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The original was posted on /r/cfb by /u/AllLinesAreStraight on 2024-07-13 18:13:44+00:00.

Continuing to update the series of posts I did 3 years ago, looking at the closest each power conference team has come to a national title this century. Here is the link to the SEC update if you’re interested:

And now, the Big 12 and PAC 2 (PAC 2 deserve to be mentioned so decided to put them here with the plurality of their former pac 12 conference mates) . All be honest, there are so many painful close calls for the teams in this conference that ranking them was hard. These are roughly ranked from closest to furthest each team has come to a national title:

  • TCU - 2014 - For TCU, there are 3 seasons for which you can make a strong argument. First is 2022, when they made the national title game. That said, I think if you play that game 100x, UGA wins 100x. Second is 2010, when TCU finished 3rd in the BCS and won the rose bowl over 5th ranked Wisconsin but I have a hard time seeing them ever making the national title that year due to being a G5. That leaves 2014 when they were arguably the best team in the country, lost one game by 3 on the road to a team that was top 5 in the final CFP rankings. That team, imo, was their best and just had some incredibly bad luck of a season in which there were 6 0/1 loss power conference champs.
  • Cincinnati - 2021 - No real debate here, the Bearcats made the playoff in 2021 behind a ridiculous defense. The other real chance they had was in 2009 where they likely make the national title game if Nebraska had been able to pull the upset over Texas in the Big 12 CCG. Alas, Texas got a second back and went to the title game themselves.
  • West Virginia - 2007 - I’ll make this brief for our WVA friends but if you don’t know what happened in 2007 to WVA, and you have a thing for extremely painful losses, WVA vs. Pitt is something you’ll enjoy.
  • Oklahoma State - 2011 - The year that helped put the final nail in the coffin of the BCS, Oklahoma State looked unstoppable before a late season stumble against Iowa State. Even then, they had a strong argument to be in the BCS title game, only to be passed over for an Alabama-LSU rematch, despite Alabama not even winning their division.
  • Baylor - 2014 - 2013 and 2014 are the two main possiblities here but I’ll go with 2014 where they finished 5th in the CFP rankings and just barely missed the playoff, their only loss being a noon stinker to West Virginia.
  • Kansas State - 2012 - 1998 is last century but deserves a mention here as it is BY FAR the closest they’ve come in the BCS/playoff era. But, this century, I’m going to go with 2012, when a loss to Baylor in their penultimate game derailed their BCS title game hopes. A win there and they are likely playing Notre Dame for the national title. That said, I don’t have them as close as some of the teams already mentioned because they got destroyed in that Baylor game.
  • Texas Tech - 2008 - No question here, 2008 saw Texas Tech go 11-1 and end in a 3 way tie for the division. Due to the tiebreak procedures, Oklahoma got the nod to go to the CCG, though, and Tech actually got snubbed from a BCS bid altogether. The game against Texas is one of the most electric atmospheres you’ll ever see, ending with the Michael Crabtrees TD with a second to go to upset the longhorns.
  • Utah - 2008 - The next handful of teams are in this weird place where their best teams also had no chance of winning a national title due to being G5s, but also may have been as good as anyone in the country. We start with Utah who has had many great teams this century. You could easily argue that 2019 is the closest they’ve come since a win in the pac 12 CCG woudl have put them in the playoff, while the 2008 team never had a realistic chance of making the national title game. That said, that 2008 team was just better imo and had their been a 4 team playoff, had a very good chance of winning it all.
  • UCF - 2017 - Similar to Utah, the 2017 UCF team never had a chance to win the national title. You could make an argument for 2013 where UCF was in an AQ conference and only had one loss to a top 5 South Carolina team, but I think 2017 was jsut better. That offense was one of the best we’ve seen, they went undefeated, and they won their bowl game against a team who beat both national title game participants.
  • Houston - 2016 - The obvious answer is 2015, when Houston won a NY6 bowl. However, I think 2016 had the better chance of winning a national title. They beat up top 10 power 5 teams in Oklahoma and Louisville that year. Had they gone undefeated, I do believe they woudl have had a good shot at the playoff and if you can destroy Oklahoma and Lamar Jackson the way they did, you have a shot at anyone. Remember, Clemson won the title game that year. Clemson barely beat louisville while Houston beat them by multiple TDs. Its always dangerous to extrapolate results in CFB but I do think Houston, at their very best, could beat anyone that season. Of course, at their worst they could also lost to anyone.
  • Kansas - 2007 - 2007 was weird. The weekend after Thanksgiving saw No. 2 Kansas vs. No. 3 Missouri, in Arrowhead stadium, playing for a spot in the Big 12 CCG and the no. 1 ranking. In the end, Mizzou won a thriller, handing Kansas their first loss of the season and knocking them out of the title race. They would still go on to win the Orange Bowl and finish the season 12-1.
  • Oregon State - 2000 - You could easily argue that Oregon State’s 2000 season is not this century. I like Oregon State and so I’m gonna count this season. Oregon State ended ranked 6th in the BCS, their only loss coming to BCS #4, Washington, on the road by just 3 points. If Oregon State had won they’d have made the title game and we would have avoided one of the most controversial BCS title games ever. That 2000 season was crazy, a time before most conference title games existed and we would regularly end up with 5+ 0/1 loss power conference teams.
  • Washington State - 2002 - In 2002 they got all the way to number 3 before a late season loss to Washington derailed their hopes of playing in the title game. 2001 also was pretty good, as they lost only 1 game before a late season loss to Washington derailed their hopes of a BCS title game. And then there was 2017 when they got to number 7 before a late season loss to Washington derailed their hopes of making the playoff. Oof.
  • Colorado - 2001 - In 2001, Colorado ended up winning the big 12, losing just two games. While they did lost 41-7 to Texas, they then beat Texas in the Big 12 championship game. What ultimately killed their chance was an opening season loss by two points to a good Fresno State team. Ultimately, Nebraska, who was in their division and who they beat by 26 points, got to go over them. 2001 was weiiiirrrrd and doesn’t get talked about enough.
  • Arizona - 2014 - They got all the way to #8 and even beat eventual conference champs Oregon before losing the CCG rematch against them.
  • Arizone State - 2007 - Like half of the P5, 2007 was the closest they got, winning their first 8 and getting all the way up to #6 before losing to #4 Oregon and again 2 weeks later to #11 USC.
  • Iowa State - 2020 - 2020 was probably the best season in living memory for them, though they would need to have won a couple more games to make the playoff. In a very weird season (beyond just 2020 weird) they made it to the Big 12 CCG at 8-2 but that record was marred by a season opening, 17 point loss to Louisiana-Lafayette (Louisiana was very good that year, a 1 loss team who won the Sun Belt West. There was no Sun Belt CCG because, ya know, 2020). Iowa State would go on to win the Fiesta Bowl over Oregon, the biggest bowl win this century for the Cyclones.
  • BYU - 2009 - BYU hasn’t had any real chance to win a national title this century, mainly because they’ve been G5 for most of it and, even worse for national title aspirations, a non-ND independent for the rest. That said, I will go with 2009 where they got up to their highest AP rank (7) of the season and finished behind only TCU in the MWC.