USC claims top spot second straight year
When it was finally over, the Florida Gators almost seemed shocked at how easy the championship games had been, despite facing the Heisman Trophy winner and the runner-up.
Even with one loss, Florida won its division to earn a spot in the SEC Championship game, where it swept by Arkansas, 38-28. But that only proved to be the appetizer, or bait if you will. Roughly a month later, after squeaking into the national championship, the Gators absolutely crushed the top-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes, 41-14.
“Honestly, we’ve played a lot better teams than them," Florida defensive end Jarvis Moss said afterward. “I could name four or five teams in the SEC that could probably complete with them and play the same type of game we did against them."
But how did the Gators’ triumph influence college football? And how does its second national title measure up against history?
As you may remember, last summer, as part of our countdown to the 2006 season, The Tuscaloosa News’ Best College Football Rankings attempted to measure the top programs in every imaginable way, from attendance to bowl appearances. Using an elaborate formula, with half of the categories based on the previous season, the other half all-time, we unveiled one team per week until the final five, which coincided with the start of fall practice.
Naturally, it created a stir, but provided fodder for attempting to answer the sport’s ultimate question: “Which school really has the best program?" or “Who’s No. 1?"
Last summer, our answer was Southern California, which was coming off a dramatic loss to Texas in the Rose Bowl, and in our rankings edged Ohio State by the narrowest of margins, a half-point.
Before revealing whether or not the Trojans defended their top status, here’s how The Tuscaloosa News’ Best College Football rankings are compiled:
Ten categories were selected in an attempt to include every aspect of a college football program, while at the same time be as opinion-free as possible. The top 25 schools were ranked in each category, with points awarded similar to the weekly Associated Press poll, going from 25-24-23, down to 3-2-1.
As for the categories themselves, it’s an even split between the previous season and five compiled on the overall history of college football but slightly weighted to emphasize the last 80 years (i.e. the modern era).
2006 season categories
Rankings: The final Associated Press poll.
Recruiting: For our purposes, we used the final team rankings by Rivals.com.
Attendance: Average home attendance for 2006 as compiled by the NCAA. While that obviously benefited teams with the largest stadiums, it re-enforced the idea of rewarding the most committed programs and fans.
Pro potential: The number of former players on NFL opening-day rosters (sorry, Canada, Europe and Arena League players not included).
Academics: The annual APR rankings, which measure academic progress. Although the APR is still a work in progress, there’s really no other measuring stick of current academic performance.
All-time categories
Bowl appearances.
Associated Press national championships: Considering there have been more organizations declaring national champions over the years than annual bowl games (strange, but true), we went with only one, established service for simplicity’s sake, with the first AP national champion crowed in 1936. This kept Division I-AA programs (now called the very confusing Division I Subdivision) Princeton and Yale from being runaway winners, and discounted many marginal titles.
The All-Time Associated Press Poll: It was originally devised by former SEC assistant director of media relations Charles Woodroof. Since 1936, 127 different teams have finished a season ranked in the Associated Press poll.
College Football Hall of Fame inductees (players only).
Coaching legacy: The basis of these rankings was an elaborate poll of experts regarding the best college football coaches of all-time called “Dell Presents College Football’s Greatest Coaches" survey, but it listed just 10 names.
To complete our coaching rankings we combined the fan poll for the Dell survey, with all-time winning percentage and victories. To make the final coaching list, a school had to be in two of those three categories, or be high up in one while also winning an AP national championship (this excluded a number of programs like Grambling Harvard, Holy Cross and Pennsylvania, which no longer compete at the highest level).
Coaches were assigned to the school where they had their most victories. For example, Alabama was credited with Paul “Bear" Bryant, where he won 232 of his 323 victories, though he also coached at Maryland, Kentucky and Texas A&M. Once a school was on the list, none of its other coaches could be considered, though this rarely would have been a factor.
But another year means new, updated rankings.
So who’s No. 1?
Once again, it’s Southern California, which would have played Ohio State for the national title if it had avoided the regular-season finale loss to rival UCLA.
And again, the margin was by a half-point, only this time to a different program, which leapfrogged into second by a half-point over its biggest rival Ohio State.
After essentially a down year in 2005, Michigan bounced back and was in position for a postseason rematch with the Buckeyes before Florida thumped Arkansas in Atlanta.
Rounding out the top five were Notre Dame and Tennessee, with Oklahoma sixth.
With its poor 6-7 finish, Alabama slipped into a tie with Florida at No. 7. Although the Crimson Tide was less than eight points away from falling out of the top 10, a top-five spot remained within striking distance, perhaps as soon as next year.
Conference rankings
Even though the Big 10 had a tremendous season, with Ohio State and Michigan meeting in a 1-2 matchup during their regular-season finale, the SEC actually extended its lead in the conference standings largely due to Florida’s national championship.
A year ago the SEC had seven ranked teams and collectively scored 848.4 points. The Big Ten was second at 616.1.
Otherwise, the biggest change in the conference standings was the Pac-10 moving ahead of the ACC, which clearly had a down year.
Conference Teams ranked Points
SEC 7 882.7 Big 10 5 614
Big 12 4 460
Pac-10 3 308.1
ACC 3 296.2 Independent 3 259
Big East 0 121.5
Mountain West 0 63.5
Conference USA 0 39.5
WAC 0 21.0 Others 0 132.5
Moving up
Florida: The Gators won the national championship and subsequently signed a top-notch recruiting class. That was enough to move Florida from 12th into a tie with Alabama for seventh, but the Gators will be hard-pressed to stay there next year.
Michigan: So how did the Wolverines add roughly 20 points from their previous year’s score? Simple, Michigan finished the 2005 season unranked in the final Associated Press poll. Had it defeated No. 1 Ohio State or Southern California in the Rose Bowl, Michigan would have topped these rankings.
Tennessee: The Volunteers had a similar bump to Michigan’s, going from No. 9 to No. 5, making Tennessee the top-ranked team in the SEC. The rise was due to recruiting, with the Vols going from No. 23rd last year to No. 3.
Wisconsin: Despite being overshadowed by Ohio State and Michigan, Wisconsin’s 12 wins was a record for the program, topped by a 17-14 victory against Arkansas in the Capital One Bowl. It was also Bret Bielema’s first year as head coach after taking over for Barry Alvarez.
Moving down
Penn State: The Nittany Lions were coming off an 11-1 season in 2005 with a top-three recruiting class, so the drop was all but inevitable. The surprise was that the fall from third had Penn State one point away from being out of the top 10.
Florida State: Last season the Seminoles finished behind Wake Forest, Boston College, Maryland and Clemson in the ACC Atlantic Division standings, and they barley reached the postseason, playing in the Emerald Bowl. Subsequently FSU went from 10th to 15th.
Texas A&M: The 9-4 record aide, the Aggies weren’t ranked in the final Associated Press poll, and their recruiting class failed to register any points either. Texas A&M went from 18th to barely staying in the top 25 at No. 23.
Alabama: If the 6-7 Crimson Tide had finished ranked 18th or higher in the final Associated Press poll it wouldn’t have slid out of sixth. Then again, Mike Shula probably wouldn’t have been fired and replaced by Nick Saban, either.
Moving in
Georgia Tech: The Yellow Jackets only needed a little boost in their APR score and improved recruiting to replace Clemson as the ACC’s third team in the rankings. Reaching the ACC championship and playing in the Gator Bowl helped as well.
California: The Golden Bears were able to tie Southern California for the best Pac-10 record last season (7-2), and crushed Texas A&M in the Holiday Bowl, 45-10. Cal also cracked the top 25 in attendance, which is pretty impressive for a West Coast team.
Arkansas: Reaching the SEC championship and Darren McFadden’s runner-up finish in the Hesiman helped propel the Razorbacks into the rankings, but one has to wonder what impact the rocky offseason will have on the team.
Minnesota: The Gophers’ score only went up 1.5 points and it had nothing to do with reaching the Insight Bowl (where they blew a 31-point lead to Texas Tech, resulting in Glen Mason’s dismissal). The difference was Carl Eller getting voted into the College Football Hall of Fame.
Moving out
UCLA (19th last year): At 7-6, the Bruins finished last season unranked and didn’t have a strong recruiting class. It makes us wonder how UCLA had as many players in the NFL last season (26) as Southern California, Notre Dame and Wisconsin.
Pittsburgh (21st): A dip in the recruiting rankings was enough to knock the Panthers out. After a 6-6 season, the pressure is beginning to mount on Dave Wannstedt, especially with the rest of the Big East making a lot of noise.
Ole Miss (23): This probably shouldn’t have surprised anyone. Last year, the Rebels ranked 16th in recruiting and 18th in APR (with a 958 score). This past year, Ole Miss was unranked in both categories, in part due to its 937 APR.
Clemson (24th): Despite a bump in attendance, the Tigers limped to an 8-5 finish and lost to Kentucky in the Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl, 28-20. Clemson’s too talented to not be in the top 25.
Teams to watch
Rutgers: The Scarlet Knights tied with Pitt for 26th, in our rankings after an 11-2 campaign. Everyone wants to know if they can do it again. If quarterback Mike Teel proves to be a worthy compliment to tailback Ray Rice, the answer is yes.
Auburn: The Tigers are coming off an 11-2 season, but the big question is with Nick Saban at Alabama has the window closed on Tommy Tuberville’s chances of winning a national championship?
West Virginia: If the Mountaineers are only half as good as people expect this season, they still might squeeze into our rankings next season. All eyes will be on running back Steve Slaton, and whether he can make a Heisman run.
South Carolina: The Gamecocks have yet to reach the top 25 of our rankings, but thanks to a big recruiting class appear to be closing in. A good season and South Carolina might crack next year’s list.
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