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Funny the way things shake out...

I was trying to think which MAC team the last 15 to 20 years would have had the best chance of winning a BCS Bowl game like NIU has the opportunity to do this year?

I think there have been NIU teams of the past that were better than this year's team. The 2003 NIU Huskies under Joe Novak had future NFL players Michael Turner, Doug Free, Brad Cieslak, P.J. Fleck, Dan Sheldon, Keith Perry, Vinson Reynolds, Akil Grant, Randee Drew, and Travis Moore. That team beat #14 Maryland, # 21 Alabama and Iowa State that year.

2003 Miami Rehawks team with Ben Roethlisberger, Martin Nance, Cal Murray and Michael Larkin would have also had a better chance. That team beat Louisville 49-28 in the GMAC Bowl that year.

Gary Pinkel had some good team at Toledo in the mid-90's. I also think Herb Deromedi had some very good Central MIchigan teams in the 80's.

I think the BG teams with Josh Harris and Omar Jacobs teams probably would have a better chance in a BCS Bowl than this year's NIU team.

The only reason I see this Orange Bowl as being a very tough test for NIU is the quality of their opponent. Florida State has a very talented team which man for man is better than probably 95% of the teams in college football. I doubt if they are especially thrilled about the matchup and may overlook NIU. As far as your topic goes I would have to say Miami when Rothlesberger was the QB. He had elite talent at the most important position on the field and overall that Miami team was pretty balanced. BG's problem during those years was the defense never was as good as their offense. I would have loved to have seen this years defense and the offenses of Josh Harris and Omar Jacobs.

2003 Miami, 1999 Marshall, 2000 Toledo.....maybe our 1991 squad. The Fresno State team they beat that year in the Cal Bowl was tough

Flipper wrote:2003 Miami, 1999 Marshall, 2000 Toledo.....maybe our 1991 squad. The Fresno State team they beat that year in the Cal Bowl was tough

1999 Marshall team is a good call...Chad Pennington and Randy Moss.

Cap City 7 wrote:The only reason I see this Orange Bowl as being a very tough test for NIU is the quality of their opponent. Florida State has a very talented team which man for man is better than probably 95% of the teams in college football. I doubt if they are especially thrilled about the matchup and may overlook NIU. As far as your topic goes I would have to say Miami when Rothlesberger was the QB. He had elite talent at the most important position on the field and overall that Miami team was pretty balanced. BG's problem during those years was the defense never was as good as their offense. I would have loved to have seen this years defense and the offenses of Josh Harris and Omar Jacobs.

I would agree that the 2003 Miami team was probably the best I've seen, with our '91-'91 teams just a hair behind.

NIU is an excellent team, but they don't matchup well with FSU. NIU's strength is lining up and running it down your throat. They are going to have a really, really tough time doing that against FSU's defensive front. I doubt their passing game is explosive enough to break loose against FSU's fast secondary. I was surprised that they shut down Archer in the champoinship game, but they were able to put their focus squarely on him. FSU will have multiple players on the field at any given time with Archer's kind of speed, so that's going to make it tougher for them to defend. Hopefully, FSU will come out over confident, unmotivated and NIU will have the breaks go their way and they can pull the upset.

1994 BG team...a 5 pt loss to NC State to start the year, followed by routs galore until the fat punter game. 9 pts away from perfection. That was a damn good team as well.

I'd have to say 2003 Miami would have been the best I've ever seen since I was too young to see the ut teams of 69-71 and Miami from 73-75.

I didn't follow the MAC closely before 98, but I think the 99 Marshall team vs the 03 Miami team would have made for a great game. I say the thundering terds lose that one in a shootout.