Match-Up College Football Set 002 - Classic College Football, Pre-1970, Vol. I

Thanks for joining us for Set 002 of Match-Up College Football. This time, we will look at the 11 college football teams that considered classic teams of the pre-1970 era. While we will scatter the talent levels in future sets, this set is dedicated to the very good, the great, and the greatest, including the team that is maybe the greatest of all-time: 1945 Army. 1924 Notre Dame (Knute Rockne coaches the “Four Horsemen”) 1940 Michigan (Heisman winner Tom Harmon) 1945 Army (“Mr. Inside” Doc Blanchard & “Mr. Outside” Glenn Davis, both Heisman winners, GOAT team?) 1956 Oklahoma (Third consecutive undefeated season, 41.5 PPG, two Heisman finalists) 1958 LSU (1959 Heisman winner Billy Cannon in his best season, National Champions) 1959 Syracuse (Maybe the best rushing defense of all-time, Ernie Davis as a freshman, strong offense) 1963 Navy (Heisman winner Roger Staubach was clearly the best QB in the country) 1967 USC (O.J. Simpson’s best season?, National Champions, Outland winner Ron Yary) 1968 Ohio State (Woody Hayes’ third National Champion, the “Super Sophs”: Tatum, Kern, Stillwagon, Brockington) 1969 Missouri (#1 in SRS in 1969, Mel Gray, Joe Moore, Terry McMillan) 1969 Tennessee (Heisman nominee Steve Kiner, Bobby Scott at QB, “Hacksaw” Jack Reynolds) The commonality here may be greatness on some capacity. Journalist Grantland Rice sketched 1924 Notre Dame into immortality with one column, we have two in-season Heisman winners, three future Heisman winners, seven national champions, a quarterback in Roget Staubach who completed 65% of his passes when the national average was 46%, Blanchard and Davis as running backs who both averaged over 40 yards per catch as receivers, and a 1956 Oklahoma team that may be the biggest threat to 1945 as the greatest team of all-time. But don’t sleep on 1959 Syracuse who allowed a minuscule 0.6 yards per carry on defense, all with freshman Ernie Davis averaging 7.0 yards per carry. The two 1969 teams (Mizzou and Tennessee) were entangled in the “Conundrum of 1969,” and there is a reason they are here: the other 11 teams entangled in the controversial national championship race will be in a set to come soon.