Cutting edge ain’t always what it’s cracked up to be.

I’ve taken it as a matter of faith that the best college football team of the past two decades to win a national title was the 1995 Nebraska squad and that the weakest national title winner during that time was 2002 Ohio State.  Matt Melton runs some numbers which basically confirm my impressions, but what’s more interesting is that he finds a contender for that Ohio State team.

It’s Florida, 2006 edition.

Melton tracks 21 national championship teams in four statistical categories: scoring margin, scoring ratio (points scored against points allowed), dominant wins and road/neutral field scoring margin.  That Florida team finished next to last in three of the four and two slots from the bottom in the fourth.

Let’s not forget that ’06 Gator defense was pretty stout – it finished sixth nationally in scoring defense, yielding 13.5 points per game.  So what Matt’s numbers are telling you is that the Florida offense was unusually anemic for a national championship team.

But that was part of Urban Meyer’s plan, remember?

… If the spread works, why did it only score 21 points against SEC teams? Well, I think the answer is clear: it didn’t need to score more. How long should a man’s legs be? Answer: Long enough to touch the ground.

… Going into most conference games, Meyer knew that the other team couldn’t score against his defense, so why open things up? He played the percentages.

Funny how Corch quit playing the percentages two years later.  I wonder what came over him.