1995 Nebraska Still the GOAT, 2019 LSU not close

Last month a lot of fans of the greatest sport on earth, college football, lost their collective minds. They did so by declaring the 2019 Louisiana State University Tigers as the greatest college football team of all time. This is a team that gave up 38 points to 5-7 Ole Miss, gave up 38 to 3-9 Vanderbilt, barely beat mediocre Texas, gave up 41 points to and injured quarterback, and barely beat Auburn at home, the same Auburn team that lost to Minnesota. 2019 LSU is one of the best teams of all time, but it is nowhere close to the GOAT. 

1995 Nebraska is the greatest college football team of all time, and its not particularly close. When you compare the ‘95 Huskers to ‘19 Tigers, the results show that those Huskers were far more dominant. Led by the Tommie Frazier, who is the greatest Heisman snub of all time, Nebraska outscored their opposition 53.16-14.5. A margin of 38.66 PPG. LSU outscored their foes 48.4-21.86, a margin of 26.54 PPG. These Tigers had 3 teams come within 7 points of them, while the 1995 Huskers closest loss was by 14 points. 1995 Nebraska outscored their opponents by a greater margin, 12 PPG, than LSU did, and played 0 close games, as opposed to the 3 LSU played. 

Many people will point out that the 1995 Big Eight was nothing compared to the 2019 SEC. That’s just ESPN driven SEC bias that is absurd. While there were some horrid teams in that Big Eight, this SEC had Arkansas, who got annihilated at home by Western Kentucky, and also lost at home to San Jose State. The Razorbacks went 2-10. The conference also featured Vanderbilt, who lost to UNLV, a team that went 2-6 in the Moutain West. The Commodores went 3-9. LSU played both Vanderbilt and Arkansas in 2019. It’s clear, the SEC in 2019, had teams that were just as bad as the bottom of the 1995 Big Eight. 

LSU beat the #2, #4, #6, #8, and #14 ranked teams in the final AP poll. They also beat the #25 team, 8-5 Texas, but that might be the blasphemous ranking in college football history. The Tigers beat the five real ranked teams they played by an average of 20.2 PPG. 1995 Nebraska beat the #2, #5, #7, #9, by an average of 30.5 PPG. That includes a dominant 62-24 over #2 Florida in the National Championship Game. LSU might have played one more ranked team, but they outscored their ranked opposition by only 20.2 PPG, compared to 30.5 PPG for the ‘95 Huskers. 

It is also important to realize that the defensive side of the football is important too. It is a fair argument and probably a true statement that the 2019 LSU Tigers had the greatest offense in college football history. The numbers that LSU QB LSU Joe Burrow put up were ridiculous. The problem is the fact that Tigers gave up more than 30 points four times, and also gave up 41 points to an Alabama team who was led by an injured quarterback. LSU also failed to shut out any of the opponents they played. In 1995, Nebraska shut out two teams, and help every single opponent to under 30 points, something that LSU never did. LSU’s defense ranked 29th out of 130 FBS teams in the points allowed per game metric for the 2019 season, while in 1995, the Huskers ranked 4th out of 109 FBS team in the same metric. Clearly, LSU had a good not great defensive to go along with its potent offense. The ‘95 Huskers had a stout elite defense to go along with an elite offense as well, an offense that led the nation in scoring.  

2019 LSU was a great team, but it is foolish and stupid to suggest that they belong in the same universe as the 1995 Nebraska football team. The Huskers were more dominant against their entire schedule, as well as against the ranked teams they played. Nebraska also had a tremendous defense, something that LSU did not. The facts and numbers are there, its time for some people to stop their SEC bias and realize 2019 LSU was nowhere close to 1995 Nebraska.