This article on the 2001 team...

[sebastiansbill]

I've said it b4, from 2000-2002, we completely dominated the college football scene. For sure, we should have 7 titles instead of 5. BCS gate in 2000 robbed us, and Terry Porter (who was from Ohio and rumored to be a Suckeye fan) jobbed us.

Yet everyone's confused why Canes fans are so salty as to the product that's been shoved down our throats lately. It's b/c, conceivably, in a 20 year span, we should've had at least 8 titles if it wasn't for the ref jobbing us against ND in 88, and the BCS robbing us in 00, and of course 03. ****, throw in VT's throw away game in 86 and Erickson's poor coaching adjustment in 94, we would have 10.

It's not about the "what ifs" per say, it's about the product we were given back then, the commitment to winning, vs what was given to us. I hate when sports outlets say we're the worst fans...no, we're just fans who know what Canes football is supposed to look like, and don't accept anything else. And it looks like that message was finally received and we're on our way back to that.

Eh but we could just as easily have less national titles if some things were slightly different. Not sure if I really want to go there.

What if Osborne just decided to settle for an extra point in January 1984 and the 31-31 tie? What if FSU's kicker didn't have such an awful day in 1987 where he kept missing extra points? Do you realize we yielded 5 points off of 2 pointers and missed PATs against FSU, and in every other respect we lost that game 28-24? What if the AP voters hated us just as much as the coach's poll voters in 1991 and voted us #2 even though everybody knew we'd kill Washington? Now we're down to 1989 and 2001. And as comical as this sounds, some ND fans inexplicably think they should have been voted #1 in 1989 despite our 17 point head to head win.

What??

I said that we likely wouldn't have won the 1983 national title if Osborne doesn't go for 2 and probably wouldn't have won the 1987 title if FSU didn't have the worst kicker ever. He argued that we could have 10 national titles with a few extra bounces, which is true. I was pointing out we also could have something more like 3 national titles without some bounces going our way.

He is me, first off, and did you not read the very essence of the whole post?? The latter part states "IT'S NOT ABOUT THE WHAT IF'S, PER SAY". My whole point was why we, as fans, have been complaining about the crappy product that's been given to us over the last 10 years, b/c of what we had, a team that COULD'VE had 10 titles in a 20 year span. Not sure why you felt the need to talk about a few bounces that could've went against us....the fact remains the same, the product before was the creme de la creme, the product we've endured recently have been horse ish.

Gotcha. Maybe we could have had 9 but the 94 one is a pretty big stretch.

 

[Rellyrell]

Eh but we could just as easily have less national titles if some things were slightly different. Not sure if I really want to go there.

What if Osborne just decided to settle for an extra point in January 1984 and the 31-31 tie? What if FSU's kicker didn't have such an awful day in 1987 where he kept missing extra points? Do you realize we yielded 5 points off of 2 pointers and missed PATs against FSU, and in every other respect we lost that game 28-24? What if the AP voters hated us just as much as the coach's poll voters in 1991 and voted us #2 even though everybody knew we'd kill Washington? Now we're down to 1989 and 2001. And as comical as this sounds, some ND fans inexplicably think they should have been voted #1 in 1989 despite our 17 point head to head win.

What??

I said that we likely wouldn't have won the 1983 national title if Osborne doesn't go for 2 and probably wouldn't have won the 1987 title if FSU didn't have the worst kicker ever. He argued that we could have 10 national titles with a few extra bounces, which is true. I was pointing out we also could have something more like 3 national titles without some bounces going our way.

He is me, first off, and did you not read the very essence of the whole post?? The latter part states "IT'S NOT ABOUT THE WHAT IF'S, PER SAY". My whole point was why we, as fans, have been complaining about the crappy product that's been given to us over the last 10 years, b/c of what we had, a team that COULD'VE had 10 titles in a 20 year span. Not sure why you felt the need to talk about a few bounces that could've went against us....the fact remains the same, the product before was the creme de la creme, the product we've endured recently have been horse ish.

Gotcha. Maybe we could have had 9 but the 94 one is a pretty big stretch.

No doubt 1994 is a big stretch, however we were leading, the defense was rocking and rolling and we just stop adjusting. I remember that game like it was yesterday. I just knew, at the tender age of 12, we were going to get our 5th title, and we just collapsed. It's kind of painful reminiscing on the "what ifs." I remember seeing a 30/30 short, recently, about Nebraska in that 1983 game and they talked about the "what if" regarding Osbourne's 2 pt conversion attempt. Some of those guys were still hurt like it happened yesterday.

 

[ThomasM]

Enough time on the clock for Kosar to get into FG range. Our kicker had range. In my opinion, we still beat Nebraska even if they make that 2, or kick for the tie.

I've said it b4, from 2000-2002, we completely dominated the college football scene. For sure, we should have 7 titles instead of 5. BCS gate in 2000 robbed us, and Terry Porter (who was from Ohio and rumored to be a Suckeye fan) jobbed us.

Yet everyone's confused why Canes fans are so salty as to the product that's been shoved down our throats lately. It's b/c, conceivably, in a 20 year span, we should've had at least 8 titles if it wasn't for the ref jobbing us against ND in 88, and the BCS robbing us in 00, and of course 03. ****, throw in VT's throw away game in 86 and Erickson's poor coaching adjustment in 94, we would have 10.

It's not about the "what ifs" per say, it's about the product we were given back then, the commitment to winning, vs what was given to us. I hate when sports outlets say we're the worst fans...no, we're just fans who know what Canes football is supposed to look like, and don't accept anything else. And it looks like that message was finally received and we're on our way back to that.

Eh but we could just as easily have less national titles if some things were slightly different. Not sure if I really want to go there.

What if Osborne just decided to settle for an extra point in January 1984 and the 31-31 tie? What if FSU's kicker didn't have such an awful day in 1987 where he kept missing extra points? Do you realize we yielded 5 points off of 2 pointers and missed PATs against FSU, and in every other respect we lost that game 28-24? What if the AP voters hated us just as much as the coach's poll voters in 1991 and voted us #2 even though everybody knew we'd kill Washington? Now we're down to 1989 and 2001. And as comical as this sounds, some ND fans inexplicably think they should have been voted #1 in 1989 despite our 17 point head to head win.

What??

I said that we likely wouldn't have won the 1983 national title if Osborne doesn't go for 2 and probably wouldn't have won the 1987 title if FSU didn't have the worst kicker ever. He argued that we could have 10 national titles with a few extra bounces, which is true. I was pointing out we also could have something more like 3 national titles without some bounces going our way.

 

[ncncanes]

People - forget - two big plays kept the 2001 team unbeaten
- I was at BC - we should have the lost game - thank heaven for Ed
- Should have also lost the Vatech game - ball goes right through their WT hands

It was a great team on most nights but college kids just cant play at a high level every game - especially on the road

 

[Dingaan1828]

People - forget - two big plays kept the 2001 team unbeaten
- I was at BC - we should have the lost game - thank heaven for Ed
- Should have also lost the Vatech game - ball goes right through their WT hands

It was a great team on most nights but college kids just cant play at a high level every game - especially on the road

Ed had nothing to do with the turnover. We win with or without Ed's score.

 

[sebastiansbill]

People - forget - two big plays kept the 2001 team unbeaten
- I was at BC - we should have the lost game - thank heaven for Ed
- Should have also lost the Vatech game - ball goes right through their WT hands

It was a great team on most nights but college kids just cant play at a high level every game - especially on the road

Ed had nothing to do with the turnover. We win with or without Ed's score.

Ed Reed's return looks great on the highlight reel but it was truthfully was an unbelievably stupid move. If we just go down after the interception we can knee out the clock. There was no need to return the interception since that's risking turning the ball over ourselves.There especially was no need to take the ball out of another player's hands as he's being tackled. Imagine if reed had accidentally fumbled the ball as he's trying to take the ball away from his teammate, BC recovers, and BC gets a TD on their ensuing possesion?

 

[JimmyJohnsonsHair]

2002 Championship was lost for many reasons but main problem was the combination of a really strong OSU pash rush and no back up running back
- We underestimated how great their DL was and we couldn't protect Kenny..... at all
- However we were just figuring out the run game and then when WM got hurt we had to turn to Payton
- Love the guys heart however we had better back up running backs on last years team then 2002

2002 is one of those games were you could pick 12 different plays and if just one of them would have gone our way, we win however none did

We had a massive OL yet OSU was beating us all night with simple stunts. Art Kehoe was the WOAT.

 

[Zbrod95]

2002 Championship was lost for many reasons but main problem was the combination of a really strong OSU pash rush and no back up running back
- We underestimated how great their DL was and we couldn't protect Kenny..... at all
- However we were just figuring out the run game and then when WM got hurt we had to turn to Payton
- Love the guys heart however we had better back up running backs on last years team then 2002

2002 is one of those games were you could pick 12 different plays and if just one of them would have gone our way, we win however none did

We had a massive OL yet OSU was beating us all night with simple stunts. Art Kehoe was the WOAT.

What's even worse is that 4 NFL draft picks and one undrafted free agent that played in the league for like 6 years came off that same O-line depth chart

 

[cane_boi]

2002 Championship was lost for many reasons but main problem was the combination of a really strong OSU pash rush and no back up running back
- We underestimated how great their DL was and we couldn't protect Kenny..... at all
- However we were just figuring out the run game and then when WM got hurt we had to turn to Payton
- Love the guys heart however we had better back up running backs on last years team then 2002

2002 is one of those games were you could pick 12 different plays and if just one of them would have gone our way, we win however none did

the sean taylor pick in the endzone and then getting stripped by clarett was an absolute gut punch. 99 times out of a 100 that's a pick 6 since sean had great speed...or taylor steps out of bounds. but not only did he get stripped, we gave possession back. the football gods just seemed to be against us that day.

 

[kryptonite]

Neuheisel: It was horrible. I felt like Custer. It was horrible. They were so geeked up, ready to play.

...I can't tell you how happy that statement makes me.