FOX SPORTS RANKS THE GREATEST SEASONS
In what can only be viewed as a slight to the worldwide leader, Fox Sports puts together a ranking of the greatest college football seasons based on some math-like substances. Their caveat says it all:
This is NOT a ranking of which teams were the best or most talented. This is a formula to find out which teams had the best seasons. Anything else is simply opinion.
Interesting to see that the 2004 Auburn Tigers rank above the 2004 Trojans. Also the 2003 LSU Tigers outrank the 2003 USC Trojans as well. I can already hear the collective outrage of the Pac 10 homers. We’re guessing the formula didn’t quantify “sophistication of offense”.
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1
PSUrob says:
1994 Nittany Lions at 45?
January 13th, 2006 at 10:27 am
2
Stranko Montana says:
My guess without looking is that their schedule sucked.
January 13th, 2006 at 10:33 am
3
matt says:
fucking bullshit, 1992 Alabama at 27
6 quality wins…suck my dick foxsports
January 13th, 2006 at 10:38 am
4
Jeremy says:
Ok… Their definition of quality win is a bit different than mine. Here is Texas’: Quality Wins: 9. UL Lafayette, at Ohio State, at Missouri, Oklahoma, Colorado, Texas Tech, Kansas, Colorado, USC.
Any quality win that includes UL Lafayette is obviously flawed.
January 13th, 2006 at 10:46 am
5
Stranko Montana says:
I did notice the Lafayette thing sticking out a bit too. To me more accurate they’d have to take each team out to its opponents as well and have a sliding scale quality win.
January 13th, 2006 at 11:01 am
6
bitterhorn says:
Other factors not considered:
-sideline celebrity quotient
-uniform gauche/collectivist design style points
-sleazy yet demure dance/cheer team (texas pom!)
-coaches sobriety scale
-mascot intimidation factor
-player to handgun ratio (starters only)
-old boy alumni network
January 13th, 2006 at 11:02 am
7
Stranko Montana says:
If I were injecting my subjective opinion into this, I’d say the 1995 Huskers were the best of the bunch, but Texas would be up there. Both Texas and the Huskers beat great teams in the championship game…. but the Huskers dismantled the Gators in that one.
January 13th, 2006 at 11:02 am
8
Orson Swindle says:
Shh…rule one of fight club: don’t talk about the ‘95 Huskers.
January 13th, 2006 at 11:14 am
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LD says:
“Quality” win is a win over a team with a winning record (Lafayette went 6-5 this year).
“elite” win is a win over a team that finished with 2 or fewer losses (or a bowl win over a team that ended up with 3 losses including that bowl loss).
That Penn State ‘94 team didn’t have an elite win, according to their numbers.
I think it’s funny how the ‘80 UGA team is their worst rated National Champion.
But hey, at least it’s objective. I prefer that to “UR teh suxors” rankings.
Also, 1990 Colorado (5th down) is ranked ahead of 1990 Georgia Tech (pussed out at UNC while undefeated). Gains a little chuckle from me.
January 13th, 2006 at 11:25 am
10
Bamaleg says:
(1) My undying admiration to Matt for the articulate manner in which he expressed the sentiments of our camp. Wish I had said that….
(2) Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but this is just another example of the deperate lengths we will go to to continue the college football discussion after the season is over. That being said, this BS does beat most any other sports topic one can find till spring ball starts.
(3) I am reminded of that famous observation about statistics – there are lies, there are damn lies…and then there are statistics. Clearly, there are simply WAY too many variables for such a listing to have any true meaning. Unless, of course, they come up with one that has Bama ranked three times in the top ten.
January 13th, 2006 at 11:54 am
11
bitterhorn says:
Statistics Don’t Lie:
Fully 80% of the Top 10 (and 64% overall) Best Seasons were won by schools that begin with consonants. If you are one of those unfortunate souls who attended (or attends) a vowel, chances are you won’t have a great season.
January 13th, 2006 at 12:10 pm
12
bitterhorn says:
insert “school beginning with” somewhere
January 13th, 2006 at 12:12 pm
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italiangator says:
Bitterhorn seems to make a good point, until you consider that 81% of letters are consonants. Therefore, if only 64% of the Best Seasons were won by schools that begin with consonants, that’s actually below the expected percentage. Of course, someone would now have to go through all 117 schools in D-1A and total up how many schools begin with vowels, consonants, etc. But it won’t be me because I’m going to go back to my liberal arts world in which I can ignore math and torture students by making them translate sentences like “1996 Florida pwn3d FSU in the Sugar Bowl” into Italian…
January 13th, 2006 at 12:19 pm
14
LD says:
Also interesting, especially considering the thin skin at HP and CFR the last couple of days about the LSU “One-Pete” billboard:
According to this list…
2003: LSU 18th, USC 36th
2004: Auburn 22nd, USC 26th
2005 (obviously): Texas 1st, USC 11th
So according to this objective list (which I don’t think is necessarily accurate or even proves anything, but it is objective), the USC “dynasty” is three straight years when the Trojans weren’t even the best team. Anyone want to compare them to the Dan Reeves Broncos or the early 90’s Buffalo Bills (I’d add the Braves, but they did have one year when they were Champions without dispute)?
January 13th, 2006 at 12:19 pm
15
John Sterling says:
As a Husker fan, it’s nice to see the ‘95 Gators get some love. CFN had ‘em at 23 on the list. Prior to the Fiesta bowl, informed opinion thought that Danny W., Doering and SOS would light up the Huskers. We forget how big the build-up for the ‘96 Fiesta was.
January 13th, 2006 at 12:22 pm
16
62-24 says:
Not to mention that Florida team came back the next year and won the national title. So it’s not like the Huskers trounced a bunch of scrubs the year before.
January 13th, 2006 at 12:29 pm
17
Andy says:
Interesting that in their top 10, five were in the last decade. Has the last decade REALLY produced five of the “Best All-Time” teams or is this a case of myopia when looking back into the past?
This is almost as much a waste of time as the ASU abomination…
January 13th, 2006 at 12:34 pm
18
bitterhorn says:
“…until you consider that 81% of letters are consonants.”
Damn! Should have known better than to try sneaking that through.
The table also tends towards the bell curve, alphabetically speaking.
January 13th, 2006 at 12:40 pm
19
dragonash says:
You bastards can whine and moan about your team being NOT VOTED as the greatest team that ever sucked sports writers smallish, diseased 2″ cocks because it doesn’t matter until you actually have a system(playoff, perhaps?) that produces an on the field champ. Until then, SHUT THE FUCK UP!! Stop whining.
January 13th, 2006 at 12:45 pm
20
Jack Fu says:
I think a big flaw in the system has been touched on: “quality win” being defined as anyone with a record of .500 or better. Texas rang up an assload of “quality wins” this year, because according to the criteria every BXII team ended up being “quality” because just about all of them hovered around 6-5. Well, how many of those teams finished with winning records because they fattened up in the non-conference slate? Five or so of those “quality wins” are over teams that wouldn’t crack the top half of the SEC or Big Ten…
January 13th, 2006 at 12:49 pm
21
Stranko Montana says:
All it claims is objectivity, not accuracy. It is a shallow analysis to say the least, but it provides an intersting result and food for thought. I for one, think Nebraska 95 was better than Texas… of course we can never know this. I also think the 2004 Trojans were better than the 2005 trojans even if they had beaten Texas. Not to mention the fact that the 96 Gators were way better than the 98 Vols…. But it is good to see the 93 Noles ranked higher than the 99 Noles and to see the 95 Gators get some love. Usually in subjective rankings you do not see this.
January 13th, 2006 at 12:53 pm
22
Blacksheepvol says:
I call shenanigans. Where’s the 8-0 1923 Illinois team? What bunk. And it doesn’t matter that USC lost to tejas, they still win 2 out of 3 vs the Mt. Olympus all-stars.
January 13th, 2006 at 12:58 pm
23
Heismanpundit says:
Also, this is not from Fox. This is from CFN, from which Fox has borrowed it. In other words, it’s some stuff from two guys in a basement in Chicago.
January 13th, 2006 at 2:19 pm
24
bitterhorn says:
As opposed to what, Atlanta?
January 13th, 2006 at 2:22 pm
25
Orson Swindle says:
Two guys in a Chicago basement on the payroll, HP.
January 13th, 2006 at 2:26 pm
26
BIGMIKE says:
1909 Yale only ranked at 64!!!!!1!!11!1 WTF!111!?!?!?!
January 13th, 2006 at 4:50 pm
27
PSUgirl says:
okay – I really have to get back to work but….
Div 1A teams – 76% consonants, 24% vowels – this is going by the schools’ “common” name – such as USC is a vowel but the University of Michigan is a consonant.
k?
January 13th, 2006 at 5:54 pm
28
The Spirit of Bill Oliver says:
1992 Alabama team that beat the crap out of Miami, beat MSU in Starkville, UT in Knoxville, Ole Miss(who was good that year), and a few others is compared to Yale from 1909 and Michigan from 1901????
You can’t compare any of these teams.
STOP THIS RANKING SHIT!
If I see one more “countdown”(besides CTSD)I’m gonna shoot the people who made the “list”.
January 13th, 2006 at 8:53 pm
29
Brian says:
I think ULaLa is listed as a quality win for Texas because of their final record as well as the thumping Texas put on them. It looks like they’re factoring in margin of victory, and rightly so.
January 13th, 2006 at 9:03 pm
30
Newspaper Hack says:
The ‘92 Bama team, as well, while the offense was heinous, the defense was the best damn thing ever. Just about every starter went on to a solid career in the NFL, including people like George Teague, Antonio Langham and Sam Shade, not to mention Mssrs. Copeland and Curry that languished in obscurity with shitty teams.
January 14th, 2006 at 4:00 pm
31
Ryan says:
1899 Sewanee anybody?
January 16th, 2006 at 1:28 am
32
daFrankster says:
2001 ‘Canes best ever…..hands down(and they rarely played hard)!!;
with a ton of close seconds.
forget the whole ‘quality wins’ thang. they are pretty much all overrated anyways. ‘05 texas wouldnt last 2qts vs. most teams on the list; esp. championship teams from ‘95-04….then again, they’d beat any usc team(uscSUKS&noDefense)
chew on dat for a moment, my lil kiddies
January 16th, 2006 at 9:31 am
33
Chris says:
DaFrankster,
You are out of your mind. Texas had a top 10 defense, top 10 special teams, tons of kick blocks, and the best offense in the country.
This was an absolutely complete team in every phase of the game.
January 16th, 2006 at 2:14 pm