Since we're looking at trying to threepeat, I wanted to look at teams since 1970 have done when trying to threepeat themselves (why 1970, you ask? I didn't want to go back farther than that, that's why). For this exercise, I considered split champions as well as unanimous ones. I also don't care about vacated championships for this post. Here's what I found:
2011-2012 Alabama. Bama was 11-0 in 2013 heading into Auburn and had been dominant. Outside of a 49-42 win at TAMU, Bama had throttled everyone. Then the kick six happened. Bama would finish 11-2 after losing the Sugar Bowl to OU.
2003-2004 USC. Another dominant team that was extremely close. USC was three-peating for about 59 minutes and 30 seconds until Vince Young went off. They finished 12-1 (all wins since vacated, who cares)
1994-1995 Nebraska. Tommy Frazier graduated, and Jake Plummer took Nebraska down week 2 in Tempe, Arizona. The Huskers would make it as high as No. 3 before losing to Texas in the first Big 12 championship game. They finished 11-2 after beating VT in the Orange Bowl. If Nebraska wins the Texas game, they probably face FSU in the Sugar Bowl for a chance a 3-peat. Spurrier owes Texas
1978-1979 Alabama. We all know what happed with UGA in 1980, but Bama had a good year too. Bama finished 10-2 and 5-1 in the SEC. The two losses were 6-3 in Jackson MS against MSU and 7-0 at Legion Field to Notre Dame. Bama was #1 on November 1 when they lost to State, and the next week we beat Florida and Tech tied ND (dropping ND to 6th in the poll). The win at Legion Field vaulted ND to No. 2 until they lost 20-3 the last week to USC in LA.
1974-1975 OU. In 1976, OU was ranked as high as No. 3 before tying Texas. They then were No. 6 when they lost at home on October 23 to Ok State and then again the next week at Colorado. OU finished 9-2-1 and was No. 5 in the final AP poll.
1970-1971 Nebraska. The 1972 Huskers opened at No. 1 and lost to UCLA in Pasadena week 1. They made it as high as No. 3 again before tying Iowa State in November. A loss to OU the last week of the regular season led to an Orange Bowl win against ND, and they finished 9-2-1 and No. 4 in the AP poll
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So, the takeaways are, all the teams trying to 3peat were top 5-type teams. The last three teams to try to three-peat made it to the last week of the regular season at least before falling short, and USC made it to the last minute of the season in 2005. Minnesota from 1934-1936 remains the last team to pull it off, but no teams have pulled it off in the AP poll era, which began in 1936. This season is a real chance at major history for the Dawgs.
2011-2012 Alabama. Bama was 11-0 in 2013 heading into Auburn and had been dominant. Outside of a 49-42 win at TAMU, Bama had throttled everyone. Then the kick six happened. Bama would finish 11-2 after losing the Sugar Bowl to OU.
2003-2004 USC. Another dominant team that was extremely close. USC was three-peating for about 59 minutes and 30 seconds until Vince Young went off. They finished 12-1 (all wins since vacated, who cares)
1994-1995 Nebraska. Tommy Frazier graduated, and Jake Plummer took Nebraska down week 2 in Tempe, Arizona. The Huskers would make it as high as No. 3 before losing to Texas in the first Big 12 championship game. They finished 11-2 after beating VT in the Orange Bowl. If Nebraska wins the Texas game, they probably face FSU in the Sugar Bowl for a chance a 3-peat. Spurrier owes Texas
1978-1979 Alabama. We all know what happed with UGA in 1980, but Bama had a good year too. Bama finished 10-2 and 5-1 in the SEC. The two losses were 6-3 in Jackson MS against MSU and 7-0 at Legion Field to Notre Dame. Bama was #1 on November 1 when they lost to State, and the next week we beat Florida and Tech tied ND (dropping ND to 6th in the poll). The win at Legion Field vaulted ND to No. 2 until they lost 20-3 the last week to USC in LA.
1974-1975 OU. In 1976, OU was ranked as high as No. 3 before tying Texas. They then were No. 6 when they lost at home on October 23 to Ok State and then again the next week at Colorado. OU finished 9-2-1 and was No. 5 in the final AP poll.
1970-1971 Nebraska. The 1972 Huskers opened at No. 1 and lost to UCLA in Pasadena week 1. They made it as high as No. 3 again before tying Iowa State in November. A loss to OU the last week of the regular season led to an Orange Bowl win against ND, and they finished 9-2-1 and No. 4 in the AP poll
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
So, the takeaways are, all the teams trying to 3peat were top 5-type teams. The last three teams to try to three-peat made it to the last week of the regular season at least before falling short, and USC made it to the last minute of the season in 2005. Minnesota from 1934-1936 remains the last team to pull it off, but no teams have pulled it off in the AP poll era, which began in 1936. This season is a real chance at major history for the Dawgs.
