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Post by unalions on Jan 28, 2019 13:43:02 GMT -6
Who would win? I thought this might be a fun off-season thread.
Both of these teams had great seasons, won the GSC title and advanced to the national championship game. Interestingly, 1985 was the season before the title game moved to Braly and 2016 was two seasons after it left.
I, admittedly, don't recall much about the 85 team other than watching them in the title game on ESPN that year. I'm going to hold my vote on this one until someone fills us in on that squad.
1985: 12-2 2016: 11-2
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Post by unalions on Jan 28, 2019 13:49:39 GMT -6
Here are some things I found out about the 1985 team, so far. Attachments:
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Post by unalions on Jan 28, 2019 13:52:50 GMT -6
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Post by brandon on Jan 28, 2019 14:43:00 GMT -6
It's hard to determine because of different era.
I went with 2016 because (even though I dont like the snow excuses) I think the snow was what killed our strength. We were a much faster team, offensively and defensively than NWMSU. The snow made us play their game.
1985 was UNA against NDSU that was not impacted dramatically by whether. They were obviously a juggernaut that year.
I honestly feel like the 2016 team would have won by 21 in perfect conditions.
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Post by lions09 on Jan 28, 2019 15:29:59 GMT -6
The 1985 team played in a much stronger GSC with JSU and Troy.
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Post by catscratchfever4 on Jan 29, 2019 2:53:50 GMT -6
The 1985 team played in a much stronger GSC with JSU and Troy. The '83 team would have beaten both. Great talent on both sides of the ball. Very balanced on offense with two fine QBs in 6-2 Rusty Towery, one of the most prolific passers UNA has had and he could take off with it too. Bobby Duncan, a big 6-3 Tulane transfer had a great arm and was very accurate. The running game was solid, led by All-American Clarence "The Count" Johnson.
'83 players and the NFL
Gary Davis DB Dallas Cowboys NFL Dean Sanders DT New England Patriots NFL Bobby Duncan QB Denver Broncos NFL Chris Evans SS New York Jets NFL were NFL free agents. Daryl Smith and Lewis Billups were drafted and played in the Super Bowl.
LIONS IN THE NCAA STATISTICS TOP 40 Rankings in Team Offense Total Offense 7th nationally at 410 yards per game in the pre-watered down GSC era. All-Americans: Clarence Johnson, Daryl Smith, Scott Shirley, Dean Sanders, Lewis Billups, Bruce Jones and Steve Rogers. Dexter Rutherford played two years for Coach Bryant at Alabama before transferring to UNA, where he earned all-Gulf South Conference and All-American honors.
All-Americans Honorable Mention Daryl Smith DB First team Scott Shirley OL Honorable Mention Dean Sanders DT Honorable Mention Lewis Billups DB 1st team Bruce Jones DB 1st team Clarence Johnson 1st team Steve Rogers Honorable Mention Rod Brooks holds UNA record for career interceptions with 17 and at one time shared the school record for interceptions in a season with eight in 1983. He was an honorable mention Associated Press All-America pick in 1982 and was first-team All-Gulf South Conference in 1982 and 1983. He was named UNA's Outstanding Defensive Back in 1983 and was later drafted in the 16th round of the USFL (United States Football League) draft by the Michigan Panthers. He still ranks among the all-time Gulf South Conference interception leaders, after holding the league record for several years. He was selected as a permanent team captain in 1983 and was selected GSC Defensive Player of the Week on Oct. 23, 1982 against Troy State. Here's Rod rockin' the purple and GOLD! roarlions.com/hof.aspx?hof=12&mobile=skip
Brooks helped UNA to GSC titles and NCAA playoff appearances in 1980 and 1983 and played on UNA teams with a combined 36-8-1 record.
We should have won it all but we bogged down in the mud of a massive rainstorm against Central State of Ohio 27-24, our only loss of the season.
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Post by brandon on Jan 29, 2019 4:08:27 GMT -6
Daryl Smith was one of my coaches in Jv football. He was an assistant coach for Central throughout the 90's. Great man.
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Post by unafied on Jan 29, 2019 7:16:30 GMT -6
Ugh, I don't know about you guys, but I CANNOT re-watch a game that we lost. It's the same for any sports team I follow. Though I can watch some clips from that '85 game since I was only 2 at the time and obviously don't remember it. But the 2016 game? Yeah, I'm still angry about that one. NWMSU, man. What a thorn in our side from the last decade or so in D2. So many bad memories.
I do think it's interesting that the '85 team seemed to just barely slip by in a lot of games, at least looking at the scores. Obviously it was a tougher GSC (overall), as has been pointed out. I think 2016 was a great team. If the Jacksonville State game had been played later in the season, I believe we could have beaten them. My only gripe with that team is it felt we asked Jacob Tucker to do too much at times. And I know, when you have a great QB, it's what you do. It certainly would've been nice to play the title game on a dry field and see what might have happened. I'm not sure we would've won, but I do feel the score would've been much closer.
Anyway, I'll refrain from voting since I just don't know enough about the '85 team. But I'd probably go with 2016 if I had to.
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Post by unalions on Jan 29, 2019 10:07:46 GMT -6
The 1985 team played in a much stronger GSC with JSU and Troy. The '83 team would have beaten both. Great talent on both sides of the ball. Very balanced on offense with two fine QBs in 6-2 Rusty Towery, one of the most prolific passers UNA has had and he could take off with it too. Bobby Duncan, a big 6-3 Tulane transfer had a great arm and was very accurate. For the sake of this post, can you fill us in on the 1985 team instead? I know Lewis Billups was a senior and drafted in 1986 in the second round (38).
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Post by unalions on Jan 29, 2019 10:13:36 GMT -6
Ugh, I don't know about you guys, but I CANNOT re-watch a game that we lost. It's the same for any sports team I follow. Though I can watch some clips from that '85 game since I was only 2 at the time and obviously don't remember it. But the 2016 game? Yeah, I'm still angry about that one. NWMSU, man. What a thorn in our side from the last decade or so in D2. So many bad memories. I do think it's interesting that the '85 team seemed to just barely slip by in a lot of games, at least looking at the scores. Obviously it was a tougher GSC (overall), as has been pointed out. I think 2016 was a great team. If the Jacksonville State game had been played later in the season, I believe we could have beaten them. My only gripe with that team is it felt we asked Jacob Tucker to do too much at times. And I know, when you have a great QB, it's what you do. It certainly would've been nice to play the title game on a dry field and see what might have happened. I'm not sure we would've won, but I do feel the score would've been much closer. Anyway, I'll refrain from voting since I just don't know enough about the '85 team. But I'd probably go with 2016 if I had to. UNA was dominant in many of those games in 2016 but will always stick out to GSC folks because of the 1-point win over UWG that had the fumble blown dead and the cancelled game against FIT. And yes, any game against NWSMU is a bad memory. Don't even get me started on the safety in 2005.
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Post by roaringsince96 on Jan 29, 2019 10:28:46 GMT -6
95 team trumps all.
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Post by unafied on Jan 29, 2019 10:35:47 GMT -6
Ugh, I don't know about you guys, but I CANNOT re-watch a game that we lost. It's the same for any sports team I follow. Though I can watch some clips from that '85 game since I was only 2 at the time and obviously don't remember it. But the 2016 game? Yeah, I'm still angry about that one. NWMSU, man. What a thorn in our side from the last decade or so in D2. So many bad memories. I do think it's interesting that the '85 team seemed to just barely slip by in a lot of games, at least looking at the scores. Obviously it was a tougher GSC (overall), as has been pointed out. I think 2016 was a great team. If the Jacksonville State game had been played later in the season, I believe we could have beaten them. My only gripe with that team is it felt we asked Jacob Tucker to do too much at times. And I know, when you have a great QB, it's what you do. It certainly would've been nice to play the title game on a dry field and see what might have happened. I'm not sure we would've won, but I do feel the score would've been much closer. Anyway, I'll refrain from voting since I just don't know enough about the '85 team. But I'd probably go with 2016 if I had to. UNA was dominant in many of those games in 2016 but will always stick out to GSC folks because of the 1-point win over UWG that had the fumble blown dead and the cancelled game against FIT. And yes, any game against NWSMU is a bad memory. Don't even get me started on the safety in 2005. Or the points we took off the board (a field goal) after a penalty on a drive that I believe we ultimately failed to score on. And I'm pretty sure there was a goalline keeper by AJ Milwee (same drive?) that certainly looked like a touchdown, but the refs said no. Might have been on 4th down. I swear, I just don't remember details like some of you do. It's frustrating. Then there was the game in '08 or '09 where there was a "gale-force" wind blowing the entire time. I remember in the first quarter we had a punt that literally went backwards - maybe after it landed and bounced back, but still. I knew we were in for a long day at that point.
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Post by unalions on Jan 29, 2019 10:45:55 GMT -6
Or the points we took off the board (a field goal) after a penalty on a drive that I believe we ultimately failed to score on. And I'm pretty sure there was a goalline keeper by AJ Milwee (same drive?) that certainly looked like a touchdown, but the refs said no. Might have been on 4th down. I swear, I just don't remember details like some of you do. It's frustrating. Then there was the game in '08 or '09 where there was a "gale-force" wind blowing the entire time. I remember in the first quarter we had a punt that literally went backwards - maybe after it landed and bounced back, but still. I knew we were in for a long day at that point. So frustrating. I try to block those games with the Bearcats from my memory. One of the reasons I finally got on board with us moving up. We simply couldn't get over the NWMSU hump.
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Post by unafied on Jan 29, 2019 10:54:15 GMT -6
Or the points we took off the board (a field goal) after a penalty on a drive that I believe we ultimately failed to score on. And I'm pretty sure there was a goalline keeper by AJ Milwee (same drive?) that certainly looked like a touchdown, but the refs said no. Might have been on 4th down. I swear, I just don't remember details like some of you do. It's frustrating. Then there was the game in '08 or '09 where there was a "gale-force" wind blowing the entire time. I remember in the first quarter we had a punt that literally went backwards - maybe after it landed and bounced back, but still. I knew we were in for a long day at that point. So frustrating. I try to block those games with the Bearcats from my memory. One of the reasons I finally got on board with us moving up. We simply couldn't get over the NWMSU hump. Of course, now there's the NDSU hump I was against moving up for a long time, but this first year of D1 has ended up making me more excited about our entire athletics program than I had been in a while. So much that it surprised me. I'm happy to say I was wrong. Who knows if/when we'll ever win another national championship, in any sport. But I'm not sure there was a lot left for us to do in D2, anyway.
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Post by lions09 on Jan 29, 2019 10:58:49 GMT -6
I think there's growing pressure for NDSU to move their football up to FBS. It's silly for them to remain in FCS for much longer.
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