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Since the 2019 college football season is mere days from officially kicking off, two different media outlets thought it would be fun to rank the greatest programs in the sport’s 150-year history. Reactions to the two sets of rankings were pretty much what you’d expect.
Of note, on neither list was the University of Texas considered the “mecca” of college football. Sorry, Tom.
The first set of rankings was created by a group of Sports Illustrated writers. They don’t say how they came up with their rankings, nor do they reveal who actually did the voting for their list, but here’s what they came up with for their top 10 greatest programs in college football history.
10. Oklahoma
9. Tennessee
8. Penn State
7. Nebraska
6. Notre Dame
5. USC
4. Texas
3. Michigan
2. Ohio State
1. Alabama
Naturally, everyone agreed wholeheartedly with the list. Just kidding, many fans hated it.
Tennessee and Penn State are in Top 10. Florida Stare is not.
All of which makes this list really:
A. Dumb
B. Inaccurate
C. All of the above.So which is it #FSUtwitter
College Football: Ranking the best programs in history | https://t.co/Vfq8PQWmQK https://t.co/7CcAMrLDgo
— Danny Kanell (@dannykanell) August 12, 2019
@SInow, whoever made this 🗑 is surely fired by now. This is a Grade A hackjob right here. Unreal. https://t.co/LO3fiBsZCQ
— Tyler Bridges (@bridgestyler) August 13, 2019
This is the worst list I've ever seen. Ranking college football's greatest programs https://t.co/2D6QaEArTk
— 🦄 Honolulu Stew (@NikeboxesStew) August 13, 2019
This is laughable. Literally doesn’t say a single good thing about Tennessee and I like his argument for Texas. Texas had 35 more wins that tOSU 10 years ago. https://t.co/q343oyf34L
— Keeslar Stover (@keeslarstover) August 13, 2019
And this is why I’ve always known SI is the WORST sports media outlet!!!https://t.co/i8U1d2FaoG
— 🇺🇸 The Life of Bryan ™️ 🇺🇦 (@NVSooner) August 12, 2019
OU at 10 is laughable. Texas at 4 with 4 total National Championships is also not good. Have no idea who made this list... but it’s bad.
At least they got Number 1 righthttps://t.co/eJXGBMFzZD
— Tyler Vesely (@TylerVesely) August 12, 2019
As for the other recent list of the greatest programs in college football history, College Football News used a special formula to determine their rankings.
Taking all the AP final rankings, CFN devised a scoring system giving every AP national champion 25 points, the No. 2 team 24, No. 3 23, and so on down to the bottom – currently No. 25, but the rankings were only a top ten for a bit, and was later a top 20.
According to their calculations, here are the top 25 greatest programs in college football history.
25. Georgia Tech
24. Ole Miss
23. Wisconsin
22. Texas A&M
21. Washington
20. Clemson
19. Arkansas
18. Michigan State
17. UCLA
16. Florida
15. Miami
14. Florida State
13. Auburn
12. Georgia
11. LSU
10. Tennessee
9. Penn State
8. Nebraska
7. Texas
6. USC
5. Notre Dame
4. Michigan
3. Ohio State
2. Alabama
1. Oklahoma
Much like with Sports Illustrated’s rankings, there were a few disagreements.
Oklahoma has 1 Natty in last 27 years Bama has 6 and OU is #1?? Y'all need to stay off the crack pipe before posting 🤣😂😂🤣
— Jonathan Isbell (@Jonathansbll) August 11, 2019
Oklahoma number one wtf Should be Notre Dame, Michigan,FSU should be the top three.
— Brian Farmer (@BrianFa85ND) August 11, 2019
This list is trash
— Will Hall (@dubdubeych) August 11, 2019
So… what would your top 5 greatest programs in college football history look like?