had a losing record in '05: Kansas State, Texas A&M, Michigan State and Stanford.
Adam Morrison was once part of a classic POY race. He can now be found at the end of the bench.
Elsewhere In The Sports World: How long ago was the last non-SEC title game? The Chicago White Sox had just won the World Series. (They've won a total of one playoff game since.) As they are now, the San Antonio Spurs were the defending NBA champion, so nothing much has changed there. Except that one of their big rivals these days, the Oklahoma City Thunder, were still the Seattle SuperSonics.
Along with J.J. Redick, Adam Morrison was considered the best player in college basketball. He last played in Turkey in 2012 and is currently a student assistant back at Gonzaga. Pete Carroll was still at USC and Mike Holmgren was still considered an offensive genius in Seattle. Led by MVP Shaun Alexander, the Seahawks were the No. 1 seed in the NFC, as they are right now. Over in the AFC, five of the six playoff teams back then are in this year's field too (With the Ravens replacing the Jaguars). Chicago's Lovie Smith was NFL Coach of the Year. This year he has the No. 1 pick after a 2-14 season in Tampa Bay.
Remember when the Obamas looked like this?
Elsewhere In The Regular World: The last time we didn't have an SEC team playing in the season's final college football game, Barack Obama was a first-year U.S. senator and just a year removed from being a state senator in Illinois. Saddam Hussein was still alive and facing his first trial that fall. In 2005, Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston broke up and the world became familiar with the term "Brangelina." By almost any measure, Mariah Carey was the most successful singer of the year. The now-indispensable YouTube was in its very first year, Facebook was still only available to people with a college e-mail address, Twitter wasn't even a thing and Instagram wasn't even close to being a thing. How long ago was it? MySpace was THE thing.
It's been a while, folks.
https://espn.go.com/blog/ncfnation/...ere-was-a-national-title-game-without-the-sec
