For the second year in the row, a team was crowned national champions with a defense not in the top 25 (LSU was 33rd, Bama 31st) .  Has this ever happened before?   

For now, it seems, that old adage is dead and offense appears to be king.  But you can't necessarily have a terrible(bottom half) defense either .  It has to be a bend but don't break type that is occasionally opportunistic with creating timely turnovers to force change of possession and reduce the opponent's score. 

Yes, this sounds like Captain Obvious thinking, but wondering is there any downside is to having a top 5 lockdown defense (Insert "why not both" .gif)?  Does this hamper the Offensive strategy as far as recruiting and coaching focus (concentrating on having the best defense vs. good enough).  Would like to know your thoughts about this trend.

Basically under this new paradigm, do you think we ever see another  2002 Ohio State type Champion team again?