ESPN Top 50 College Football Programs

[Schism55]

https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/27379180/the-50-best-college-football-programs-150-years

FCS getting some serious love xthumbsupx

[Go Lehigh TU Owl]

Mad respect for NDSU!....And the Ivy Programs!!

[Redbird 4th & short]

Mad respect for NDSU!....And the Ivy Programs!!

and D-III and FCS turned FBS ... remove NDSU, Ivy, and FCS turned FBS, and there's no other love for the rest of FCS.

Why no Youngstown State ?? Not trying to start a war here. But they got a D-II with just 4 Natty's and a D-III with 5 and another with 6 Nattys. YSU is D-I and has 4 Natty's and 4 runnerups I think.

[POD Knows]

and D-III and FCS turned FBS ... remove NDSU, Ivy, and FCS turned FBS, and there's no other love for the rest of FCS.

Why no Youngstown State ?? Not trying to start a war here. But they got a D-II with just 4 Natty's and a D-III with 5 and another with 6 Nattys. YSU is D-I and has 4 Natty's and 4 runnerups I think.Yea, and they had to dig back pretty far on the Minnesota Goofers as well, they haven't done **** for a long time

[Professor Chaos]

and D-III and FCS turned FBS ... remove NDSU, Ivy, and FCS turned FBS, and there's no other love for the rest of FCS.

Why no Youngstown State ?? Not trying to start a war here. But they got a D-II with just 4 Natty's and a D-III with 5 and another with 6 Nattys. YSU is D-I and has 4 Natty's and 4 runnerups I think.
Their formula is listed at the bottom of the article. It's all based on number of championships and winning percentage. Championships are weighted based on what level they were won at and winning percentage is weighted based on era and D1/sub-D1 level.

So without looking at the numbers I would guess that outside of the 90s YSU hasn't been all that good.

[BEAR]

#44- What a joke. I guess the writers had to find SOMETHING to add to their list. UAF isn't one of the best 50. EVER. Reminds me of the preseason poll trying to rank #10-50. xlolx

[Hammersmith]

Hopefully this will stop some of the pointless infighting.

Methodology of the ranking:

Winning % of the early FB era(1869-1918) is worth 10%
Winning % of the pre-modern era(1919-1968) is worth 20%
Winning % of the integration era(1969-present) is worth 30%
Winning % during the best 50 years of the program is worth 20%
Number of national championships is worth 20%

Adjustments:
Winning percentages not during DI years are reduced 10%
Non-FBS and pre-poll era(1939) national championships are worth half

[POD Knows]

Their formula is listed at the bottom of the article. It's all based on number of championships and winning percentage. Championships are weighted based on what level they were won at and winning percentage is weighted based on era and D1/sub-D1 level.

So without looking at the numbers I would guess that outside of the 90s YSU hasn't been all that good.When were the Gophers good??? I know the answer, I am just being a smartass. Also, UND owned the Nickel Trophy so why aren't they in here given the fact that the Bison are top ten? Low hanging fruit is all I have left

[Redbird 4th & short]

Hopefully this will stop some of the pointless infighting.

Methodology of the ranking:

Winning % of the early FB era(1869-1918) is worth 10%
Winning % of the pre-modern era(1919-1968) is worth 20%
Winning % of the integration era(1969-present) is worth 30%
Winning % during the best 50 years of the program is worth 20%
Number of national championships is worth 20%

Adjustments:
Winning percentages not during DI years are reduced 10%
Non-FBS and pre-poll era(1939) national championships are worth half
pointless infighting ... xconfusedx .... you say it like its a bad thing

[DFW HOYA]

Yea, and they had to dig back pretty far on the Minnesota Goofers as well, they haven't done **** for a long time

Neither has Yale, but both are deserving.

[Hammersmith]

Their formula is listed at the bottom of the article. It's all based on number of championships and winning percentage. Championships are weighted based on what level they were won at and winning percentage is weighted based on era and D1/sub-D1 level.

So without looking at the numbers I would guess that outside of the 90s YSU hasn't been all that good.

Would be nice if they actually used the formula given in the article. Hard to know what they did different, but something is off. I recalculated 3 different teams and all are significantly off.

ESPN/Recalculated - Team
74.9/63.2 - Alabama
63.6/53.1 - NDSU
54.9/45.9 - Minnesota

I assume everything else is also off.

[clenz]

Their formula is listed at the bottom of the article. It's all based on number of championships and winning percentage. Championships are weighted based on what level they were won at and winning percentage is weighted based on era and D1/sub-D1 level.

So without looking at the numbers I would guess that outside of the 90s YSU hasn't been all that good.
I did cursory look over their records year to year

Outside of the Tressell years - and the few Heacock years that he still had Cheatervests recruits they are a sub .500 program from the looks of it. A few blips of a season or two of a significant winning season, but nothing consistent.

They also didn't start playing football until 1938. They are 30-40 plus years behind many

I counted the number of seasons they won more than 7 games outside of the Cheatervest era

1947 - 8 wins
1974 - 8 wins
1978 - 10 wins
1979 - 11 wins
2005 - 8 wins
2006 - 11 wins
2013 - 8 wins
2016 - 12 wins

That's it. That is every single season of more than 7 wins outside of the run under Tressell. No wonder everyone knows/assumes he'a cheat - outside of the evidence. YSU was a nothing program before him and have largely been meh at best without him.

34 seasons under .500 in 78 seasons of football. 3 of those were under Tressel

That means 31 seasons under .500 in 64 seasons without Tressel.

No where near a top 50 all time program.

[tigonian02]

Georgia Southern looks to be heavily penalized based on not having years of history. It makes sense...just a general observation

[Preferred Walk-On]

Would be nice if they actually used the formula given in the article. Hard to know what they did different, but something is off. I recalculated 3 different teams and all are significantly off.

ESPN/Recalculated - Team
74.9/63.2 - Alabama
63.6/53.1 - NDSU
54.9/45.9 - Minnesota

I assume everything else is also off.

These all appear to be ~10 points lower than expected...wonder if all are that way, such that the rankings would ultimately still be the same.

[Bison Fan in NW MN]

When were the Gophers good??? I know the answer, I am just being a smartass. Also, UND owned the Nickel Trophy so why aren't they in here given the fact that the Bison are top ten? Low hanging fruit is all I have left



Their last Big 10 title was in 1967....xlolx

They haven't been good in over 50 years....xlolx

Row the Boat is going to sink and be gone.

I still bet the Jacks beat them.

[Redbird 4th & short]

I did cursory look over their records year to year

Outside of the Tressell years - and the few Heacock years that he still had Cheatervests recruits they are a sub .500 program from the looks of it. A few blips of a season or two of a significant winning season, but nothing consistent.

They also didn't start playing football until 1938. They are 30-40 plus years behind many

I counted the number of seasons they won more than 7 games outside of the Cheatervest era

1947 - 8 wins
1974 - 8 wins
1978 - 10 wins
1979 - 11 wins
2005 - 8 wins
2006 - 11 wins
2013 - 8 wins
2016 - 12 wins

That's it. That is every single season of more than 7 wins outside of the run under Tressell. No wonder everyone knows/assumes he'a cheat - outside of the evidence. YSU was a nothing program before him and have largely been meh at best without him.

34 seasons under .500 in 78 seasons of football. 3 of those were under Tressel

That means 31 seasons under .500 in 64 seasons without Tressel.

No where near a top 50 all time program.
Ok, so maybe if taken across just the last 30 years .. and putting aside the cheatervest thing. I'm betting others on the list have cheated too.

[ngineer]

The problem with their 'formula' is that it gives undue weight to "national championships", when in effect none of the 'big boys' have any. A championship is won on the field not by the votes of biased/jaundiced sports writers and SIDs.