Re-litigating the 1982 Bowl Season... for fun and JUSTICE

A few weeks ago, we learned about the 1982 New Mexico football team on our recurring podcast series, the Best Season Of All Time For Teams Who Are Below .500 All Time, (BSOATFTWAB500AT for short). The short version of the season is New Mexico went 10-1-0, finished second in their conference, and were not invited to a bowl game, while teams like Air Force, who went 8-4 and lost to New Mexico played bowl games. This led New Mexico and Tulsa (who also went 10-1-0 and won their conference, but didn’t get a bowl invite) to create what they called the Justice Bowl, a game that was computer simulated and simultaneously broadcast on each school’s radio station, with each team winning on their respective home broadcast. For the full story, go listen to the episode titled “Spice It Up for Brady Hoke” here or on the podcast app of your choice, it’s an incredible ride but not why we’re here today.

The logo we made up for this non-existent bowl game.

Today, I want to revisit the choices that were made in the 1982 bowl season, and see if we can’t find places in the bowls for deserving teams such as New Mexico and Tulsa. To accomplish this, we need a way to rank all the teams that played that season and since I have a day job, I can’t watch all of the games. (1982 was the season the Stanford Band Was On The Field, so if you’ve never seen this play, go watch it at the very least). 

In college football, we often hear about “quality losses,” but rarely if ever is it explained what that actually means, beyond “this team lost to a team I think is actually good.” If losing a game can boost a team’s resume, then that should be a quantifiable statistic, right?  Introducing the Quality Loss Metric (W+QL), a rating system that accounts for two things only: how good your team is and how good the teams that they lost to are.  Two values are used to calculate the rating, the win percentage of a given team and the combined win percentage of all teams that team lost to, known as the Loss Quality.  The rating is weighted slightly toward a team’s own win-loss ratio, because a team’s own performance should matter more than the performance of its opponents. At the end of the regular season, all teams’ final record is compiled, along with the record(s) of teams that they lost to, if any, and used to calculate a value between 0 and 5. I won’t give you the formula here, but it’s not complicated, for anyone that wants to try to figure it out. An undefeated season will return a score of 5.0, with seasons with at least one loss returning lower values. 

Here are the Top 25 teams by W+QL in 1982:

Time to play bowl executive and pick some teams, but first some ground rules for our 1982 scenario:

1. Clemson was ineligible due to recruiting violations, which will be carried over into our scenario

2. Games were allowed to end in ties in 1982. For the purposes of these rankings, ties count as half a win toward a team’s win-loss record and the win-loss record of the team with which they tied is also considered toward their Loss Quality.

3. In order to be considered bowl eligible, a team needed to win at least 6 games in the 1982 regular season (including conference championship games, where applicable).

4. Bowl prestige was assumed to be in reverse chronological order, with later bowls getting the first picks of teams to fill their slots. 

5. Bowl-conference tie-ins were preserved wherever possible, with At-Large bids being assigned to any slots filled by Independents in the original 1982 bowl schedule. Slots assigned to conference champions were filled before any drafting was done.

6. The Sugar Bowl was maintained as the national title game, featuring the two top teams, regardless of conference tie-ins.

7. Repeats of games played in the regular season were avoided where possible.

With that in mind, let’s make our own justice for 1982 New Mexico and Tulsa. We’re not here to predict the outcomes of these games, except those that overlapped with ones actually played that season, but will provide some interesting context as it applies. Please remember this is calculated entirely with the actual records of teams from the season, so no bias is applied. Unless it is your team that is being disrespected, in which case you should know that I am targeting you specifically, reader of our free newsletter.

Sugar Bowl - National Title Game (#1 At-Large vs #2 At-Large)

#1 Georgia vs #2 SMU

(Originally #1 Georgia vs #2 Penn State)

The Mustang’s 1982 season was also covered in BSOATFTWAB500AT, with the only blemish on their record being a tie with a 8-2-1 Arkansas team. Instead of claiming a national title (they should), they now get to play for one. These teams had played once at this point, and one time total in history, a 24-9 Georgia victory in 1966. 

Rose Bowl - Big Ten Champ vs Pac-10 Champ

#10 UCLA vs #23 Michigan

(Originally #5 UCLA vs #19 Michigan)

Unchanged from the original schedule since we aren’t revisiting the regular season, UCLA won this game 24-14.

Cotton Bowl - SWC vs At-Large

#8 Texas vs #5 Tulsa

(Originally #4 SMU vs #6 Pitt)

One of our Justice Bowl participants takes the first at-large bid, with #3 Nebraska being locked into a conference champion bid to the Orange Bowl and #4 Clemson ineligible. With SMU in the title game, Texas jumps up the prestige list to fill this slot. This would be the first meeting between these teams, as they have only played once, in 2018.

Orange Bowl - Big Eight Champ vs At-Large

#3 Nebraska vs #6 WVU

(Originally #3 Nebraska vs #13 LSU)

11-1-0 Nebraska are locked into this game as Big Eight Champs, while 9-2 West Virginia benefits from both losses being to teams over .800 on the season. Those two losses were to Pitt and Penn State, so it’s cold comfort, sorry Beth.  This would have been the first ever meeting between these teams, and they would not actually meet until 1994.

Fiesta Bowl - Pac-10 vs Big Eight

#15 Arizona State vs #18 Oklahoma

(Originally #11 Arizona State vs # 12 Oklahoma)

Another bowl match-up unchanged from the actual timeline, and the first that does not involve conference champions. I choose to believe this validates my system. Arizona State won this game 32-21.

Peach Bowl - Big Ten vs SEC

Illinois vs #13 Auburn

(Originally Iowa vs Tennessee)

The first unranked team to make a bowl game in our revisit, Illinois went 7-4 and finished 29th in the W+QL rankings, buoyed by all four losses coming to teams above .600. Auburn went 8-3, with losses to undefeated Georgia, one-loss Nebraska, and a three-loss Florida. This match-up of blue and orange teams that like to ruin others’ seasons has never been played.

Bluebonnet Bowl - SWC vs SEC

#20 Arkansas vs #16 Florida

(Originally #14 Arkansas vs unranked Florida)

Another repeated match-up from the original schedule, this time featuring future SEC conference-mates. This was the first-ever meeting between these teams, and Arkansas won 28-24.

Hall of Fame Classic - At-Large vs At-Large

#7 New Mexico vs #9 Boston College

(Originally Air Force vs Vanderbilt)

Justice for our second Justice Bowl participant, as New Mexico finds their berth in the Hall of Fame Classic, across from a 8-2-1 Boston College team that gets bumped up from the Tangerine Bowl. The Hall of Fame Classic was played in Birmingham, AL, a roughly equal drive from two teams on opposite sides of the country that have never played one another. (1,251 miles from Albuquerque and 1,176 from Boston)

Gator Bowl - At-Large vs At-Large

#11 Penn State vs #19 USC

(Originally Florida State vs #10 West Virginia)

Our most rules-lawyered bowl game on this list would nominally be #11 Penn State vs #12 Pitt as the two highest-ranked at-large teams, but that game was played during the regular season, a 19-10 Penn State victory. The next highest-ranked at-large, #14 Maryland, also played Penn State during the regular season (39-31 Penn State). So 8-3 USC, who did not play in a bowl game in the original 1982 timeline, gets the bid in a rematch of the Fiesta Bowl from the previous season. Despite being 10-1, a loss to a 7-4 Alabama team dropped Penn State from the national title game to the Gator Bowl. At the time of this meeting, the two future Big Ten conference-mates were tied 1-1 all time, with meetings in 1923 and 1982.

Liberty Bowl - SEC vs Big Ten

#22 Vanderbilt vs Ohio State

(Originally Alabama vs Illinois)

A match-up of two 8-3 teams, the Commodores come in as the higher ranked squad due to loss quality. Vanderbilt’s worst loss on the season was to 8-3 Florida, while Ohio State lost to 5-6 Stanford, 8-3 FSU, and 6-5 Wisconsin. The two teams had met four times between 1908 and 1933, with Ohio State holding a 3-1 series lead, and have not met since.

Aloha Bowl - Pac-10 vs ACC

Cal vs #14 Maryland

(Originally #9 Washington vs # 16 Maryland)

Cal is another team that made a bowl game in our revisit after not receiving an invitation in the original 1982 season. Their season is most memorable for the improbable win over Stanford, which kept them afloat at 7-4, with all four losses coming to teams above .700. Maryland, despite being 8-3 with losses only to teams above .800, falls to this bowl game in our revisit after being passed over for the Gator Bowl to avoid a rematch with Penn State.

Notably, Washington is not present in this game, despite being 9-2 and defeating Cal in the regular season. Shouldn’t have lost to two teams with a combined record of 8-13-1, Huskies.

Sun Bowl (ACC v SWC)

UNC vs #21 FSU

(Originally UNC vs #8 Texas)

We have an unusual ruling. UNC remains in their original berth, while Florida State fills an unused Southwest Conference slot. Having one of their teams move up to the title game meant the remaining bowl eligible SWC teams all moved up the pecking order. In a top-heavy conference, all remaining teams were ineligible, with 5-5-1 Houston narrowly missing out. The highest-ranked at-large bid is Pitt, who played UNC in the regular season and misses out on a second straight bowl bid due to the repeat games clause. Florida State slides in as the second-highest ranked team available after a 8-3 campaign. Another future conference match-up, these teams had never played at this point, with their first ever historic meeting coming in the Peach Bowl the following season.

California Bowl (PCAA champ v MAC champ)

#17 Fresno State v Bowling Green

(Originally Fresno State vs Bowling Green)

Another locked match-up for conference champs, Fresno State won the second-ever meeting between the two 29-28.

Tangerine Bowl (SEC v At Large)

Alabama vs #12 Pitt

(Originally #18 Auburn vs Boston College)

A 7-4 campaign from Alabama was dragged down further by a loss to a 6-4-1 Tennessee squad (that actually made a bowl game in the original 1982).  Pitt finally gets their berth after a 9-2 campaign with losses to 6-4-1 Notre Dame and the aforementioned Penn State. These two teams have still never played.

Holiday Bowl (At Large v WAC champ)

#24 San Jose State v  #25 BYU

(Originally #17 Ohio State vs BYU)

BYU is locked into this slot for winning the WAC. Finishing the season 8-3, BYU strategically placed two of those losses out of conference, to undefeated Georgia and 5-6 Utah State, allowing them to win the conference with a 7-1 record and the head-to-head victory over New Mexico. San Jose State finished the regular season ranked off the back of an 8-3 record with losses to Cal, 6-5 Long Beach State, and eventual conference champions Fresno State. Fresno held a 9-4 series lead at this point, with the most recent meeting being a 21-3 BYU victory in 1969.

Independence (Big 10 v Big 8)

Iowa vs Kansas State

(Originally Wisconsin vs Kansas State)

Kansas State remains in their original slot, barely squeezing into bowl eligibility at 6-4-1. 7-4 Iowa takes the final Big Ten spot from 6-5, meaning Wisconsin would not get their first bowl win in program history. The Badgers would have to wait until the 1994 Rose Bowl for that first victory.  At the time of this game, Iowa held a 3-0 series lead over Kansas State, most recently a 53-0 drubbing in 1959.

Justice Bowl (Snub v Snub)

Miami (FL) vs LSU

(Originally New Mexico vs Tulsa)

1982’s made-up, only-over-the-radio bowl game broadcast featured the two teams most obviously passed over for a bowl game, and both were furious about it. The two highest-rated teams by W+QL remaining without bowl bids are 7-4 Miami and 8-2-1 LSU, ranked #31 and #33, respectively.  Miami’s worst loss came to a 6-4-1 Notre Dame, while LSU dropped games to a sub-.500 Mississippi State team and 4-7 Tulane, while also tying Tennessee. We fully believe that both fan bases would be more than willing to broadcast a fictional bowl game where their team wins, but also like to think both would try to hijack the other’s broadcast so the opposing fan base had to hear the version where they lost as well.

Some final notes about this new schedule:

Five teams that did not play in a bowl in 1982 are on this list: New Mexico, Tulsa, USC, San Jose State, and Cal. Therefore five teams that did play in a bowl have fallen out. Previously noted are Wisconsin, Tennessee, and Air Force, but Washington and LSU also featured in the historical schedule and not our revisit.  Penn State fell from a national title game that they won over an undefeated team to a Gator Bowl berth against a team that didn’t actually play in a bowl this season. 

Let us know what you think about these match-ups. Are there any you’d be excited to see in today’s game? Any other seasons we should revisit?