Well, here comes the year 2000. And you know what that means: 1999 will go down in history as the "Year Of Lists". Already you see them. There was the 100 greatest movies of all time. Sportzone is counting down the 50 greatest athletes of the century. The Emmys are promoting the 10 greatest TV moments. There will be best of century lists, best of millenium lists, best of all time lists. Movies, music, moments.
We here at the Steve St. John Home Page are not immune to the lure of the best of list. Our best of list spans the 1990's; 1990 was the first year I had season tickets to college football games, and was the year I really paid a great deal of attention to the sport. So I limited my best of list to the period of my expertise. Even still, more than one expert criticized the list as being Gator-o-centric, or perhaps more fairly, southern-football centric. Hey, get your own web page!
So for the past two weeks, you, the loyal college football experts, have cast your votes on the greatest thises and thats of the 90's. Here are the results:
CATEGORY: Best Quarterback |
WEBMAESTRO'S PICK: Charlie Ward | |||||||||||||||
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| College quarterbacks can be judged in a variety of different ways. Do you use passing ability, running ability, pro potential, leadership, or ability to make quick decisions? Does the quarterback have to have won a championship? Of the vote getters, Ward, Wuerffel, and Frazier won championships, and for me, the choice came down to those three. Little separates them. Frazier was possibly the best runner of the three, and Wuerffel was probably the best passer. But Ward combined both skills in a single package, and even though I once watched Tommy Frazier escape 7 Gator tacklers on a 75-yard touchdown run, Charlie Ward remains the most difficult college player to tackle I have ever seen. My slight edge goes to Ward; the experts agree. | ||||||||||||||||
CATEGORY: Best Tailback |
WEBMAESTRO'S PICK: Warrick Dunn | |||||||||||||||
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| It is interesting that the overwhelming choice for best tailback is the guy with maybe the least impressive statistics. Whereas a guy like Phillips played on a running team, and a guy like Troy Davis amassed most of his team's offense, Warrick Dunn played at a school that favored the pass and that, at times, seemed to forget he was out there. I think there are a couple of reasons why he was the favorite choice. One, he was a key contributor for four years; he made a big impact as a freshman and he didn't leave early. Second, he was multi-dimensional: he could run outside, he could squirt through holes inside, and he was deadly on screen passes and swing passes. And maybe the biggest reason, he always showed up for big games. You knew that with all the game breakers Florida State has had, it was Warrick Dunn who was going to kill you. Simply put, he was the biggest big time performer on a team that has been one of the best year in, year out. | ||||||||||||||||
CATEGORY: Best Coach |
WEBMAESTRO'S PICK: Steve Spurrier | |||||||||||||||
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| All of the vote-getters except Lubick and Paterno led their teams to a national title, and of course Paterno led Penn State to an undefeated campaign in 1994. Osborne had a strong second place showing in our poll on the strength of Nebraska's NCAA-best three championships in the 90s. Steve Spurrier got my vote, and was the top vote getter, however. It is hard to judge coaches because some coaches have better talent than others, some play easier competition, and some have better assistant coaches than others. I voted for Spurrier because there were a number of Gator wins I could attribute a big part to good coaching (the 1997 Sugar Bowl, the 1994 SEC Championship, the 1991 FSU game, etc.). Furthermore, because Spurrier is also the offensive coordinator that draws up the "ball plays" for a complicated offense, he has more responsibility for and contribution to the outcome of individual games than most coaches in football. | ||||||||||||||||
CATEGORY: Best Team |
WEBMAESTRO'S PICK: Nebraska 95 | |||||||||||||||
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| It is interesting that the team once hyped as the greatest college football team of all time, the 1993 Seminoles, received only one vote as best of the decade. And the votes for Florida 96, Miami 91, and Michigan 97 spank of homerism, if I may be allowed an editorial comment. The runaway winner was the 1995 Nebraska Cornhuskers, with Lawerence Phillips, Tommy Frazier, Grant Wistrom, Jason and Christian Peter, Ahman Green, and a host of other prime performers. With an unstoppable ground game and a speedy, strong, play making defence, few teams could dominate a game like those Cornhuskers. Sure, there were a few lawbreakers on that team, but on the football field, they were incredible. | ||||||||||||||||
CATEGORY: Best Play |
WEBMAESTRO'S PICK: Brown 96 | |||||||||||||||
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| The only category where my pick wasn't also the top choice. Most of you liked the desperation hail mary from Kordell Stewart to Michael Westbrook on the last play of the 1994 Michigan-Colorado game. Also a popular choice was the gutsy fourth and three play in the 1996 Big 12 Championship. That's college football, baby. | ||||||||||||||||
CATEGORY: Best Game |
WEBMAESTRO'S PICK: Rose Bowl 97 | |||||||||||||||
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| Some of you suggested other games as possibilities, but none of them completely fit all of my criteria. The category should be Best Meaningful Game, where Meaningful is defined as playing a demonstrable role in deciding a national or conference championship. Best means the game was close and well-played by both teams (hence the 1997 SEC Championship game would not count: yes, it was a championship, yes it was close, but no, both Tennessee and Auburn played horribly in that game). With that narrow definition, this was the most hotly contested category. I think the 1997 Rose Bowl won because it had two very memorable moments: Plummer's heroic fourth quarter drive to go ahead followed by Germaine's heroic fourth quarter drive to win it. | ||||||||||||||||
Thank you all for taking part. Remember, the guest commentary is available if any of you want to relive great college football moments or present your own best of list. I look forward to hearing from you.