Top Winning %s NCAA Football Last 30, 20, 10 Years

Submitted by alum96 on

There were some interesting comments in the "best coaching jobs" thread - specially for how Oklahoma is not an elite job - that had me scratching my head.  Considering the Switzer to Stoops era was conceptually one of the best off the top of my head I could think of (i.e. top 5) for 40ish year I am not sure where this viewpoint was coming from.  At first I thought maybe younger guys dont remember how dominant Oklahoma used to be, but considering Stoops has the same winning % as Bo did ....in an era with scholarship reductions and far more parity, that didn't make sense.  Maybe an 80% win % is just not that impressive to some.  Switzer was even more dominant (albeit with some wink wink stuff going on).  Anyhow I digress a bit but how someone doesn't think OK is one of the top 7-8 jobs in the country is beyond me.  It's not an academic ranking - its damn football, and Oklahoma is and has been a bad ass program for decades.

Anyhow that thread led me to take a look back at the top program winning %s by in 3 time frames.  While the headline says 30, 20 and 10 years it's technically 31, 21, and 11 years (1984, 1994 and 2004 to 2014).  I tried to focus on P5 conferences but did add in TCU and Utah which spent most of this time outside the P5 - I also included Louisville which was in various conferences.  Former Big East conference members were difficult to figure out since things changed so often there but this should cover the major players.  So you have your Louisvilles, West VAs, VA Techs etc.  I did include BYU over 30 years but excluded them in the 10 and 20 due to error.

This data also doesnt penalize for sanctions.

Some interesting data:

1984-2014 (31 years)

  Team %
1 FSU 77.95%
2 Nebraska 76.21%
3 OSU 75.93%
4 Miami  74.21%
5 UF 73.51%
6 OK 73.06%
7 UM 70.10%
8 Auburn 69.16%
9 PSU 69.10%
10 GA 68.75%
11 TN 68.23%
12 BYU 67.93%
13 Bama 67.80%
14 USC 67.61%
15 TX 67.41%
16 LSU 67.11%
17 Va Tech 66.97%
18 Oregon 66.76%
19 A&M 65.97%
20 ND 65.70%
21 Clemson 65.40%
22 WVA 62.40%
23 Utah 61.34%
24 TCU 60.08%
25 UCLA 59.97%
26 Wiscy 59.92%
27 Iowa 59.74%
28 GA Tech 58.05%
29 WA 58.00%
30 Ark 57.85%

 

1994-2014 (21 years)

  Team %
1 OSU 79.38%
2 FSU 75.87%
3 UF 74.54%
4 Neb 73.90%
5 Oregon 73.59%
6 VA Tech 73.33%
7 Texas 72.58%
8 Oklahoma 71.12%
9 LSU 71.11%
10 GA 70.87%
11 USC 70.12%
12 Wiscy 69.07%
13 Miami 68.34%
14 TCU 68.09%
15 Bama 67.89%
16 KSU 67.30%
17 UM 67.18%
18 Auburn 67.11%
19 PSU 67.05%
20 Utah 66.93%
21 TN 65.78%
22 Louisville 63.04%
23 WVA 62.31%
24 Clemson 62.21%
25 ND 61.58%
26 A&M 61.49%
27 Texas Tech 60.92%
28 GA Tech 59.25%
29 Iowa 57.17%
30 MSU 57.12%

 

2004-2014 (11 years)

  Team %
1 OSU 80.92%
2 LSU 77.78%
3 Oregon 77.62%
4 Oklahoma 77.40%
5 USC 75.97%
6 TCU 75.54%
7 Bama 74.19%
8 Texas 73.94%
9 Wiscy 73.79%
10 GA 72.22%
11 VA Tech 72.11%
12 UF 71.13%
13 Auburn 70.42%
14 FSU 69.40%
15 Utah 69.07%
16 WVA 68.57%
17 Louisville 67.39%
18 Missouri 67.13%
19 PSU 66.91%
20 Clemson 66.90%
21 Nebraska 65.04%
22 OK State 65.00%
23 South Car 64.29%
24 MSU 63.12%
25 Texas Tech 62.59%
26 ND 61.87%
27 GA Tech 61.38%
28 Rutgers 60.00%
29 Iowa 59.71%
30 Michigan 59.42%

 

Some takeaways:

  • Over a 30ish year time frame 6 teams clearly stand out at 73%+ - FSU, Neb, OSU, Miami FL, Florida, Oklahoma.  From there we have a significant 3% drop to the cabal of UM, Auburn, PSU, GA.
  • While lacking the # of NCs of Bama, no way to say it other than OSU has been the the best program in terms of consistency for 20 years.  And aside from FSU is essentially tied for 2nd over 30 years.  A hell of a multi decade run.
  • Despite some fall off post Bowden, FSU has had an amazing 30 year run.
  • I doubt most would guess LSU was #2 over the past 11 years.  I wouldn't.
  • Nebraska had such a good mid 80s to early 2000s it has offset the relative mediocrity of late.
  • Oregon has been better for longer than I assumed.
  • While UM has been wholly mediocre relative to perceived status for 10 and 20 years, ND has been mediocre for all 3 time frames which is suprising considering Holtz era.
  • For all the TX angst they have had a nice run the past 20 years.
  • Despite not even being found in the top 30 the past 11 years, Miami is still #4 overall over 30.
  • Wisconsin is impressive - Alvarez did a hell of a job not only building a program but despite the coaching changes leaving a legacy.  Let's hope Dantonio does not do the same.
  • Rutgers was not such a bad addition to the Big 10 ;)
  • As suspected UCLA is a chronic underachiever considering all the assets at their disposal.
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OccaM

February 25th, 2015 at 11:06 PM ^

If Bo won some more bowl games in his time, Michigan might've had many more titles on this side of the century along with 97. 

That and I still believe if Brady started the full games through the 99 season, Michigan would be in contention for the title that year too. MSU wouldn't have happened and Illinois would be the only wildcard that year. 

That would shut all the haters up when they make fun of Michigan for only having "half a national title" since 1948.

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UMxWolverines

February 25th, 2015 at 11:13 PM ^

Yeah, but it's a big if. And it didnt' get done. Fact is we blew a lot of Rose Bowls to much weaker opponents because of playing too conservatively. 

Lost 13-12 to a 8-3 Stanford team in 1971 that would have given us an undefeated season?

Lost 14-6 to USC in 1976

Lost 27-20 to a 7-4 Washington team in 1977

Lost 17-10 to USC in 1978

Lost 9-7 to Auburn in the 1984 Sugar Bowl

Bottom line is the teams that were winning national titles in those days were the ones with innovative offenses (Barry Switzer especially with the wishbone). 

Joined: 03/01/2009

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OccaM

February 26th, 2015 at 4:11 AM ^

Idk what would be more torture. Being a student through RR and Hoke or being a student from 1971-1974 and 1976-1978 when Michigan was nearly a centimeter away from national title glory every year with many #1 rankings throughout the seasons. 

Screw the B1G's bowl policy along with OSU, the likes of Purdue and Minnesota and Bo's bowl luck. 

I was a student with RR and Hoke in charge... 2011 was nirvana. Then it just came back down to normal getting hopes up in September only to be broken by MSU every year. OSU? lol. 

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Don

February 26th, 2015 at 12:54 AM ^

I won't deny that we tended to play conservatively in the Rose Bowls under Bo, and I agree that it contributed to our losses.

However, when you designate those USC teams we played in the Rose Bowls after the '76 and '78 seasons as "much weaker," you couldn't be more ridiculously, blindly wrong.

The '76 USC team went 11-1 and finished #2 in the country, behind undefeated Pitt. The '78 USC team went 12-1 and won the fucking national championship.

On top of that, in the 1977 through 1981 NFL drafts—which would have covered almost all of UM's and USC's rosters for the 1976 and 1978 teams—Michigan had 28 players drafted. USC had 48 drafted.

Three of those USC players on the '78 team—Marcus Allen, Ronnie Lott, and Anthony Munoz—are in the NFL Hall of Fame. The '76 USC team also included Vince Evans, Charles White, Dennis Thurman, Ricky Bell, Keith Van Horne, Marvin Powell, and Clay Matthews, all of whom had NFL careers.

In addition, that Washington team we played after the 1977 season that you're sneering at had a guy named Warren Moon at QB, who's now in the NFL Hall of Fame.

You're making the same provincial homer mistake that most Michigan fans continue to make to this day: for some bizarre reason, Michigan fans refuse to acknowledge that USC has been far, far more productive at putting top-level talent into the NFL over the past 50+ years than Michigan has. Michigan has had two players since 1960 go into the HOF—Dierdorf and Tom Mack. USC has had ten.

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M-Dog

February 26th, 2015 at 10:56 AM ^

The main reason that Bo did not win NC's is that Bo was not allowed to play for NCs.  

Based on the polling system at the time, his teams were locked out of NC consideration before the game was even played.  There was not a single bowl game played during Bo's tenure where Michigan knew that if it won the game, it would be the NC.  Not once.

Under today's system, his '71, '73, '76, '80, '85', '86, '88' '89 teams, at minimum, would all have had a shot at a National Championship. 

It's not unreasonable to assume that he could have won at least one of those years in an environment where he knew he wass playing for the NC, and he was not always having to do it in the other team's backyard in the Rose Bowl.

 

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HarbaughToMichigan

February 25th, 2015 at 10:13 PM ^

"Rutgers was not such a bad addition to the Big 10 ;)"

And how many of those games were against God-knows-what teams?  Still a damn embarassment to add the Jersey School of Guido to the Big Ten.  

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alum96

February 25th, 2015 at 10:31 PM ^

Hence the wink.  The former Big East members all should have asterisks next to them.  Same with BYU - they often play a weak schedule with 2-3 highlight games and then a lot of Mountain West type teams.  Utah and TCU also benefited from that.  I excluded Boise State entirely for that reason - a few of the Big East schools for some years probably didnt have too much of a more difficult schedule than Boise really. 

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LSAClassOf2000

February 25th, 2015 at 10:36 PM ^

Several of those ten years in the 2004-2014 timeframe were spent under Greg Schiano, of course, and the Big East consisted of (well, for a good deal of that time) vaunted programs like Syracuse, Cincinnati, Pitt, West Virginia, Connecticut, South Florida and Louisville, so your typical conference slate was a nightmare indeed (for Syracuse usually, it seemed, it was a nightmare anyway).  

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michfanisbacka…

February 25th, 2015 at 10:15 PM ^

This is something I try bringing up to people who say Wisconsin and Oregon are just teams that have recently become successful.

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UMxWolverines

February 25th, 2015 at 10:16 PM ^

This is just proof that we need to step up our game A LOT. OSU has played for 4 national titles in the last 20 years and came damn close to playing for three more in 1995, 1996, and 1998. 

 

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alum96

February 25th, 2015 at 10:35 PM ^

Gary Gibbs was fine - he had a lot of Lloyd Carr seasons i.e. 9-3ish.

They had a bad 4 year run with Howard Schnellenberger for 1 year and then their version of Hoke/RR in John Blake for 3 years.  Stoops followed and like Saban or Bowden had 1 ok year at 7-5 and then began a majestic era.  NC in year 2.  And 11+ wins in 7 of the next 8 years.

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Brunswick_Blue

February 25th, 2015 at 10:25 PM ^

I'm still upset about that '97 split title. Not because we had to share it but because I wanted that crystal ball.

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LeBron James

February 25th, 2015 at 10:30 PM ^

That makes me sick. And the fact that OSU is not going away anytime soon makes me even sicker.

I cannot stand it when OSU fans complain. They have no fucking idea how good they have it.



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Pinky

February 25th, 2015 at 10:55 PM ^

This shouldn't be very surprising.  Ohio State has demonstrated a willingness to do whatever it takes to win football games, which is a big reason why they've had to fire every single coach since who, Paul Bixler?  For a decade they had one of the shadiest guys in all of football running their program, and then after firing him only when they absolutely had to, they replaced him with a guy who was so hated at Florida that his own players called him a terrible person.  

Hell, their hero is a man who got fired for punching a student in the throat.

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mGrowOld

February 25th, 2015 at 11:10 PM ^

This shouldn't be very surprising.  Ohio State has demonstrated a willingness to do whatever it takes to win football games, which is a big reason why they have consistently had excellent head coaches during the past 50 years.'ve had to fire every single coach since who, Paul Bixler?  For a decade they had one of the shadiest guys most successful coaches in all of football running their program, and then they replaced him with a guy who was so hated at Florida that his own players called him a terrible person won at every program he coached at and won big and has now recorded his third overall national championship, first at OSU, and did it with his third string QB!

Hell, their hero is a man who got fired for punching a student in the throat went 205-61-10 and won five National Championship’s himself.

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mGrowOld

February 25th, 2015 at 11:26 PM ^

So is what I wrote.

 My point is outside of Michigan I think most people view OSU as I've described them - not as you have.  And whether we like it or not they've been kicking our ass for some time now as evidenced by the OP's post.  

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michelin

February 26th, 2015 at 12:09 AM ^

That makes UM look worse and OSU look better.  Instead, the post should look separately at the different decades eg 1-10, 11-20, 21-30 years,

As noted by the OP, the data also do not correctly subtract OSU wins that were vacated several years ago.  That further increases the distortion, which then is repeated in every time frame.  I also wonder whey the OP reports such odd periods, 11, 21, 31 years, rather than 10, 20, 30.

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Badkitty

February 26th, 2015 at 5:32 AM ^

Although it is an interesting read by the OP and somewhat eye-opening, the facts are that we stunk last season.  And the season before that.  And then we had 1 mediocre year, one statistical outlier good year and 3 crappy years before that. This taking comfort in past nostalgia always puzzled me. It's great that Fielding H Yost and Fritz Crisler destroyed their opponents and by a gadzillion points.  But is that really all you can bring to the table when some Sparty or Buckeye fan laughs at you because they beat us again and again for the past few years???  I loved Bo, but I'm sorry, he's not with us any longer.  I take little comfort in our "all-time winning percentage" when one of my co-workers, a OSU alum, rubs it in my face that they beat us again.

We hired a cheerleader for the past for the past 4 years.  He didn't do well.  So we hired someone who has a proven track record and who, to paraphrase him, wants to go the extra mile faster and that be that extra percentage better.  He knows that it's all about the future and performances.  Yeah, I had great memories of 1989 and 1997, but you know that's almost 30 years and 20 years ago respectively.  I just want more great memories now and for the near future.

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