Like I said last week in a few posts; we beat 6 ranked teams, 4 top 10s, 10 bowl teams. I’m not certain how nearly 80% of the all-time field tops that.

is that the ‘09 champs are worse than 80 teams in history? Wasn’t there another place that put the ’09 squad as the best team of all time?

if 73 and 75 made it but not 78. 78 was better than both those teams when you consider that they beat Neb. Missouri, Wash, UF, UT, Va Tech, LSU, Auburn and PSU all in ONE YEAR!! Yeah they lost game…but at least it was to USC.

Also, I find it hard to believe there were 77 teams better than the 09 team. 77 Teams!! That means that this team that went 14-0, beat UF & Tex back to back, when UF & Tex. were ranked 1 & 2 in those games, was undefeated in 9 games in the best conference in the land, played and beat along the way 9 bowl teams and a team with that record would have only been the best team in the land about 1/4 of the time. No way. I’m not saying they were the best colllege football team of all time, as some have even dared to suggest, but no way they are not in the top 25.

The list is bogus.

Go check out the comments on the page and read his response to all the “outraged alabama fans”

from totally different eras of the game. this kind of thing is for the same guys that get lost in world of warcraft fantasy. there is no way to say what team is better than another when they cant even play each other. every circumstance is its own. I cant even believe I am typing this.
damn you offseason.

2008 Florida didn’t make the cut. The path of devastation that was wrought in the SEC that year was amazing. The 31-30 diminishes it somewhat, but a 6-2-1 ND team ahead of that? C’mon…

Some computer whiz somewhere can come up with an unbiased (I’m not saying that Mr Connelly himself is biased) rating to determine the top 100 teams. (If Mr Connelly did this in his research, I can at least tolerate the ratings, a little.) I would just like to see where strength of schedule, the number of games played, perhaps how many of the players on those squads that went on to bigger arenas could be factored, or other categories too numerous to consider could be introduced into the formula in determining the “Top 100 Teams.” Mr Connelly is certainly entitled to his opinion. And he is most certainly more qualified than I. But I think the 2009 and Sugar Bowl 14-7 victors over Penn State have definitely been short-changed. That squad that beat Penn State had quite a few players that went on to the NFL and played for years. And Penn State wasn’t short on future NFL stars either.

i think the issue here is one of the inherent problems of systems as a means of ranking teams over an historical span – they are guaranteed to disappoint. the best system will establish a clear criteria of evaluation (which connelly has done) and then stick to it. while it is possible to adjust the formula or evaluation to address serious discrepancies, the point is to see where everyone lines up and understand why that occurred.

now the BCS is a system as well and the problem, as the estimable bill james has pointed out with his usual erudition, is that the way it’s set up is to reach decisions that are in contradiction with it’s actual findings. instead of providing the best of both the system and poll selectors – it is an unholy union that represents the worst of both.

connelly’s got a reasonable criteria for evaluation and has run the rankings and is putting them out there for vetting. if there are points of the findings we disagree with – such as a certain team being placed too low – where we can be of assistance is pointing out why this particular system has failed (or accept the ranking as reasonable given the criteria).

…but I figured I could start by posting the entire Alabama list, so here you go: http://www.rollbamaroll.com/2010/7/7/1556316/ranking-bama-teams-from-the-last

Fire away (either in that post, or in this one)…

As I said, you are much more qualified than I am to rank teams. And I appreciate your thinking on these matters. Especially in between football seasons. I need my Bama fix.
Thanks.

…I’m thinking the 2009 Alabama team should be in the top 25…at worst. Of course, I would have them higher than that (top ten).

and hey, I’m ok with saying the ’09 team was not our best. But remember this:

If the ’09 team is not even close to our best, what does it say about our program? If Aubie had even one season like we had last year, it would be their best season by far! And yet we can seriously say that season might not even be in the top 5 or even top 10!!!