Let's say for argument's sake that Brian Kelly wins an NC at LSU or two.

No, you have Alabama still sitting there with 18 championships and until somebody gets within 5 of that.

No

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you have Alabama still sitting there with 18 championships and until somebody gets within 5 of that.

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Ok, but that would be the fourth head coach at LSU to win a championship in a row. No in state competition, highly talented state high school pipeline with some other very talent-rich states surrounding it. You also have an admin and boosters that are willing to pay premium money.

Take out Bear and Saban and what do you have for Alabama?

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I swear people go crazy during the honeymoon phase of a coaching hire.

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You're right, it's absolutely crazy to think that Kelly could win an NC at LSU.

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So you’re penalizing the program for being so good that they didn’t fire their coaches at any point?

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He brought up Alabama.

you brought up the best program in the country, so technically you brought up bama

It's a valid question.

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Alabama is the top program right now, but I don't think anyone needs to get within five of their record to be considered the top "program". Because being the top program at a given time, and having a record, are two entirely different things.

In college baseball, USC has 12 titles, and then LSU and Texas are tied for second with 6. Would anyone argue that LSU was the top baseball program under Skip Bertman, even though they weren't within five championships of USC's record?

Whoever is having the most success over an extended period is the top program at that time. I don't think the OP was talking about all time championships, because we all know that no one is particularly close in that category.

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Thank you. Exactly what I meant.

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And has them extremely competitive year in and year out. Would that vault LSU into the top program in college football?

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No.

Unless Alabama gets the NCAA death penalty in the meantime.

Then maybe.



Let's be highly optimistic... and say that Kelly is at LSU for the full 10 years, wins 2 championships, makes the playoffs 4 times (well really probably 6 or 7 considering they are going to expand) and doesn't have any total bomb seasons... that's still only 6 championships for LSU.

That's still behind Princeton, Yale, Alabama, Michigan, Notre Dame, USC, Pitt, Ohio State, Harvard, Minnesota, Oklahoma, and Penn... and tied with Michigan State and Tennessee. And that's assuming those teams win no more over that stretch, which is obvious for some, but not all.

Sure, throw out the Ivy League schools because they aren't relevant to current discussion. Pitt and Minnesota either, really.

So, you're still behind Alabama by a lot, Michigan and Notre Dame and USC, Ohio State and Oklahoma.



If that happens, LSU has a no doubt claim as the second best program of the 21st century, but not just a blanket overall claim.

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If that happens, LSU has a no doubt claim as the second best program of the 21st century, but not just a blanket overall claim.

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I think you could claim LSU being the best program of the 21st century just by reason of 4 different head coaches winning it. That's unheard of in such a short period of time. I think LSU and Bama would be tied at the top.