Where should Tennessee be ranked, ALL-TIME, among College Football Programs?

#76
#76
jortfreeTN said:
I think you could rank them in teirs better than numerically.
Teir 1 being Bama, Notre Dame the unarguable big time historical teams.
Teir 2 Texas USC Ohio St. Vols Michigan
Teir 3 are your teams that have been more successful in the last 20-30 years. Basically since espn has been around Florida and Oregon type teams.
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I blame ESPN, it's all their fault.
 
#78
#78
Webbvol32 said:
#1 TENNESSEE #2 BAMA #3 NOTRE DAME #4 USC,OKL,MICH. Florida isn`t HISTORICALLY a champ. team. Only since Spurrier. Fla St? lmao Some young uns on here. Heck,Miami is ahead of Fla St! Go Vols!
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UT won 2 SEC's in the 50's & 60's. UF actually won the SEC in '84 & '85 but were on probation as they were in 1990. So 2 of UT's SEC's ('85 & '90) were won because UF was on probation. UT actually beat (demolished) UF in '90 so I would say UT was better but the '84 & '85 UF teams were pretty damn good.
 
#79
#79
our chapter is still being written, hopefully, we will rise again. Tennessee is a great enriched program. We will not stay down. Most great programs go thru a slump just like we have been experiencing. This does not define our program
 
#80
#80
If anyone says lower than 9th. They are short changing the program. You are what you're record says you are. And oh by the way, 6 NC and being the winningest D-1 program since 1926 doesn't hurt either.
 
#81
#81
Boca Vol said:
UT won 2 SEC's in the 50's & 60's. UF actually won the SEC in '84 & '85 but were on probation as they were in 1990. So 2 of UT's SEC's ('85 & '90) were won because UF was on probation. UT actually beat (demolished) UF in '90 so I would say UT was better but the '84 & '85 UF teams were pretty damn good.
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Lol. Florida being on probation equals breaking rules others adhered to, so it counts bud. Not to mention, a 35-7 thumping of #1 Miami in the Sugar Bowl with a back up QB and RB says we were as hot as any team in the nation to end the season in 1985.
 
#82
#82
Boca Vol said:
Regarding where UT should be ranked all-time, around 9 or so is about right.

UT is ranked high all-time in a lot of categories but longevity of the program has a lot to with it.

UT isn't a 9-10 win team year in and year out. I think UT's all-time winning percentage is about 68% so that's 7-8 wins on average per year. Over the long haul that's a lot of wins.
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You do realize until the 90s it was very rare that teams played more than 10-11 games. Couple that with until 1910ish on teams didn't even play double digit games in a season. But continue to skew stats to serve your agenda by trivializing UTs history. Truth is Florida's tradition couldn't hold Tennessee's jock.
 
#83
#83
sanddune50 said:
You do realize until the 90s it was very rare that teams played more than 10-11 games. Couple that with until 1910ish on teams didn't even play double digit games in a season. But continue to skew stats to serve your agenda by trivializing UTs history. Truth is Florida's tradition couldn't hold Tennessee's jock.
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Threads like this usually come up when fans are grasping at something to hold onto. UT has a fine history and tradition but there have been 5 losing seasons since the '05 season. Its a different day in college football. Everybody has money and is on TV. Everybody gives the same number of scholarships. It used to not be that way. Weaknesses that are inherent to a program are only magnified in today's environment.
 
#84
#84
1..... But realistically when I take my fan goggles off atleast in the top 6. Even considering our recent struggles as far as national titles and wins we are still an elite program. My top 6 would look something like this and these aren't ranked or anything I'm too lazy to think that hard right now.

Tennessee, Alabama, Oklahoma, Texas, Michigan, Notre Dame
 
#85
#85
FGT said:
Threads like this usually come up when fans are grasping at something to hold onto. UT has a fine history and tradition but there have been 5 losing seasons since the '05 season. Its a different day in college football. Everybody has money and is on TV. Everybody gives the same number of scholarships. It used to not be that way. Weaknesses that are inherent to a program are only magnified in today's environment.
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No grasping. You just happen to be on UT board where tradition will get discussed from time to time. I do understand why rival fans feel uncomfortable with this discussion due to it making their teams accomplishments not look as glamorous as it would be if 100 years of football didn't exist before they decided to play catch up and join the party. Truth is, while Tennessee has had a rough last 5 years, they are as relevant if not more relevant than a lot of schools that many of you cling to as being 'teams of today'. Tradition is only one part of the equation, but with top 5 training facilities, a 100,000 seat stadium, and yes a top ten tradition to speak of Tennessee will rise back to were they belong in the college football landscape.
 
#86
#86
For those of you who would advocate a more recent, narrower time frame to gauge success, I would say, once again, that ALL-TIME is the only way to truly measure the historical greatness of a program. Just to illustrate how statistical selectivity can skew perspectives for the purpose of analysis, let's compare relative success during the following periods, utilizing only wins and winning pct. for the sake of argument:

1869-1925 (the formative period of college football, one in which the Northeast was dominant and Alabama had just begun to become a pimple on the college football landscape): Yale, Princeton, Harvard, Notre Dame and Michigan are, in that order, preeminent, with Vanderbilt actually nudging into the Top 10 at 9th. See I-A Winning Percentage 1869-1925.

1869-1980 (this is just before the Ivy League schools come off the radar screen): Yale, Princeton and Harvard remain Top Ten schools in terms of winning pct. Notre Dame is 1st overall, Alabama 4th and Tennessee 11th for this period. See I-A Winning Percentage 1869-1980.

1900-1950 (Prominence of the Ivy League is still felt, as four schools from that cadre are ranked in the top 13 but new powers are emerging. Army, Alabama, and Minnesota are 3rd, 4th, and 5th. Tennessee rounds out the Top Ten, followed immediately by Vanderbilt at 11th.
See I-A Winning Percentage 1900-1950.

1900-2011 (Ivy League schools fall out of the equation and the landscape begins to resemble what we now consider to be the traditional powers): Notre Dame and Michigan are 1st and 2nd. Alabama is 5th, USC, Tennessee and Penn State round out the Top Ten in that order. Florida comes in 16th in winning pct. and is 107 wins behind Tennessee for that period. See I-A Winning Percentage 1900-2011.

1926-1952 (the era bracketed by NeylandÂ’s career at Tennessee): Tennessee leads the nation, both in winning pct. (.81818) and wins (209), followed immediately by Notre Dame, Alabama and Army. Surprisingly, Tulsa, Duke and Michigan State finish 7th, 8th and 9th for this period in winning pct. See I-A Winning Percentage 1926-1952.

1926-2001: Tennessee still leads the nation in winning pct. (.73305) and trails only Alabama in overall wins (589, compared to 592). See I-A Winning Percentage 1926-2001.

1926-2011: Tennessee has fallen to 4th in winning pct. but remains 2nd in overall wins. See I-A Winning Percentage 1926-2011.

I understand the human tendency to place greatest value on glories achieved in the present and immediate past. The true measure of greatness, however, is sustained excellence and staying power.
 
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#87
#87
sanddune50 said:
Lol. Florida being on probation equals breaking rules others adhered to, so it counts bud. Not to mention, a 35-7 thumping of #1 Miami in the Sugar Bowl with a back up QB and RB says we were as hot as any team in the nation to end the season in 1985.
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Let's not forget that penalties levied against Florida were for some of the most egregious violations of NCAA rules in the history of college football. Consider the following:

"After the 1982 season, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) began an investigation into possible rule violations by Pell and his staff at Florida. Pell took full responsibility for the violations in August 1984 and announced he would resign at the end of the season. However, on September 16, only three games into the season, the NCAA announced that Florida was alleged to have committed 107 major infractions--including spying on other teams' practices, payments and gifts to players, and allowing walk-ons to stay in the athletic dorm. That night, university president Marshall Criser fired Pell and named his offensive coordinator, Galen Hall, as interim coach. Hall and the 1984 Gators won Florida's first-ever Southeastern Conference (SEC) football championship, but the SEC university presidents voted to vacate the Gators' 1984 SEC title after the season was over. In January 1985, after it was ultimately determined that Pell and the Gators coaching staff had actually committed fifty-nine infractions, the NCAA placed Florida on two years' probation and banned the Gators from bowl games and live television in 1985 and 1986. The NCAA also reduced the Gators' football scholarships by twenty over three years. The loss of scholarships proved to be the most crippling sanction in the long-term; with a depleted roster, the Gators did not win more than seven games from 1986 to 1989" (Charley Pell - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia).
 
#89
#89
Volosaurus rex said:
Let's not forget that penalties levied against Florida were for some of the most egregious violations of NCAA rules in the history of college football. Consider the following:

"After the 1982 season, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) began an investigation into possible rule violations by Pell and his staff at Florida. Pell took full responsibility for the violations in August 1984 and announced he would resign at the end of the season. However, on September 16, only three games into the season, the NCAA announced that Florida was alleged to have committed 107 major infractions--including spying on other teams' practices, payments and gifts to players, and allowing walk-ons to stay in the athletic dorm. That night, university president Marshall Criser fired Pell and named his offensive coordinator, Galen Hall, as interim coach. Hall and the 1984 Gators won Florida's first-ever Southeastern Conference (SEC) football championship, but the SEC university presidents voted to vacate the Gators' 1984 SEC title after the season was over. In January 1985, after it was ultimately determined that Pell and the Gators coaching staff had actually committed fifty-nine infractions, the NCAA placed Florida on two years' probation and banned the Gators from bowl games and live television in 1985 and 1986. The NCAA also reduced the Gators' football scholarships by twenty over three years. The loss of scholarships proved to be the most crippling sanction in the long-term; with a depleted roster, the Gators did not win more than seven games from 1986 to 1989" (Charley Pell - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia).
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As a student at UF in the mid 80s, I can honestly say we earned those sanctions. :yes:
 
#90
#90
sanddune50 said:
You do realize until the 90s it was very rare that teams played more than 10-11 games. Couple that with until 1910ish on teams didn't even play double digit games in a season. But continue to skew stats to serve your agenda by trivializing UTs history. Truth is Florida's tradition couldn't hold Tennessee's jock.
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I like that, and a gator smells worse than a jocks a@@.:eek:lol:
 
#91
#91
If I had to guess, the top 10 would look something like this

Alabama
Notre Dame
Michigan
Ohio State
Southern Cal
Texas
Tennessee
Miami
Penn State
Georgia
 
#93
#93
sanddune50 said:
No grasping. You just happen to be on UT board where tradition will get discussed from time to time. I do understand why rival fans feel uncomfortable with this discussion due to it making their teams accomplishments not look as glamorous as it would be if 100 years of football didn't exist before they decided to play catch up and join the party. Truth is, while Tennessee has had a rough last 5 years, they are as relevant if not more relevant than a lot of schools that many of you cling to as being 'teams of today'. Tradition is only one part of the equation, but with top 5 training facilities, a 100,000 seat stadium, and yes a top ten tradition to speak of Tennessee will rise back to were they belong in the college football landscape.
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History and tradition is what makes college football great. No rational CFB fan questions UT's long term historical significance. I certainly don't.

But you'd be hard pressed to find a UF fan...or Miami fan or FSU fan...willing to trade the last 30 years for UT's history over the past 100 years.
 
#95
#95
Lawrence Wright said:
History and tradition is what makes college football great. No rational CFB fan questions UT's long term historical significance. I certainly don't.

But you'd be hard pressed to find a UF fan...or Miami fan or FSU fan...willing to trade the last 30 years for UT's history over the past 100 years.
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this.

all i know is florida has been playing football since 1906.

they are now 12th in wins since 1906 having moved past auburn after this season. so, i know about how long it took florida to win a championship. but, people speak as if florida was vanderbilt or kentucky until 1990 and that's just not close to the truth either.
 
#96
#96
sanddune50 said:
No grasping. You just happen to be on UT board where tradition will get discussed from time to time. I do understand why rival fans feel uncomfortable with this discussion due to it making their teams accomplishments not look as glamorous as it would be if 100 years of football didn't exist before they decided to play catch up and join the party. Truth is, while Tennessee has had a rough last 5 years, they are as relevant if not more relevant than a lot of schools that many of you cling to as being 'teams of today'. Tradition is only one part of the equation, but with top 5 training facilities, a 100,000 seat stadium, and yes a top ten tradition to speak of Tennessee will rise back to were they belong in the college football landscape.
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I happen to be a UT fan but I tend to look at these things from a business approach. When looking at past results, its important to understand how and why the success or lack thereof occurred and what the competitive landscape was at that time compared to today. From a facilities and spending standpoint, UT is doing nearly everything possible to keep itself in the upper tier of college football. The competitive landscape is greater than ever. Going forward I see UT winning the SEC once every ten years or so and making a couple of BCS bowls every decade as well.
 
#97
#97
UT is the eighth winningest program all time in NCAA football. I would say we are a Top 10 program historically based on that, bowl wins, national championships, SEC championships, and overall respect as a program. Hopefully CBJ can get us back to where we belong based on our history because in the last 5 years we have been a train wreck.
 
#98
#98
Lawrence Wright said:
History and tradition is what makes college football great. No rational CFB fan questions UT's long term historical significance. I certainly don't.

But you'd be hard pressed to find a UF fan...or Miami fan or FSU fan...willing to trade the last 30 years for UT's history over the past 100 years.
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30 years? Don't be so modest Larry. The gators sucked right on up until 'bout 20 years ago. I was on the 30 yard line the night we beat spurrier 45-10 and it didn't even seem like a big deal then. Same feeling as beating ole miss. That was 1990 I think?
 
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