Where does Auburn rank all time?

[Zeek 16,649]

What are your top ten programs all time and why? I’ve been in a heated argument all morning with an Ohio State fan and Clemson fan.
 

The Ohio State fan insists we’re not even near the top 10. The Clemson fan asserts they’re above us all time and “we’ll never be what they currently are”.

While I know college footballs history is long it’s tough for me to respect some of the “blue bloods” who haven’t done anything in 20+ years.

One of the biggest issues we face is how we refuse to claim national titles like most programs.

Still it’s hard to discount what the last 30-20 years have done to raise our status. Plus, since our conception, I would argue we have been dealt a much more difficult hand then say Texas or Clemson. If we were playing in the ACC for the last decade or so we’d undoubtedly have even better stats.

 Still, I worry for our future. Our facilities always seem complacent to be good enough (our locker room is a massive disappointment compared to most new ones and we’re really cheeping out on the football only facility). We seem too okay with the idea of finishing in the top 10 of recruiting but not aiming for the #1 or even 3 spot.

 

 Still, I don’t see there being 10 programs over Auburn.

Alabama - can’t argue with the best program and players money could buy.

Ohio State

Texas - unless they get back to their old ways we could over time pass them in prestige. Still for decades they had no real recruiting opposition in their state.

USC - same as Texas

Notre Lame - haven’t don’t jack in almost 30 years but the history is there 

Oklahoma seems to be a consensus top tier team but honestly they’re not substantially above Auburn either.

 

[WDE_OxPx_2010 5,296]

I would say REALISTICALLY we're comfortably top 15 of all time, closer to 15 than 10.

Source

Based on total wins, we're 13th

Based on win percentage, we're 18th

Tied for 5th in total Heisman winners (3 from 3 different decades, shows staying power)

22nd in AA

Only 25 teams have more NC than Auburn

Only 15 teams have been to more bowl games than Auburn

13th in # weeks ranked in a poll

Probably better than Auburn historically speaking :

Bama, ND, USC, Texas, Nebraska, Ohio State, Tennessee, Michigan, Oklahoma, Army, Penn State, Pittsburgh

Top 10? Close. Clemson DEFINITELY can't argue they are there but Ohio State could.

[GwillMac6 20,670]

Top 12 program all time. Fringe top 10 program all time obviously. No one has more potential than us that is not a top 10 program. NO ONE has more upside than us that is not already a top 10 program. Never had one of those transcendent all time great coaches that define a era to get us over the hump and take us to that next level where we are winning or competing for Conference and Natty's every season. Cousin clem of alllllllllll the teams getting one of those and getting lucky with Dabo shows it can be done. We have not been lucky. Dye was the closest thing to that for us. Need a Bruce like impact hire in football to get it done.  Gus is not the guy to get us there and I think even the most ardent Gustav supporter will agree with that. Solid- good coach. Not a very good or great one. The end.

[DAG 33,979]

21 minutes ago, WDE_OxPx_2010 said:

I would say REALISTICALLY we're comfortably top 15 of all time, closer to 15 than 10.

Source

Based on total wins, we're 13th

Based on win percentage, we're 18th

Tied for 5th in total Heisman winners (3 from 3 different decades, shows staying power)

22nd in AA

Only 25 teams have more NC than Auburn

Only 15 teams have been to more bowl games than Auburn

13th in # weeks ranked in a poll

Probably better than Auburn historically speaking :

Bama, ND, USC, Texas, Nebraska, Ohio State, Tennessee, Michigan, Oklahoma, Army, Penn State, Pittsburgh

Top 10? Close. Clemson DEFINITELY can't argue they are there but Ohio State could.

Great stuff. I didn’t have the data to back it but I couldn’t comfortably put us in the top ten historically 

[TigerCatcher 182]

44 minutes ago, Zeek said:

The Clemson fan asserts they’re above us all time and “we’ll never be what they currently are”.

Clemson isn't even what their ACC bretheren FSU and Miami were before them and none of 'em are top ten all time.  To assert otherwise is to believe there was no college football before 1980.

[Zeek 16,649]

24 minutes ago, GwillMac6 said:

Top 12 program all time. Fringe top 10 program all time obviously. No one has more potential than us that is not a top 10 program. NO ONE has more upside than us that is not already a top 10 program. Never had one of those transcendent all time great coaches that define a era to get us over the hump and take us to that next level where we are winning or competing for Conference and Natty's every season. Cousin clem of alllllllllll the teams getting one of those and getting lucky with Dabo shows it can be done. We have not been lucky. Dye was the closest thing to that for us. Need a Bruce like impact hire in football to get it done.  Gus is not the guy to get us there and I think even the most ardent Gustav supporter will agree with that. Solid- good coach. Not a very good or great one. The end.

Well said GWill. I wonder if when we’ll move away from Gus. It’s feeling like we might get all the way to the end of his contract.

[GwillMac6 20,670]

1 minute ago, Zeek said:

Well said GWill. I wonder if when we’ll move away from Gus. It’s feeling like we might get all the way to the end of his contract.

Lose to all of the big 3 this season and nothing is off the table and out of the realm of possibility IMO. 

[WDE_OxPx_2010 5,296]

3 hours ago, DAG said:

Great stuff. I didn’t have the data to back it but I couldn’t comfortably put us in the top ten historically 

If we have a decade run like Alabama or Ohio State has had, we could get there. We're getting close but years like 2012, 2008, even 1998 keeps us in perpetual rebuilding vs reloading cycles

[GwillMac6 20,670]

3 minutes ago, WDE_OxPx_2010 said:

If we have a decade run like Alabama or Ohio State has had, we could get there. We're getting close but years like 2012, 2008, even 1998 keeps us in perpetual rebuilding vs reloading cycles

Hitting on a great coach will get us there. We are well overdue to get lucky after Gus is dispatched.

[japantiger 4,051]

7 hours ago, Zeek said:

Well said GWill. I wonder if when we’ll move away from Gus. It’s feeling like we might get all the way to the end of his contract.

OK, this national house arrest we're under sucks; but this comment may just be the worse thing I've ever been asked to endure...."end of his contract"....

 

[gr82be 14,423]

8 hours ago, WDE_OxPx_2010 said:

I would say REALISTICALLY we're comfortably top 15 of all time, closer to 15 than 10.

Source

Based on total wins, we're 13th

Based on win percentage, we're 18th

Tied for 5th in total Heisman winners (3 from 3 different decades, shows staying power)

22nd in AA

Only 25 teams have more NC than Auburn

Only 15 teams have been to more bowl games than Auburn

13th in # weeks ranked in a poll

Probably better than Auburn historically speaking :

Bama, ND, USC, Texas, Nebraska, Ohio State, Tennessee, Michigan, Oklahoma, Army, Penn State, Pittsburgh

Top 10? Close. Clemson DEFINITELY can't argue they are there but Ohio State could.

And we're tied for 9th all time undefeated seasons. There are a few Ivy League teams at or near the top but it's still interesting. We've been undefeated in a couple of flat out unfortunate years for us. 

[Zeek 16,649]

1 hour ago, japantiger said:

OK, this national house arrest we're under sucks; but this comment may just be the worse thing I've ever been asked to endure...."end of his contract"....

 

It’s a sad reality imo barring a melt down 

[WDE_OxPx_2010 5,296]

11 hours ago, gr82be said:

And we're tied for 9th all time undefeated seasons. There are a few Ivy League teams at or near the top but it's still interesting. We've been undefeated in a couple of flat out unfortunate years for us. 

If only the Colorado school of mines was in the SEC- way overrated program they have

[gr82be 14,423]

32 minutes ago, WDE_OxPx_2010 said:

If only the Colorado school of mines was in the SEC- way overrated program they have

I hadn't heard of them but when I looked them up they were ranked the #2 school in best return on investment in colleges. That list included a lot of big time schools which they say are overpriced for what you get. Just thought it was interesting.

It has zero to do with football and the OP so apologies for that.  Still that would have to bug Ohio State a little bit. 

[steeleagle 2,945]

23 hours ago, GwillMac6 said:

Lose to all of the big 3 this season and nothing is off the table and out of the realm of possibility IMO. 

Its a very good chance to happen too, if we are allowed to play a full schedule this year.

With Alabama/GA on the road, that almost a sure 2 losses.

The LSU game is always tough to win even at home. The only positive is LSU will be breaking in a lot of new offensive players/coaches and we have a 2nd year of Bo with a better OC than we have had in the last 7 years.

But the wild card in this deck is the fact we don't have a clue if we play all 12 games and with the hit the college ADs are taking in their budget, we may have to keep GM bc we can't afford to pay him his buyout money...

 

[WarEagle1982 449]

I can’t even imagine a Clemson turd saying they belong up there all-time.  I would rank UGA and LSU ahead of them without blinking.

[AUFriction 1,179]

Complicated topic... 
 

In terms of all time, we’d probably be somewhere around 15. Included in that list though are teams that have long since faded and aren’t really relevant in modern football, including Harvard and Yale that dominated football completely in the earlier years. 
 

It should also be noted that we’ve had 2 football players that are arguably in the best 5 in history play for Auburn in Cam and Bo.

If you are talking about the modern area of football, we’d probably be a bit higher. What I’d consider to be the modern era of football would be the years since the spread offense became popular, which would probably be around 2009. During that time, Auburn has played for 2 NCs and has won the hardest division in college football 3 times. Name more than 10 other teams that have done that. From 2009 to now, teams that have appeared 2 or more times since then include Bama(7), Oregon (2), LSU(2), and Clemson (4). UGA won their (weak) division a several times, but only appeared in one NC in 2018 (the year we beat them and Alabama who ended up playing each other for the NC). 
 

I care more about the modern era though. What happened 30-60-100 years ago is irrelevant. The game was very different then. 

 

[NoALtiger 3,850]

4 hours ago, AUFriction said:

Complicated topic... 
 

In terms of all time, we’d probably be somewhere around 15. Included in that list though are teams that have long since faded and aren’t really relevant in modern football, including Harvard and Yale that dominated football completely in the earlier years. 
 

It should also be noted that we’ve had 2 football players that are arguably in the best 5 in history play for Auburn in Cam and Bo.

If you are talking about the modern area of football, we’d probably be a bit higher. What I’d consider to be the modern era of football would be the years since the spread offense became popular, which would probably be around 2009. During that time, Auburn has played for 2 NCs and has won the hardest division in college football 3 times. Name more than 10 other teams that have done that. From 2009 to now, teams that have appeared 2 or more times since then include Bama(7), Oregon (2), LSU(2), and Clemson (4). UGA won their (weak) division a several times, but only appeared in one NC in 2018 (the year we beat them and Alabama who ended up playing each other for the NC). 
 

I care more about the modern era though. What happened 30-60-100 years ago is irrelevant. The game was very different then. 

 

It’s only irrelevant because it doesn’t back your own personal view. We regularly lambast other fanbases for that exact thought process. The topic of “all time “ is a much more interesting topic than “all time...last 10 years” imo. 

[IronMan70 3,277]

We're hanging right in there with LSU and UGA for 11, 12, 13 in any order. We have more undefeated seasons, more perfect seasons, NCs are close. I agree we should rightfully claim more but I don't think they (or many teams) can boast of an undefeated unscored on team. 

The 1914 Auburn team was 8-0-1, scored 193, against 0. In the prior year the 1913 Auburn team was 8-0-0, scored 224, against 13. That was a 2 year run of 16-0-1, 417 scored, 13 against. Not too shabby. It's goofy not to claim championships for at least 1 of those 2 years, if not both.

[McLoofus 35,182]

On 4/18/2020 at 6:44 PM, GwillMac6 said:

Hitting on a great coach will get us there. We are well overdue to get lucky after Gus is dispatched.

The reasons that some folks say we aren't a desirable job are the same reasons we're one of the most desirable jobs in the country, and likely *the* most desirable job that has had uncertainty at the head coaching position (now that Ogre punched his ticket). I think the only real competition would be uga or UF if those guys don't start winning some hardware. 

*****

I think we're somewhere between 12-14. We had a national championship season in the 80s that was not appropriately recognized, we had an undefeated season in the 90s that wasn't even on TV, we had an undefeated season in the aughts that should have at least landed us in the title game, we won a national championship and had a Heisman winner in 2010, another title game appearance 3 years later, and a handful of massive wins (and near misses) since. We're a top-10 program over the last 40 years but all time, 12-14 seems right to me.

Last 40 years I'd say, in no particular order:

bama
LSU
Miami
FSU
Florida
Oklahoma
Clemson (it's all been the last decade, but it's been a hell of a decade)
USC
Ohio State
Auburn

I'm looking forward to having my obvious mistakes pointed out to me, haha.

[weagl1 1,782]

I would like a ranking to see who has played the all time toughest schedule.  I bet Auburn is close to the top on that one.  Winning percentage has a whole lot to do with who you are playing.  

[AUFriction 1,179]

On 4/19/2020 at 7:48 PM, NoALtiger said:

It’s only irrelevant because it doesn’t back your own personal view. We regularly lambast other fanbases for that exact thought process. The topic of “all time “ is a much more interesting topic than “all time...last 10 years” imo. 

That’s not it. I don’t think it is relevant because the game is just so different. The way that Harvard dominated the game 130 years ago required different skills. Players were different. Coaching was completely different than it is now. Back then, the forward pass didn’t even exist. Now, a lot of teams run a forward pass on more than 50% of their plays. Recruiting was different as well. It was almost an entirely different game back then. It may not be as “interesting” to fixate on modern football, but it is certainly more statistically valid to compare modern teams rather than teams across history.

[NoALtiger 3,850]

19 hours ago, AUFriction said:

That’s not it. I don’t think it is relevant because the game is just so different. The way that Harvard dominated the game 130 years ago required different skills. Players were different. Coaching was completely different than it is now. Back then, the forward pass didn’t even exist. Now, a lot of teams run a forward pass on more than 50% of their plays. Recruiting was different as well. It was almost an entirely different game back then. It may not be as “interesting” to fixate on modern football, but it is certainly more statistically valid to compare modern teams rather than teams across history.

Oh doubt about that for sure. That’s why you can’t compare Babe Ruth to Barry Bonds or The Beatles to Jay-Z, etc. Different eras, different standards of greatness, technology, etc. That I’m definitely in agreement with. It was more your take on 2009 and later years being used to validate your point. I think we can go back several decades before you get to the almost laughable times of Harvard and Army dominating the landscape. For example, we as a fanbase don’t consider our success since Coach Dye to be irrelevant at all and that’s been almost 40 years ago since he was hired. Anyway, I think we are saying similar things, I just think it should be expanded more than the last 11 years. 

[McLoofus 35,182]

16 hours ago, NoALtiger said:

Oh doubt about that for sure. That’s why you can’t compare Babe Ruth to Barry Bonds or The Beatles to Jay-Z, etc. Different eras, different standards of greatness, technology, etc. That I’m definitely in agreement with. It was more your take on 2009 and later years being used to validate your point. I think we can go back several decades before you get to the almost laughable times of Harvard and Army dominating the landscape. For example, we as a fanbase don’t consider our success since Coach Dye to be irrelevant at all and that’s been almost 40 years ago since he was hired. Anyway, I think we are saying similar things, I just think it should be expanded more than the last 11 years. 

40 years is my benchmark. Awfully convenient for an Auburn fan, I know. But that was also the end of the Bryant era and the beginning of the Miami/FSU era. Probably an argument to be made that Schnellenberger was the progenitor of modern college football. 

[Dual-Threat Rigby 8,662]

No order: Alabama, OSU, OU, Miami, ND, USC, Michigan, Nebraska, UT , FSU

If I was doing it for a time pertinent to today's age (like the last 40 years): UA, OSU, OU, Miami, USC, FSU, UF, Penn State, Nebraska...from there, I really don't know. Having Auburn top 10 doesn't feel right, but there's not many programs that have nationally mattered more than 3-4 years each decade. Georgia and Michigan feel like they make the most sense to me

 

I feel like it also matters what about what the person is basing their opinions on...some people like sustained relevancy, some titles, some just always being in the public eye. I think Clemson has the Nova-Jay Wright thing going on where their streak of success simply matters more than some of those programs that have measured up a couple decades of 10 win seasons. I'd take Clemson's 2010s and on over Auburn, UGA, PSU, Michigan and UT's last 30 years, for example.