🏈 The Top 100 College Football Teams of the Last 100 Years

[MissingRing]

The Top 100 College Football Teams of the Last 100 Years

Since we are in a long lull before the start of fall camp, I figure some Alabama football nostalgia is in order. The website footballoutsiders.com shows a list of what they consider to be the top 100 college football teams of the past 100 years. Alabama occupies 12 spots on the list (see below). Any comments?

2. 1961 Alabama
Record: 11-0
Conference: SEC
Best Wins: def. Arkansas (8-3) 10-3, def. Georgia Tech (7-4) 10-0
Blemishes: none
Point Differential: +272 (297-25)

8. 1962 Alabama
Record: 10-1
Conference: SEC
Best Wins: def. Oklahoma (8-3) 17-0, def. Auburn (6-3-1) 38-0
Blemishes: def. by Georgia Tech (7-3-1) 7-6
Point Differential: +250 (289-39)

15. 1979 Alabama
Record: 12-0
Conference: SEC
Best Wins: def. Arkansas (10-2) 24-9, def. Auburn (8-3) 25-18
Blemishes: none
Point Differential: +316 (383-67)

24. 1966 Alabama
Record: 11-0
Conference: SEC
Best Wins: def. Nebraska (9-2) 34-7, def. Ole Miss (8-3) 17-7
Blemishes: none
Point Differential: +257 (301-44)

40. 1971 Alabama
Record: 11-1
Conference: SEC
Best Wins: def. Ole Miss (10-2) 40-6, def. Tennessee (10-2) 32-15
Blemishes: def. by Nebraska (13-0) 38-6
Point Differential: +246 (368-122)

61. 1934 Alabama
Record: 10-0
Conference: SEC
Best Wins: def. Tennessee (8-2) 13-6, def. Stanford (9-1-1) 29-13
Blemishes: none
Point Differential: +271 (316-45)

63. 1975 Alabama
Record: 11-1
Conference: SEC
Best Wins: def. Penn State (9-3) 13-6, def. Tennessee (7-5) 30-7
Blemishes: def. by Missouri (6-5) 20-7
Point Differential: +302 (374-72)

78. 2009 Alabama
Record: 14-0
Conference: SEC
Best Wins: def. Texas (13-1) 37-21, def. Florida (13-1) 32-13
Blemishes: none
Point Differential: +285 (449-164)

80. 1973 Alabama
Record: 11-1
Conference: SEC
Best Wins: def. LSU (9-3) 21-7, def. Tennessee (8-4) 42-21
Blemishes: def. by Notre Dame (11-0) 24-23
Point Differential: +364 (477-113)

83. 1992 Alabama
Record: 13-0
Conference: SEC
Best Wins: def. Tennessee (9-3) 17-10, def. Miami (11-1) 34-13
Blemishes: none
Point Differential: +244 (366-122)

88. 1936 Alabama
Record: 8-0-1
Conference: SEC
Best Wins: def. Mississippi State (7-0), def. Tulane (6-3-1) 34-7
Blemishes: tied Tennessee (6-2-2) 0-0
Point Differential: +133 (168-35)

97. 1945 Alabama
Record: 10-0
Conference: SEC
Best Wins: def. Tennessee (8-1) 25-7, def. Georgia (9-2) 28-14
Blemishes: none
Point Differential: +350 (430-80)

 

[mhardiman]

Just my opinion; 2011 was the best all around Alabama team in my lifetime, and not on the list. I was born in 1979, so I'm sure more people here remember more Bama teams then I do. I'll Admit though; 2011 NC team does fill a little odd and the fill of something missing not winning the SEC. 2011 and 2012 both; winning all but one or two games those seasons by at least three touchdowns did wonders on my game time anxiety.

 

[It Takes Eleven]

The '66 team's ranking is further testament to the injustice of that season.

 

[UAgrad93]

I scratched my head on the '66 ranking when the ND team of the same year was ranked at #3 I believe.

 

[MissingRing]

Just my opinion; 2011 was the best all around Alabama team in my lifetime, and not on the list. I was born in 1979, so I'm sure more people here remember more Bama teams then I do. I'll Admit though; 2011 NC team does fill a little odd and the fill of something missing not winning the SEC. 2011 and 2012 both; winning all but one or two games those seasons by at least three touchdowns did wonders on my game time anxiety.

The 2011 team was definitely a great one. That defense may never be surpassed. I think that this list was made prior to 2011; otherwise, our 2011 and 2012 teams would just about have to be on it.

 

[MissingRing]

I scratched my head on the '66 ranking when the ND team of the same year was ranked at #3 I believe.

Right. Notre Dame of 66' ranked #3 vs. our 66' team ranked #24. What a joke. I think that Bryant said that his 66' team was his best team of the 1960's. Man did we need a college playoff system that year.

 

[planomateo]

The 2011 team was definitely a great one. That defense may never be surpassed. I think that this list was made prior to 2011; otherwise, our 2011 and 2012 teams would just about have to be on it.

Yup, they posted this on 27 Jul 2010. Would be interesting to see where the 2011 team stacked up on that list.

 

[psychojoe]

Right. Notre Dame of 66' ranked #3 vs. our 66' team ranked #24. What a joke. I think that Bryant said that his 66' team was his best team of the 1960's. Man did we need a college playoff system that year.

We paid a price in 1966 for what had happened in 1964 and 1965. In 1964 we and Arkansas were undefeated, and the NC polls were made final before the bowls, with Bama getting the nod. We then lost to once beaten Texas in the Orange Bowl when they held us out of the end zone late, though Joe Namath will tel you to this day that he scored on fourth down. In 1965 we were 8-1-1 , losing on a controversial last play touchdown to Georgia, and tying Tennessee when a very young Ken Stabler forgot what down it was and threw a clock stopping play on 4th down. We were 5th in the polls that year going into the bowls, but on a magical day we destroyed Nebraska and everyone ranked ahead of us lost. When the smoke cleared we were on top in the polls. So even though Coach Bryant called the 1966 team his best one, it would likely have taken multiple losses for everyone else in order for us to three pete.

 

['65 Cobra]

Surprised our undefeated 2009 team wasn't ranked higher.

 

[BamaFan334]

Who was the #1 team? I can't seem to find anything with that link. Miami 2001?

 

[planomateo]

Who was the #1 team? I can't seem to find anything with that link. Miami 2001?

1. 1959 Ole Miss
Record: 10-1
Conference: SEC
Best Wins: def. LSU (9-2) 21-0, def. Arkansas (9-2) 28-0
Blemishes: def. by LSU (9-2) 7-3
Point Differential: +329 (350-21)

Yeah, but they lost. It's OK to go ahead and say it. And it's OK if you believe that a team with a loss, even one as excusable as the one that this team suffered, cannot be the greatest team of all-time. There is nothing I can say that will change minds, but allow me to make a case regardless:

While most say that 1961 Alabama had the greatest defense of all-time, giving up just 25 points in a more offensively proficient era, the 1959 Ole Miss Rebels gave up just 21. Seven came in a blowout win over Tulane, seven came in a blowout win over Tennessee, and seven came via the legs of Billy Cannon in one of the greatest punt returns of all-time. It took either a blowout or a superhuman effort for teams to score on 1959 Ole Miss.

Of the teams that make the Top 20 of this list, only two others played another team from the Top 30: 1946 Army and Notre Dame played each other and tied. None had to go on the road to face an all-time great, and needless to say, none lost because of an amazing punt return and a last-second goal-line stand. If any team in the Top 20 had played at LSU that Halloween night, they most likely would have lost too. (Ole Miss got a rematch against the Bayou Bengals in the 1960 Sugar Bowl and won, 21-0.)

Of the teams in the Top 20, only three others managed to finish first in both Offensive and Defensive S&P+: 1944 Army, 1966 Notre Dame and 2001 Miami. None of them had to face even another Top 100 team.

Playing in an SEC that was possibly at its most competitive point (Tennessee and Georgia Tech were still very good, Auburn and LSU were both coming off of national titles, and Alabama was getting its footing again under Bear Bryant), the Rebels dominated. LSU game aside, no team came within 15 points of them. They even slaughtered a nine-win Arkansas team, 28-0, in Memphis in non-conference play.

There's the case. If your response is, "Yeah, but they lost," that's fine. There is no right answer here anyway. But as I said at the top, there is something poetic to the thought that the best team of all-time might not have even won the national title, especially when most of us spend our waking hours yearning for a playoff that would right such wrongs.

We will discuss this team further in a podcast later in the week... and then it's time to dive into the 2010 season.

 

[TheChief]

I dunno, using the argument that there defense was the best ever, in an era when very few points were scored, is sort of like saying a pitcher in the big leagues was the best because of his ERA in the dead ball era. That team lost. They weren't the best; someone beat them. End of story.

Yes, eras are different. Players get bigger; rules change. If you are the best, the absolute best no one would beat you. My opinion.

Talk to me again about 1992. FWIW: I'm biased as hell. I loved that team.

 

[TheChief]

I dunno, using the argument that there defense was the best ever, in an era when very few points were scored, is sort of like saying a pitcher in the big leagues was the best because of his ERA in the dead ball era. That team lost. They weren't the best; someone beat them. End of story.

Yes, eras are different. Players get bigger; rules change. If you are the best, the absolute best no one would beat you. My opinion.

Talk to me again about 1992. FWIW: I'm biased as hell. I loved that team.

Should have been "their" defense.