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Bobcat1996
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Member Since: 1/2/2017
Post Count: 1,013
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| Football Scoops End of Year Top Five Seasons |
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Posted: 1/22/2025 11:42:45 AM |
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5. Arizona State
Arizona State
Sometimes the mark of a team's greatness is the effort it takes to beat them. No one exemplified more than Kenny Dillingham's Sun Devils, who turned a 24-8, deep-in-the-fourth-quarter deficit against mighty Texas into a double OT instant classic in quarterfinals of the College Football Playoff. Arizona State pulled off a worst-to-first season, winning a league they were picked to finish dead last in, and they did so in emphatic fashion: a 49-7 Territorial Cup win over Arizona, and then a 45-19 drubbing of Iowa State to claim the program's first outright conference championship and AP Top 10 finish since 1996.
4. Indiana
Indiana
It's the ultimate compliment that the bulk of the conversation around Curt Cignetti's team was what they didn't do. Yes, the Indiana Hoosiers lost to the national champion and the national runner-up. Shame on them. IU beat everyone else they played, scored the program's second win over Michigan since 1987, earned its largest margin of victory over Purdue ever, set a school record for single-season wins, closed the year in the AP Top 10, and registered the program's best season since reaching the Rose Bowl in 1967.
3. Ohio
Ohio
Ohio was the only FBS team to win a conference championship and beat a conference champion in the postseason. The Bobcats won 11 games for the first time in school history, secured the first back-to-back 10-win seasons in school history, and finally ended the program's MAC championship drought (first since 1968) after losing their first five MAC title games. What's more, Ohio pummeled rival Miami (Ohio) 38-3 to win the crown. After losing head coach Tim Albin to Charlotte, interim head coach Brian Smith guided the Bobcats to a 30-27 win over C-USA champion Jacksonville State in the Cure Bowl.
2. Notre Dame
Notre Dame
Marcus Freeman and co. shook off that Northern Illinois loss like Jaden Greathouse sheds tacklers. The Fighting Irish won at Kyle Field and LA Coliseum, beat SEC champion Georgia in the Sugar Bowl, and beat Penn State in a CFP semifinal at the Orange Bowl. Notre Dame ripped off a 13-game winning streak from September to Monday night, with 11 of those wins by double digits.
1. Ohio State
Jack Sawyer
Look, no one would ever choose to lose to your arch rival in excruciating fashion, but we can all admit the Michigan loss made Monday night more satisfying, right? Either way, the Ohio State season ended in the same destination that was foretold back in January, when the Buckeyes spent what was necessary to retain their draft-eligible talent, acquire Will Howard, Caleb Downs and Quinshon Judkins in the portal, and sign Jeremiah Smith. Ohio State became the first team in college football history to beat five AP top-5 teams to win the program's ninth claimed national championship and third in this century. In the year-end AP Top 25, No. 1 Ohio State beat No. 2 Notre Dame, No. 3 Oregon, No. 4 Texas and No. 5 Penn State -- all of them away from home.
Here at FootballScoop, we do our own Year-End Top 25, but we do it differently. Rather than rank the top 25 teams, we rank the top 25 seasons. This an avenue to view teams on somewhat equal footing: How did you perform relative to your own expectations, history and resources? Did you beat your rival and/or win your conference?
Last Edited: 1/22/2025 11:45:43 AM by Bobcat1996
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