Top 10 Greatest College Football Teams Since 2000

[WFE12 9,191]

 

Quote

 

Greg Wallace - Bleacher Report 

Over the last 20 years, it's become easier to debate about college football.

The rise of cable and satellite television and specialized conference-centered networks have vastly increased the number of games available to the average viewer, and the internet makes it easier than ever to get stats and information about your favorite team and the game as a whole.

It's a great time for debate, too. College football fans are passionate and love to argue about their favorite gridiron teams. Which champions are superior? Which don't measure up?

Now we're adding to the conversation. Here's a look at the top 10 college football teams since 2000. They were measured by their on-field dominance, their overall talent levels and, of course, their overall success on the field.

1. 2001 Miami  - Outside of a 26-24 win at Virginia Tech in the regular season finale, the Hurricanes simply weren't challenged by their foes. They outscored teams by an average of 42.6-9.75 and cruised to the national title with a 12-0 record.
2. 2004 USC - The Trojans, per their team motto, "left no doubt" with a 55-19 dismantling of the Sooners in the national title game. Southern California was No. 1 from wire to wire and survived close calls from Stanford, Cal (and Aaron Rodgers) and UCLA in the regular season.
3. 2005 Texas - It took until the final seconds of the national title game, but Texas earned its spot as one of the great college football teams in recent memory.
4. 2011 Alabama - Saban's best teams are built with defense, and the 2011 Crimson Tide was no exception. Alabama yielded only 8.1 points per game, and only one team (FCS foe Georgia Southern) scored more than 14 points against them. 
5. 2008 Florida - Florida finished 13-1 after a surprising home loss to Ole Miss, but the Gators learned from it and cruised to a national title under Tebow's guidance.
6. 2012 Alabama - The 2011 national championship team left a high standard for Alabama's 2012 group to live up to, but the Crimson Tide was quietly excellent.
7. 2009 Alabama - The Tide struggled mightily following Stallings' retirement, but Saban was hailed as a savior. In his third season, Alabama won a national title with a perfect 14-0 record.
8. 2013 FSU - Florida State began the 2013 season ranked outside the Top 10 nationally, but a strong-armed, confident freshman quarterback named Jameis Winston quickly changed that.
9. 2010 Auburn - Auburn and Newton had a potent offense and were escape artists, surviving Clemson 27-24 in overtime, Kentucky 37-34 and erasing a 24-0 second-quarter deficit for a wild 28-27 win over the Crimson Tide in the Iron Bowl. Oregon held the Tigers' potent offense largely in check and tied the game 19-19 with two minutes, 33 seconds remaining. But Auburn had one last chance, and the Tigers took advantage.
10. 2002 OSU - At times, it wasn't pretty, but it's hard to deny a team that went 14-0 and defeated a loaded Miami team in the BCS National Championship Game.

 

1.  

The article had more info but I wanted to cut it down for yall.

[mcgufcm 4,096]

It's a BS list. The 2004 Auburn team is better than at least half of those teams. Starting at somewhere around 2009 Bama (which is vastly overrated on that list), 2004 Auburn is easily a better team. And just to show I'm not totally biased, 2005 USC should be on the list as well. They were better than the 2009 Bama team too. Hell, it's possible the 2012 LSU team should be on the list. They would've kicked the crap out of Craig Krenzel's Buckeyes.

[AUwent 3,747]

^2011 LSU you mean? Our 3-9 team was a muffed punt away from beating the 2012 LSU.

With 2004, screw Tennessee for losing to a bad Notre Dame squad. Don't think it would have made enough of a difference but it would have made it to where there were three teams in the SEC whose only losses were to us and each other. Also, with our non-conf schedule that year, why didn't we play any BCS OOC opponents? I know we were going to play Bowling Green (who decided to play OK instead) but could we not find anyone to play us?

Also, why did we have to come out so flat against UAT that year?

[GoAU 1,599]

Back in 2004, it didn't matter what happened, with USC and OU starting at #1&2, you never moved down unless you lost.  Even though we were much better, IMO than the Sooners. 

[gr82be 14,401]

33 minutes ago, mcgufcm said:

It's a BS list. The 2004 Auburn team is better than at least half of those teams. Starting at somewhere around 2009 Bama (which is vastly overrated on that list), 2004 Auburn is easily a better team. And just to show I'm not totally biased, 2005 USC should be on the list as well. They were better than the 2009 Bama team too. Hell, it's possible the 2012 LSU team should be on the list. They would've kicked the crap out of Craig Krenzel's Buckeyes.

Man, 2004 was a fun team to watch. I remember after the Tennessee game I called my brother in law and told him " I think we have us a football team". 

[Win4AU 4,052]

2004 Auburn at #5.  2010 ahead of 2013 FSU.  I know tebow is great and all but too many amazing undefeated teams ahead of 1 loss Florida.  I'd also replace 2002 OSU with 2015 OSU

[oracle79 3,569]

1 hour ago, WFE12 said:

Greg Wallace - Bleacher Report

But, I guess it is a step above Crepea.

[WFE12 9,191]

1 hour ago, oracle79 said:

But, I guess it is a step above Crepea.

Hey lol I'm just grabbing articles. I personally think bleacher report has good material most of the time.

[jAUSon 2,836]

Thanks for the article. In '04 we surely got snubbed on behalf of Oklahoma but I have to reckon USC would've given us all we could handle. 

[mcgufcm 4,096]

I don't reckon that at all. USCe/AU would've been a classic. We could defend them. No one else in the country could matchup like we could've with our athleticism at LB and a true lockdown CB. It would've been a ton of fun. 

2011 LSU. Yes. My fault. 

I would certainly take 2015 OSU over 2002. Not close. I also don't agree that a 1-loss team must finish behind undefeated teams. That UF squad was mean as hell. 

I haven't given it a ton of thought, but here are the candidates:

1999 FSU

2001 Miami

2002 OSU

2004 USCe

2004 Auburn

2005 Texas

2005 USCe

2008 Florida

2009 Alabama

2009 Texas

2010 Auburn

2011 Alabama

2011 LSU

2012 Alabama

2013 FSU

2014 OSU

2015 Alabama

2015 Clemson

2016 Clemson

I think you could make cogent arguments to include any of those in the top ten. 

[oracle79 3,569]

2 hours ago, WFE12 said:

Hey lol I'm just grabbing articles. I personally think bleacher report has good material most of the time.

No problem.  I just think BR is crap, and most middle school newspapers have better editorial opinions than them.  Agree to disagree on them; not knocking you posting the article.

[oracle79 3,569]

Off this topic, but does anyone recall a worse beatdown for the NC than the 1996 Fiesta Bowl with Nebraska vs. Florida?  The fun and gun wasn't much fun that night...lol.

Just watched the first half.  I forgot how much I hated Danny Wuerffel and Steve Spurrier when he was at Florida.  This was a very satisfying beat down.  And no, I'm not an SEC guy; just an Auburn guy.

[Rednilla 5,383]

I put Auburn's and USC's 04 teams on even footing. Both had a Heisman-caliber QB, both had a pair of first round picks at running back...etc. Irritates me to no end that we don't get the recognition we deserve for that team. I still maintain it was better, top to bottom, than the 2010 team.

[AUld fAUx@ 2,584]

10 hours ago, jAUSon said:

Thanks for the article. In '04 we surely got snubbed on behalf of Oklahoma but I have to reckon USC would've given us all we could handle. 

But their hypothetical win over us would have been vacated?

[McLoofus 35,182]

8 hours ago, Rednilla said:

I put Auburn's and USC's 04 teams on even footing. Both had a Heisman-caliber QB, both had a pair of first round picks at running back...etc. Irritates me to no end that we don't get the recognition we deserve for that team. I still maintain it was better, top to bottom, than the 2010 team.

Agree and it's not particularly close. 

[lionheartkc 6,150]

8 hours ago, Rednilla said:

I put Auburn's and USC's 04 teams on even footing. Both had a Heisman-caliber QB, both had a pair of first round picks at running back...etc. Irritates me to no end that we don't get the recognition we deserve for that team. I still maintain it was better, top to bottom, than the 2010 team.

The only element of the 2010 team that was better than the 2004 team was Cam. I can only imagine the devastation that we could have caused if he was the QB in 2004. There would have been no question about putting us in the title game if he had been.

[auburnphan 6,050]

2004 team was the best team in my lifetime as far as Auburn rankings

[PDub 211]

9 hours ago, oracle79 said:

Off this topic, but does anyone recall a worse beatdown for the NC than the 1996 Fiesta Bowl with Nebraska vs. Florida?  The fun and gun wasn't much fun that night...lol.

Just watched the first half.  I forgot how much I hated Danny Wuerffel and Steve Spurrier when he was at Florida.  This was a very satisfying beat down.  And no, I'm not an SEC guy; just an Auburn guy.

This was an oddly satisfying game for me to watch. I also hated the Gators, but I had convinced myself to pull for them this one time.

After Nebraska began hammering them and it was clear it would be a blowout, I then wanted Florida to get beat by 100. 

[AUld fAUx@ 2,584]

42 minutes ago, lionheartkc said:

The only element of the 2010 team that was better than the 2004 team was Cam. I can only imagine the devastation that we could have caused if he was the QB in 2004. There would have been no question about putting us in the title game if he had been.

'04 was not a stellar season for Mr. Newton.

“Cam got a chance to start as a sophomore after an older played broke his finger. In his first game, Cam fumbled a snap from his brother in the closing moments of a close game, costing the Lions a win. He went back to the bench.” [http://www.jockbio.com/Bios/C_Newton/C_Newton_bio.html]

Didn't start lighting things up 'til '05

[lionheartkc 6,150]

1 minute ago, AUld fAUx@ said:

'04 was not a stellar season for Mr. Newton.

“Cam got a chance to start as a sophomore after an older played broke his finger. In his first game, Cam fumbled a snap from his brother in the closing moments of a close game, costing the Lions a win. He went back to the bench.” [http://www.jockbio.com/Bios/C_Newton/C_Newton_bio.html]

Didn't start lighting things up 'til '05

 

Ok... that's kind of hilarious.  it would have been more funny if he really could have lead the 2004 Auburn team as a... what... sophomore in high school?

[Tiger 8,817]

2004 team was way better than 2010 team IMO. Would Cam Newton have enough juice to beat that '04 team if they faced off? 

I think Carlos Rogers would've blanketed Darvin Adams though and probably take him out of the game completely. What was it something absurd like 12% of passes towards Carlos Rogers were completed his senior year or something?

The 04 offense would've had a field day against that 2010 D though. Nick Fairley probably would have caused some problems for the '04 team but other than that there are so many weapons that the 2010 most likely would have no answer for. The 4 headed monster at WR, Caddy/Ronnie, Campbell making the right checks at the line and making timely plays...I think Cam Newton would be the only shot the 2010 team had but Cam didn't face a defense like that '04 D while he was at AU.

And if there was one thing you could count on Tubs for it was that he was almost guaranteed to shut down a spread attack led by a dynamic QB. 

 

[Win4AU 4,052]

2010 was an 8-5 team without Cam.  

[mcgufcm 4,096]

100% correct. There's no real comparison between rosters. Fairley was a monster. Newton was Cam Freaking Newton, but 2004 was a LOADED team. I mean, there isn't a hole on that roster. It was one of the two best OLs at Auburn in the last 25 years (you have to respect 2013... that run game was crazy) with the best OL I've seen since the Dye era (Marcus McNeil) and the best interior lineman I think I've ever seen at Auburn (Ben Grubbs). Personal opinion on that one. You had the QB. You had the RBs. You had a solid TE plus another big-bodied target (Wallace and Mix) mixed with playmakers at WR. You had Ratliff and TJ Jackson inside. You had pass rushers on the edge. You had speed and tackling at LB. You had Carlos Rogers at CB. You had a pair of Safeties (one a classic cover Safety; the other an extra LB Safety).

The biggest flaws on the team were the "other" CB spot (Montae Pitts wasn't bad, but by comparison, he was the guy to throw at) and the SLB spot (Kevin Sears was serviceable but not a difference maker and had issues in coverage). When you're picking nits like that, it's a loaded team.

[Rednilla 5,383]

7 hours ago, Win4AU said:

2010 was an 8-5 team without Cam.  

No it wasn't. If Cam hadn't been available, the coaching staff would have done whatever it had to do to get Tyrik Rollison eligible, and that offensive line was too good not to have paved the way to at least 9 wins in the regular season with a chance at 10 in the bowl even if it'd been Barrett Trotter, Neil Caudle, or Clint Moseley and the run game.

[augolf1716 21,096]

14 minutes ago, Rednilla said:

No it wasn't. If Cam hadn't been available, the coaching staff would have done whatever it had to do to get Tyrik Rollison eligible, and that offensive line was too good not to have paved the way to at least 9 wins in the regular season with a chance at 10 in the bowl even if it'd been Barrett Trotter, Neil Caudle, or Clint Moseley and the run game.

No disrespect red but Tyrik that's reaching big time