Sports Illustrated Ranks Top 10 all-time programs, Michigan comes in 3rd
https://www.si.com/college-football/2019/best-programs-college-football…
Brief explanation provided for each team. I don't feel strongly one way or the other although I personally would not be including Tennessee on this list. Thoughts?
August 12th, 2019 at 3:50 PM ^
Careful now. You are coming close to nattering.
August 12th, 2019 at 5:26 PM ^
Alphabetical seems as reasonable a method as the original article uses. I can live with WD’s alpha list.
August 12th, 2019 at 4:01 PM ^
Surprised that Clemson isn't on this list. Other than that, surprised Tennessee is on this list. T Martin won one in 1999... after that, what makes them deserving? Oklahoma has won more and more recently. In the end, sold some more magazines... <yawn>
August 12th, 2019 at 9:10 PM ^
I was pondering which SEC program is second-best, looked up the numbers and Tennessee does rank second in both wins and percentage. Georgia, LSU and Auburn are all pretty close behind, but the stats point to the Vols.
On the other hand, no way in hell Tennessee should be ranked ahead of Oklahoma.
August 13th, 2019 at 9:38 PM ^
Selling magazines is what these type of ratings are about. Totally useless otherwise.
August 13th, 2019 at 9:38 PM ^
Selling magazines is what these type of ratings are about. Totally useless otherwise.
August 12th, 2019 at 4:10 PM ^
My biased list is:
Michigan
Notre Shame
Bama
USC
OU
BloCryO St.
Texas
Nebraska
Ped St.
Then...….. yeah Tennessee belongs in a second tier with UGA, LSU, aTm, Florida, Miami, Auburn......
Those top nine are going to be on every list of all time wins, win %, draft picks, all americans, etc.
August 12th, 2019 at 7:27 PM ^
BloCryO St
That's a new one, I must admit.
August 12th, 2019 at 4:17 PM ^
There is a lot of recency bias in this list they put together.
August 12th, 2019 at 4:27 PM ^
Do they mean history history? Because then the top three (in the order of my personal opinion) need to be Michigan, Notre Dame, and Texas. Alabama and Ohio State are fantastic, blue blood titans, but there's not really a debate about the top three ever, right?
August 12th, 2019 at 4:54 PM ^
Agreed with most, but not sure about Texas. They only have wins in two centuries.
August 13th, 2019 at 9:45 PM ^
Texas ? I could go with Michigan, ND, OSU, and Alabama as my top 4 though. You'd see the order of those 4 change based on the criteria - total wins, NCs, rankings etc..... Couldn't go wrong with any of the 4.
August 12th, 2019 at 4:29 PM ^
So its "greatest all time programs", and while UM beats OSU on the metrics, they have more recent championships which is why SI gives the nod. Okay, I won't dispute that, but it changes from all time to add with recency bias.
August 12th, 2019 at 4:49 PM ^
How is Oklahoma lower than Penn State and Tennessee? That's absurd.
August 12th, 2019 at 5:17 PM ^
I goofed. Ignore this comment.
August 12th, 2019 at 5:24 PM ^
Gotta be fair here. Just as recency bias is bad, so is deep history bias bad.
Over-weighting the most recent 20-30 years of college football is not credible. But neither is over-weighting the first 20-30 years of college football.
Michigan has not been nationally dominant for 70+ years. That has to count, no matter how strong Michigan was before that.
#3 all-time is more than fair.
August 12th, 2019 at 5:32 PM ^
Given our overall history since Crisler retired—especially our craptacular record in bowl games—#3 strikes me as extremely generous.
August 12th, 2019 at 6:08 PM ^
That's brave of you to say. I worded my commentary differently because I assumed that saying that would earn me more "troll" accusations.
August 12th, 2019 at 6:25 PM ^
According to many on here, bowl games are meaningless I thought?
August 12th, 2019 at 8:41 PM ^
Speaking solely for myself, I believe the “bowl games are meaningless” is nothing more than an attempt to mentally mitigate/soft-pedal/make excuses for our pathetic record in them since 1970. If our record was 32-10 in that time span instead of 17-25, nobody would be calling them meaningless—Michigan fans would be crowing about them at every opportunity.
August 12th, 2019 at 9:48 PM ^
Bowls are nothing compared to conference championships.
August 12th, 2019 at 8:24 PM ^
So...…… here's the truth. Cause I'm tired of the old "leather helmets" bullshit.
Lets just go with round #'s.
If you go back 100 years - Michigan is 10th on the wins list and 6th in win%.
If you just take the last 50 years - Michigan is 6th on the wins list and 6th in win%.
Logic says they had a better last 50 years than the 50 before that. Even with the 7 year horror.
August 12th, 2019 at 9:54 PM ^
Now cut out cupcake wins by all of your win records. Also, consider UM's record against "Power" teams during the time up until 2007. The narrative changes quickly.
August 12th, 2019 at 11:40 PM ^
So, you get worked up when somebody lists stats of only the last 50 and 100 years but now you want to see stats only up til 2007 and omitting games against specific opponents? You're way worse at bending the narrative to fit your desires than anybody else.
August 13th, 2019 at 12:58 AM ^
Eff the f off. You do it. I already provided real #'s. And no clue what you mean by cupcake opponents. Good luck researching who were the cupcakes back in the 30's, 40's, & 50's. I'll be waiting for your report.
August 12th, 2019 at 5:46 PM ^
Surprised Miami did not make the list. I would put them in over Tennessee.
August 12th, 2019 at 6:27 PM ^
Miami belongs nowhere near the second tier even.
Flash in the pan program that had no history prior to 1983.
August 13th, 2019 at 9:11 PM ^
Agree. If they're talking all time, Miami might be in the top 15 or 20. Was nothing before the 80s.
August 12th, 2019 at 6:21 PM ^
Perhaps recency bias is the correct thing to do since the champion has only been decided on the field starting in the BCS era. Before that we just had writers/coaches voting. If I compiled the list, I would double the weight of championships in the modern era.
August 12th, 2019 at 6:37 PM ^
August 12th, 2019 at 6:49 PM ^
Shocked ND isn’t higher. Like actually shocked, and it’s not like they wouldn’t be deserving.
I’d rank them higher than Alabama and Texas for sure. Arguably higher than OSU, and a case can be made for them to be higher than Michigan, even.
August 12th, 2019 at 7:04 PM ^
How is Tennessee ahead of Oklahoma?
Another thing- several of Alabama's "national championships" are self-proclaimed, with no apparent basis otherwise.
August 12th, 2019 at 7:33 PM ^
Oklahoma is not 10th lol
Oklahoma is easily top 3
August 13th, 2019 at 9:13 PM ^
Yeah, that's when I knew this rating was a total joke. Oklahoma should be in everyone's top 5 - maybe top 2 or 3
August 12th, 2019 at 7:59 PM ^
The recency bias isn't egregious but it's there. ND is too low and Tennessee shouldn't be on the list at all. No obvious replacement for them so maybe it should just be a Top 9.
August 12th, 2019 at 10:39 PM ^
We're always number 1 to me.
August 13th, 2019 at 8:52 AM ^
We need to make some new history starting now. We’ve been in hibernation long enough. GOBLUE!
August 13th, 2019 at 8:28 PM ^
The one that stands out to me is Oklahoma at no. 10. They're way higher than that. Certainly better than Tennessee. Good Lord.