ESPN College Football Program Prestige Rankings

Some folks at ESPN have ranked all current 119 college football teams. Yesterday, they revealed 21-119, and today they revealed 16-20. They will continue throughout the week. They also did this ranking strictly by formula, not opinion, so that makes it all the more fun. Along the right side of the page, you'll be able to follow the countdown to #1, as well as read about the ranking formula. Note who is in dead last, and who has already been revealed in Day 1 (i.e. #21)

about 1 year ago TopDaddy 18 comments 0 recs |

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This...

…is kinda cool to read, and we will rank high, obviously, but I’m disappointed that they start at 1936, since that omits four of our national championships, plus other fine seasons under Frank Thomas, Wallace Wade, Xen Scott, etc. Maybe they were just trying to keep Yale out of the conversation, since they have won more national titles than any other school. Thanks for posting, though.

by NiceLittleSaturday on Jan 21, 2009 1:41 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

Well, I'm sure we will be in the top 5...

However, we all already know who number 1 is gonna be. Damn Irish.

by GSCRocks on Jan 21, 2009 2:25 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

True...

But I believe, if I read this right, that a lot of their points in the formula a based off of final AP rankings, victories over AP top 5 or 10 teams, AP/UPI National Championships, etc. And I think that’s the year that the AP poll was created. But yes, I do believe that will hurt us in the rankings since we only have 7 AP/UPI National Championships, and Notre Dame has 8.

"There's a lot of blood, sweat, and guts between dreams and success" - Coach Bryant

by TopDaddy on Jan 21, 2009 2:30 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

I thought...

…the top team would be (ugh) Oklahoma, especially since ND has done so much sucking lately (and since they’re ignoring about 50 years of football).

by NiceLittleSaturday on Jan 21, 2009 2:57 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

The fact that they (ND) are...

1-9 in their last 10 bowl games will probably be a factor as well. I think the top 5 will be (not in this order) Bama, ND, USC, Oklahoma, Texas. Maybe a Michigan in there somewhere.

"There's a lot of blood, sweat, and guts between dreams and success" - Coach Bryant

by TopDaddy on Jan 21, 2009 3:31 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Michigan

Michigan has to be in the top 5. They have the most wins in all of college football and until this year had gone to bowl games every year since the 70s or something like that.

by Bama philosophe on Jan 21, 2009 4:02 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

I agree...

but remember that they have the most wins because they’ve played football 20+ years longer than most teams. All teams starting from the same year levels the playing field a bit.

"There's a lot of blood, sweat, and guts between dreams and success" - Coach Bryant

by TopDaddy on Jan 21, 2009 4:31 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

I'll guess

1. USC
2. OU
3. Bama
4. ND

I have not run the numbers, but ND does not have as many bowls. If USC wins it is all because their conference is bootleg.

Kinda surprsied to see Auburn in the top 25, but then again UT, UGA, LSU, UF and Bama are all in the top 15- so the SEC is clearly the #1 conference

by 5026 on Jan 21, 2009 3:32 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

I will...

…poop my pants if they place Bama above ND. That’s so not like them. Plus, Texas and Michigan have not had the fun with probation that we have, which is why I expect them to drop us to #6, right in front of Ohio State and Nebraska. Of course, I think that’s BS, but that’s what I expect.

by NiceLittleSaturday on Jan 21, 2009 3:41 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

It's all formula though, not perception. So it's possible.

"There's a lot of blood, sweat, and guts between dreams and success" - Coach Bryant

by TopDaddy on Jan 21, 2009 4:32 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

The formula...

…is based on perception, or the 1936 starting point, and possibly probation, would not factor into it. But yes, it’s possible.

by NiceLittleSaturday on Jan 21, 2009 9:56 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

6th? WTF?

Oh yeah… they put us at sixth. I know of four of the five ahead of us and one is alluding me. ND, USC, Oklahoma and… wait for it… Ohio State. You read that right.

by GSCRocks on Jan 22, 2009 11:52 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

Gotta be Nebraska

I don’t see them mentioned yet.

by yellowhammer on Jan 22, 2009 1:05 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Good point...

Now, let’s be honest, historically… Nebraska and Ohio State are better than us? Really? I can see us being close with OU and we all know ESPN likes to hump the legs of ND and USC… I dunno. Seems out of sorts to me. It hurts that they don’t count all the NCs.

by GSCRocks on Jan 22, 2009 2:11 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

I'll bet we're within...

20 points or something of 5th. Stupid formula. I actually think it hurt us this time. If the rankings had been based on opinion, we’d have ranked higher.

"There's a lot of blood, sweat, and guts between dreams and success" - Coach Bryant

by TopDaddy on Jan 22, 2009 2:41 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

The formula...

…is based on opinion…just the wrong opinion.

by NiceLittleSaturday on Jan 22, 2009 3:04 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Of course...

…there is plenty of blame to go around internally as well. You might start with Bama alum and former HC Mike Dubose, since we had two mind-boggling losing seasons under his ‘reign’, plus five years of probation and two more losing seasons as a result of actions taken (and not taken) during his tenure. He may be a wonderful human being (I wouldn’t know), but he is easily the worst head coach Bama has had since the 1950s (even though two other Mikes have given him some competition).

That being said, it’s still ludicrous to rank us behind programs like Nebraska and Ohio State. The probation hits us twice using the formula, since it’s made evident in the records (including the 93 ‘losing’ season) and they subtract points. And the twenties and thirties prior to 1936 were almost as strong for us as the sixties and seventies.

But screw it. We know our own history better than ESPN’s stump-heads do. Hopefully, when somebody attempts this again ten years from now, the 2010 will resemble the 1960s and 1970s (or at least the 1990s). RMFTR.

by NiceLittleSaturday on Jan 22, 2009 3:23 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Yeah...

I think that if you make it to a BCS game the past three years in a row and come out with a loss each time, two of which are to SEC schools, you should be disqualified all together from the rankings. Then if you’ve averaged giving up almost 50 points in your last 11 loses over the past two seasons, they you don’t deserve to have a football program. So I realize these are pretty specific specification, but at least we know two teams ahead of us would apply. Then there’s always: if you just won your first bowl game since I was in 6th grade, with at least 9 chances to do so, Football Jesus should jump off his pedastal and slap everyone associated with ~~Notre Dame~~ the team who fits this criteria. Then they should be disqualified from rankings ever again. So this bumps us up to #3 anyway.

"There's a lot of blood, sweat, and guts between dreams and success" - Coach Bryant

by TopDaddy on Jan 22, 2009 3:46 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs