Top 10 College Football teams of the last decade

[MSUcougar]

So ESPN is ranking all 119 D1-A college football teams this week based on their performance over the past 10 seasons (97-06). I made a bet with a coworker about who could most closely predict their top 10. Our guesses ended up being completely different from each other, so I'm curious to see what top 10 you guys can come up with based on this criteria:

[ QUOTE ]
What are the top programs of the last decade? That's the question ESPN.com has attempted to answer this week. Fifteen college football experts and analysts ranked all 119 Division I-A programs, taking into account record, traditions, recruiting, facilities, coaches, attendance and support, among other criteria.

Editor's note: The rankings reflect the average from the 15 ballots cast and are not the writer's individual ballot.

[/ QUOTE ]

So let's see your Top 10... (ESPN's will be revealed on Friday)

Mine:
<font color="white">1. Michigan
2. Florida
3. Texas
4. Miami
5. USC
6. Florida St
7. Oklahoma
8. Ohio St
9. Nebraska
10. Georgia</font>

[MacGuyV]

Well I hate the Florida schools but I think if you've got Michigan &amp; Texas ahead of the U &amp; FSU you're favoring the most recent history of the last 10 yrs too much.

Surely Georgia can't be in the mix ahead of some of their SEC counterparts - LSU, Tennessee?

edit: Not sure I understand the "tradition/facilities" criteria. This means they're looking at more than the last 10 years, or awarding tie-breakers to which team has the nicer weight room?

[MSUcougar]

[ QUOTE ]
Well I hate the Florida schools but I think if you've got Michigan &amp; Texas ahead of the U &amp; FSU you're favoring the most recent history of the last 10 yrs too much.

Surely Georgia can't be in the mix ahead of some of their SEC counterparts - LSU, Tennessee?

edit: Not sure I understand the "tradition/facilities" criteria. This means they're looking at more than the last 10 years, or awarding tie-breakers to which team has the nicer weight room?

[/ QUOTE ]
I just copy/pasted the "criteria" from ESPN... I'm not sure how subjective the ESPN experts will be. I would think they'd have to use some sort of computer based ranking system to rank all 119 teams.

I'll probably discuss my choices/reasoning after a few responses.

[Dudd]

LOL at Michigan at number 1. Shouldn't a team have to be better than .500 against their rivals and have more than 1 BCS win to be the best team of the past decade? I don't know who exactly I'd put at number 1, probably 1 of USC, Oklahoma, Miami, or Ohio State, but I can't see any argument for Michigan.

[MSUcougar]

[ QUOTE ]
LOL at Michigan at number 1. Shouldn't a team have to be better than .500 against their rivals and have more than 1 BCS win to be the best team of the past decade? I don't know who exactly I'd put at number 1, probably 1 of USC, Oklahoma, Miami, or Ohio State, but I can't see any argument for Michigan.

[/ QUOTE ]
I was surprised when I got done looking at the numbers... remember it's the last 10 seasons, most of the schools had at least a couple subpar seasons...

But ya this is obviously open for debate...

[Dudd]

I think sustained goodness is worse than being great for 4-5 years, decent for a few others, and bad for 1 or 2. Michigan to me, besides 1997 when they were split champs, has been the good but not great team, usually losing to either ND at the beginning of the year or OSU+bowl at the end of the year. I'd much rather be someone like USC with dominance over their rivals or Oklahoma who dominated Texas for a sustained period in the middle of the last 10 years plus BCS wins and multiple championship game appearances.

[Your Mom]

hard to say, b/c all of the good teams have had some down years in the last decade. Nebraska sucked balls for a couple of years there, USC sucked in the first half of this decade as did OU and Texas. Florida St. sucks now. Michigan and Ohio St. have been good most of the time, but they have disappointed quite a few of those years. Florida had the Ron Zook era, though I think they may still be the best choice. Natl' champs in 96 and 06.

[jgunnip]

[ QUOTE ]
hard to say, b/c all of the good teams have had some down years in the last decade. Nebraska sucked balls for a couple of years there, USC sucked in the first half of this decade as did OU and Texas. Florida St. sucks now. Michigan and Ohio St. have been good most of the time, but they have disappointed quite a few of those years. Florida had the Ron Zook era, though I think they may still be the best choice. Natl' champs in 96 and 06.

[/ QUOTE ]

96' is so two decades ago! [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

No way Michigan is #1 team of past decade. maybe top 5 i dunno would have to look at the numbers. I'd have to go with USC.

Virginia Tech and Tennessee also worth a mention as well.

[TruFloridaGator]

If we counted the 96 NC, then UF would be #1 because they would have 2 NCs &amp; a very good win%

I'm looking at conf win%s in my rankings:

1)Texas: 1 NC, #3 win%, very consistent
2)USC: 2 titles but 1 split and #8 win%
3)UF: 1 NC, #4 win% in maybe toughest conf
4)FSU, 1 NC, 1 NC loss, #1 conf win% but weaker conf, not very good once the conference became tougher
5)Miami, utter dominance but in weaker conf
6)OSU, consistent but weaker conf win%
7)UT, everyone forgets they have a better win% than any SEC team but UF
8)Oklahoma
9)LSU
10)Nebraska

[Your Mom]

Damn it, I counted 96. That was dumb.