Could Indiana beat 2019 LSU? A worthy debate.
2001 Miami also takes a spot in conversation of greatest college football teams.
Don’t forget 1894 Yale! It finished 16-0.
The debate will be as spirited as it is unsolvable.
Already, it’s gaining steam, and Indiana hasn’t even won the national championship yet.
While the Hoosiers skunked Oregon in the College Football Playoff semifinals, ESPN analyst Greg McElroy said Indiana was giving off 2019 LSU vibes.
So begins the discussion: If Indiana beats Miami to cap a dominant season, will the undefeated Hoosiers enjoy a claim as the greatest team of all-time?
Mere suggestion of that is probably enough to make Ed Orgeron rip his shirt off — not that the former LSU coach needs much encouragement to go shirtless. He’s living the good life in Miami Beach nowadays.
No matter how Miami-Indiana unfolds, I’ll hesitate before casting aside 2019 LSU.
No Heisman Trophy winner has ever thrown for more than the 5,671 yards Joe Burrow racked up that season. Wide receivers Justin Jefferson and Ja’Marr Chase are on pace to be Pro Football Hall of Famers. Months after that season ended, 14 LSU players were selected in the NFL draft, including five in the first round.
Truly, a dominant group led by an unrelenting offense that routed one opponent after another en route to a 15-0 record.
LSU stomped Georgia in the SEC championship game, then smoked Oklahoma and Clemson in the playoff.
Let us not become such a victim of the moment that we forget Burrow threw for 956 yards and 12 touchdowns in just two playoff games.
Elite.
Offensively, the advantage goes to 2019 LSU.
Defensively, these Hoosiers would enjoy the edge. Their average margin of victory of 31.5 points trumps the ’19 Tigers.
Indiana belongs in the conversation, but could D’Angelo Ponds bottle up Chase? Would Fernando Mendoza go completion for completion with Burrow?
Unanswerable questions. That’s why these debates are a tad exhausting.
2019 LSU, 2001 Miami among greatest college football teams ever
I mean, sure, why shouldn’t Indiana make the claim of being the greatest if it beats Miami? In this era of hyperbole, seems there’s a GOAT on every street corner. Indiana at least would have a briefcase stuffed with evidence. The Hoosiers could call Ty Simpson or Dante Moore to the witness stand.
It must be said, though, we’re defining this conversation too narrowly if we’re only considering 2019 LSU and 2025 Indiana. Because, 2001 Miami needs a word.
That super squad with six All-Americans went 12-0 and trounced Nebraska at the Rose Bowl to win the BCS national championship. The 2001 Hurricanes produced a stunning 38 NFL draft picks in the years that followed.
That season, Miami beat Syracuse and Washington in back-to-back weeks in November by a combined score of 124-7. These were not bad opponents. Syracuse finished 10-3. Washington went 8-4. Miami was just in a different league.
Brings to mind Indiana embarrassing Illinois 63-10 in September. The Illini finished 9-4. Good enough to beat Southern Cal and Tennessee, and good enough to lose to the Hoosiers by 53 points.
These debates are a bit tidier if confined to the parameters of the eras in which the teams played.
∎ Best team of the BCS era: 2001 Miami, although I’m tempted by Vince Young and 2005 Texas.
∎ Best team of the four-team playoff era: 2019 LSU, with apology to 2020 Alabama.
∎ Best team of the 12-team playoff era: TBD. We’re one game away from penciling in 2025 Indiana.
Indiana can go 16-0 to match 1894 Yale
I’d weigh in on the greatest pre-BCS team, but I admit to not having the necessary frame of reference. I’m no expert on 1894 Yale, which went 16-0, shut out 13 opponents and outscored its competition 485-13.
One opposing coach, after a 48-0 beatdown in 1894, told a reporter this of Yale: “Her game is steady and hard from start to finish.”
Sounds a lot like how Indiana looked against Alabama and Oregon.
Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network’s senior national college football columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on X @btoppmeyer.