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What Are the Top 5 College Football Programs of All Time?

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What Are the Top 5 College Football Programs of All Time?

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scarletngray;688057; said:
Oregon,

Milli and Dubs covered Bama. Thanks guys.

Concerning Nebraska:

1. They have 5 national championships
2. They were one of the most dominant teams in CFB in the 70's, 80's
and 90's.
3. They pretty much owned the 90's with 3 National Championships.
4. They also have, if IIRC, the most 10 win consecutive seasons in CFB history. I forget the actual number, but it's pretty impressive. If anyone has that info, I'd appreciate it.
5. They also have amazing tradition and fan base, which I also included in my picks. They are probably in the top 3 when it comes to fan base, and could arguably be considered the top school in this area since the state of Nebraska only has Nebraska football to root for. They have had a sell out crowd for decades and getting a ticket to a Nebraska game is VERY difficult.
6. They had two great coaches in Devine and Osborne.
7. The Nebraska vs Oaklahoma game was called "The Game of the Century"
for a reason.

Hope that helps you understand my choice.
Click to expand...

It's not that I don't respect Nebraska's tradition but #4 seemed a bit high to me.
 
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One of the most often linked addresses on BP is THIS PAGE from Stassen that allows you to rank all Div. IA teams according to winning percentage over any date range. I believe some data derived there is relevant to this discussion.

They haven't updated for 2006 yet, but you probably already knew that from a recent thread that Mili started on the subject of all time winning percentage. Once they do update it, I plan on doing some serious number-crunching. Until then, a few observations will have to do.

I made a list where the left column comprises all of the years in which college football has been played, from 1869 through 2005 (the last year in the database). In the right column I put the team that leads all of Div. IA in winning percentage from that year through the present.

The list starts out:

1869 - TSUN
1870 - TSUN
1871 - TSUN

...and so on. You get the idea.

Michigan is the only team in the right column from 1869 through 1888. Then NoD is number one from 1889 through the present, then it's TSUN again until 1899, where NoD takes over and is #1 in every date range starting with the years 1899 -1922 and going through 2005.


Observation #1:
Michigan is not the winningest team in any date range starting after 1898 and going through 2005.



​
Ohio State takes over the #1 spot from NoD in 1923 and holds it until 1933.
Oklahoma then holds the top spot from 1934 through 1950.
Then it's Ohio State again from 1951 through 1954.
Then it's Nebraska from 1955 through 1979.


Obervation #2:
The only teams that lead Div. IA in winning percentage in any year before 1980 are:
  1. TSUN
  2. NoD
  3. tOSU
  4. Oklahoma
  5. Nebraska


​
In date ranges starting with 1980 through 1986 and running through 2005, the highest winning percentage goes to Miami (Fla.).
Then it's Fla. St. from 1987 through 1996.
Then it's Miami again for 4 years.
Then it's Texas for 2001
Then usc for ranges starting 2002-2004 and running through '05.



Observation #3:
None of the teams that lead in date ranges starting before 1980 appear as the leader in any date range starting after 1980.​

Observation #4:
Neither USC nor Texas appear until the 21st century. Alabama and Florida do not appear at all.​

Observation #5:
After 2006 is factored in, I'm pretty sure that OSU is the only team that will not be lower than #8 in any date range starting with ANY year and running through 2006. I will be more sure of this after I load all of the data into a spreadsheet, but at this point I gotta say that it really doesn't look like anyone else is close to being able to say this.​
 
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t_BuckeyeScott;688396; said:
Fantastic work DBB, but you're not advocating that we base this entirely on winning percentange right? Bowl wins, national championships and Heisman's could/ should be part of the discussion, right?
Click to expand...

Absolutely. That post was 100% info, 0% opinion. Relevant to the discussion, but by no means does it end the discussion.

One of my own impressions from the data is that Nebraska's 25 year run from '55 through '79 is damn impressive.

BTW: The last year for which Ohio State was as high as #2 was 1962; the year before I was born.
 
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Ohio State... I went there and that's good enough for me.
Notre Dame... It's more fun when there's someone you can really hate.
Michigan... can't argue with the record over a long time...

and then it gets really tough because I've used up three of my picks on Midwest schools and though I might like to be able to drop Michigan or ND, the fact remains that both have a better winning record and that leaves OSU as the logical team to drop from the area and I just won't have that.

I picked Texas, because you HAVE to have a team from the south in the mix and they have had one of the best programs over an extended period of time.

I picked USC for much the same reason, need a team from a region, one with an extablished, long time, record of success.

It was tough to leave out Alabama. Outstanding long term record.

FSU and Miami are flash in the pan programs with very little going for them prior to the 80's.
 
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scooter1369;688342; said:
Haven't you guys learned anything from our Gator visitors?

Top 5

Florida
Tennesee
Georgia
Auburn
Alabama
Arkansas.
Click to expand...
Obviously Arkansas doesn't belong on the list of all-time greatest teams - they've only been one of the greatest since 1990. Before that they were just some non-SEC team.
 
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cincibuck;688407; said:
FSU and Miami are flash in the pan programs with very little going for them prior to the 80's.
Click to expand...
The poll results might be quite different if the question were "What Are the Top 5 College Teams Since 1980?" Then, both FSU and Miami would most likely make the cut, as would Nebraska.

Ohio State might still make the final five, but Michigan and Notre Dame would probably fall out of contention.

Penn State would be an interesting case: NC's in 1982 and 1986, perfect season in 1994, a surprising 12-1 season in 2005, but many really awful seasons surrounding those gems.

Oklahoma, Texas, Alabama, Tennessee, and Southern Cal all have NC's since 1980, but their overall results were generally mixed.

Might be a good poll question....
 
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MililaniBuckeye;687387; said:
As for Alabama, they are virtually tied with us for all-time winning percentage, they have more national titles, and are 3-0 all-time against us.
Click to expand...

I think it's very close for tOSU and Alabama for the #3 spot behind ND and Oklahoma.

Here are items that favor tOSU in the comparison:

Heisman Trophies: tOSU 7, Alabama 0
Total weeks as AP #1: tOSU 88 (3rd all-time), Alabama 31 (10th all-time)


I'm surprised by anybody that doesn't include Oklahoma in the top 5.
 
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BB73;688463; said:
I think it's very close for tOSU and Alabama for the #3 spot behind ND and Oklahoma.

Here are items that favor tOSU in the comparison:

Heisman Trophies: tOSU 7, Alabama 0
Total weeks as AP #1: tOSU 88 (3rd all-time), Alabama 31 (10th all-time)


I'm surprised by anybody that doesn't include Oklahoma in the top 5.
Click to expand...

You rank Oklahoma above Michigan?
 
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Thump;688464; said:
You rank Oklahoma above Michigan?
Click to expand...

Easily. TSUN only has such a high ranking in all-time wins and winning percentage because they were so dominant in the early days. I basically ignore what happened when TDs weren't 6 points and the forward pass was illegal.

Oklahoma has been #1 95 times (tied for 1st with ND) since the AP poll started in 1936 (TSUN has only 34). OKlahoma has 7 NCs since then, while TSUN has 1948, half of 1997, and they claim one in 1947, although the AP gave it ND and no official poll was taken after the bowl games.

The Coaches poll started in 1950, and TSUN has exactly ZERO #1 finishes in its entire history. They have NEVER won the Coaches NC, Oklahoma has 6 (being ineligible in 1974 is why it's not 7, same as their AP number).

Oklahoma is #1 in winning percentage from 1936 to 2005 (stats aren't updated for this season, and I'm not bothering), when the AP poll started, followed by tOSU, Penn St., TSUN, and ND.

Going back to 1924, when much of America discovered college football due to Red Grange and the Four Horsemen, it's tOSU, Bama, Tennessee, ND, TSUN, and Oklahoma.

So considering the time period in which college football has been a national sport, Oklahoma and TSUN are very close on winning percentage (Oklahoma has 15 more wins than TSUN since 1924). But Oklahoma has won more NCs than TSUN in that timeframe, and been much more dominant in the polls.
 
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BB73;688463; said:
I'm surprised by anybody that doesn't include Oklahoma in the top 5.
Click to expand...
Absolutely agree.

Edit: In case someone sees my location and says OU's homer for me, I've lived here less than a year(military)and am orginaly from Xenia, OH. I've lived in the panhandle of Florida where there a bunch of obnoxious gator fans(why I hate the gators) but Sooner fans really aren't too bad.
 
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