The Jackets may have gotten their national championship after all, and return a lot of the talent that got them there, but something didn’t quite click in 1953 like it did in 1952.
It’s often tossed about that you have to be lucky and good to win a national championship. On its face that seems both obviously and wrong. Sure, skill can only provide so much of an advantage, you have to win the games. Whether that comes down any of a myriad of potential hazards - weather, officiating, what the kicker eats for breakfast - it requires a little bit of faith and luck to have the little uncontrollable things fall into place.