NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Fifteen years ago, Nebraska was preparing for a date with Miami in the BCS national championship game, and the Cornhuskers had an SEC team to thank for their shot at the title.
Tennessee had been ranked No. 2 entering the 2001 SEC Championship Game, which it lost to Nick Saban and underdog LSU in dramatic fashion. It was considered a minor blip for a team that was only three years removed from its most recent national title.
Meanwhile, the Huskers looked to continue a decade of dominance, with Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Eric Crouch providing an electric counter to the Hurricanes’ NFL-ready roster.
Then … nothing.
Nebraska got laughed off the Rose Bowl stage, falling behind 30-0 by halftime before putting up a pair of meaningless second-half touchdowns. The Huskers lost 7 games the following season, while the Vols lost 5.
During the past 15 years, there’s a long list of teams that have entered the final week of the regular season with legitimate national title hopes — including Cal, West Virginia, Oklahoma State, Mississippi State and Missouri (twice) — but Tennessee and Nebraska, two of the country’s longstanding national powers, haven’t done it once.
As the Volunteers and Cornhuskers gear up for the Music City Bowl on Friday (3:30 p.m. ET, ESPN), they’re both trying to end a decade-plus streak of relative mediocrity.
2016 was not a rebuilding year for either. Both were named top 10 teams at one point, and both suffered narrow losses on the road that removed them from the ranks of the undefeated. They both got pasted in front of national-television audiences, too; Nebraska by 59 at Ohio State and Tennessee by 39 vs. Alabama.
They have talented rosters that might give Nashville an exciting game on Friday afternoon. It’s just not a game that — win or lose — matters much in the grand scheme of these programs’ storied histories.
In fact, the game might serve more as a reminder of what Tennessee and Nebraska are losing than what is to come. Vols quarterback Josh Dobbs and Huskers counterpart Ryker Fyfe will play their final college contests. Usual Nebraska starter Tommy Armstrong will watch his final game from the sideline with a torn left hamstring.
Each side has several key senior starters on their way out, with at least one key underclassman expected to declare for the 2017 NFL Draft.
Depending on how you feel about Texas A&M’s Kevin Sumlin and Arkansas’ Bret Bielema, Tennessee coach Butch Jones — apparently content with the “championship of life” — owns the SEC’s hottest seat, and it will only grow hotter with a second consecutive loss in Nashville. Nebraska’s Mike Riley isn’t exactly playing with house money, either; he coached a rare Nebraska losing season in 2015, and a pair of blowout losses late this year undoubtedly have Lincoln grumbling.
Point is: Neither of these teams appears to be on its way back to the mountaintop, and, despite being in the “easier” divisions of the nation’s two most powerful conferences, there’s a clear gap between elite Big Ten and SEC programs, and the teams you’ll watch on Friday.
Consider the Music City Bowl a chance for the Vols and Huskers to harmonize in their doldrums. The winner might be inspired to reach previous heights. The loser? As Johnny Cash would say, “I ain’t seen the sunshine since I don’t know when … and time keeps draggin’ on.”
Luster lacking
Of the 16 programs to finish in the top 3 at least once between the 1987 and 2001 seasons, Tennessee and Nebraska haven’t stood out in the years since, and — as stated earlier — neither has been a factor in the national title race.
In the following chart, “Title chases” are defined as such: Ranked in the top 5 of the AP or BCS poll with 1 loss or fewer than the No. 2-ranked team (from 2002 to 2013) or ranked in the top 8 of the AP or College Football Playoff with 1 loss or fewer than the No. 4-ranked team (from 2014 to 2016), all while entering the final week of the regular season or conference championship week.
School
Title chases
Winning %
Ohio State
9
85.1 (166-29)
Alabama
8
77.4 (154-45)
Oklahoma
6
79.4 (158-41)
Florida
4
69.6 (135-59)
Oregon
3
71.6 (139-55)
Michigan
3
64.6 (122-67)
Notre Dame
3
60.8 (115-74)
Florida State
2
72.2 (143-55)
Virginia Tech
2
70.0 (140-60)
Penn State
2
65.1 (123-66)
Miami
1
63.7 (121-69)
Washington
1
46.3 (87-101)
Colorado
1
39.4 (74-114)
Nebraska
0
64.1 (125-70)
Georgia Tech
0
58.5 (114-81)
Tennessee
0
57.7 (109-80)
The post 2001 and Done: Nebraska, Tennessee trying to find their way out of 15-year droughts appeared first on SEC Country.