Commentary
Trojans top BCS-era Prestige Rankings
Originally Published: January 22, 2009
By Chris Fallica, Nick Loucks and Harold Shelton | ESPN Research
Who is No. 1? That debate rages weekly during each college football season, and often long after the season is over and the trophies have been handed out. The debate is as much a part of the annual ritual as the touchdowns, fight songs and bowl games.
ESPN's Prestige Rankings may settle a few bets, or start a few arguments. Point values were assigned for certain successes (win a national title, earn 25 points) and failures (get your program banned from the postseason, lose two points). We ran all the numbers through the computer to come up with the No. 1 program (and Nos. 2-119) of the past 73 seasons. Following is the complete breakdown of FBS programs during the BCS era, compared with how they stack up all time:To continue reading this article you must be an Insider
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ESPN RESEARCH'S PRESTIGE RANKINGS
If you think the annual BCS standings can spark a debate, try ranking each FBS team's all-time position in college football history. But the ESPN Research Department devised a plan to settle the argument. Their Prestige Rankings system lets the numbers do the talking.
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