How would rate the 21st century national champions?

[wkuhillhound]

Since about half of the decade is already over, I thought of a great idea for a topic: How would rate 21st centuries National Championship teams? In case you need a reminder, here are the champions:

2000 Georgia Southern defeated Montana 27 - 25
2001 Montana defeated Furman 13 - 6
2002 Western Kentucky defeated McNeese State 34 - 14
2003 Delaware defeated Colgate 40 - 0
2004 James Madison defeated Montana 31 - 21

Which team was the most unheralded national champion?
Which team had the best offense?
Which team had the best defense? Note: Final score of the national championship does not necessarily mean you had the best defense. Its all about matchups in my opinion.
Which was the best national championship game?
Which team was most expected to be the national champion?

These are some questions I made up, but I am sure posters here would have others. Have at it. :D :) :nod:

[ChickenMan]

Since about half of the decade is already over, I thought of a great idea for a topic: How would rate 21st centuries National Championship teams? In case you need a reminder, here are the champions:

2000 Georgia Southern defeated Montana 27 - 25
2001 Montana defeated Furman 13 - 6
2002 Western Kentucky defeated McNeese State 34 - 14
2003 Delaware defeated Colgate 40 - 0
2004 James Madison defeated Montana 31 - 21


1... Which team was the most unheralded national champion?
2... Which team had the best offense?
3... Which team had the best defense? Note: Final score of the national championship does not necessarily mean you had the best defense. Its all about matchups in my opinion.
4... Which was the best national championship game?
5... Which team was most expected to be the national champion?




1. JMU... they were unrated at the start of the season and had to play every playoff game on the road.

2. GSU... seemed like only the weather could slow that option down

3. Delaware... in 4 playoff games they gave up only 23 total points

4. tie... GSU/Montana & JMU/Montana... but both were marred by poor field coniditions... one caused by bad weather... the other by a bad turf.

5. Montana... only loss that year was to 1A Hawaii

[JoltinJoe]

Having saw these teams play only a handful of games, I feel immensely qualified to offer my opinion.

First, I'd rank them overall in this order:

(1) 2001 Montana. Only loss was to I-A Hawaii (9-3), and they did a far better job controlling Hawaii's offnese than many of Hawaii's I-A opponents.
(2) 2003 Delaware. I'd put them No. 1, but for the Hens' loss to Northeastern. Inexplicable, in retrospect.
(3) 2002 Western Kentucky. Slowest starter of the national champions (althougn one loss was to a very good I-A Kansas State team), but impressed with a big win over McNeese St., after losing big to McNeese in the regular season. After that loss to McNeese, this team became a different team, and a scary good one at that. If they had played the first few weeks like they played the second half of the season, I'd put them number one.
(4) 2000 Georgia Southern. I think they got hot at the right time, but what stands out is the spanking they took at Furman in the next-to-last regular season game.
(5) 2004 JMU. They won a lot of games, and that's all you have to do. But their margin of victories were often close. No disrespect intended to the Dukes, but the other teams tended to bowl their opponents over.

Most unheralded. JMU. Just did everything they needed to do to win.
Best offense -- 2001 Montana. Put up 30 points each week as routinely as a pro golfer scores par.
Best defense -- 2003 Delaware. A Division I-A defense, and a very good one at that.
Best National Championship game -- I like defense, so I'll go with the 2001 game between Montana and Furman. Furman did a great job keeping Montana's offense in check.
Most expected to win? When. Prior to the game, I'd say Delaware.
If during the season, I'd say 2001 Montana.

[wkuhillhound]

Having saw these teams play only a handful of games, I feel immensely qualified to offer my opinion.

First, I'd rank them overall in this order:

(3) 2002 Western Kentucky. Slowest starter of the national champions (althougn one loss was to a very good I-A Kansas State team), but impressed with a big win over McNeese St., after losing big to McNeese in the regular season. After that loss to McNeese, this team became a different team, and a sacry good one at that. If they had played the first few weeks like they played the second half of the season, I'd put them number one.


I could not have described the 2002 Western Kentucky national championship team any better. As a matter of fact, the lost 3 of their first 5 games. Lost to Western Illinois, McNeese State, and I-A Kansas State. That game against Northern Iowa the team magically changed and RAN the table. Not only did they get revenge on McNeese State during the playoffs they defeated Western Illinois in the Quarterfinal round. They are the first team to play the TOP 3 seeded teams in the country enroute to a national championship, also defeated TWO teams they lost to during the regular season to win the national championship.

[JoltinJoe]

I could not have described the 2002 Western Kentucky national championship team any better. As a matter of fact, the lost 3 of their first 5 games. Lost to Western Illinois, McNeese State, and I-A Kansas State. That game against Northern Iowa the team magically changed and RAN the table. Not only did they get revenge on McNeese State during the playoffs they defeated Western Illinois in the Quarterfinal round. They are the first team to play the TOP 3 seeded teams in the country enroute to a national championship, also defeated TWO teams they lost to during the regular season to win the national championship.

I had forgotten that they got revenge in the playoffs against Western Illinois too.

[Tod]

GSU has not won a NC in the 21st century.... ;) ;) :D

:asswhip: (bad Tod)

[Pen Guin]

Best Defense = UD? A IA defense, and a very good one at that?

This team gave up 16 PPG's during the regular season. Fair but nothing incredible.
-Average of 11.8 yards per catch.
-Gave up over 300 yards per game on D. Any moron could book 21 points against that.
-Almost 1500 yards in kick returns allowed ... almost 21 yards per.
-almost exactly 50/50 on TOP. You did not hurt yourself, but not help there either. Considering the number of TO's, it should have been much better.
-You only gave up 3.1 per on the ground, that is what kept UD in their games. Especially the three OT games. That and 2 TO's per game average.


SCORE BY QUARTERS 1st 2nd 3rd 4th OT Total
-------------------- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Delaware............ 138 143 136 115 23 - 555
Opponents........... 56 65 42 70 14 - 247

Sorry, but that is offense guys ... not defense. If you were to give up an average of 3 TD's to a team with a solid D ... you would lose every time. The only reason I would say the D was even worth mentioning, was because they were very opportunistic that year. Great TO margin. But if I, as a defensive coach, have an offense averaging almost 2 TD's per quarter ... I could afford to look for a bit of opportunity.

[JoltinJoe]

Best Defense = UD? A IA defense, and a very good one at that?

This team gave up 16 PPG's during the regular season. Fair but nothing incredible.
-Average of 11.8 yards per catch.
-Gave up over 300 yards per game on D. Any moron could book 21 points against that.
-Almost 1500 yards in kick returns allowed ... almost 21 yards per.
-almost exactly 50/50 on TOP. You did not hurt yourself, but not help there either. Considering the number of TO's, it should have been much better.
-You only gave up 3.1 per on the ground, that is what kept UD in their games. Especially the three OT games. That and 2 TO's per game average.


SCORE BY QUARTERS 1st 2nd 3rd 4th OT Total
-------------------- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Delaware............ 138 143 136 115 23 - 555
Opponents........... 56 65 42 70 14 - 247

Sorry, but that is offense guys ... not defense. If you were to give up an average of 3 TD's to a team with a solid D ... you would lose every time. The only reason I would say the D was even worth mentioning, was because they were very opportunistic that year. Great TO margin. But if I, as a defensive coach, have an offense averaging almost 2 TD's per quarter ... I could afford to look for a bit of opportunity.

From what I saw of the Delaware defense in 2003 (which was not a whole lot and mostly playoff games), it was an opportunistic, hard-hitting defense that caused many turnovers, and frequently gave the offense a short field to work with.

I thought it worked the other way around. I thought the offense was able to put up two TDs a quarter because the defense was giving it frequent chances to score.

I would defer to Delaware fans on this point, but I seem to recall many points and yardage being tacked on by the opponents during garbage time.

[89Hen]

This team gave up 16 PPG's during the regular season. Fair but nothing incredible.
45 points in triple OT against UMass accounted for over 20% of the season total.

[Hansel]

45 points in triple OT against UMass accounted for over 20% of the season total.

How does a team score 45 points in 3 OT's? :confused: :cool:

[Henny]

Guin

My only response to that is to try a full slate in the A-10 for a season. It is bound to take a toll and the umass game was just a battle of atrition.

When focusing on defense check and see what UD's defense did against gateway teams as well as Colgate and then make your assesment.

[ChickenMan]

If the question was relative to playoff performances... then UD's defense has to be rated #1. Just as the WKU team improved as the season wore on in '02... UD's defense did the same in '03. Their playoff performance of allowing only 23 total points... 5.7 per game (with 6 of those 23 points coming on the meaningless last play of Wofford game) was probably the best in 1AA playoff history. I think it was a particularly impressive perfomance considering the fact that the Hen's playoff opponents SIU... UNI... Wofford and Colgate were a combined 47-4 that year.

[89Hen]

How does a team score 45 points in 3 OT's? :confused: :cool:
By scoring 31 in regulation and 14 in OT. My point was that the point total was inflated quite a bit by one game. During the regular season, the Hen D was great against the run and was more of a bend don't break D. In the playoffs however, the D was silly. It helps when you're facing three out of four teams that like to run the ball. SIU, Wofford and Colgate all thought they could run on the Hen D, but that was the same thing we heard all year, especially facing the top rushing team in I-AA and I-A in URI and Navy and holding both to well under their averages.

[GannonFan]

Gotta disagree with the knock on UD's D in 2003 not being anything special. The year did see multiple OT games, so yardage and points were a little skewed as a result of that. While the offense was good, the d, as another poster said, did set up a lot of scores for the offense with turnovers and controlling the field position. And you can't just gloss over the playoff run - heck, in 4 games they gave up an average of 5.75 ppg, and that number is closer to 4.25 ppg if you discount the 6 points Wofford tacked on as students ran on the field at the end of a game long since over. You can discount Colgate all you want, but beating both Gateway champs and the Southern champ, with all 3 having different offensive schemes, is no small matter. (oh, and if you're sticking with regular season, UD did hold bowl-bound Navy that year to 180 yds rushing versus their average of 321 yds and held them to 17 points versus their 30+ point average - not bad at all)

[Eagle_77]

Since about half of the decade is already over, I thought of a great idea for a topic: How would rate 21st centuries National Championship teams? In case you need a reminder, here are the champions:

2000 Georgia Southern defeated Montana 27 - 25
2001 Montana defeated Furman 13 - 6
2002 Western Kentucky defeated McNeese State 34 - 14
2003 Delaware defeated Colgate 40 - 0
2004 James Madison defeated Montana 31 - 21

Which team was the most unheralded national champion?
Which team had the best offense?
Which team had the best defense? Note: Final score of the national championship does not necessarily mean you had the best defense. Its all about matchups in my opinion.
Which was the best national championship game?
Which team was most expected to be the national champion?

These are some questions I made up, but I am sure posters here would have others. Have at it. :D :) :nod:

Best Champion- Delaware 03
Best O- GSU was awesome in 00
Best D- Delaware in 03. I-A defense that was unreal. WKU in 02 was not far behind this Delaware team. Were one of the most physical Defenses I have seen.
Best Game- GSU-Montana. That game was back and forth all game and came down to the wire. Had big time plays on both Offense and Defense. Most exciting overall.
Most expected- I would have to go with Montana in 01.

[blueballs]

Most unheralded champ: WKU 2002. Had to win some tough road games at WIU and GSU before facing the top ranked MSU team who they had lost to earlier. Kinda a Cinderella story but very well deserved.

Best offense: GSU 2000, Adrian Peterson, nuff said.

Best defense: UD 2003. One of, if not the, best playoff runs ever. Sheer domination in every respect.

Best game: Montana/GSU in 2000. Game went down to the last play after a great Montana comeback which saw a fake punt for a TD and the "Son of the Run" by Peterson. What a game!

Team most expected to be NC: Tough one, Montana in 2001 was ranked #1 going into the tournament and I think UD in 2003 was as well. GSU in 2000 was a repeat champ and the title game marked their third consecutive trip and even though they lost a/Furman they were still the odds on favorite that year even though they were seeded third.

[blukeys]

Best Defense = UD? A IA defense, and a very good one at that?

This team gave up 16 PPG's during the regular season. Fair but nothing incredible.
-Average of 11.8 yards per catch.
-Gave up over 300 yards per game on D. Any moron could book 21 points against that.
-Almost 1500 yards in kick returns allowed ... almost 21 yards per.
-almost exactly 50/50 on TOP. You did not hurt yourself, but not help there either. Considering the number of TO's, it should have been much better.
-You only gave up 3.1 per on the ground, that is what kept UD in their games. Especially the three OT games. That and 2 TO's per game average.


SCORE BY QUARTERS 1st 2nd 3rd 4th OT Total
-------------------- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Delaware............ 138 143 136 115 23 - 555
Opponents........... 56 65 42 70 14 - 247

Sorry, but that is offense guys ... not defense. If you were to give up an average of 3 TD's to a team with a solid D ... you would lose every time. The only reason I would say the D was even worth mentioning, was because they were very opportunistic that year. Great TO margin. But if I, as a defensive coach, have an offense averaging almost 2 TD's per quarter ... I could afford to look for a bit of opportunity.


When asked by the media what made the difference in the Hens' defense during the playoff run, all the defensive starters agreed it was the return of Mike Adams. I would also include the return of Leon Clarke. These 2 defensive backs were 5th year seniors who missed the last half of the regular season. The Hens unfortunately had to face some great offensive teams in that stretch and this hurt the defensive stats especially against passing teams such as Umass and Maine. Adams was also a great special teams player.

Both Adams and Clarke were great hitters with great make up speed. Joel Sambursky found out about Clarke when he was knocked out of the first playoff game. (the hit made ESPN's Sports Center highlights). Mike Adams' interception against UNI in the second playoff game was in my view the play of the game.

Adams has made the 49ers team as a free agent. He has played nickel back and on special teams. Most teams losing a defensive starter who goes on to play in the pros will see a loss of efficiency. Delaware was no exception. While the Hens defense played well enough to win all but one game without Adams and Clarke, missing them clearly impacted the defense and this would show in the stats.

However with Adams and Clarke back in the lineup, the Delaware D was clearly the best of the 21st century champs.

[GannonFan]

My take:

Most unheralded: JMU - nobody (even honest JMU fans) saw this coming, and their signature way of winning (clawing and eeking out tight victories) is a tough way to win 4 games in December (well, 3 in December, one in Nov) but they did it.
Best O - GA Southern - really could move the ball well, even though Montana and the weather did slow them down a bit.
Best D - UD - see my earlier post - this D was overwhelming and only the Wofford game was one where the matchup clearly favored Delaware (impossible to run on and they tried to run a version of the Wing-T in the house that basically developed it)
Best Game - GA Southern/Montana - despite the prolific offense GA Southern had to feel fortunate to win this one - a definite nailbiter and good win over a game Montana team.
Expected Most - Montana - picked early in the year to do well (with the weak bottom of the BSC they almost are always picked to do well) and Furman was a surprise entrant. UD would have been my pick but they didn't have the preseason hype Montana did.