counterpart made it to Alliance / BCS bowls with a lot of 3-star talent. A matter of fact, the 95 and 96 seasons had very few that woukd have been considered blue-chippers. Those BCS bowls would have been the equivalent of an Elite 8 run IMO. Beamer's only Final 4 equivalent was his MNC appearance, but he had a superstar in the mix.

That said, I think Buzz could bring a group of guys like this to the Elite 8. He coached this team to 20 wins in his 2nd year which truly surprised me. But everything will have to fall into place to make the Elite 8 and he woukd have to have momentum at the exact right time. If he wants to go beyond that, he'll need to pull in that "superstar" recruit like Beamer had in 99.

That's just my take