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Bill Bender of Sporting News ranked the top-16 college football programs since the year 2000 and five schools from the Southeastern Conference made the list. Coming in as the top dog are the Alabama Crimson Tide.
At No. 4 is the LSU Tigers, No. 7 is the Florida Gators, No. 9 are the Georgia Bulldogs and at No. 13 are the Auburn Tigers. Outside of awarding points for just national championship wins, appearances and Heisman Trophy winners, here is what Bender used as his criteria.
“The Top 16 schools in overall winning percentage, bowl wins, NFL Draft picks (starting with 2001 NFL Draft), NFL first-round picks, consensus All-Americans and record against Top 25 teams were awarded with a poll style 16-1 score,” said Bender, in his article. “The school with the best score received 16 points; the school with the 16th-best score received one point.”
Here is what Bender said about the defending national champions:
“What they do best: Win national championships,” Bender said. “No program has won more national championships (4) or produced as many consensus All-Americans (26) as Alabama. Nick Saban keeps churning out elite SEC teams, and that should continue in 2016.
“Trending: Up. Alabama took the top spot from Ohio State and will defend its national title against the rough-and-tough SEC West. No program is doing it better.”
And regarding the LSU Tigers:
“What they do best: It’s a well-rounded program. LSU ranked in the top five in six of these categories on this list, and Les Miles has built a consistent winner in Baton Rouge.
“Trending: TBD. Miles’ future — and how the Tigers fare this season in the SEC — will have a lot to do with the future of this program. Just keep in mind that LSU has the fourth-best winning percentage in the FBS since 2000. Miles has played a huge role in that.”
The rest of what Bender had to say regarding each team can be seen here.
No. 1 Alabama
No. 2 Ohio State
No. 3 USC
No. 4 LSU
No. 5 Oklahoma
No. 6 Florida State
No. 7 Florida
No. 8 Texas
No. 9 Georgia
No. 10 Miami (Fla.)
No. 11 Oregon
No. 12 Boise State
No. 13 Auburn
No. 14 TCU
No. 15 Virginia Tech
No. 16 Clemson
Twitter: @KidCuni
