🏈 Best Football Team from Every Decade

[Crtuneman]

Here's a nice article from ESPN ranking the best teams of every decade. Bama features prominently in almost every decade. I didn't look in depth but it appears that the rankings are fairly accurate. It just shows that Bama has always been a dominant team.

Best Teams by Decade

 

[bamafan9201]

copy and paste, don't have ESPN+

 

[Crtuneman]

Crap sorry. Didn't realize it was plus. It's super long. I'll summarize.

1920s​

1. USC (92.5 percentile, five top-five SP+ finishes, three No. 1s)


2. Notre Dame (87.2, four top-fives, one No. 1)

3. Alabama (85.8, four top-fives, one No. 1)

1930s​

1. Alabama (96.0 percentile, five top-fives, one No. 1)


2. Tennessee (91.3, six top-fives, two No. 1s)


3. Pitt (90.6, three top-fives)

1940s​

1. Michigan (95.8 percentile, five top-fives, one No. 1)


2. Notre Dame (92.8, five top-fives)

3. Texas (92.3, five top-fives, two No. 1s)


4. Alabama (87.6, one top-five)


5. Penn (87.3, one top-five)

1960s​

1. Alabama (94.4 percentile, six top-fives, three No. 1s)

2. Arkansas (92.7, three top-fives)

3. Texas (92.7, five top-fives)

1. Alabama (98.2 percentile, nine top-fives, two No. 1s)

2. Nebraska (98.0, seven top-fives, three No. 1s)

3. Michigan (97.6, four top-fives)

1980s​

1. Nebraska (97.3 percentile, eight top-fives, four No. 1s)


2. Miami (93.4, four top-fives, four No. 1s)


3. Oklahoma (92.8, three top-fives)


4. Michigan (91.5, two top-fives, one No. 1)

5. Alabama (90.4, one top-five)

2010s​

1. Alabama (98.3, 10 top-fives, eight No. 1s)


2. Ohio State (94.1, eight top-fives, one No. 1)


3. LSU (93.3, five top-fives)

2020s​

Obviously we're only three years into the current decade, so we'll see how things take shape from here. But just for posterity, here's where things stand for now.


1. Alabama (98.9)


2. Ohio State (98.2)


3. Georgia (97.8)

 

[OldPlayer]

We're missing a few decades. 50s? 70s? 90s?

 

[OldPlayer]

BTW, if Martians landed today and looked at this site, they would know it's the offseason.

 

[24and7]

It was always Alabama!!… sometimes the records just didn’t show it

 

[24and7]

 

[50+yeartidefan]

Interesting...
50s has to be oklahoma and Bud Wilkerson. But don't remember much.

60s. Had to be The rise of bama
70s. Was bama s dominance in sec...but that Nebraska program was hot

80. Sucked

90s. Early bama but the end of decade was awful Florida was tops

00-present. Greatest domination in CF history. And the 2020 team was greatest ever

Other greats ...that I remember...71 nebraska team..2019 lsu....2018 clemson

 

[64Tide]

In 70’s UA was only team to win 100 plus games in decade. Had to be team of decade!!

 

[rammerjammer]

It was always Alabama!!… sometimes the records just didn’t show it

This sounds like a Jeremiah Castille quote. I heard him speak at a church one time. He said they never lost a game at Alabama, we ran out of time during a few games, but never lost.

 

[Crtuneman]

I only included the decades where Bama was ranked. And I think I forgot to do the 70s. Here are the 50's, 70s, and 90s

1950s​

1. Oklahoma (96.7 percentile, eight top-fives, two No. 1s)


2. Ole Miss (91.7, five top-fives, one No. 1)


3. Michigan State (91.6, four top-fives, one No. 1)


4. Georgia Tech (87.9, five top-fives, one No. 1)

5. Ohio State (85.4, two top-fives, one No. 1)

1970s​

Bear Bryant and the Crimson Tide had nine top-five seasons in the 1970s. Malcolm Emmons/USA TODAY Sports

1. Alabama (98.2 percentile, nine top-fives, two No. 1s)


2. Nebraska (98.0, seven top-fives, three No. 1s)


3. Michigan (97.6, four top-fives)


4. Oklahoma (97.3, eight top-fives, two No. 1s)


5. Ohio State (96.0, four top-fives, one No. 1)

1990s​

1. Florida State (97.0 percentile, eight top-fives, three No. 1s)


2. Nebraska (96.1, six top-fives, two No. 1s)

3. Florida (94.5, five top-fives)

4. Tennessee (93.6, two top-fives)

5. Penn State (92.8, two top-fives, one No. 1)

 

[alabama mike]

I was just thinking, we were dominant in the 70’s.

 

[50+yeartidefan]

I was just thinking, we were dominant in the 70’s.

Pretty dominant....after we got through that ugly 6-7-8 whatever bowl game losing streak

 

[64Tide]

Pretty dominant....after we got through that ugly 6-7-8 whatever bowl game losing streak

Those were some dark days. Finally broke out of it after 75 season vs Penn State in Sugar Bowl and won several bowl games in row...
0-7-1 from 1968-1974. The tie vs OU when Richard Ciemny missed a game winner vs the land thieves on games last play.

 

[alabama mike]

Pretty dominant....after we got through that ugly 6-7-8 whatever bowl game losing streak

I well remember that streak, it was ugly. Glad we rebounded to dominate the decade.