Best Teams of Past 5, 10, & 25 Years by AP Rankings

[Juniper_Run]

For those who like raw data presented in different ways, I just updated my old spreadsheet of annual AP poll numbers. These rankings represent a simple system where a team gets 25 points for 1st place finish, 24 points for 2nd, and all the way down to 1 point for finishing ranked 25th:

Past 5 years:

1 Alabama (116)
2 Ohio St (111)
3 Georgia (109)
4 Clemson (106)
5 Oklahoma (100)
6 Notre Dame (89)
7 LSU (53)
8 Florida (52)
9 Cincinnati (47)
10 Penn St (44)
11 Michigan (43)
T12 OK St (37)
T12 UCF (37)
T14 Baylor (34)
T14 Wisconsin (34)
16 Texas A&M (32)
17 Northwestern (30)
T18 Auburn (28)
T18 Michigan St (28)
T20 Iowa (25)
T20 Oregon (25)
T20 Texas (25)
23 Utah (24)
24 Washington (23)
T25 BYU
T25 Kentucky


Past 10 years:

1 Alabama (231)
2 Ohio St (215)
3 Clemson (199)
4 Oklahoma (173)
5 Georgia (147)
6 Notre Dame (132)
7 LSU (100)
8 Oregon (97)
T9 Florida St (92)
T9 Michigan St (92)
11 Florida (82)
12 Baylor (79)
13 Stanford (77)
14 Michigan (75)
15 Wisconsin (73)
16 OK St (67)
17 Penn St (63)
18 Texas A&M (61)
19 TCU (59)
20 Auburn (58)
21 USC (57)
22 UCF (53)
23 Cincinnati (47)
24 Washington (46)
T25 Iowa (42)
T25 Northwestern (42)


Past 25 years:

1 Ohio St (432)
2 Oklahoma (373)
3 Alabama (368)
4 Georgia (319)
5 LSU (289)
6 Florida (281)
7 Florida St (246)
8 Michigan (245)
9 USC (243)
10 Oregon (240)
11 Texas (238)
12 Clemson (229)
13 Wisconsin (204)
14 Auburn (182)
15 Notre Dame (181)
16 VA Tech (176)
17 Penn St (167)
18 Miami (165)
19 TCU (162)
20 Boise St (156)
21 Michigan St (140)
22 Kansas St (135)
23 Tennessee (130)
24 Stanford (128)
25 Iowa (121)

 

[hvillebill]

The ranking of the past 25 years for ND is understandable due to the Davie/Willingham/Weis years.

 

[88ND]

Seems spot on to me...

ND is about the best of the rung below the elites.

 

[NDDadx3]

Would like to see where ND would land 1988-1993 … they finished 1, 2, 6, 13, 4, 2

Best 6 year since Leahy.

also surprised Wisconsin is not higher in your 5 year and 10 year lists

 

[88ND]

Would like to see where ND would land 1988-1993 … they finished 1, 2, 6, 13, 4, 2

Best 6 year since Leahy.

also surprised Wisconsin is not higher in your 5 year and 10 year lists

If you factor in strength of schedule in that window they were far and away #1 overall.

Those schedules were ridiculously tough which is why I give Lou's 10 year run an edge over Ara's

1988 alone we beat #9,#1,#2,#3

Moreover that six year run we make the playoff I firmly believe all but 1 year.

 

[Juniper_Run]

Would like to see where ND would land 1988-1993 … they finished 1, 2, 6, 13, 4, 2

Best 6 year since Leahy.

also surprised Wisconsin is not higher in your 5 year and 10 year lists

Wisconsin has been generally solid, but they finished unranked each of the past 2 years.

I do have numbers from 1988 through 1993, but they're handwritten in a notebook at my office I'll try to post them when I'm back at work on Tuesday.

 

[NDSMC78]

Juniper, you have obviously spent quite a bit of time on this. The totals are interesting to consider. Thanks for your efforts.

 

[Juniper_Run]

Thanks, NDSMC78. It's a pretty simple update each year. When I first put it together I had a whole lot of free time on my hands though 😂

 

[savvyandsassier]

So we're not a top five program.... we're top six!

F that, I'm going to round up!

That's interesting, even over a TEN year window we're still top six. I just wonder what would have happened if Golson hadn't got suspended. Damn did that set the program back, when it looked like we were ready to start rolling... But eventually BK got it done and completely streamlined the whole thing and we are most definitely a top five program as of today's date.

 

[88ND]

So we're not a top five program.... we're top six!

F that, I'm going to round up!

That's interesting, even over a TEN year window we're still top six. I just wonder what would have happened if Golson hadn't got suspended. Damn did that set the program back, when it looked like we were ready to start rolling... But eventually BK got it done and completely streamlined the whole thing and we are most definitely a top five program as of today's date.

I wouldn't consider us a top 5 program. We're perhaps the best of the second level teams or right there at the top of the second level teams. Even if we can claim #5 there's a good sized gap between the the elite and where we are.
I also think we've benefited greatly from some rather easy schedules. Not our fault as these things are made way in advance but it's just been lucky as of late these potentially tough schedules have been fairly easy sledding.

Perhaps this will change with the new regime in place

 

[notredamerises23]

I wouldn't consider us a top 5 program. We're perhaps the best of the second level teams or right there at the top of the second level teams. Even if we can claim #5 there's a good sized gap between the the elite and where we are.
I also think we've benefited greatly from some rather easy schedules. Not our fault as these things are made way in advance but it's just been lucky as of late these potentially tough schedules have been fairly easy sledding.

Perhaps this will change with the new regime in place

It’s much much more likely it changes for the worse than for the better.

 

[Juniper_Run]

Would like to see where ND would land 1988-1993 … they finished 1, 2, 6, 13, 4, 2

Best 6 year since Leahy.

also surprised Wisconsin is not higher in your 5 year and 10 year lists

I finally got to pull out those 1988-1993 numbers. It's definitely a case of 3 dominant teams and everyone else. In this points system it's FSU 139, Miami 131, ND 128. Michigan would have 106 and no other team would be higher than the 80s.

That's a great example of the limitations of this points system. It's better for showing overall trends for long periods of time than distinguishing among the top teams of a short era. I think most fans who know that time period would put Miami and ND over FSU.

 

[savvyandsassier]

I just can't wait until we have a playoff, like a real 12 team playoff or hopefully even 16, and the polls just fade from the scene. And nobody even thinks about them anymore and they almost don't even exist.

And fans and the media just not longer think about the CFB through the prism of the polls. And the only thing anyone cares about is who made the playoffs and I guess who won the playoff. And this unfortunate obsession with ranking teams just fades from human behavior and no one does it anymore. It will be so much better for society when that day comes.

Nevertheless, we're still a top five program, and that shit is for real. Even though of course in the grander scheme of things it's a meaningless statement.

 

[88ND]

I finally got to pull out those 1988-1993 numbers. It's definitely a case of 3 dominant teams and everyone else. In this points system it's FSU 139, Miami 131, ND 128. Michigan would have 106 and no other team would be higher than the 80s.

That's a great example of the limitations of this points system. It's better for showing overall trends for long periods of time than distinguishing among the top teams of a short era. I think most fans who know that time period would put Miami and ND over FSU.

From 80-87
PSU
Miami
Pitt
Oklahoma
Nebraska

88-93
ND
Miami
Colorado
Washington
FSU