January 23, 2009

What are the most prestigious college football programs?

ESPN has taken the lead in trying to rank the most prestigious college football programs since the inception of the AP poll in a psuedo-scientific fashion. It's really more of a "which current FBS programs have lived in the spotlight" list, because it doesn't take into account teams that aren't currently in FBS and doesn't attempt to match them one versus the other, per se.

First, the method to their madness:

ESPN's Prestige Rankings are a numerical method of ranking the best FBS college football programs since the 1936 season. Point values were assigned for certain successes (win a national title, earn 25 points) and failures (get your program banned from the postseason, lose two points). The research department ran all the numbers through the computer to come up with the No. 1 program (and Nos. 2 to 119) of the past 73 seasons.

The full breakdown of how points were accumulated (and deducted) is online as well, with the "biggies" being National Championships, major bowl berths, major bowl wins, Heisman winners, and points for various finishes in the AP top twenty five poll.

The results are... pretty interesting. In fact, it's really hard for me to quibble over all but a few positions - and even that might be subjective.

ESPN COLLEGE FOOTBALL PRESTIGE RANKINGS

1. Oklahoma
2. USC
3. Ohio State
4. Notre Dame
5. Nebraska
6. Alabama
7. Texas
8. Michigan
9. Florida State
10. Miami
11. Penn State
12. Tennessee
13. LSU
14, Georgia
15. Florida
16. UCLA
17. Washington
18. Georgia Tech
19. Arkansas
20. Texas A&M
21. Auburn
22t. Clemson
22t. Colorado
24. Ole Miss
25. BYU

Click here for positions 26 - 119

Again, this is more of a prestige spotlight list than a comparison of team A versus team B. That's obvious when you look at the criteria, and then also compare the rankings above with head-to-head records, for example. Case(s) in point... Oklahoma has a losing record all-time against Texas, but is ranked ahead in prestige. Florida State has a losing record all-time against both Miami and Florida, but gets the presige nod. The Noles have a winning record over both top five Notre Dame and Ohio State, but I digress.

Even still, it's hard for me to look back at the history of college football and not put the Sooners at or near the top of the list. Certainly Ohio State, USC, Notre Dame, and Nebraska all deserve to be near the top as well. You can debate where everyone falls (ie should "x" be #6,#7, or #8) but it's hard to see someone in the top 25 that doesn't belong.

Comments:

What are the most prestigious college football programs?
ESPN has taken the lead in trying to rank the most prestigious college football programs since the inception of the AP poll in a psuedo-scientific fashion. It's really more of a "which current FBS programs have lived in the spotlight" list, because it doesn't take into account teams that aren't currently in FBS and doesn't attempt to match them one versus the other, per se. First, the method to their madness:
ESPN's Prestige Rankings are a numerical method of ranking the best FBS college football programs since the 1936 season. Point values were assigned for certain successes (win a national title, earn 25 points) and failures (get your program banned from the postseason, lose two points). The research department ran all the numbers through the computer to come up with the No. 1 program (and Nos. 2 to 119) of the past 73 seasons.
The full breakdown of how points were accumulated (and deducted) is online as well, with the "biggies" being National Championships, major bowl berths, major bowl wins, Heisman winners, and points for various finishes in the AP top twenty five poll. The results are... pretty interesting. In fact, it's really hard for me to quibble over all but a few positions - and even that might be subjective. ESPN COLLEGE FOOTBALL PRESTIGE RANKINGS 1. Oklahoma 2. USC 3. Ohio State 4. Notre Dame 5. Nebraska 6. Alabama 7. Texas 8. Michigan 9. Florida State 10. Miami 11. Penn State 12. Tennessee 13. LSU 14, Georgia 15. Florida 16. UCLA 17. Washington 18. Georgia Tech 19. Arkansas 20. Texas A&M 21. Auburn 22t. Clemson 22t. Colorado 24. Ole Miss 25. BYU Click here for positions 26 - 119 Again, this is more of a prestige spotlight list than a comparison of team A versus team B. That's obvious when you look at the criteria, and then also compare the rankings above with head-to-head records, for example. Case(s) in point... Oklahoma has a losing record all-time against Texas, but is ranked ahead in prestige. Florida State has a losing record all-time against both Miami and Florida, but gets the presige nod. The Noles have a winning record over both top five Notre Dame and Ohio State, but I digress. Even still, it's hard for me to look back at the history of college football and not put the Sooners at or near the top of the list. Certainly Ohio State, USC, Notre Dame, and Nebraska all deserve to be near the top as well. You can debate where everyone falls (ie should "x" be #6,#7, or #8) but it's hard to see someone in the top 25 that doesn't belong.