Over the last two decades, the increased exposure of college football has made the sport more accessible than ever before. The fact that fans can watch pretty much every single game on the schedule means they can formulate a more accurate opinion of each team and what they see on the football field. The debate about the best teams in college football is definitely an interesting one, especially with the type of coverage that the game receives. We took the time to give your own take and break down the best teams in the game over the past 17 seasons. Here is a look at the best college football teams since 2000.
1. Miami (2001)
The 2000 Hurricanes went 12-0 en route to winning a national championship. Miami averaged 42.6 points per game and allowed an average of just 9.75 points per game, which was good for a 32.9 average margin of victory. Their roster featured 38 eventual NFL Draft picks including 17 first round selections. A 26-24 win over Virginia Tech in their final regular season game was the closest any opponent got to an upset against Miami. The Hurricanes rolled to a 37-14 win over Nebraska in the BCS National Championship Game.
Andre Johnson, Sean Taylor, Willis McGahee, Clinton Portis, Jeremy Shockey, Jonathan Vilma and Kellen Winslow all played on that 20001 Hurricanes team. That’s quite a stellar roster of talent. Many of those players went on to become NFL Pro Bowlers.
2. Southern California (2004)
The Trojans went 13-0 in 2004. That record included two victories eventually vacated by the NCAA. Matt Leinart, Reggie Bush, Shaun Cody and Mike Patterson led a USC team that produced a 25.1-point average margin of victory that season. The Trojans rolled to a 36-point win in the BCS National Championship Game with a 55-19 win over Oklahoma. There were five different teams that had undefeated records entering the 2004 postseason. None of them were better than USC that season.
3. Texas (2005)
The 2005 Longhorns scored 652 total points, which was an FBS record at the time, en route to a 13-0 record. That included 70 points in a Big 12 title game win over Colorado. Vince Young became the first college football player to throw for 2,500 yards and rush for 1,000 yards in the same season as he produced 4,086 total yards.
The biggest moment for Texas was the 2006 Rose Bowl versus USC. Trailing by 12 with under seven minutes left in the fourth quarter, the Longhorns quickly cut the deficit to five and then got the ball back with 2:09 remaining on the clock. The Longhorns quickly marched down the field again and Young punched in a touchdown run before converting the two-point conversion for a stunning 41-38 win. Sadly, Young never really translated to the NFL. He dealt with a lot of criticism on the field but some of it was brought upon himself.
4. Alabama (2011)
In 2011, only one team lost by fewer than 17 points of Alabama all season. That was a 9-6 overtime win by LSU that was the only blemish on the record of the Crimson Tide’s 12-1 season. Alabama ranked No. 1 in the nation in total yards allowed per game and total points allowed per game that season. They also got their revenge in the BCS National Championship game with a dominant 21-0 win over LSU, which is the only national title game shutout in the BCS era.
5. Florida (2008)
The 2008 Gators also suffered a stunning defeat. Florida lost to Ole Miss 31-30 at home. An emotional Tim Tebow faced the media afterwards and delivered the famous speech in which he told reporters, “you have never seen any player in the entire country play as hard as I will play the rest of this season, and you’ll never see someone push the rest of the team as hard as I will push everybody the rest of the season, and you’ll never see a team play harder than we will the rest of the season”. Tebow delivered on his word as Florida won each of its remaining 10 games by 10 points or more. That contributed greatly to the legend of Tim Tebow.
The Gators ended on top with Urban Meyer claiming his second national championship that season.
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