"Worth noting: Louisville was the most ascendant program of all, going from unranked (apparently out of indecision) in 2007 to Peasants in 2012 to Knights in 2017."
http://www.foxsports.com/college-fo...-66-bcs-teams-into-four-tier-hierarchy-052517
Stewart Mandel @slmandel May 25, 2017 at 11:41a ET
I’ve written hundreds of Mailbag columns over the years. For the most part, readers consume them, (hopefully) enjoy them, and then forget about them as soon as the next one arrives.
But one particular question I answered in August 2007 took on a life of its own. A reader asked me to rank the nation’s power-conference schools by “prestige and place in the national scene.” For reasons I can’t recall, I opted to invoke a Medieval feudal system in dividing the 66 BCS programs at the time into Kings, Knights, Barons and Peasants.
Thus, my Program Pecking Order was born.
...........
The 2017 list comprises 66 schools — the Power 5 conference members and independents Notre Dame and BYU. It’s a harsh reality, but in the playoff era, every Group of 5 school — even standouts like Boise State and Houston — is seen as a peasant (or worse), so there’s no point listing them.
Thanks to my friends at SI.com for re-formatting the old columns to fit their current design. For this version, teams in bold moved up in status from the 2012 edition. Strikethrough teams fell down.
Kings
Alabama
Clemson
Florida
Florida State
LSU
Miami
Michigan
Nebraska
Notre Dame
Ohio State
Oklahoma
Penn State
Texas
USC
........
Barons
Auburn
Georgia
Michigan State
Nebraska
Oregon
Stanford
Tennessee
Texas A&M
UCLA
Virginia Tech
West Virginia
Wisconsin
.......
Knights
Arizona State
Arkansas
Baylor
Boise State
Boston College
BYU
Cal
Colorado
Georgia Tech
Illinois
Iowa
Kansas State
Louisville
Maryland
Missouri
North Carolina
NC State
Northwestern
Oklahoma State
Ole Miss
Oregon State
Pittsburgh
Purdue
Syracuse
South Carolina
TCU
Texas Tech
Utah
West Virginia
Virginia
Washington
Baylor’s brand may be toxic now, but there’s no doubt the school raised its profile considerably — for good and bad — under offensive genius-turned-pariah Art Briles. Louisville has enjoyed the fruits of both moving up to the ACC and turning out stars Teddy Bridgewater and Lamar Jackson.
...........
Peasants
Arizona
Boston College
Duke
Minnesota
Indiana
Iowa State
Kansas
Kentucky
Mississippi State
Oregon State
Purdue
Rutgers
Wake Forest
Washington State
Vanderbilt
My lowest tier pared down from 20 to a more exclusive 15 not so much because of promotions but because four former Big East schools (Cincinnati, USF, Connecticut and Temple) fell off this list entirely.
My guess is fans with the biggest beef will be those of Mississippi State, given it’s just three years removed from debuting at No. 1 in the first-ever selection committee rankings. No question, Dak Prescott led the Bulldogs on a glorious two-season run … but it was just that, two seasons.
In conclusion, if we go back and compare this list to the original we get a sense just how much — or how little — college football’s perceived hierarchy changes in the span of a decade. Here’s how it breaks down.
Finally, if by chance I’m still writing these columns in another five years, I’d say the safest prediction is that Washington under Chris Petersen will have bumped itself up a tier (with last year’s playoff berth the beginning of the breakthrough). Conversely, Illinois is on shakiest ground for potential demotion.
Thanks for following along for another five years. On the off, off chance you disagree with where I have one more teams placed, be sure to let me know at stewart.mandel@fox.com.
http://www.foxsports.com/college-fo...-66-bcs-teams-into-four-tier-hierarchy-052517
Stewart Mandel @slmandel May 25, 2017 at 11:41a ET
I’ve written hundreds of Mailbag columns over the years. For the most part, readers consume them, (hopefully) enjoy them, and then forget about them as soon as the next one arrives.
But one particular question I answered in August 2007 took on a life of its own. A reader asked me to rank the nation’s power-conference schools by “prestige and place in the national scene.” For reasons I can’t recall, I opted to invoke a Medieval feudal system in dividing the 66 BCS programs at the time into Kings, Knights, Barons and Peasants.
Thus, my Program Pecking Order was born.
...........
The 2017 list comprises 66 schools — the Power 5 conference members and independents Notre Dame and BYU. It’s a harsh reality, but in the playoff era, every Group of 5 school — even standouts like Boise State and Houston — is seen as a peasant (or worse), so there’s no point listing them.
Thanks to my friends at SI.com for re-formatting the old columns to fit their current design. For this version, teams in bold moved up in status from the 2012 edition. Strikethrough teams fell down.
Kings
Alabama
Clemson
Florida
Florida State
LSU
Miami
Michigan
Nebraska
Notre Dame
Ohio State
Oklahoma
Penn State
Texas
USC
........
Barons
Auburn
Georgia
Michigan State
Nebraska
Oregon
Stanford
Tennessee
Texas A&M
UCLA
Virginia Tech
West Virginia
Wisconsin
.......
Knights
Arizona State
Arkansas
Baylor
Boise State
Boston College
BYU
Cal
Colorado
Georgia Tech
Illinois
Iowa
Kansas State
Louisville
Maryland
Missouri
North Carolina
NC State
Northwestern
Oklahoma State
Ole Miss
Oregon State
Pittsburgh
Purdue
Syracuse
South Carolina
TCU
Texas Tech
Utah
West Virginia
Virginia
Washington
Baylor’s brand may be toxic now, but there’s no doubt the school raised its profile considerably — for good and bad — under offensive genius-turned-pariah Art Briles. Louisville has enjoyed the fruits of both moving up to the ACC and turning out stars Teddy Bridgewater and Lamar Jackson.
...........
Peasants
Arizona
Boston College
Duke
Minnesota
Indiana
Iowa State
Kansas
Kentucky
Mississippi State
Oregon State
Purdue
Rutgers
Wake Forest
Washington State
Vanderbilt
My lowest tier pared down from 20 to a more exclusive 15 not so much because of promotions but because four former Big East schools (Cincinnati, USF, Connecticut and Temple) fell off this list entirely.
My guess is fans with the biggest beef will be those of Mississippi State, given it’s just three years removed from debuting at No. 1 in the first-ever selection committee rankings. No question, Dak Prescott led the Bulldogs on a glorious two-season run … but it was just that, two seasons.
In conclusion, if we go back and compare this list to the original we get a sense just how much — or how little — college football’s perceived hierarchy changes in the span of a decade. Here’s how it breaks down.
- Eleven of the 13 Kings remained the same, with LSU and Clemson supplanting Tennessee and Nebraska.
- There was more movement in and out of the Barons, with just six originals among the current 11. Oregon, Michigan State and Stanford all ascended from Knights.
- It’s really hard to escape the realm of peasantry. Baylor, Northwestern and North Carolina were the only ones to do it.
- All told, 16 of the 66 BCS-conference schools circa 2007 — just less than a quarter — changed tiers over the span of 10 years.
Finally, if by chance I’m still writing these columns in another five years, I’d say the safest prediction is that Washington under Chris Petersen will have bumped itself up a tier (with last year’s playoff berth the beginning of the breakthrough). Conversely, Illinois is on shakiest ground for potential demotion.
Thanks for following along for another five years. On the off, off chance you disagree with where I have one more teams placed, be sure to let me know at stewart.mandel@fox.com.
