Where SEC ranks among Top 5 programs from past 5 years
It’s not hard to figure out that Alabama has been the best team in college football over the past five seasons. The Crimson Tide are two wins from their third national title over that span, and they will face Michigan State in this year’s College Football Playoff semifinal in Dallas on New Year’s Eve.
However, ranking the four programs behind Bama over that time frame is not nearly as clear-cut. Here’s a look at the nation’s top five teams since 2011:
1. Alabama: Over the past five seasons, no team in America has had more wins (60), more national titles (2) or a better winning percentage (.896) than Alabama. Chances are pretty good that Nick Saban is still upset about his team’s losses to Oklahoma and Ohio State, respectively, in the past two Sugar Bowls. But at least this year, the Buckeyes failed to make the playoff and the Crimson Tide will have a chance at some payback if Bama and the Sooners reach the national championship game.
Saban’s squad might very well get there. All Bob Stoops’ bunch will have to do is upset Clemson, something no team in America has done this year. The Tide is high on this list and is exactly where it deserves to be at No. 1.
2. Florida State: If the Seminoles hadn’t overcome an 18-point deficit before eventually beating Auburn 34-31 in the 2013 BCS National Championship Game, they more than likely would not be on this list. But they’re right behind Alabama because of that national title and because their record of 58-9 (.866 winning percentage) since 2011 is second only to Alabama. Think about what FSU has accomplished this season: their two losses were against Clemson and at Georgia Tech on a blocked field-goal attempt on a game-ending play. They have gone 10-2 even while juggling two quarterbacks. It’s no wonder that LSU wanted to replace Les Miles with Jimbo Fisher.
3. Ohio State: It’s still sort of amazing that the Buckeyes went on to win the national title last year despite losing early to Virginia Tech. Who knows where Ohio State would be on this list if it hadn’t been banned from postseason play by the NCAA in 2012, when it finished 12-0. And this season, the Buckeyes — who are 55-11 over the past five seasons for an .833 winning percentage — have to be kicking themselves for losing at home on game-ending field goal to a Michigan State team playing without an injured QB Connor Cook.
4. Oregon: The winningest team in the Pac-12 since 2011, the Ducks reached last year’s national championship game, which they lost to Ohio State. What’s most impressive about Oregon’s recent run is that it has accomplished it under two head coaches — Chip Kelly and Mark Helfrich. Although it isn’t in the same time span, the Ducks also reached the 2010 BCS National Championship Game, which it lost to Cam Newton and Auburn on a game-ending field goal. The lack of a national title keeps Oregon (57-10, .851) behind Ohio State.
5. Michigan State: If Urban Meyer is the Big Ten’s best coach, then Mark Dantonio is definitely No. 2. Dantonio, who took over the Spartans in 2007 — which is coincidentally Saban’s first year with Alabama — is 87-32 overall with Michigan State. To put that record in perspective, former Arkansas coach John L. Smith — Dantonio’s predecessor with the Spartans — went 22-26 in his four years in East Lansing. Saban won six games in three of his five seasons in East Lansing.
Michigan State (54-13, .806 over the last five seasons) has reached three Big Ten Championship Games under Dantonio and won two of them.
Honorable mention: Stanford, Oklahoma, Boise State.