Sporting News Top 20 CFB Teams of All-Time

I will never understand why 2018 Clemson isn’t higher on these lists.

1. Travis Etienne rushed for 1,658 yards, 24 TD’s, and 8.1 ypc. That’s better than anyone on 1995 Nebraska, 2009 Bama, 2019 LSU, and 2020 Bama.

He’s also had a solid pro career. He didn’t get exposed with the rise in competition.

2. Trevor Lawrence probably would have been the #1 pick in the draft if he had been eligible after 2018. He was an elite passer who could run.

3. Tee Higgins, Justyn Ross, and Hunter Renfrow were great receivers. Far better than most teams on the list.

2018 Clemson had a highly effective running game, and a passing game that was orders of magnitude better than 1995 Nebraska. A really strong defense could crowd the LOS and take away Nebraska’s running game, which was why they struggled to move the ball on prime OU, FSU, and Miami with their future All-Pros - which they didn’t have to deal with in 1995. But 2018 Clemson could threaten every blade of grass on the field on every snap.

4. 2018 Clemson had three first round picks in the DL, as well as future first rounders at LB and DB. Plus Brent Venables as DC. Few teams were that strong on D. Certainly not 2019 LSU and 2020 Bama.

I would argue that no team had more balance than 2018 Clemson once Trevor Lawrence became entrenched at QB.

The more things you can do well, the more ways you can win games. 1995 Nebraska lacked an elite passing game with explosive playmakers. 2019 LSU and 2020 Bama lacked great defenses.

2018 Clemson lacked nothing.

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will never understand why 2018 Clemson isn’t higher on these lists.

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+1 that team was loaded

Are these in relation to the teams at the time or all-time? I mean, there is just no way a corn fed Nebraska team running the system and philosophies of 1995 are beating teams like 2019. They didn't have the DBs to guard all those wide receivers. They didn't need to, no one was running five wide sets. These lists are for chatter only. 2001 Miami was only leading Boston fricking College 12-7 with 20 seconds left in the game and the Eagles had it in the redzone for a chance to win.

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Both 2011 LSU and Alabama have almost always been underrated in these discussions. Either team could hang with or beat just about any team on that list. Suffocating defenses that could single-handedly take over games.

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100% correct but even mentioning that year around here will derail the discussion with mulligan and 50 yard line talk

This is a bad list with recency bias to the extreme. No team from 1966 made the list. You had three teams that should be on this list.

#1 Notre Dame went 10-0-1 and tied #2 Michigan State 9-0-1 and Alabama at #3 went 11-0.

Not a terrible list but a few things I noticed.
Why is 1991 Miami on it when I feel most ppl think 91 Washington was superior to that Miami squad.

1999 & 2013 FSU could probably be on this list.

I know they lost a game but 2008 Florida was arguably the most dominant sec team of its golden era.

1972 Alabama is probably a typo bc that’s not a national championship team, probably meant 1973 but that team lost a classic sugar bowl to ND and split the championship.

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The worst one to me is Indiana, but I also completely understand that there’s recency bias here.

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This x1000, especially bc of what has happened to overall quality with the transfer portal. Typically we as humans are guilty of recency bias, but it’s sort of accepted that humans have always gotten bigger, faster, stronger so there is some reason to defer to recent performance.

With these structural changes, though, the overall quality of play has absolutely regressed at the uppermost level. Back in early 2000s and mid 2010s, the dominant programs used to absolutely stack talent that they had developed for ages before actually playing any of the kids. It’s night and day from what we see now where kids are jumping left and right, no continuity, new systems constantly.

A team like 2018 Clemson, that is current behind Indiana, would absolutely baptize that team. 2018 Clemson dog walked a Bama team that folks were saying greatest ever before the game.

What that Indiana team did relative to the current level of competition was incredibly impressive, but if you put them on the field with that or any of those LSU / Bama / UGA teams, it would be a massacre.

Generally a good list, agree that Indiana doesn’t belong. Top 4 are accurate IMO.