"The Athletic" website (which I highly recommend) continued their series today on the best teams and players of each decade. Today they did the 1980s, and Notre Dame had one player on the all-decade team - Tim Brown at one of the wide receiver spots.
They listed their top ten teams of the decade as:
(1) 1987 Miami
(2) 1988 Notre Dame
(3) 1986 Penn State
(4) 1981 Clemson
(5) 1985 Oklahoma
(6) 1982 Penn State
(7) 1989 Miami
(8) 1983 Miami
(9) 1980 Georgia
(10) 1984 BYU
I have one small quibble and one major problem with the list. The small quibble is with 1981 Clemson at #4. I think that they deserve mention in the top ten but #4 is too high. The major problem is with listing the 1984 BYU team as one of the 10 best teams of the decade. In my opinion, they are the single most undeserving team ever to win a poll National Championship. BYU being voted #1 was an absolute joke. I would venture to guess that there were at least two dozen college football teams of the 1980's not listed in this top ten list who would have wiped the floor with that 1984 BYU team.
Edit: Lou Somogyi pointed out that this list appears to include only those teams who won National Championship in the 1980s. It would appear that the "The Athletic" should rename this list as the top-10 National Champions of the 1980s and not call it the top-10 teams of the 1980s.
They listed their top ten teams of the decade as:
(1) 1987 Miami
(2) 1988 Notre Dame
(3) 1986 Penn State
(4) 1981 Clemson
(5) 1985 Oklahoma
(6) 1982 Penn State
(7) 1989 Miami
(8) 1983 Miami
(9) 1980 Georgia
(10) 1984 BYU
I have one small quibble and one major problem with the list. The small quibble is with 1981 Clemson at #4. I think that they deserve mention in the top ten but #4 is too high. The major problem is with listing the 1984 BYU team as one of the 10 best teams of the decade. In my opinion, they are the single most undeserving team ever to win a poll National Championship. BYU being voted #1 was an absolute joke. I would venture to guess that there were at least two dozen college football teams of the 1980's not listed in this top ten list who would have wiped the floor with that 1984 BYU team.
Edit: Lou Somogyi pointed out that this list appears to include only those teams who won National Championship in the 1980s. It would appear that the "The Athletic" should rename this list as the top-10 National Champions of the 1980s and not call it the top-10 teams of the 1980s.
Last edited:
