Long-time followers of my account would know I’ve been fascinated by Nebraska’s recent performance in one-score games. It’s been historically bad. But as the old saying goes – one-score games can go either way and often come down to luck. It’s safe to say Nebraska has been unlucky (among other things) recently. However, I kept thinking about something Blake Lawrence posted during the 2023 season – Nebraska has won nearly 50% of their one-score games since 1974.
https://x.com/Blake_Lawrence/status/1728235743179669813
This idea has inspired a fun offseason project. What if every regular season single-score outcome had the opposite result? Legacies would change, new coaches and programs would be crowned as champions, and different players would hoist the Heisman trophy at the end of the season. This series will ask, “What almost happened?” in college football history.
Each season will have its own article that explores how both the actual season played out and what the hypothetical season would’ve looked like. Games that finished in ties will remain tied games in the hypothetical scenario. I’ll flip the result to reveal the new standings for each game decided by a single score in the regular season. These new results will determine each season’s major bowl matchups and the Heisman Trophy winner.
Actual stats will still be used to determine bowl matchups (along with historical bowl tie-ins from the time). I’ll use this information to decide who would win each bowl matchup and ultimately be crowned the national champion.
Changing the results of games would start to change which coaches stayed at schools or who was fired. Trying to carry results from one season to the next would quickly detach too far from reality to become worth considering. Because of this, I’ll keep most articles independent of the prior season’s hypotheticals. The only exception I’ll make to this rule is with the coach’s career. Coaches are often fired or retained on the multi-year trajectory of their program. For prominent coaches, I’ll factor in multiple years of hypotheticals when discussing their outcomes.
Overall, this exercise will be a fun learning experience for me and the reader. Scott Frost is known for the greatest 3-9 season of all time. New coaches may emerge in this “near misses” category, while others may have had their careers ended before their breakout season. The series will be featured on Nebraska Cornhuskers on SI. I appreciate everyone coming on this journey with me!
4 thoughts on “What If: Reviewing What Almost Happened in College Football History”