Ranking the best college football teams of every decade

[SWC75]

Connelly ranks the best college football teams of every decade

You know this is a very personal view when you see that Minnesota is the 8th best program of the 1930's. They not only won the first AP, (writer's) Poll in 1936: they had been considered national champion in 1934 and 1935 as well. You'll hear more and more about that as Georgia approaches a third straight national championship: nobody's done it since. They also won the AP poll in 1940-41 but this article lists them with one "top five" in the 1940's.

We don't make the Top 10 in the 50's or 60's and out 1959 is only the 5th best team of that decade and we didn't have any of the top 5 defenses despite giving up only 96 yards a game and 19 rushing, (the latter the second best ever since the NCAA began keeping stats in 1938).

But he put a lot of work into this and any article about the history of college football creates interest and advances education about this level of the sport. Some other good stuff:

National Championships by Year

Win percentage computation form

Form for computing winning percentage of all I-A teams over any span of years.

stassen.com

College Football National Champions

 

[Moontan]

They didn't go back far enough for Rutgirls to get mentioned.

 

[NJCuse97]

They didn't go back for enough for Rutgirls to get mentioned.

Even then, Princeton was the dominant team. Rutgers has been an “also ran” since the inception of college football.

 

[Moontan]

Even then, Princeton was the dominant team. Rutgers has been an “also ran” since the inception of college football.

Yup.
But when there were only 5 teams, they were just barely out of the top 10... probably first team out.

 

[NJCuse97]

Yup.
But when there were only 5 teams, they were just barely out of the top 10... probably first team out.

Exactly!

 

[SWC75]

They didn't even win that first year:

Yearly National Championship Selections

They shouldn't have schedule Princeton twice:

Rutgers Game by Game Results

 

[upperdeck]

That run by nebraska is pretty good
best of 80s , 2nd best of the 70s, 2nd best of the 90s
ala
best of the 60s and 70s then 5th in the 80s

now Ala the best of the last 2 decades with a chance at the 3 pt

 

[SWC75]

That run by nebraska is pretty good
best of 80s , 2nd best of the 70s, 2nd best of the 90s
ala
best of the 60s and 70s then 5th in the 80s

now Ala the best of the last 2 decades with a chance at the 3 pt

The Huskers won two titles in the 70's and three in the 90's but none in the 80's. He's measuring average achievements per year, not peak achievements.

 

[MGraves5]

Connelly ranks the best college football teams of every decade

You know this is a very personal view when you see that Minnesota is the 8th best program of the 1930's. They not only won the first AP, (writer's) Poll in 1936: they had been considered national champion in 1934 and 1935 as well. You'll hear more and more about that as Georgia approaches a third straight national championship: nobody's done it since. They also won the AP poll in 1940-41 but this article lists them with one "top five" in the 1940's.

We don't make the Top 10 in the 50's or 60's and out 1959 is only the 5th best team of that decade and we didn't have any of the top 5 defenses despite giving up only 96 yards a game and 19 rushing, (the latter the second best ever since the NCAA began keeping stats in 1938).

But he put a lot of work into this and any article about the history of college football creates interest and advances education about this level of the sport. Some other good stuff:

National Championships by Year

Win percentage computation form

Form for computing winning percentage of all I-A teams over any span of years.

stassen.com

College Football National Champions

It's depressing to see that Syracuse was #24 from 1869-2001. Then of course Cuse is #107 from 2002-2021. Which drops them to #44 from 1869-2021.

 

[SWC75]

It's depressing to see that Syracuse was #24 from 1869-2001. Then of course Cuse is #107 from 2002-2021. Which drops them to #44 from 1869-2021.

Then there's the lacrosse team through 2008 and the basketball team through 2014...

 

[Ernj]

Even then, Princeton was the dominant team. Rutgers has been an “also ran” since the inception of college football.

So, not only not relevant in the nation, but not relevant in their state...

 

[SkyTopBus44]

Then there's the lacrosse team through 2008 and the basketball team through 2014...

To be fair lacrosse won the national title in 2009. Several ACC titles in the 2010s but definitely fading fast