Athletic's Top CFB Program in the 2000s - first 25 years

WhosYourDawggy

WhosYourDawggy

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What say you?

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Well, that writer’s obviously on drugs. Miami (FL) at #14???? Drop them, MSU, and UW.

Add BYU, KSU, and I guess Cincinnati? Bump Wisky, FSU, Texas, USC, etc. back 6-7 spots each. Bump BSU, BYU, TCU, & KSU up 6-7 spots each.
 
Knight&Day said:
Well, that writer’s obviously on drugs. Miami (FL) at #14???? Drop them, MSU, and UW.

Add BYU, KSU, and I guess Cincinnati? Bump Wisky, FSU, Texas, USC, etc. back 6-7 spots each. Bump BSU, BYU, TCU, & KSU up 6-7 spots each.
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After the obvious top teams it gets pretty muddy. You don't have the consistency and lots of runs of not good in the next group of teams.
 
Cryami has ONE top 15 finish since 2004, they must be getting extra credit for 2000-2003 where they finished in the top 5 every year.
 
I'll post their rationale for the top 10.

Any discussion about which program was the best in the first 25 years of the 2000s has to start with a look at NCs. Isn't that the goal? Shouldn't that be the primary driver? Ask a fan of any program if they could swap their program with tOSU or Alabama. I can't imagine a single one saying they would take tOSU's results and 3 less NCs.

When you look at what the programs have done, you have to look at the quality of football they played against. Here are the NCs in the 25-year period:

BE - 1 (Miami)
ACC - 3 (FSU 1, CU 2)
B12 - 2 (OU, TX)
B1G - 4 (tOSU 3, UM 1)
PAC - 1 (USC)
SEC - 14 (Bama 6, LSU 3, UGA 2, UF 2, Auburn 1)

Which one of those doesn't look like the others? It's clear that Bama has more NCs, and they played against superior competition. Tennessee, which is not on the list, Florida, and to a lesser degree, UGA were the dominant SEC teams in the early 2000s. UGA was the dominant team, along with Bama, in the last 7 years. And LSU was solid for the entire 25 years, even if they tended to go up and down more. You can't point to that level of competition in the B1G. I think that's important when you compare the two.

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Those six national championships between 2009 and ’20 pretty much say it all, and Alabama played for three others in addition to those. Its winning percentage gets dragged down a bit by a 53-46 start to the century, but Nick Saban’s teams then won at least 11 games in all but one season from 2008-23 — and won 10 in the other one.

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Only one program has spent nearly the entire century competing at an elite level — and it’s not Alabama, which was mediocre for six of the eight seasons before Nick Saban got rolling. Whereas Ohio State had only five seasons out of 25 in which it won fewer than 10 games (and one of those was an eight-game 2020 season). It’s won three national championships, played for three more, and craziest of all, it has been ranked in the Top 25 in nearly 93 percent of the 411 AP polls since 2000.

When you look at where the other programs land, you realize how much more difficult Bama's route to conference championships and and NCs was:

Ranked teams at the time:
SEC - 2, 4, 5, 10, 15 (Bama, UGA, LSU, UF, Auburn)
B1G - 1, 11, 16, 17, 23, 25 (tOSU, UM, Wisky, PSU, Iowa, MSU)
B12 - 3, 9, 21 (OU, Texas, OkSU)
ACC/BE - 6, 12, 14, 18 (Clemson, FSU, Miami, VaTech)
PAC - 7, 8, 22, 24 (Ore, USC, Utah, Wash)
Indy/G5/Misc - 13, 19, 20 (ND, TCU, BSU)

For fun, ranked teams in new conferences:
SEC - 2, 3, 4, 5, 9, 10, 15 (Bama, OU, UGA, LSU, Texas, UF, Auburn)
B1G - 1, 7, 8, 11, 16, 17, 23, 24, 25 (tOSU, Ore, USC, UM, Wisky, PSU, Iowa, Wash, MSU)
B12 - 19, 21, 22 (TCU, OkSU, Utah)
ACC/BE - 6, 12, 14, 18 (Clemson, FSU, Miami, VaTech)
Indy/G5 - 13, 20 (ND, BSU)

As for the other teams, OU, UGA, and LSU could all be swapped with no problem from me. OU had the advantage of playing the B12 - see above. Truthfully, I would probably go LSU, UGA, and OU, but they are all really close. Perhaps NCs would be the tie-breaker there. OU played in an easier conference, LSU was more up and down, while UGA hit a dead spot in the middle of the 25 year period. LSU had Bama every year, at least once.

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UF - 10
This one surprised me, given the Gators peaked in 2009 under Urban Meyer. But believe it or not, five coaches — Steve Spurrier (who left in 2001), Meyer, Will Muschamp, Jim McElwain and Dan Mullen — notched at least one 10-win season. Meyer won two national titles in three years and Mullen went to three consecutive New Year’s Six bowls.

Texas - 9
Texas enjoyed a dominant first decade under Mack Brown, winning double-digit games every year from 2001-09, earning one BCS title and playing for another. Then the program went in the tank for most of the next dozen years, before Steve Sarkisian led the Longhorns to consecutive CFP semifinals.

USC - 8
USC appearing in the top 10 is a testament to just how dominant the Trojans were under Pete Carroll from 2002-08, when it went 82-9, won six consecutive Pac-12 titles and two national crowns (one shared). While it feels like USC has been struggling ever since, it has added four more double-digit-win seasons and three New Year’s Six bowl bids.

Oregon - 7
Some may scoff at ranking Oregon this high without having won a national championship, but every other data point is that of an elite program. The Ducks’ 182 weeks spent in the AP top 10 are higher than the likes of LSU, Clemson and Texas, among others. And they’ve been to more BCS/NY6 bowls than USC, Michigan and Notre Dame.

Clemson - 6
Clemson was admittedly nothing special for the century’s first 11 seasons, peaking at nine wins, and even then only four times. Then Dabo Swinney found his groove, and the Tigers won fewer than 10 games just once over the past 14 seasons. The program’s rise aligned with the start of the CFP, which it has reached seven times since 2015, with national championships in 2016 and 2018.

LSU - 5
While it may seem like LSU has yo-yoed between peaks and valleys, it’s hard to argue with 13 double-digit-win seasons across four coaches (Saban, Les Miles, Ed Orgeron and Brian Kelly), three of whom won national titles. The Tigers have won a ton of big games, ranking third in both Top 10 and Top 25 wins. A “bad” season has generally been 9-4 or 8-5.

UGA - 4
The underappreciated Mark Richt led the Dawgs to double-digit wins in nine of his 15 seasons, then passed the baton to Kirby Smart who promptly took the program to another level. In nine seasons he has a .846 winning percentage and has accounted for three of the program’s five conference championships and both national titles this century.

OU - 3
Oklahoma was even more consistent than Ohio State until suffering two losing seasons over the past three years. No other power program comes close to the Sooners’ 13 conference titles (all in the Big 12). Bob Stoops started the century with a national title before playing for three more, and Lincoln Riley added three consecutive Playoff appearances.
 
how do you not put Bama at #1???

they won how many between 2009 through the 2020 season? 6?? lol

Give me that.

*Forgot that they also had two other runner ups when they lost to Clemson and 1 more vs UGA.. That's 9 title appearances in 11 years..
 
WhosYourDawggy said:
I'll post their rationale for the top 10.

Any discussion about which program was the best in the first 25 years of the 2000s has to start with a look at NCs. Isn't that the goal? Shouldn't that be the primary driver? Ask a fan of any program if they could swap their program with tOSU or Alabama. I can't imagine a single one saying they would take tOSU's results and 3 less NCs.

When you look at what the programs have done, you have to look at the quality of football they played against. Here are the NCs in the 25-year period:

BE - 1 (Miami)
ACC - 3 (FSU 1, CU 2)
B12 - 2 (OU, TX)
B1G - 4 (tOSU 3, UM 1)
PAC - 1 (USC)
SEC - 14 (Bama 6, LSU 3, UGA 2, UF 2, Auburn 1)

Which one of those doesn't look like the others? It's clear that Bama has more NCs, and they played against superior competition. Tennessee, which is not on the list, Florida, and to a lesser degree, UGA were the dominant SEC teams in the early 2000s. UGA was the dominant team, along with Bama, in the last 7 years. And LSU was solid for the entire 25 years, even if they tended to go up and down more. You can't point to that level of competition in the B1G. I think that's important when you compare the two.

View attachment 136823

Those six national championships between 2009 and ’20 pretty much say it all, and Alabama played for three others in addition to those. Its winning percentage gets dragged down a bit by a 53-46 start to the century, but Nick Saban’s teams then won at least 11 games in all but one season from 2008-23 — and won 10 in the other one.

View attachment 136824
Only one program has spent nearly the entire century competing at an elite level — and it’s not Alabama, which was mediocre for six of the eight seasons before Nick Saban got rolling. Whereas Ohio State had only five seasons out of 25 in which it won fewer than 10 games (and one of those was an eight-game 2020 season). It’s won three national championships, played for three more, and craziest of all, it has been ranked in the Top 25 in nearly 93 percent of the 411 AP polls since 2000.

When you look at where the other programs land, you realize how much more difficult Bama's route to conference championships and and NCs was:

Ranked teams at the time:
SEC - 2, 4, 5, 10, 15 (Bama, UGA, LSU, UF, Auburn)
B1G - 1, 11, 16, 17, 23, 25 (tOSU, UM, Wisky, PSU, Iowa, MSU)
B12 - 3, 9, 21 (OU, Texas, OkSU)
ACC/BE - 6, 12, 14, 18 (Clemson, FSU, Miami, VaTech)
PAC - 7, 8, 22, 24 (Ore, USC, Utah, Wash)
Indy/G5/Misc - 13, 19, 20 (ND, TCU, BSU)

For fun, ranked teams in new conferences:
SEC - 2, 3, 4, 5, 9, 10, 15 (Bama, OU, UGA, LSU, Texas, UF, Auburn)
B1G - 1, 7, 8, 11, 16, 17, 23, 24, 25 (tOSU, Ore, USC, UM, Wisky, PSU, Iowa, Wash, MSU)
B12 - 19, 21, 22 (TCU, OkSU, Utah)
ACC/BE - 6, 12, 14, 18 (Clemson, FSU, Miami, VaTech)
Indy/G5 - 13, 20 (ND, BSU)

As for the other teams, OU, UGA, and LSU could all be swapped with no problem from me. OU had the advantage of playing the B12 - see above. Truthfully, I would probably go LSU, UGA, and OU, but they are all really close. Perhaps NCs would be the tie-breaker there. OU played in an easier conference, LSU was more up and down, while UGA hit a dead spot in the middle of the 25 year period. LSU had Bama every year, at least once.

View attachment 136825

View attachment 136826

View attachment 136827

UF - 10
This one surprised me, given the Gators peaked in 2009 under Urban Meyer. But believe it or not, five coaches — Steve Spurrier (who left in 2001), Meyer, Will Muschamp, Jim McElwain and Dan Mullen — notched at least one 10-win season. Meyer won two national titles in three years and Mullen went to three consecutive New Year’s Six bowls.

Texas - 9
Texas enjoyed a dominant first decade under Mack Brown, winning double-digit games every year from 2001-09, earning one BCS title and playing for another. Then the program went in the tank for most of the next dozen years, before Steve Sarkisian led the Longhorns to consecutive CFP semifinals.

USC - 8
USC appearing in the top 10 is a testament to just how dominant the Trojans were under Pete Carroll from 2002-08, when it went 82-9, won six consecutive Pac-12 titles and two national crowns (one shared). While it feels like USC has been struggling ever since, it has added four more double-digit-win seasons and three New Year’s Six bowl bids.

Oregon - 7
Some may scoff at ranking Oregon this high without having won a national championship, but every other data point is that of an elite program. The Ducks’ 182 weeks spent in the AP top 10 are higher than the likes of LSU, Clemson and Texas, among others. And they’ve been to more BCS/NY6 bowls than USC, Michigan and Notre Dame.

Clemson - 6
Clemson was admittedly nothing special for the century’s first 11 seasons, peaking at nine wins, and even then only four times. Then Dabo Swinney found his groove, and the Tigers won fewer than 10 games just once over the past 14 seasons. The program’s rise aligned with the start of the CFP, which it has reached seven times since 2015, with national championships in 2016 and 2018.

LSU - 5
While it may seem like LSU has yo-yoed between peaks and valleys, it’s hard to argue with 13 double-digit-win seasons across four coaches (Saban, Les Miles, Ed Orgeron and Brian Kelly), three of whom won national titles. The Tigers have won a ton of big games, ranking third in both Top 10 and Top 25 wins. A “bad” season has generally been 9-4 or 8-5.

UGA - 4
The underappreciated Mark Richt led the Dawgs to double-digit wins in nine of his 15 seasons, then passed the baton to Kirby Smart who promptly took the program to another level. In nine seasons he has a .846 winning percentage and has accounted for three of the program’s five conference championships and both national titles this century.

OU - 3
Oklahoma was even more consistent than Ohio State until suffering two losing seasons over the past three years. No other power program comes close to the Sooners’ 13 conference titles (all in the Big 12). Bob Stoops started the century with a national title before playing for three more, and Lincoln Riley added three consecutive Playoff appearances.
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idc laughing GIF
 
Thiefery said:
how do you not put Bama at #1???

they won how many between 2009 through the 2020 season? 6?? lol

Give me that.

*Forgot that they also had two other runner ups when they lost to Clemson and 1 more vs UGA.. That's 9 title appearances in 11 years..
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That was my thought ... tell every fanbase you can have Bama or tOSU from 2000 - 2025, which would you want. There isn't a fanbase that would think for a second ... yeah, I'll take tOSU and 3 NCs over what Bama did.

Forget the first 7 years ... the last 18, even since 2020, they've been in the hunt for the NC almost every damn year.
 
Brutus said:
Idk what the dumb criteria is, but Bama has to be #1

Makes the whole thing meaningless imo that they can’t even get the obvious top program correct
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oh yeah and i'm not taking a swipe at tosu at all.. but man that stretch of football was DOMINANT by Alabama
 
I’d go:

1. Bama
2. OSU
3. LSU
4. UGA

That’s the definitive top 4 IMO. You could make an argument for a lot of different orders for 5-10, beyond that, just a jumbled mess
 
Bama should be easy #1, no offense to Ohio State fans, but winning the natty has to be weighted more than any other statistical category alone.
 
Illustrious Potentate said:
I’d go:

1. Bama
2. OSU
3. LSU
4. UGA

That’s the definitive top 4 IMO. You could make an argument for a lot of different orders for 5-10, beyond that, just a jumbled mess
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LSU is a interesting case.

They have 11 4+ loss seasons in the 2000+ time range.

When they are on they are on but when they aren't it's very Iowaish.
 
Blackshirts BLVD said:
Bama should be easy #1, no offense to Ohio State fans, but winning the natty has to be weighted more than any other statistical category alone.
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I'm guessing they are penalizing Bama for being pretty bad for the most part from 2000-2007
 
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