I found this ESPN ranking of the top 100 or so teams of the last decade in College Football interesting. It places teams just about where I would expect them to be.
One thing I found interesting was just how lucky we were to find a coach who could take us from the lackluster 3 seasons that preceeded Meyer, and in two years be romping on Pittsburg in the Fiesta Bowl. Just look at the teams that are at #30 through #100. Many of them have had bad records and bad seasons for many decades. I didnt' realise, for example, that UNLV has had such a bad time.
Also, I found it interesting that UCLA, the team we amazingly ground into the turf last Saturday, was ranked in the spot above us at #27. Take a look at the statistics. We had better stats all around, but they still favored the PAC-10 team over us:
| Ladder 119: Nos. 26-50 (from 1997 to 2006) | |||||
| RANK | TEAM | RECORD | WIN % | TITLES | BOWL RECORD |
| 26 | Georgia Tech | 79-46 | .632 | 1 conf. | 5-5 |
 The Yellow Jackets have only one 10-victory season since sharing the 1990 national championship with Colorado. Georgia Tech went 10-2 in 1998 and shared the ACC title under former coach George O'Leary. Coach Chan Gailey has a 37-27 record in five seasons, but has been dogged by his team's inability to beat its biggest rivals. Last season's 7-1 mark in ACC games was a breakthrough -- but the Jackets still finished 9-5. | |||||
| 27 | UCLA | 74-47 | .612 | 2 conf. | 3-4 |
 The Bruins came within one victory of playing for the national championship in 1998 -- UCLA lost to Miami 49-45 in the regular-season finale and then lost to Wisconsin 38-31 in the Rose Bowl. UCLA has struggled to find that level of excellence ever since, with only one 10-win campaign in the ensuing eight seasons. The Bruins' biggest obstacle has been crosstown rival USC, which has a 7-1 record against UCLA since 1999. | |||||
| 28 | Utah | 76-41 | .650 | 3 conf. | 6-0 |
 The Utes were the first team from a non-BCS conference to play in a BCS bowl game, finishing 12-0 and beating Pittsburgh in the Fiesta Bowl during the 2004 season. Former coach Urban Meyer parlayed that dream season into a job at Florida. The Utes haven't had the same success under successor Kyle Whittingham, who is 15-10 in two seasons, but they might be poised for another big season in 2007. | |||||
Interesting isn't it? 6-0 in bowl games, including a BCS win, a Las-Vegas rout of USC, and a great victory over Georgia Tech. We also have a better winning average, and more conference titles.
Obviously it is hard to get any respect. That is why I'm hoping that what we saw Saturday was the beginning to some more great things on The Hill.
My pick for this Saturday: Utah 38 (5 TDs - 1 FG) - UNLV 24 (3 TDs - 1 FG)
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Tijs Limburg
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