(02-19-2021 06:50 AM)bubbadog57 Wrote:  No contest...the 1940s.

Two great four year teams. Old Southern Conference championships (SC with Duke, UNC, Maryland, etc.) Plus players galore...

Buster Ramsey, Harvey "Stud" Johnson, Marvin Bass, Glenn Knox, Al Vandeweghe, Johnny "The Kid" Korczowski, Knox Ramsey, "Flyin" Jack Cloud,
Harry Caughron,, Bob Steckroth, Tommy Thompson, Lou Hoitsma, Jack McDowell, Vito Ragazzo, Buddy Lex, George Hughes, Lou Creekmur,
"Jumping" Jack Bruce, Jackie Freeman, Stan Magdziak.

Our only two College Football Hall of Fame players...Ramsey and Cloud and an NFL HOF player, Creekmur in that decade.

A great coach, Carl Voyles, 1940-42.

Two bowl games, two Top Twenty teams, the only football number to be retired by W&M (Ramsey's #20), national big-time schedule.

Hard to top that decade. Nothing even close,

(02-19-2021 07:32 AM)Tribal Wrote:  Undefeated in the 2020s. No other decade can claim that.

I generally discount football stats & records prior to the mid-60s. It wasn't the same game with all white rosters and 210 lb OL.

(02-19-2021 01:19 PM)Zorch Wrote:  

(02-19-2021 07:32 AM)Tribal Wrote:  Undefeated in the 2020s. No other decade can claim that.

I generally discount football stats & records prior to the mid-60s. It wasn't the same game with all white rosters and 210 lb OL.

Everything is relative. Back then, all of the other national teams featured comparable athletes and yet some of those teams were deemed deserving of national rankings and others weren't. We beat Oklahoma on the road and we beat Oklahoma State (then Ok A&M) in a bowl game and barely lost to Arkansas in another bowl game (and there were a whole lot less bowl games back then). We were definitely part of the national conversation in football -- something that is highly unlikely to ever happen again. We had a much better national reputation than UVa or VPI back then. I believe that we didn't lose a single game against in-state competition in the whole decade of the '40s. So, no contest on which decade was the best.

(02-19-2021 07:32 AM)Tribal Wrote:  Undefeated in the 2020s. No other decade can claim that.

I generally discount football stats & records prior to the mid-60s. It wasn't the same game with all white rosters and 210 lb OL.

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(02-19-2021 08:57 PM)Sitting bull Wrote:  

(02-19-2021 07:32 AM)Tribal Wrote:  Undefeated in the 2020s. No other decade can claim that.

I generally discount football stats & records prior to the mid-60s. It wasn't the same game with all white rosters and 210 lb OL.

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Players also played the entire game, offense and defense, during this period. So a 210lb offensive lineman was likely playing the defensive line or maybe even linebacker as well. Their skin color is really irrelevant.

(02-19-2021 09:06 PM)Tribal Wrote:  

(02-19-2021 08:57 PM)Sitting bull Wrote:  

(02-19-2021 07:32 AM)Tribal Wrote:  Undefeated in the 2020s. No other decade can claim that.

I generally discount football stats & records prior to the mid-60s. It wasn't the same game with all white rosters and 210 lb OL.

Sent from my SM-N970U using Tapatalk

Players also played the entire game, offense and defense, during this period. So a 210lb offensive lineman was likely playing the defensive line or maybe even linebacker as well. Their skin color is really irrelevant.

Tell that to the millions of black kids who didn't have an opportunity to attend college, let alone participate in anything or any sport involving white kids. The level of football talent skyrocketed when skin color was no longer an overt prohibitive factor. Remove black athletes from ANY current college roster and tell me how good that team would be. It's never too late to clear your mind of deceased beliefs & biases.

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(02-19-2021 01:27 PM)Tribe32 Wrote:  

(02-19-2021 01:19 PM)Zorch Wrote:  

(02-19-2021 07:32 AM)Tribal Wrote:  Undefeated in the 2020s. No other decade can claim that.

I generally discount football stats & records prior to the mid-60s. It wasn't the same game with all white rosters and 210 lb OL.

Everything is relative. Back then, all of the other national teams featured comparable athletes and yet some of those teams were deemed deserving of national rankings and others weren't. We beat Oklahoma on the road and we beat Oklahoma State (then Ok A&M) in a bowl game and barely lost to Arkansas in another bowl game (and there were a whole lot less bowl games back then). We were definitely part of the national conversation in football -- something that is highly unlikely to ever happen again. We had a much better national reputation than UVa or VPI back then. I believe that we didn't lose a single game against in-state competition in the whole decade of the '40s. So, no contest on which decade was the best.

I think you are missing the point.

(02-19-2021 01:43 PM)HyperDuke Wrote:  *intentionally ignoring the point

(02-19-2021 11:54 PM)Tribal Wrote:  I cannot believe a W&M fan needs this explained: The black community cheered Hank because he was given a chance to swim in the deep end surrounded by racists, a place no black man tread before. It had zero to do with beating the fat drunk racist's record. To my point, the previous record (with white vs white and ONLY white vs white) was shattered by one of the first black athletes to play in the bigs. Great, the 1940s W&M and West Point teams were the best those programs ever had...I still put a huge asterisk on that decade because any mid level program over the past 50 years would've smoked our 1946 W&M team. Our current team would crush a 1940s W&M team. Period.

Sorry to hurt feelings, but that's a fact.

By the way, that WW2 era produced many of my heros. I'm fond of history and know that time in history very well, but that doesn't change the cold hard truth.

(02-20-2021 12:28 AM)Tribal Wrote:  1970 Ali could smoke me in a boxing match but that's not a fact because I can't prove it.

This is fun but has become nonsensical so let's just enjoy WMSB's work and call it a day.

(02-20-2021 06:36 AM)Marshall Wythe Wrote:  I think it's possible to both despise the awful bigotry that prevailed in college football in prior decades and also fairly judge the teams and players that W&M put on the field in those eras in that context. Of course, today's athletes - on the whole - are faster, stronger, bigger, etc. But, I think the point of this discussion is just what it says -- which decade produced the most legends.

I tend to agree with WMSB's ranking regarding the "most" legends. But I think the 40s produced the greatest legends. It's tough to argue with HOF pedigrees.