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Which College Football Team Is the Most Prestigious?

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Some might argue that "prestige" has an expiration date...
 
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With the addition of Nebraska, the Big Ten now has four of the nine most prestigious programs in college football (all ratings updated to include the 2009 season):

01. Notre Dame................ 1687.5
02. Southern Cal.............. 1573.0
03. Oklahoma.................. 1553.0
04. Alabama................... 1499.5
05. Ohio State................ 1472.0 (Big Ten)
06. Michigan.................. 1443.5 (Big Ten)
07. Nebraska.................. 1412.0 (Big Ten)
08. Texas..................... 1306.0
09. Penn State................ 1036.0 (Big Ten)
10. Tennessee.................. 955.0
11. Miami...................... 803.0
12. Georgia.................... 771.0
13. Louisiana State............ 765.0
14. Minnesota.................. 750.0 (Big Ten)
15. Florida.................... 714.0
16. Florida State.............. 674.5
17. Pittsburgh................. 624.0
18. Georgia Tech............... 623.0
19. Auburn..................... 605.0
20. Texas A+M.................. 562.0
21. Washington................. 551.5
22. Colorado................... 546.5
23. UCLA....................... 507.5
24. Michigan State............. 481.0 (Big Ten)
25. Clemson.................... 472.5
26. California................. 470.5
27. Arkansas................... 452.0
28. Syracuse................... 444.0
29. Stanford................... 438.5
30. Arizona State.............. 425.0
31. West Virginia.............. 405.5
32. Utah........................390.5
33. Virginia Tech.............. 372.0
34. Wisconsin.................. 363.5 (Big Ten)
35. Mississippi................ 343.5
36. Iowa....................... 335.5 (Big Ten)
37. Boston College............. 329.0
38. North Carolina............. 309.5
39. Maryland................... 309.0
39. Illinois................... 309.0 (Big Ten)
41. Missouri................... 296.5
42. Texas Tech................. 272.0
43. Purdue..................... 268.0 (Big Ten)
44. Arizona.................... 246.0
45. Oregon..................... 217.5
46. Duke....................... 157.0
47. Virginia................... 152.0
48. Oklahoma State............. 136.5
49. North Carolina State....... 132.5
50. Vanderbilt................. 127.5
50. Baylor..................... 127.5
50. Kansas..................... 127.5
53. Louisville.................. 99.5
53. Cincinnati.................. 99.5
55. Kentucky.................... 91.0
56. Washington State............ 75.0
57. Oregon State................ 66.5
58. South Carolina.............. 47.0
59. South Florida............... 40.0
60. Rutgers..................... 36.5
61. Connecticut................. 20.0
62. Mississippi State........... 11.5
63. Northwestern................. 4.0 (Big Ten)
64. Iowa State................. -56.0
65. Kansas State............... -62.5
66. Indiana.................... -92.5 (Big Ten)
67. Wake Forest............... -137.0
xx. Avg for all BCS teams...... 472.0

1. Big Ten................... 6,370.0 (579.1 average)
2. SEC....................... 6,382.0 (531.8 average)
3. Big XII................... 6,221.0 (518.4 average)
4. Pac 10.................... 4,605.0 (460.5 average)
5. ACC....................... 4,197.0 (349.8 average)
6. Big East.................. 1,769.0 (221.1 average)

The Big Ten was already the most prestigious conference, but its overall rating skyrocketed after the addition of Nebraska (the average per team went up by 69.4 points). The Pac 10 received a negligible boost (1.3 points per team) with the additions of Colorado and Utah. The Big XII was the obvious loser, as its prestige fell by 92.1 points per team.

1. Big Ten (w/Neb)........... 7,782.0 (648.5 average)
2. SEC....................... 6,382.0 (531.8 average)
3. Pac 10.(w/Colo, Utah)..... 5,542.0 (461.8 average)
4. Big XII (w/o Neb, Colo)... 4,262.0 (426.3 average)
5. ACC....................... 4,197.0 (349.8 average)
6. Big East.................. 1,769.0 (221.1 average)
 
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I'm impressed with the amount of work which went into this vs just simply listing the members of the 800 wins club.

One tends to forget what a powerhouse Minnesota was before the modern era. This detailed look sheds light on what they once were.

Hats off for the time and effort to put all this together.
 
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red in colorado;1719533; said:
I'm impressed with the amount of work which went into this vs just simply listing the members of the 800 wins club.

One tends to forget what a powerhouse Minnesota was before the modern era. This detailed look sheds light on what they once were.

Hats off for the time and effort to put all this together.
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Yep, I agree, very interesting. Minnesota was a powerhouse "before the modern era" as you say - as was Notre Dame.

It would be interesting to see how rankings would change if you cut it off at some point to look at just modern times. For instance, I'm betting that if you took the last 50 years, both the Buckeyes and the Huskers would rank even higher. Don't know if it would be easy to do that, but I'd love to see it if it is.
 
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DallasHusker;1719668; said:
It would be interesting to see how rankings would change if you cut it off at some point to look at just modern times. For instance, I'm betting that if you took the last 50 years, both the Buckeyes and the Huskers would rank even higher. Don't know if it would be easy to do that, but I'd love to see it if it is.
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For obvious reasons, I like to compare teams from 1951 until now. 1951 was Woody Hayes' first year as coach of the Buckeyes. These are the top ten in winning percentage from 1951 through 2009:

1 Ohio State
2 Oklahoma
3 Penn State
4 Nebraska
5 Texas
6 Southern Cal
7 Michigan
8 Alabama
9 Tennessee
10 Florida
 
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LordJeffBuck;1718304; said:
1. Big Ten (w/Neb)........... 7,782.0 (648.5 average)
2. SEC....................... 6,382.0 (531.8 average)
3. Pac 10.(w/Colo, Utah)..... 5,542.0 (461.8 average)
4. Big XII (w/o Neb, Colo)... 4,262.0 (426.3 average)
5. ACC....................... 4,197.0 (349.8 average)
6. Big East.................. 1,769.0 (221.1 average)
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Just imagine where those numbers would be if they'd only let Woody go for three.
 
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Jake;1719699; said:
For obvious reasons, I like to compare teams from 1951 until now. 1951 was Woody Hayes' first year as coach of the Buckeyes. These are the top ten in winning percentage from 1951 through 2009:

1 Ohio State
2 Oklahoma
3 Penn State
4 Nebraska
5 Texas
6 Southern Cal
7 Michigan
8 Alabama
9 Tennessee
10 Florida
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I understand! :) For similarly obvious reasons, I like the time span from Bob Devaney's arrival at Nebraska (1962) to present:

1. Nebraska
2. Ohio State
3. Penn State
4. Oklahoma
5. Texas
6. Southern Cal
7. Michigan
8. Alabama
9. Florida
10. Tennessee

You can also take it back just two more years and make it an even 50 year span to present:

1. Nebraska
2. Ohio State
3. Penn State
4. Oklahoma
5. Texas
6. Alabama
7. Michigan
8. Southern Cal
9. Florida
10. Tennessee

Any way you cut it, Nebraska and tOSU are two of (maybe THE two) elites of modern college football, and the Big Ten has more of the elites by a factor of 2-1 over any other conference.

I'd still like to see the more complicated "prestige rankings" from this thread taken back just 50 years, to knock out teams like the Domers who are living on past glory and haven't done much in a long time.
 
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muffler dragon;1721057; said:
And we own your ass to the tune of 2-0. Suck on that! :tongue2:
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I'm thinking its likely you had to look that up, since both of those were probably before you were born, right? :tongue2:

I was actually surprised when I saw the records posted vs. all of the Big Ten including dates recently - that the last time we played each other was back in 1956. I'm looking forward to quite a rivalry developing now - although I know we can never rise above #2 at the very best, in terms of tOSU rivals. :wink2:
 
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LordJeffBuck;1721559; said:
I'm working on it....
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Ah, glad to hear it! Thanks for the effort you've put into it - I found it very interesting, and will look forward to the 50 year version when you have the time. I'm really wondering if the Buckeyes and Huskers come out 1 and 2, as they do in the simple 50 year win percentages.
 
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DallasHusker;1721577; said:
Ah, glad to hear it! Thanks for the effort you've put into it - I found it very interesting, and will look forward to the 50 year version when you have the time. I'm really wondering if the Buckeyes and Huskers come out 1 and 2, as they do in the simple 50 year win percentages.
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FWIW: The Buckeyes and the Huskers are the top 2 in winning percentage for every date range ending with the 2009 season and beginning from 1955-1975. The statistical analysis thread has a lot more detail about this than you would ever want to know.
 
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DallasHusker;1721473; said:
I'm thinking its likely you had to look that up, since both of those were probably before you were born, right? :tongue2:
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I actually checked it out about a month ago when I first was going to Husker forums. :lol:

DH said:
I was actually surprised when I saw the records posted vs. all of the Big Ten including dates recently - that the last time we played each other was back in 1956. I'm looking forward to quite a rivalry developing now - although I know we can never rise above #2 at the very best, in terms of tOSU rivals. :wink2:
Click to expand...

I am very much so looking forward to it. I believe it could be epic.
 
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