Best college football programs of the 2000s

Lowdown: The Wolverines were over five seasons before Jim Harbaugh arrived. He's since, which has pushed the program on an upward trajectory back toward playoff contention.

Michigan isn't overrated or underrated. It's stuck in perpetual playoff purgatory because Ohio State's shadow looms over the program. Michigan has not won the Big Ten championship since , and the Buckeyes are the biggest reason why.

Peterson retired, however, and now that responsibility falls on first-year coach Jimmy Lake. Lowdown: Through all the coaching turnover and administrative upheaval, the Trojans have been able to produce enough NFL talent to stay relevant in the Pac Clay Helton led back-to-back New Year's day Six bowl appearances before the past two seasons — which have been rough. He has stabilized the recruiting, but it's winning time in Troy. Can Helton handle that? The challenges are obvious in a loaded division, and Fisher's challenge is to start winning some top matches.

Lowdown: The Nittany Lions would be higher if this were the past four years. James Franklin has a record in that stretch, and that's a testament to how he pointed the program back in the right direction after NCAA sanctions. Penn State is a legit Playoff contender again, but the Ohio State hurdle is theirs to clear, too.

Lowdown: The Bears made a New Year's Day Six appearance under Matt Rhule last season, which helped close the book on the controversy that surrounded Art Briles' exit earlier in the decade. Baylor faces new challenges under first-year coach Dave Aranda, but the program is at least on the map for the right reasons. Lowdown: For all the ups and downs, the Hurricanes still sent the eighth-most players to the NFL Draft in the past 10 seasons.

That is the selling point of a program that has struggled to put together consistent success since joining the ACC. Manny Diaz remains the coach tasked with the turnaround. The Knights are one of the top Group of 5 programs, and they will continue to be a factor in the American Athletic Conference. Lowdown: The Longhorns have six winning seasons in the past 10 years, and the path from the end of the Mack Brown era through Charlie Strong to the past three seasons under Tom Herman has not been easy.

That said, Texas is contending for Big 12 championships again — and it is on Herman to bring the Longhorns back once and for all. Getty Images. How do you determine the best programs in college football?

Virginia Tech played 18 seasons before it had a losing record , then played 10 more seasons before it had another. The less said about the next 60 years, the better.

But the arrival of former Hokies defensive back Frank Beamer as head coach meant the arrival of Virginia Tech as a national force. That alone is some kind of legacy. Few programs have enjoyed higher highs or endured lower lows than these brave old Army teams. The Black Knights might have had an unfair advantage at times; in their early years, the generals in charge rarely allowed Army to play a game away from West Point, and during World War II, Army had, um, a sizable recruiting advantage.

But during the s and s, Army also had the sizable advantage of Red Blaik as head coach. He fashioned disciplined, winning teams even as the generals chipped away at his ability to field a competitive team.

The six decades since Blaik retired have been by and large bleak. Current head coach Jeff Monken has restored the Black Knights to their winning ways, however. You might notice that among those legends, Schembechler, the most recent, coached his last season at Miami in That's about when the fortunes of the RedHawks turned, give or take a Ben Roethlisberger at quarterback.

But Miami won or shared 11 of the first 30 Mid-American Conference championships, a good indication of what the program was -- and could be again. It might have had something to do with their coaches. Wild Bill Kelly led Central Michigan to seven conference titles. At some schools, it's easier to win. The Buffaloes have had their moments, just not enough of them. Fred Folsom won so much a century ago 21 straight from to that they named the field after him. From the end of World War II into the 21st century, Colorado mostly had the misfortune to play in the same conference as Oklahoma and Nebraska.

Take , when they finished third in the nation -- behind the Huskers and the Sooners. Bill McCartney led the Buffs to a share of the national championship, a feat few have matched anywhere; and Rick Neuheisel and Gary Barnett continued to win at a high level through Since then, it has been a struggle, one that joining the Pac failed to alleviate.

But living with high academic standards has meant that Stanford has done its share of losing too. It's a dilemma that Stanford has embraced, from the glories of the two decades prior to World War II seven Rose Bowls in 17 seasons to the nadir of the early 21st century when the university considered dropping out of the Pacific Conference to the excellence of the past decade when the Cardinal won three league titles and finished in the top 12 in six out of seven seasons from to Pig Sooie?

By doing so, Arkansas surrendered competitive equality for financial security. The Hogs enter their 28th season in the SEC still looking for their first championship. There's no "h" in Pittsburg, Kansas, but there is one in champion. Most of those nine came in the 20 seasons coached by Chuck Broyles to The Sun Devils landed on the national college football map thanks to the work of two Hall of Fame coaches.

Dan Devine made Arizona State a power in the old Border Conference, but he left the desert after three seasons to , with a record to climb the career ladder. His successor, Frank Kush, stuck around for 22 seasons to , won games and methodically built the Sun Devils into a national power. By the time Arizona State fired him in for physically mishandling a player, Kush had shepherded the Sun Devils into the security of the Pac Conference.

The Mountaineers have been consistently good and rarely great for most of their existence, as good an explanation of this ranking as any. The past 50 years have been the best, starting with the arrival of a young Bobby Bowden in his first FBS head-coaching gig. Don Nehlen took West Virginia to the brink of national titles in and After Nehlen retired in , Rich Rodriguez positioned the Mountaineers on the cutting edge of the up-tempo spread revolution and took them to the brink of a title again, in They haven't crossed that last frontier just yet.

Legendary Georgia assistant Erk Russell moved over to Statesboro to restart the program. They won again in and in and became the first team in the 20th century to go The Eagles won consecutive national championships in and under Paul Johnson. Georgia Southern has such a strong reputation that it has become a feeder to the FBS: In the past two decades alone, Johnson, Jeff Monken and Willie Fritz all have parlayed winning at Georgia Southern into bigger jobs. The Utes won consistently in their neck of the woods in the first half of the 20th century.

They spent the next 40 years wondering how to rise above mediocrity. Of the schools that changed leagues in the second wave of realignments to , Utah made the smoothest transition. The Utes won the Pac South last season, and Whittingham has quietly established himself as one of the top coaches in the nation. If you are in your 20s or younger, you've never known the Badgers not to contend for the Big Ten championship.

Since the arrival of Barry Alvarez in and through the tenures of Bret Bielema and current coach Paul Chryst, Wisconsin has been a winner. It is a story made even more astounding if you are old enough to remember the previous iterations of Badgers football, which had signed a long-term lease in the bottom half of the Big Ten. Skip to main content Skip to navigation. The 50 best college football programs over years.

Alabama Crimson Tide. Bama's Williams, Kiper's top WR, enters draft. Ole Miss Rebels. USC receiver McCoy back in portal for third time. USC Trojans. LSU Tigers. Boston College Eagles. UVa QB Armstrong returning to play fifth season. Virginia Cavaliers. Only 9 national champions are in bold there because Ohio State ranked 60th. You know, because these numbers haven't annoyed Miami fans enough recently But as you'll see below, Texas' extreme consistency still made the Longhorns perhaps the second-best program of the decade.

The 10 worst teams of the s, by the way? Cookie banner We use cookies and other tracking technologies to improve your browsing experience on our site, show personalized content and targeted ads, analyze site traffic, and understand where our audiences come from. By choosing I Accept , you consent to our use of cookies and other tracking technologies. Filed under: College Football History. College football in the s: Oklahoma may have had the best team and the best program New, 4 comments.

By Bill C. Yes, Reggie Bush's Heisman was later vacated, but he won it on the field regardless. The Trojans also made it to seven BCS bowl games, going They've yet to make a College Football Playoff appearance, though.

Following the season, it looked like Pete Carroll was readying the Trojans for a dynasty, especially considering the Trojans dominated fellow unbeaten Oklahoma, in the Orange Bowl. The Trojans continued their run until Vince Young and Texas knocked them off in the following national championship game, stunning USC and seizing the spotlight.

With Carroll at the helm in the early s, the Trojans were annihilating opponents. They were producing NFL prospects and top-rated quarterbacks left and right. They signed the nation's best recruiting classes, and it looked like they'd enjoy an extended run. The program lost a bit of that shine over the past few years, but quarterback Sam Darnold appears ready to restore the Trojans to their previous lofty heights.

The Florida Gators are since , giving them a winning percentage of Just think about what that number would have been if not for the epic-failure hire of Will Muschamp. The Gators still are a far cry from their two national championships and Tim Tebow's Heisman Trophy under head coach Urban Meyer , who has returned Ohio State to the pinnacle of college football after a brief hiatus.

Following the season, the Gators won their second national championship in three years when they beat Oklahoma Two years before, they destroyed Ohio State, , to take the title.

But the signature moment was in '08, when the Gators capped a huge run that began with an emotional Tebow delivering a postgame speech following a stunning loss to Ole Miss.

It also gave Tebow a championship after his '07 Heisman. It's definitely because of the Meyer years. It didn't take him long to start his run of dominance, which, like Nick Saban , began by blowing everybody out of the water on the recruiting trail.

Those Tebow-led teams that also featured stars like Percy Harvin, and the Chris Leak years before, were incredible. Yes, the Gators have sputtered in recent years, but they enjoyed a dominant run in the mids.

The Sooners won the national championship after the season with a victory over Florida State, which began Bob Stoops ' incredible run as head coach of Oklahoma. Though he never won another title, the consistency he experienced over his career was remarkable. OU is with an incredible They went in those games. Though Oklahoma enjoyed a great offensive season in under Stoops and offensive coordinator Mike Mangino, defense that won the day —and the title —against the Seminoles.

It wasn't pretty, but the Sooners ground out a win in the title game. Heisman Trophy runner-up Josh Heupel helped guide the Sooners to an undefeated record, and they won despite being double-digit underdogs to the 'Noles.

We have a great history in the Orange Bowl. Say what you want to about "Big Game" Bob Stoops, but the recently retired head coach consistently won at a high level in a Power Five conference. The Sooners won a lot, and they won important games.

Every year, it seems, OU is playing at the very end of the season. Not only that, but the Sooners have players competing at the highest level and battling for the nation's top awards.