Lose early?
How about LSU losing their last regular season game. At home. To an unranked team. That should probably count as "blowing it" to me. But it didn't, because hell or high water, LSU was the pick to be the best at the beginning of the year, and by god, they were going to be the pick to be the best at the end.
But not only that, they lost to another unranked nameless team. IMO, no national champion is legit with two losses to mediocre teams.
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