Ranking the National Championship teams since 2000

[FCS_pwns_FBS]

This is my own personal ranking of the FCS National Championship teams since 2000. 2000 is kind of an arbitrary cutoff because I don't want to make the list too long and I want to go with teams I have watched.

1. NDSU 2013 - not sure I'm convinced they are the best ever, but definitely the best since 2000. One of the best FCS/IAA defenses ever and an offense probably in the top 10 or 15 all time as well.
2. App State 2006 - late in the season after Armanti Edwards got the hang of things, this was a very formidable team. Lot's of talent on defense and lots of team speed. Great coaching staff, too.
3. NDSU 2012 - NDSU 2011 with more overall experience
4. App State 2007 - A very good offense…an underrated defense that faced a lot of offensive firepower both in the SoCon and the playoffs.
5. NDSU 2011 - Outstanding defense, offense is pretty good but not great
6. Delaware 2003 - A lot of people put them in one of the top 3 or 4 all time…I'm not convinced the playoff field was all that great that year. I think that Colgate team is one of the worst teams I've seen in a NC (no offense).
7. NDSU 2015 - When this team caught is stride late season with Carson Wentz back no one was beating them
8. Eastern Washington 2010 - solid on both sides of the ball…downed quality Delaware and NDSU teams in back to back games to take the title
9. App State 2005 - very good defensively, good on offense, won the NC in what is IMO the strongest playoff bracket since 2000
10. JMU 2004 - a team that grew up late and played in a tough CAA…won every playoff game away from home
11. Richmond 2008 - very good on defense, though I do think they lucked out with Armanti Edwards recovering from a hip pointer. Nice combo of Eric Ward and Tim Hightower on offense.
12. Montana 2001 - Glad we caught Montana the year before
13. Georgia Southern 2000 - rebuilding on offense, good on defense. Beat two teams they probably shouldn't have beat in Delaware and Montana.
14. NDSU 2014 - the weakest of the NDSU title teams
15. Villanova 2009 - A team that didn't dominate but just found a way to get the job done.
16. WKU 2002 - I might bitter from the semifinal game that year, but I just never thought this team was that overly dominant

Criticize away.

[BisonFan02]

Courtesy of Professor Chaos on Bisonville, the NDSU championship defenses in the postseason:

http://i1378.photobucket.com/albums/ah120/tplesuk111/BisonPlayoffStats_zpsovxybdda.jpg


A couple thoughts:

That 2014 team was absolutely running on fumes at the end. Guys like Heagle, Dudzik, Emanuel, etc. had played a TON of football by that point...and definitely missed Beck on D.

As far as your ranking, I think you are being hard on the 2015 team for alot of the reasons above as far as playoff D. The difference with this 2015 team is that they had the offense to match (maybe the exception being at RB compared to the 2013 team with Ojuri and Crockett).

[RootinFerDukes]

I would say you have JMU too low, but at least the ticks are behind us. There is value in the fact that we're still the only playoff team to win a title with all games on the road.
The only champions that saw significant fan base boosts post championship are probably UD, JMU, app state and ndsu. Well okay Montana and ga southern too.
Well then the list of those that didn't see a fan base bump is smaller.

[Nickels]

EWU should be at the very bottom...

[ST_Lawson]

16. WKU 2002 - I might bitter from the semifinal game that year, but I just never thought this team was that overly dominant

Be bitter...those guys swung a sledgehammer at my team and threw helmets at us.

[BigHouseClosedEnd]

I understand your argument but believe the 2003 Delaware team should be in the Top 3 at the very least.

[BigHouseClosedEnd]

I would say you have JMU too low, but at least the ticks are behind us. There is value in the fact that we're still the only playoff team to win a title with all games on the road.
The only champions that saw significant fan base boosts post championship are probably UD, JMU, app state and ndsu. Well okay Montana and ga southern too.
Well then the list of those that didn't see a fan base bump is smaller.

What is the point of this rambling nonsense? All of the schools you mention, save JMU, had large fan bases prior to 2000. JMU didn't because it was a women's college until very recently. But that's not the purpose of the thread.

As relates to the 2004 JMU team, they did win 4 on the road but none of them had the degree of difficulty of Richmond's trips to ASU nor UNI in 2008. So you played at Lehigh and we hosted EKU in the first tound. Who cares?

[IBleedYellow]

Not bad, but I agree with BF02. I'd probably put the '11 team behind the '15 team.

[NDSU1980]

Not bad, but I agree with BF02. I'd probably put the '11 team behind the '15 team.

I would switch the '11 and '15 teams around. 2015 team was hitting on all cylinders, no matter what was thrown at them.

[dudeitsaid]

EWU should be at the very bottom...

One notch above SHSU. Oh wait...

[tomq04]

EWU should be at the very bottom...
well that escalated quickly

[dewey]

Not bad, but I agree with BF02. I'd probably put the '11 team behind the '15 team.

With Carson Wentz at QB the 2015 team is more explosive on offense than the 2011 NDSU team. The 2011 team had better running backs but the 2015 team probably had a better offensive line. Defensively both were outstanding.

That 2013 NDSU team was a machine. There closest playoff game was a 28 point win over Towson in the title game.

Dewey

[Bisonator]

Tough to rank the NDSU teams because they seemed different come playoff time. No question though that 2013 team was the best I've ever seen. I think the 2014 team was probably second until Beck got hurt, the defense was just hanging on thru the PO's but the offense was great with Wentz and Crockett. This years team was average at best for most of the year but the defense was lights out in the PO's.

[paward]

How about this: the year they won they were the best period.

[mvemjsunpx]

2007 App State is too high. They gave up nearly 30 ppg in the playoffs and their run D wasn't very good. They were the worst of ASU's 3 title teams.

2001 Montana is too low. They did go 15-1 and went undefeated against I-AA.

[AmsterBison]

How about this: the year they won they were the best period.

I'm just going to rank them as follows: 2016 - Year they won the championship. Of course, I'm ranking them by age of their trophies, ascending.

[Bison Fan in NW MN]

Tough to rank some of the other teams because I did not see them play. But I'll rank the Bison teams.

2013
2015
2012
2014
2011

[blueballs]

I would say you have JMU too low, but at least the ticks are behind us. There is value in the fact that we're still the only playoff team to win a title with all games on the road...


IIRC UMass did it in 1998 as well...

[Go Lehigh TU Owl]

IIRC UMass did it in 1998 as well...

The quarterfinal game between UMass and Lehigh was in Amherst...

https://scontent-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpf1/v/t1.0-9/10647170_829994677032965_5670267506435460899_n.jpg ?oh=db185871492a822669f862dfdd4d9056&oe=572F9E05

[AshevilleApp2]

It would be fun if a bracket could be played with these teams. xnodx

As far as App. I think the 2005 team, at its best, was as good or better than the 2006 team. Yes, they lost three games. But those were to Kansas and LSU (who handily won Bowl games that year) and Furman (#3 Seed), on the road. They were rolling in the playoffs until Richie Williams got hurt in the semi against Furman. Things became more of a struggle after that. That team had the best defense of the three. And an offense that was comparable, or nearly so, to the 2006 team.

[RootinFerDukes]

The quarterfinal game between UMass and Lehigh was in Amherst...

https://scontent-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpf1/v/t1.0-9/10647170_829994677032965_5670267506435460899_n.jpg ?oh=db185871492a822669f862dfdd4d9056&oe=572F9E05

I'm impressed that you keep your tickets. Mine hit the trash after the game.

[Go Lehigh TU Owl]

I'm impressed that you keep your tickets. Mine hit the trash after the game.

I've kept just about every stub from each "major" sporting event I've attended the last 20 years. I have close about 50-60 NASCAR stubs that are pretty cool. Plus a ton of Lehigh football, Temple bball/football and Syracuse hoops. I go to a lot of sporting events...lol

Here's Lehigh-JMU from 2004 plus three other playoff stubs. I'm "missing" Delaware 2000 and Hofstra 2001. I have a feeling they're around somewhere....

https://scontent-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xaf1/v/t1.0-9/1382322_1109978522367911_42776071056645265_n.jpg?o h=f7c767d14e68b1a0cccb3a8100850ee1&oe=572DA387

[blueballs]

The quarterfinal game between UMass and Lehigh was in Amherst...

https://scontent-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpf1/v/t1.0-9/10647170_829994677032965_5670267506435460899_n.jpg ?oh=db185871492a822669f862dfdd4d9056&oe=572F9E05


Thanks for the refresher and correction... been a long time!

[MarkyMark]

This is my own personal ranking of the FCS National Championship teams since 2000. 2000 is kind of an arbitrary cutoff because I don't want to make the list too long and I want to go with teams I have watched.

1. NDSU 2013 - not sure I'm convinced they are the best ever, but definitely the best since 2000. One of the best FCS/IAA defenses ever and an offense probably in the top 10 or 15 all time as well.
2. App State 2006 - late in the season after Armanti Edwards got the hang of things, this was a very formidable team. Lot's of talent on defense and lots of team speed. Great coaching staff, too.
3. NDSU 2012 - NDSU 2011 with more overall experience
4. App State 2007 - A very good offense…an underrated defense that faced a lot of offensive firepower both in the SoCon and the playoffs.
5. NDSU 2011 - Outstanding defense, offense is pretty good but not great
6. Delaware 2003 - A lot of people put them in one of the top 3 or 4 all time…I'm not convinced the playoff field was all that great that year. I think that Colgate team is one of the worst teams I've seen in a NC (no offense).
7. NDSU 2015 - When this team caught is stride late season with Carson Wentz back no one was beating them
8. Eastern Washington 2010 - solid on both sides of the ball…downed quality Delaware and NDSU teams in back to back games to take the title
9. App State 2005 - very good defensively, good on offense, won the NC in what is IMO the strongest playoff bracket since 2000
10. JMU 2004 - a team that grew up late and played in a tough CAA…won every playoff game away from home
11. Richmond 2008 - very good on defense, though I do think they lucked out with Armanti Edwards recovering from a hip pointer. Nice combo of Eric Ward and Tim Hightower on offense.
12. Montana 2001 - Glad we caught Montana the year before
13. Georgia Southern 2000 - rebuilding on offense, good on defense. Beat two teams they probably shouldn't have beat in Delaware and Montana.
14. NDSU 2014 - the weakest of the NDSU title teams
15. Villanova 2009 - A team that didn't dominate but just found a way to get the job done.
16. WKU 2002 - I might bitter from the semifinal game that year, but I just never thought this team was that overly dominant

Criticize away.

Cool Thread. You need another one ranking FCS teams that didn't win the title. The 2012 Georgia Southern team would be near the top.

[MR. CHICKEN]

Cool Thread. You need another one ranking FCS teams that didn't win the title. The 2012 Georgia Southern team would be near the top.

2007/2010 DELAWARE...............AWK!

2007....MISFORTUNE UH DRAWIN' APPALACHIAN STATE WHO BEAT MICHIGAN DAT YEAR!
2010....CHAIN GANG...TOOK DUH BLING FROM UD......&......GAVE IT TA E. WASHINGTON!

[dewey]

Cool Thread. You need another one ranking FCS teams that didn't win the title. The 2012 Georgia Southern team would be near the top.

Illinois State would be the next best team that I think NDSU has seen during their 5 title runs. I still can't believe we won that game.

Dewey

[blueballs]

Cool Thread. You need another one ranking FCS teams that didn't win the title. The 2012 Georgia Southern team would be near the top.

Interesting... that 2012 team was darned good with two glaring weaknesses- red zone TD conversion rate and placekicking- which cost them two wins (Citadel and App) and meant they were in NDSU's bracket and had to go to Fargo.

You can start a pretty good argument among the GS faithful on which team that didn't win the title was the best in the last 20 years. The 1998 team was 14-0 going into Chatty and lost to UMass by losing 6 fumbles despite scoring 43 points. The 2001 team went 12-2 but lost to a Furman team it had already defeated in the semis blowing a 10 pt halftime lead with two horrible fumbles inside their own 20. The 2002 team took 3 games to find their way but rolled the competition all the way up until the semis when they lost to WKU on the last play of the game. The 2004 team scored over 50 pts. 6 times in 12 games and averaged 47 ppg while giving up 18 ppg. but went brain dead in Greenville and unbelievably lost in a rainstorm to UNH.

[Grizalltheway]

Cool Thread. You need another one ranking FCS teams that didn't win the title. The 2012 Georgia Southern team would be near the top.

I'd throw in a homer vote for the 2009 Griz. Oh so close to 15-0. xbawlingx

[andthehomeofthe-BIZON-]

I'll throw in MY homer vote then. I'd love to have seen 2006 or 2007 NDSU compete in the playoffs. Would have made some serious noise!

[Grizalltheway]

I'll throw in MY homer vote then. I'd love to have seen 2006 or 2007 NDSU compete in the playoffs. Would have made some serious noise!

No doubt, and all the more impressive considering how early in the transition phase they were.

[ur2k]

11. Richmond 2008 - very good on defense, though I do think they lucked out with Armanti Edwards recovering from a hip pointer. Nice combo of Eric Ward and Tim Hightower on offense.

Hightower wasn't on that team, Josh Vaughan was the main ball carrier.

[centennial]

Here is the Sagarin Ratings(best FCS) from 2000 - 2015. I know year to year is relative but still fun to look at



Year
Sagarin Ratings
College


2000
52
GSU


2001
57
Montana


2002
61
WKU


2003
40
Delaware


2004
36
JMU


2005
69
App State


2006
53
App State


2007
44
App State


2008
41
Richmond


2009
30
Villanova


2010
52
Delaware


2011
37
NDSU


2012
35
NDSU


2013
17
NDSU


2014
32
NDSU


2015
36
NDSU

[AmsterBison]

UC Davis was still in D2 in 2000... played a couple FCS teams though (Cal Poly and Sac State.)

[centennial]

UC Davis was still in D2 in 2000... played a couple FCS teams though (Cal Poly and Sac State.)
Just checked, Sagarin was rating the top few D2 teams in 2000. I'll correct my post.

[AmsterBison]

Just checked, Sagarin was rating the top few D2 teams in 2000. I'll correct my post.

Yeah, I think they rated teams that played DI competition.

[Gil Dobie]

For those that don't know who blueballs is.


Interesting... that 2012 team was darned good with two glaring weaknesses- red zone TD conversion rate and placekicking- which cost them two wins (Citadel and App) and meant they were in NDSU's bracket and had to go to Fargo.

You can start a pretty good argument among the GS faithful on which team that didn't win the title was the best in the last 20 years. The 1998 team was 14-0 going into Chatty and lost to UMass by losing 6 fumbles despite scoring 43 points. The 2001 team went 12-2 but lost to a Furman team it had already defeated in the semis blowing a 10 pt halftime lead with two horrible fumbles inside their own 20. The 2002 team took 3 games to find their way but rolled the competition all the way up until the semis when they lost to WKU on the last play of the game. The 2004 team scored over 50 pts. 6 times in 12 games and averaged 47 ppg while giving up 18 ppg. but went brain dead in Greenville and unbelievably lost in a rainstorm to UNH.

[cx500d]

For those that don't know who blueballs is.
I like that blueballs over the modern day blueballs.

[mvfcfan]

The best team NDSU has had was the team that beat Kansas State. They would also get my #1 vote for FCS championship teams.

[cx500d]

The best team NDSU has had was the 2015 team that beat Kansas State. They would also get my #1 vote for FCS championship teams.
wrong year

[mvfcfan]

wrong year

Haha just realized that. I thought it was the year after we made the playoffs, but I remembered we didn't make the playoffs the year we beat you in Fargo. Must've been 2013.

[uni88]

I like blueballs I cannot lie.

Good for you. xsmiley_wix

[cx500d]

Good for you. xsmiley_wix
No pain, no gain!

[NY Crusader 2010]

I've kept just about every stub from each "major" sporting event I've attended the last 20 years. I have close about 50-60 NASCAR stubs that are pretty cool. Plus a ton of Lehigh football, Temple bball/football and Syracuse hoops. I go to a lot of sporting events...lol

Here's Lehigh-JMU from 2004 plus three other playoff stubs. I'm "missing" Delaware 2000 and Hofstra 2001. I have a feeling they're around somewhere....

https://scontent-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xaf1/v/t1.0-9/1382322_1109978522367911_42776071056645265_n.jpg?o h=f7c767d14e68b1a0cccb3a8100850ee1&oe=572DA387

I have done the same thing starting in about 2012. First I filled up an entire corkboard in my old office (now nursery for baby). Now I have them all in a binder where I am able to write a score and brief recap of each game. When I go to games with friends and family members and lose my stub or it falls out of my pocket, I always ask for theirs since very few really care in today's age of mobile entry. In the awful event that I get invited to a game and the tickets are mobile, I make sure to at least screenshot and print. Better than nothing. The printable tickets from Ticketmaster and Stubhub I have to cut out so they fit in the binder pages -- obviously the old fashioned stubs are the best. I pay the extra to have the "ticket book" for my Yankees and Knicks season tickets.

[NY Crusader 2010]

UC Davis was still in D2 in 2000... played a couple FCS teams though (Cal Poly and Sac State.)

Reason for UC Davis reference? Did they finished ranked higher in Sagarin than I-AA champ Georgia Southern in 2000?

[cx500d]

Reason for UC Davis reference? Did they finished ranked higher in Sagarin than I-AA champ Georgia Southern in 2000?
That post is from like 4 years ago

[SUPharmacist]

I pay the extra to have the "ticket book" for my Yankees and Knicks season tickets.

What a god damned joke that you have to pay extra for that, particularly as a season ticket holder that they have to milk out a few extra bucks. I can't believe all the fees that have been piled on to tickets over the years, the most gallling to me are the fees to have the privilege of printing the tickets yourself.