The greatest college football teams of all time (actually since 1936 when the AP polling started) have been ranked, and this year's Alabama team tops the rankings.
The renowned 538 statistical group has applied their "Elo" system, that was so successful in the Soccer World Cup, to ranking the NFL, and now to ranking college football. Here are their peak Elo rankings:
| rank | team | ELO |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alabama 2016 | 34.2 |
| 2 | Nebraska 1995 | 33.9 |
| 3 | Alabama 2015 | 32.8 |
| 4 | Oklahoma 1974 | 32.3 |
| 5 | Miami 1988 | 32.2 |
| 6 | Oklahoma 1973 | 31.9 |
| 7 | Florida 2008 | 31.9 |
| 8 | Alabama 2012 | 31.9 |
| 9 | So Cal 2004 | 31.8 |
| 10 | Oregon 2014 | 31.6 |
| 11 | Nebraska 1971 | 31.6 |
| 12 | Ohio State 2014 | 31.6 |
| 13 | Nebraska 1977 | 31.3 |
| 14 | So Cal 2005 | 31.2 |
| 15 | Florida 1996 | 31.0 |
| 16 | Miami 2002 | 30.9 |
| 17 | Alabama 2013 | 30.7 |
| 18 | Alabama 2011 | 30.4 |
| 19 | Army 1945 | 30.3 |
| 20 | Miami 1989 | 30.1 |
I was shocked to see Oregon ranked higher than Ohio State in 2014. I would strongly suggest, instead of Elo, using Eto, the "eye test option." The 2014 championship game was a dominate crushing, except for 4 turnovers, two of them unforced errors by a third-string QB inserted into his third start.
Do you more dedicated students of the game, see other interesting comparisons? Where would you put the 1968 and 1969 Buckeyes? And the 2002 Buckeyes? Or even the 1993, 1994 and 1998 teams?
For more detailed info and continuing down to #30 see this link:
http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/we-rate-alabama-the-strongest-team-i...
