Who wins, the 1971 Nebraska Cornhuskers or the 1976 Tampa Bay Buccaneers?
That one could be close. I think they changed some of the expansion rules after that horrible expansion season. I think they even took a player in the expansion draft who had already announced he was retiring a few weeks earlier but they didn't know. They scored 125 points all year in 14 games.
Reminded me of some of the many great head Coach John McKay quotes:
- On hearing about kicker Pete Rajecki’s nervousness at playing in front of McKay: “That’s unfortunate, as I plan on attending all the games”.
- At a postgame press conference: “You guys don’t know the difference between a football and a bunch of bananas."
- At the following week’s press conference, after a member of the media left a case of bananas at his door: “You guys don’t know the difference between a football and a Mercedes-Benz."
- On John Brodie’s comment that Steve Spurrier throws one of three passes into the ground: “That’s OK, we’ll just get shorter receivers."
- “We’ve determined that we can’t win at home and we can’t win on the road. What we need is a neutral site."
- “We didn’t block real good, but we made up for it by not tackling."
- When asked how he compared coaching in Tampa to coaching at USC: “It’s a three-hour time difference."
- “Mr. Culverhouse has been a great owner. He hasn’t come to the dressing room yet to give me any suggestions. Well, I need some advice. I called the Baltimore owner, but he was busy”.
-To players planning on staying in Tampa over the offseason: “Stop by my office tomorrow and pick up some fake noses and mustaches so no one recognizes your sorry asses”.
- “We’ll be back. Maybe not in this century, but we’ll be back."
- After the Buccaneers won their first regular season game against the New Orleans Saints during the 1977 season 33–14, McKay mused, "Three or four plane crashes and we're in the playoffs."
- He was asked by a reporter after a loss what he thought about the execution of the team’s offense. “I’m in favor of it."