re: The Greatest Champion of College Football? (history of CF included)

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Drop them behind Alabama and then flip Alabama and Michigan and you would have a respectable list.

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Even then Texas is not #2. They're barely in at 6 if at all

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You see...this is why many people absolutely hate Notre Dame.

With the exception of Holtz's rabbit out of the hat, ND hasn't been fricking relevant since the Carter Administration.

Drop them behind Alabama and then flip Alabama and Michigan and you would have a respectable list.

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I tend to think any clear-thinking college football fan will tell you that ND was the greatest program in the history of the sport until 1993 almost without question. Most national titles (by any measure - AP, consensus, whatever) of the programs with any serious claim (and over an eight decade period, at that), most Heisman trophies, most wins, best winning percentage, most All-Americans, most NFL draft picks, on and on and on. ND from 1988 to 1993 was a lot like USC under Carroll: one consensus title, another that it probably could claim, a run of five or six years in which it was dominant or nearly so, and a slew of NFL draft picks year after year after year.

You're also short-selling Holtz and Devine quite a bit. Holtz's 1993 team had a legitimate claim to a national title, and other than his 1988 title-winning team, the 1989, 1990, and 1993 teams would have all been serious threats in today's playoff format (and the '93 team probably would have won). Devine wasn't Parseghian, but he was pretty damn good; his 1980 team was like one of those late-era Carroll USC teams that was awfully talented but blew a game or two against teams it should have beaten. Really only the Faust era - 1981 to 1985 - was an abnormality for ND up until the mid-1990's, and even that had precedent in ND's suck arse late 1950's and very early 1960's.

The real gap for ND has been from 1996 until 2017, and even then, we've managed four or five NYD bowl appearances and a national title game appearance, all with coaches who have demonstrated either a bit in lesser conferences (Kelly) or basically nothing (all the rest) before or after ND.

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Notre Dame and USC combined to win eight national titles between 1962-1978.

Notre Dame won national titles in the 1966, 1973, and 1977 seasons; USC won titles in 1962, 1967, 1972, 1974, and 1978.

The real gap...is ND won 14 games against USC from 1984 - 2001.

From 2001 - present USC won 12 games.

It's been a tale of two cities.

So many people just focus on what happened yesterday.

Bama won 2 titles between 1980 and 2010.

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Bama had an argument to be number 1 before Saban. I wouldn't have put them number 1 personally, but they at least had a case. I don't think it's that close anymore.

The top 7 college football programs are

Notre Dame
Nebraska
USC
Michigan
Ohio State
Alabama
and Oklahoma

you flip the order any way but those are the clear top 7 and there is virtually no real separation its just a matter of what metrics you care about.

Texas is the clear #8 a step below the 7 and then there is a HUGE gap to #9(probably Tennessee or Penn State)

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Penn State and Tennessee are clearly ahead of LSU

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National Title

LSU 3

PSU 2

Weeks spent at number 1

LSU-30

PSU-19

All time win pct

LSU .657

PSU .687

SOS all time ranking

LSU-6th

PSU-38th




The AP, CFB data warehouse, and almost every list has LSU ahead of PSU

1. Alabama
2. Notre Dame
3. USC
4. Oklahoma
5. Ohio State
6. Nebraska
7. Michigan
8. Texas

For 9 and 10 - argue between: LSU, FSU, Penn State, Tennessee, and Georgia

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Undefeated seasons:
Penn St - 5
LSU - 1

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With the difference of SOS of 6 and 38, this doesnt surprise me.

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Top 5 AP poll:
Penn St - 14
LSU - 9

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The weeks at number 1 gap of 30-19 is more impressive for LSU..........

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Weeks at #1 mean little to nothing compared to actual Final AP poll results

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LSU final rank of Number 1 in major publications-3

PSU-2

Bowl Record:

Penn State: 28-16-2
LSU: 25-22-1

Consensus All Americans:

Penn State: 41
LSU: 32

Heisman Winners:

Penn State: 1
LSU: 1

Head-to-Head:

Penn State 2-0

Pretty cool site here: Winsipedia