The Sweet 16

My conference is better than yours. My OOC schedule is tougher than yours. Your school sucks. My team is the bestest. That's the stuff that fills up college football tv coverage, newspapers, & weblogs. Of course all of this discussion is heavily biased, depending on the network or the area of the country. Thankfully, somebody (me) has put together some numbers that will bring closure to these discussions, once and for all.

It all begins with the "Sweet 16". That's my list of the top 16 programs in NCAA history. I came up with my list, and it matches this one with the exception of Florida taking the place of Washington, and I don't agree with the actual ranking order. Anyway, I'd challenge anyone to present a valid argument that would replace any of the teams on this list......anyone?......no?.......ok, we agree.

In alphabetical order, here's the 16:

1. ALABAMA
2. AUBURN
3. FLORIDA
4. FLORIDA STATE
5. GEORGIA - The bestest team in the world. All of the other teams on this list suck. We play the toughest OOC schedule on the planet and play in the best conference in college football, the SEC.
6. LSU
7. MIAMI
8. MICHIGAN
9. NEBRASKA
10. NOTRE DAME
11. OHIO STATE
12. OKLAHOMA
13. PENN STATE
14. TENNESSEE
15. TEXAS
16. USC

That's the list of the "cream of the crop" of college football.

During the course of the next week, I'm going to compare how this Sweet 16 has fared against the various BCS conferences. But today, I'm taking a page out of the NASCAR book and having the SuperBowl first. Forget how many times the win totals have been padded by beating up on the Iowa States, Vanderbilts, or Stanford's of the world. Let's compare these 16 teams heads up.

First, let's look at the total games played, which will obviously be weighted towards the SEC. However, this also says alot about the strength of schedule that these teams historically face.

1. FLORIDA 409
2. AUBURN 407
3. ALABAMA 400
4. GEORGIA 359
5. LSU 285
6. TENNESSEE 274
7. NOTRE DAME 228
8. OKLAHOMA 228
9. MIAMI 223
10. MICHIGAN 184
11. TEXAS 184
12. FLORIDA STATE 177
13. OHIO STATE 176
14. NEBRASKA 174
15. USC 161
16. PENN STATE 123

There can be no sane, rational, logical, or reasonable argument presented that doesn't point to the SEC having the highest strength of schedule, and these numbers show that it really isn't close.

What about winning percentages. When the best play the best, you're not going to find any of these ridiculous 80% numbers. In reality, any thing over 50 would be considered outstanding. Here's the list.

1. MICHIGAN 58%
2. TEXAS 58% (tie with identical records)
3. ALABAMA 57.8%
4. NOTRE DAME 55.7%
5. USC 52%
6. AUBURN 51.3%
7. TENNESSEE 50.4%
8. FLORIDA 48.7%
9. GEORGIA 48.2%
10. NEBRASKA 47.3%
11. OKLAHOMA 46.8%
12. PENN STATE 46.3%
13. MIAMI 44.8%
14. FSU 44.4%
15. OHIO ST 43.1%
16. LSU 42.8%

Our most recent participants in the BCS Championship Game don't fare too well historically when they play the big boys.

Finally, a list of the overall head to head records, sorted by most wins. When you look at the all-time win totals of these programs, you'll know that these were the tough ones.

1. ALABAMA 219-160-21
2. AUBURN 200-190-17
3. FLORIDA 194-204-11
4. GEORGIA 164-176-19
5. TENNESSEE 130-128-16
6. NOTRE DAME 122-97-9
7. LSU 115-154-16
8. MICHIGAN 102-74-8
9. TEXAS 102-74-8
10. OKLAHOMA 102-116-10
11. MIAMI 99-122-2
12. USC 79-73-9
13. NEBRASKA 79-88-7
14. FSU 76-95-6
15. OHIO STATE 72-95-9
16. PENN STATE 56-65-2

There's alot to read into these numbers. I guess it depends on what you're looking for. If anything jumps out in particular, leave a message in the comments section.