Best of the Best Part III

I started this series of posts a little over a week ago, with an attempt to gain a little better knowledge of the history of the most successful programs in college football history. I’ve taken some statistical categories that I think are extremely important and currently using them to rank the top 17 programs overall. All of the stats used are for the modern-era (1970 – current). The original series of ranking the teams on all-time records is here.

It never ceases to amaze me as to the amount of sheer b.s. that gets printed on message boards and even in articles attributed to many of our mainstream journalists. Too many times we’re fed information and statistics regarding the history of a program that paint rosy pictures, often glossing over the bad. Wow, I can get off-topic in a hurry when traveling down that line of thought. I'll save this for a later post.

Back to the subject at hand. Today, I’m going to rate these teams by conference championships and conference winning percentages. Once again, this is very hard to get a historical perspective on due to the fact that Notre Dame is an independent and Penn St, FSU, and Miami joined conferences in the early 90’s. It brings up an interesting dilemma, especially with Notre Dame when placing them on the list of conference champions. They have 0. Should they be put at the bottom? I don’t think so. In fantasyland, if they were a member of a conference, they would probably have several on their resume. But, which conference? If it’s the Big 10, they would more than likely have thrown their hat into the 2 horse race and brought down Michigan and Ohio State’s large totals in this category. On the other hand, if it’s the Big East, the likely would have silly high totals too. There’s absolutely no fair way to handle the situation, but hey, life isn’t fair. I’ve decided to give them 10th place points.

Here’s a list of the rules.

• 12 points for a 12 team conference championship (SEC 1992 - ), (Big Twelve 1996 - )
• 11 points for 11 teams (Big Ten 1993 - )
• 10 points for 10 teams (Pac Ten 1978 - ), (Big Ten thru 1992), (SEC thru 1991)
• 9 points for 9 teams (ACC 1992-2003)
• 8 points for 8 teams ( Big 8 thru 1995), (SWC thru 1995), (Pac 8 thru 1977), (ACC thru 1991), (Big East)
• 6 points for a 6 team division (Big Twelve 1996 - ), (SEC 1992 - ), (ACC 2005 - )
• Split titles mean split points ( # of teams sharing title divided by teams eligible)

And the results are in

1. OKLAHOMA 170
2. ALABAMA 152.33
3. NEBRASKA 152
4. MICHIGAN 142.33
5. USC 140.33
6. FLORIDA 129
7. OHIO STATE 122.67
8. TEXAS 112
9. FSU 108
10. LSU 86
11. TENNESSEE 76.33
12. GEORGIA 74
13. UCLA 57.33
14. MIAMI 48
15. AUBURN 43
16. PENN STATE 16.5
17. NOTRE DAME 87 (10TH PLACE)

Again, my personal belief is that an SEC title should count for far more than a Big Ten, Big 8, SWC, or ACC due to the level of competition. However, the numbers are what they are, and there’s your list. When ranking from 1 – 17 in this category, I’ve given double points for conference championships because of the importance.

Some will argue that the following list will show just how powerful a team is. I’ll argue that it shows the level of competition. Here’s the conference winning percentages of these teams.

1. MICHIGAN 82
2. NEBRASKA 80
3. OHIO ST 77
4. OKLAHOMA 76
5. FSU 75
6. USC 72
7. ALABAMA 70
8. FLORIDA 68
9. TENNESSEE 66
10. GEORGIA 66
11. TEXAS 65
12. UCLA 63
13. AUBURN 62
14. PENN ST 61
15. MIAMI 61
16. LSU 58
17. NOTRE DAME 66 (10TH PLACE)

I’d like to mention again that due to a recent job change, I’m not able to post as often as I’d like. I leave the house around 5:30 am and usually have to stop at the ball field for the kid’s practices or games, making it 9 pm or so when I finally get home. Since it’s the off season, and most of the junk that I write about isn’t time sensitive, or hot-off-the-wire, it’s not that big of a deal. It just may take 2 or 3 days to put together what I used to do in one.

Best of the Best Part II

Today I’m looking at two more categories for my top 17 teams in the modern era of college football (post 1969). You can see the list here.

Head to Head Overall Wins

This is one of the few categories that reward a team for playing tough schedules. Here’s the list.

FLORIDA 121
ALABAMA 109
AUBURN 96
NOTRE DAME 79
TENNESSEE 71
USC 68
FLORIDA STATE 64
GEORGIA 61
LSU 61
MIAMI 60
OKLAHOMA 55
MICHIGAN 53
NEBRASKA 50
PENN STATE 45
OHIO STATE 41
TEXAS 37
UCLA 35

The bottom feeders on this list will greatly benefit in future categories when conference strength / weakness takes effect.

National Championships

This one gets triple points, because, let’s face it, this is what it’s all about. In ranking from 1-17, I’m giving a consensus MNC 10 points and a split title 7. I dunno where I came up with those numbers, but it sounds fair to me. Any USC fans that want to scream for a split title in 2003, sorry, you’re a BCS member and an agreement has been made that the MNC is the winner of the BCS Title game.

MIAMI 4 CONSENSUS, 1 SPLIT, 47 POINTS
NEBRASKA 3 CONSENSUS, 2 SPLIT, 44 POINTS
OKLAHOMA 3 CONSENSUS, 1 SPLIT, 37 POINTS
ALABAMA 2 CONSENSUS, 2 SPLIT, 34 POINTS
USC 2 CONSENSUS, 2 SPLIT, 34 POINTS
NOTRE DAME 2 CONSENSUS, 1 SPLIT, 27 POINTS
FLORIDA 2 CONSENSUS, 20 POINTS
FLORIDA STATE 2 CONSENSUS, 20 POINTS
LSU 2 CONSENSUS, 20 POINTS
PENN STATE 2 CONSENSUS, 20 POINTS
TEXAS 1 CONSENSUS, 1 SPLIT, 17 POINTS
GEORGIA 1 CONSENSUS, 10 POINTS
OHIO STATE 1 CONSENSUS, 10 POINTS
TENNESSEE 1 CONSENSUS, 10 POINTS
MICHIGAN 1 SPLIT, 7 POINTS
AUBURN 0
UCLA 0

Coming soon.....conference championships

Best of the Best

I realize that I didn’t post yesterday, but I wasn’t exactly goofing off. Here's a post of T. Kyle King proportion. (UPDATE, 6:00 PM; I just read this.....I'm not worthy. Mr. King has just earned double billing over in the sidebar>>>>>>>>>>>>>)

A couple of weeks ago, I started a series of posts on the top 16 programs in college football history. You can check those out here, just remember that the bottom of the page is first.

I’m gonna rank ‘em again, but this time only using numbers accumulated during the modern era, post 1969. Is that relevant? I think it is. Integration began sweeping college football and the NCAA actually started to impose scholarship limits. The screwed up system that awarded MNC’s was starting to stabilize a little. As a point of reference, I’ll list the MNC’s for the top 10 programs pre 1969. These are all taken from the NCAA’s website.

1. Princeton 18
2. Yale 17
3. Michigan 9
4. Harvard 8
4. Notre Dame 8
6. Minnesota 6
7. Alabama 5
8. Army 4
8. Ohio State 4
8. USC 4

Even into the 60’s, MNC’s were awarded before the bowl games and often a team had the trophy in hand and lost their bowl game. The system was also heavily biased, often using the Tom Lemming ranking system (does anyone need a heads-up on that definition?). As screwed up as our system is today, it’s the best that it’s ever been.

I’m also going to include a 17th team this time around. UCLA has posted some pretty good numbers across the board. If not for the 2 MNC’s in the last 5 years, LSU would definitely be OFF the list. For any GA TECH fans, sorry, but the overall 44% win pct in the head to head numbers went to 29% in the modern era. That don’t cut it. The only other team that was close was Texas A&M, and the numbers weren’t quite strong enough.

THE TEAMS
ALABAMA
AUBURN
FLORIDA
FLORIDA STATE
GEORGIA
LSU
MIAMI
MICHIGAN
NEBRASKA
NOTRE DAME
OHIO STATE
OKLAHOMA
PENN STATE
TENNESSEE
TEXAS
UCLA
USC


Here are the criteria that will be scored, in no particular order. The top team in each gets 17 points in each category, 2nd gets 16, ……etc.

Head to head games played
Head to head win pct
Head to head overall wins
National Championships
Conference championships
Conference win pct
BCS opponents overall games played
BCS opponents win pct
Overall number of wins
Overall win pct
OOC BCS opponents games played – higher is better
OOC BCS opponents win pct
OOC Non BCS opponents games played – lower is better

Ok, time for the first round. When these teams have played head to head, here are the winning percentages.

USC .581
ALABAMA .565
OKLAHOMA .556
FLORIDA .548
NOTRE DAME .537
NEBRASKA .526
MICHIGAN .525
AUBURN .503
TEXAS .500
FLORIDA STATE .492
GEORGIA .480
MIAMI .465
TENNESSEE .461
OHIO STATE .456
PENN STATE .441
UCLA .407
LSU .399

Of all of the stats that you’ll see posted, this is the one that I feel is the most important. Once there is a sufficient number of games played, there’s really no spin that can be put on pure winning percentages. The best playing the best, and USC wins round 1.

Every other category is heavily influenced by strength of conference, even MNC’s. If anyone has doubts on conference strengths, I’ll post this for reference. Here are the winning percentages versus these 17 teams for each BCS Conference.

The ACC
FLORIDA STATE .492
MIAMI .465
CLEMSON .328
VIRGINIA TECH .293
GA TECH .289
VIRGINIA .275
BOSTON COLLEGE .272
NC STATE .255
UNC .222
WAKE FOREST .154
MARYLAND .129
DUKE .116

Analysis
Coaching issues at Miami and FSU have them struggling recently. When they get it straightened out, and I think it will be soon, look for this to be a two horse race again. They simply have too much talent. The rest of the conference, historically, has been weak.

The BIG TWELVE
OKLAHOMA .556
NEBRASKA .526
TEXAS .500
TEXAS A&M .381
COLORADO .298
TEXAS TECH .244
KANSAS ST .211
BAYLOR .200
MISSOURI .184
KANSAS .134
OKLAHOMA ST .129
IOWA ST .086

Analysis
Since the merger of the Big 8 and SWC, this conference has 3 good teams at the top with Texas A&M lurking in the shadows. Before the merger, there were two very weak conferences. Since…….still pretty crappy, the bottom is horrid, but the top is strong.

The BIG EAST
PITTSBURGH .282
SYRACUSE .246
SOUTH FLORIDA .200
WEST VIRGINIA .164
LOUISVILLE .111
RUTGERS .049
CINCINNATI .027
UCONN .000

Analysis
This conference gets an automatic BCS bid each year. Go figure.

The BIG TEN
MICHIGAN .525
OHIO STATE .456
PENN STATE .441
WISCONSIN .284
MICHIGAN ST .254
IOWA .243
PURDUE .197
ILLINOIS .177
NORTHWESTERN .115
MINNESOTA .113
INDIANA .047

Analysis
Not to hard to see how a conference can consistently produce 12 game winners when 8 games are automatics every year. With 5 teams under 20%, that almost counts as 5 bye weeks during the season.

The PAC TEN
USC .581
UCLA .407
WASHINGTON .381
ARIZONA ST .329
STANFORD .325
OREGON .300
ARIZONA .292
CAL .260
WASHINGTON ST .226
OREGON ST .138

Analysis
I’m actually quite surprised. Of course USC is heads and shoulders above the rest, but through #6 there’s not a dog in that bunch. Far and away the 2nd strongest conference top to bottom. When I put together my original top teams list, I just shot from the hip and it just so happens to match the top 17 teams when using this stat. How far out are the PAC TEN’S 3-6? WASSOU 19th, ARIZONA ST 20th, STANFORD 22nd, and OREGON 23rd.

The SEC
ALABAMA .565
FLORIDA .548
AUBURN .503
GEORGIA .480
TENNESSEE .461
LSU .399
ARKANSAS .294
MSU .279
OLE MISS .242
SOUTH CAROLINA .209
KENTUCKY .168
VANDY .075

Analysis
The 6th place team is dominating the college football landscape. Enuf said.

As I’ve often said, it doesn’t matter how many wins you get versus Vandy, Indiana, Duke, Iowa St, or any Big East team, it’s how you do against the big boys that matter. To USC……kudos.


OOC NON-BCS OPPONENTS

Since the SEC takes a lot of heat for this subject, let’s see the numbers.
Here’s a list that doesn’t get scored, but it bears mentioning.
Division 1-AA (or FCS since well enough can’t be left alone) opponents scheduled by each team.
MIAMI 14
AUBURN 13
GEORGIA 9
FLORIDA 8
FSU 8
NEBRASKA 6
ALABAMA 5
LSU 4
TEXAS 4
OKLAHOMA 3
PENN STATE 3
TENNESSEE 2
MICHIGAN 1 and probably the last
OHIO STATE 1
NOTRE DAME 0
UCLA 0
USC 0

Sometimes when you play with fire, you get burned. 3 times as a matter of fact. Here’s the list of Division 1-AA losses by our illustrious 17.

10/16/1970; Tampa 31 Miami 14
10/6/1979; FAMU 16 Miami 13
9/1/2007; Appalachian St 34 Michigan 32

Ok, the SEC is guilty of scheduling more of these schools than the other big boys. But…..some of these 1-AA schools are better than your conference bottom dwellers, that’s for sure. Just ask Michigan.

Now for the official list of out of conference games played versus non-BCS conference members. These are the automatics that teams schedule. Many considerations have to be made for Notre Dame and the fact that they are not a member of a conference. No consideration is given in the patsy scheduling department. Texas suffers the most here because half of their SWC games got wiped out with the Big 12 merger. Remember, less is better.

The List

USC 32
MICHIGAN 39
OHIO STATE 42
OKLAHOMA 43
GEORGIA 46
UCLA 54
NEBRASKA 57
FLORIDA 74
TENNESSEE 75
PENN STATE 76
AUBURN 79
ALABAMA 87
FLORIDA STATE 87
LSU 92
NOTRE DAME 94
MIAMI 102
TEXAS 142

Once again, USC is on top. As a Georgia fan, I can defend our position on this board rather easily. The SEC as a whole is middle of the pack and should make efforts to upgrade the level of competition in the future.

Here’s the last category of the day. Head to head total games played with these 17 teams, otherwise known as opposite of the previous list. More is better.



FLORIDA 224
AUBURN 195
ALABAMA 195
TENNESSEE 159
LSU 157
NOTRE DAME 147
FLORIDA STATE 132
GEORGIA 130
MIAMI 129
USC 121
OKLAHOMA 103
PENN STATE 102
MICHIGAN 101
NEBRASKA 97
OHIO STATE 92
UCLA 90
TEXAS 77

Hah…..USC is not #1. Ok, does banging heads with the big boys make up for some softer OOC scheduling? Maybe a little. You make the call.

For those keeping score at home, after 3 of the 13 criteria, USC has the early lead.

More to come……….

Sweet 16 III

I started this series by taking what I considered the top 16 programs in College Football history and tracking their all time records, just to see how UGA stacked up. The answer has been “quite well” but there’s a ton of information to sift through. To get caught up you can find part 1 here, and part 2 right about.........here.

Today, I’m going to post the records of the top 16 programs vs. each of the BCS Conferences. Keep in mind that I’m using the current conference alignments when calculating these stats. Here they are in alphabetical order.

ALABAMA
ACC 74-34-4, .694
BIG TWELVE 14-16-2, .467
BIG EAST 11-2-0, .846
BIG TEN 13-9-0, .591
PAC TEN 13-5-1, .722
SEC 413-185-28, .691

AUBURN
ACC 119-75-8, .613
BIG TWELVE 11-15-1, .423
BIG EAST 5-2-1, .714
BIG TEN 6-3-2, .667
PAC TEN 5-3-0, .625
SEC 309-233-22, .570

FLORIDA
ACC 108-93-11, .537
BIG TWELVE 5-6-1, .455
BIG EAST 7-3-2, .700
BIG TEN 9-5-0, .643
PAC TEN 6-4-1, .600
SEC 274-210-15, .566

FLORIDA STATE
ACC 173-74-4, .700
BIG TWELVE 30-13-0, .698
BIG EAST 28-8-0, .778
BIG TEN 8-2-1, .800
PAC TEN 6-1-0, .857
SEC 59-65-6, .476

GEORGIA
ACC 161-91-18, .624
BIG TWELVE 11-7-0, .611
BIG EAST 2-5-0, .286
BIG TEN 7-2-0, .778
PAC TEN 8-4-1, .667
SEC 342-222-24, .606

LSU
ACC 31-28-0, .525
BIG TWELVE 52-40-5, .565
BIG EAST 1-3-0, .250
BIG TEN 7-4-1, .636
PAC TEN 12-3-0, .800
SEC 313-235-25, .571

MIAMI
ACC 109-70-1, .609
BIG TWELVE 32-20-0, .615
BIG EAST 84-21-2, .800
BIG TEN 26-15-0, .634
PAC TEN 9-8-0, .529
SEC 65-82-3, .442

MICHIGAN
ACC 23-4-0, .852
BIG TWELVE 16-8-1, .667
BIG EAST 9-5-1, .643
BIG TEN 500-174-23, .742
PAC TEN 44-22-1, .667
SEC 20-5-1, .800

NEBRASKA
ACC 14-14-0, .500
BIG TWELVE 457-170-17, .729
BIG EAST 14-22-0, .389
BIG TEN 79-73-10, .520
PAC TEN 33-20-3, .623
SEC 19-6-1, .760

NOTRE DAME
ACC 75-29-2, .721
BIG TWELVE 37-18-2, .673
BIG EAST 56-20-1, .737
BIG TEN 216-111-15, .661
PAC TEN 78-41-6, .655
SEC 21-13-0, .618

OHIO STATE
ACC 14-7-0, .667
BIG TWELVE 28-4-1, .875
BIG EAST 42-11-1, .792
BIG TEN 433-186-26, .700
PAC TEN 50-23-2, .685
SEC 7-11-2, .389

OKLAHOMA
ACC 28-5-0, .848
BIG TWELVE 511-213-34, .706
BIG EAST 18-3-1, .857
BIG TEN 10-6-0, .625
PAC TEN 22-15-1, .595
SEC 19-9-3, .679

PENN STATE
ACC 89-21-2, .809
BIG TWELVE 22-13-0, .629
BIG EAST 171-77-11, .690
BIG TEN 89-64-2, .582
PAC TEN 22-11-0, .667
SEC 16-16-0, .500

TENNESSEE
ACC 100-60-7, .625
BIG TWELVE 9-8-1, .529
BIG EAST 15-4-0, .789
BIG TEN 10-5-0, .667
PAC TEN 14-11-2, .560
SEC 361-200-34, .643

TEXAS
ACC 17-9-0, .654
BIG TWELVE 313-137-15, .696
BIG EAST 6-4-0, .600
BIG TEN 11-7-0, .611
PAC TEN 22-11-0, .667
SEC 94-45-4, .676

USC
ACC 11-5-0, .688
BIG TWELVE 29-9-2, .763
BIG EAST 9-4-0, .692
BIG TEN 65-27-2, .707
PAC TEN 397-157-29, .717
SEC 17-10-1, .630

When you look at these numbers, please note that they reflect the conferences as they are today. Here are the recent major conference changes that don’t get truly reflected in these numbers.

In 1996, the Southwest conference was dissolved, with Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, and Baylor joining the Big 8, thus creating the Big 12. Left out of the mix for these teams were traditional SWC rivals Houston, Rice, SMU, and TCU, all of which are now members of non-BCS conferences.

In 1993, Penn State’s athletic teams became part of the Big 10 conference. Prior to then, Penn State had been an independent.

In 1991, FSU gave up their independent status to join the ACC. Also in 1991, Miami and Virginia Tech joined the Big East. Miami and Virginia Tech then switched to the ACC in 2004, followed by Boston College in 2005, being replaced in the Big East by Cincinnati, Louisville, and South Florida.

In 1991, the SEC expanded to 12 teams by taking Arkansas from the SWC, and South Carolina from the independent ranks.

To be continued……..

Sweet 16 - Part II

Several articles and television reports have focused on SEC home cookin’ when it comes to OOC scheduling. Much has been made of the fact that UGA hasn’t traveled west of the Mississippi River in recent memory. This year we get rid of that monkey when we play @ Arizona State this year. Personally, I don’t see that travel = tough scheduling. It’s more about “who you play” than “where you play”.

I’m continuing the theme of the “Sweet 16” that I posted here, and I’m going to look at how the other schools on the list compare with their OOC scheduling habits. Here’s the list of how many OOC games each of these teams have played against BCS opponents. Higher is better in this category.

OUT OF CONFERENCE VS BCS OPPONENTS
NOTRE DAME 741
PENN STATE 490
MIAMI 390
NEBRASKA 324
GEORGIA 309
USC 270
FLORIDA 262
AUBURN 256
TENNESSEE 254
TEXAS 240
FSU 233
OHIO STATE 208
ALABAMA 207
LSU 197
MICHIGAN 195
OKLAHOMA 149

Of course all of Notre Dame’s games are OOC. Penn State and Miami were independents for the majority of their history, so they are naturally at the top. FSU, who started their program in 1954, has the youngest program on the list and should be at the bottom.
Here’s my take on this list. The SEC is very well represented when it comes to scheduling OOC games with other BCS schools. Does it really matter if it’s vs the ACC or PAC10 as long as it’s a BCS opponent. Does it make a difference if a SEC school schedules NC State or Washington State? I don’t think so. It seems that most of the negative press on the subject has come from Big 10 country, and as this list shows, their two powerhouses are near the bottom when it comes to scheduling decent OOC games.


Here’s a look at each of these team’s OOC games against NON-BCS opponents. These are the “automatics” that teams schedule each year. Lower is better in this category.

OUT OF CONFERENCE VS NON-BCS OPPONENTS
FSU 200
NEBRASKA 213
OKLAHOMA 220
GEORGIA 251
USC 256
FLORIDA 279
AUBURN 291
TENNESSEE 294
MIAMI 298
MICHIGAN 299
OHIO STATE 301
ALABAMA 311
LSU 347
NOTRE DAME 403
TEXAS 464
PENN STATE 533

Again, FSU’s numbers are misleading due to the fact that they’ve played between 30-45% fewer games overall than the other programs on this list. Notre Dame, Penn St, and Miami don’t catch a break in this category because, independent or not, there’s no excuse for scheduling that many “cupcake” games. It’s worth noting that Nebraska and Georgia make the top of both lists. LSU is near the bottom of both.

To be continued………….

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.

A Little UGA History

A couple of days ago, in response to reading just a few too many quotes from the South Carolina fanbase, I posted these wonderful tidbits regarding USC's storied football history (or lack thereof).

But in the interest of fairness, here's a list of some of the historical UGA highlights and lowlights.

ALL TIME RECORDS VS SEC OPPONENTS

• ALABAMA 25-35-4
• ARKANSAS 8-3
• AUBURN 50-53-8
• FLORIDA 46-37-2
• KENTUCKY 48-11-2
• LSU 11-14-1
• OLE MISS 30-12-1
• MISS ST. 16-5
• SOUTH CAROLINA 44-14-2
• TENNESSEE 15-20-2
• VANDY 49-18-2

OTHER RIVALS OF NOTE (MORE THAN 25 GAMES)

• CLEMSON 41-17-4
• GEORGIA TECH 59-38-5
• NORTH CAROLINA 16-12-2

MORE STUFF

• 43 BOWL APPEARANCES (6th most)
• 24-16-3 overall bowl record (5th most wins)
• 9 Sugar, 3 Cotton, 3 Orange, 1 Rose Bowl appearances
• 2 National Championships (1942, 1980)
• 12 SEC Championships (3rd)

10+ WIN SEASONS

• 1942
• 1946 (11-0-0 & not recognized as NC???)
• 1959
• 1966 Vince Dooley
• 1971
• 1976
• 1978
• 1980
• 1981
• 1982
• 1983
• 1992
• 1997
• 2002 Mark Richt
• 2003
• 2004
• 2005
• 2007

SEASONS WITH ONLY ONE LOSS OR TIE (CULPRIT)

• 1920 8-0-1 (VIRGINIA)
• 1927 9-1-0 (GA TECH)
• 1942 11-1-0 (AUBURN)
• 1959 10-1-0 (SOUTH CAROLINA)
• 1966 10-1-0 (MIAMI)
• 1971 11-1-0 (AUBURN)
• 1982 11-1-0 (PENN ST)
• 2002 13-1 (FLORIDA)

Auburn with 2 entries makes them #1 on my sh!t list.

SEASONS THAT WE'VE BEEN THE LONE BLEMISH TO RUIN A SEASON

• 1914 AUBURN 8-0-1
• 1915 GA TECH 7-0-1
• 1920 ALABAMA 10-1
• 1921 VANDY 7-0-1
• 1927 YALE 7-1 (back in the day when Yale was a powerhouse)
• 1929 NORTH CAROLINA 9-1
• 1978 CLEMSON 11-1
• 1983 TEXAS 11-1
• 2007 HAWAII 12-1

Opinions Wanted

Things have been a wee bit hectic the last several days, so I've gotta do the "short & sweet" post.

Last week I went through my list of the OOC teams that I'd most like to schedule a home & home with. I picked out some traditional powerhouses that we rarely play, or in one instance, have never played.

Check out my picks here, then check out the poll over there somewhere>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Pick a couple of your faves and maybe we'll get an idea of where the dawgnation stands on this issue.

As always, comments are welcome.

Turnabout is Fair Play

Ok, so I took a shot at tOSU. Sue me.

But in the name of fairness, I'll admit that the Dawgs have avoided the Big 10 like the plague. 8 games against a conference with the history of the Big 10 isn't something to be proud of. A 7-2 all-time record on the other hand, is. (ok, that makes 9 but I threw in the pre big 10 loss to Penn st.).

How do the Dawgs fare all time vs. the rest of the BCS conferences? Note: It would take a MIT grad a couple of weeks to break down the conference merry-go-round of the Big East and ACC and who was in which conference when etc etc.......so I'm goin with where they are now.

ACC........................152-91-18
Big 12.....................14-7-0
Big East.................2-5-1
PAC 10..................8-4-1

####.......we're getting hammered by the Big East. We needa change that.

Knockin at the Door

Chasing the crystal ball. There's a handful of teams that can realistically expect to have a shot at the trophy at the beginning of every college football season. It requires hard work, dedication, a negotiable schedule, a veteran team in most instances, a "fortunate" bounce (or two), and on occasion it just falls into the hands of our knowledgeable and unbiased cfb media personnel.

For the last 6 years, UGA has been hangin around the top 10 and doesn't have the hardware that they need to complete this team's resume. UGA has 5 top 10 finishes in the last 6 years. I thought that I'd check out other top programs to see how the Dawgs compare.

Everybody's got six shots, here's the list, crystal ball owners are highlighted.

6 - USC
5 - OHIO ST, GEORGIA
4 - LSU (2), TEXAS , OKLAHOMA
3 - IOWA, MICHIGAN, VIRGINIA TECH, WEST VIRGINIA
2 - AUBURN, LOUISVILLE, MIAMI, WASHINGTON ST
1 - FLORIDA, ALABAMA, BOISE ST, CALIFORNIA, FSU, KANSAS, KANSAS ST, MISSOURI, PENN ST, TCU, UTAH, WISCONSIN

Analysis
Just pencil USC in every list until further notice.
UGA is sticking out like a sore thumb at the top of the list.
Iowa has fallen like a rock.
Mike Price is a pretty good coach with an excellent eye for talent. (nsfw, maybe)
Florida got the most bang for their buck.
Nebraska, Tennessee, and Notre Dame, oh wherefore art thou?

How finicky is college football......the ten years prior to this list, Nebraska would have 8 appearances to USC's.......zero.

We've been knockin at the door for 6 years. As Bum Phillips would say "It's time to kick the damn thing in".

Coincidence?

Coach Mark Richt now has 7 full years in the books as Head Coach of UGA. Having married into a family of FSU alumns, I take great pleasure in pointing out the paths each of these programs have taken since Richt came to town. So, I decided to chart the results just to get a better picture. I'll put this post in the catagory "Because I Wanted To Know"

In the 7 years prior to Richt's arrival in Athens, UGA never topped FSU in wins in any season. In the 7 years since, the opposite has been true. Helluva coincidence, I'd say.