CFN's All-Time Greatest Seasons (by a team) LSU #18

locoguano · Jan 10, 2006

http://www.collegefootballnews.com/Almanac/CFN_Formula/CFN_FormulaAllTime.htm

Notes of interest: The All-Time Rankings
1) USC 2005
Yup, had the Trojans won the 2006 Rose Bowl, they would've finished with the number one season of all-time.
2) The big debates
2004: Auburn 24.45 - USC 23.77
(thanks to the new rule counting a bowl win over a three-loss team, Virginia Tech, as Elite)
2003: LSU 25.14 - USC 22.62
1997: Nebraska 25.18 - Michigan 23.33
1994: Nebraska 25.22 - Penn State: 21.371991: Miami 26.36 - Washington 25.55
1990: Colorado 22.83 - Georgia Tech 22.39
1974: Oklahoma 22:56 - USC 19:09
3) BYU didn't beat anyone in 1984, but ...
Neither did Washington. The Cougars scored 19.73, while the Huskies finished 19.24.
4) The worst national champion season of the last 40 years was ...
Georgia, 1980. Herschel Walker's Dawgs had only four Quality Wins and five Bad Wins.
5) 1993 Auburn ...
Doesn't even deserve to be in the discussion with only two Quality Wins scoring a 15.86.
6) 1983
The wackiest year ever for the formula. Miami beat Nebraska in the Orange Bowl, but the Huskers scored a 24.04 to Miami's 19.69. The Formula's national champion? Auburn at 25.42. Not on the list of 70, but also interesting to note, was Texas scoring 20.92.
7) USC 1978
Ten quality wins. The most ever.

The Formula's Components:
1. Wins. - If you win, everything else falls into place. Each win counts as 1.
2. Quality Wins - The number of wins over teams that finished with a winning record. Each win counts as 1.
3. Elite Wins - The number of wins over teams that finished with two losses or fewer. Each win counts as 1 with a road win over an Elite team getting an extra 0.5. Also counting as 1 is a road win over a team that finished with three losses or fewer (but the extra 0.5 isn't added). A new wrinkle was added this year. A win over a team that finishes with three losses in a bowl game counts as one.
4. Bad Loss - The number of losses to teams that finished with three wins or fewer or a loss to a DI-AA team. Each loss counts as minus-1. Take away an additional 0.5 for a Bad Loss at home.
5. Bad Win - The number of wins to teams that finished with three wins or fewer, or a win over a D-IAA team. Each win counts as minus 0.25.
6. Elite Loss - The number of losses to teams that finished with two losses or fewer. Each loss counts as 0.25.
7. Point Differential - Points for minus points against divided by 100.
8. Winning Percentage - To take losses into account, winning percentage is in the mix. Total wins is the tie-breaker followed by winning percentage.

Below are 70 teams, including all the national champions since Texas won in 1969, and a few notable others considered by most to be among the greatest of all-time, give or take a Yale or Michigan squad here and there, and what kind of seasons they had based on the CFN Formula. (This isn't a ranking of the top 70 seasons among every team that ever played, but ranked on the teams considered among the best.)

Which teams had the best seasons on the field? Forget about biases and human opinion, what if you just went by wins and the importance of each one? After several tweaks, adaptations and attempts, here's the CFN Formula to find out which of the greatest teams of all-time had the best seasons ever.

Two things to keep in mind. 1) This takes into account the entire season punishing ugly losses and pumping up good wins. A win at the beginning of the year counts the same as a win at the end in a bowl game, so there might be some head-to-head discrepancies; they're unavoidable in any ranking system. Remember, this is looking at an entire season and not just which team beat another team.

2) This is NOT a ranking of which teams were the best or most talented. This is a formula to find out which teams had the best seasons. Anything else is simply opinion.
1. Texas, 2005 Big 12 (13-0)
Final Score: 29.54
Quality Wins: 9. UL Lafayette, at Ohio State, at Missouri, Oklahoma, Colorado, Texas Tech, Kansas, Colorado, USC
Elite Win Score: 2.5. at Ohio State, USC
Bad Loss Score: 0 ... Bad Wins: 1.Rice
Elite Loss: 0 .... Point Differential Score: 4.29 ... Winning Percentage: 1.00

2. Nebraska, 1995 Big 8 (12-0)
Final Score: 27.64
Quality Wins: 6. at Michigan State, Arizona State, Kansas State, at Colorado, at Kansas, Florida
Elite Win Score: 5. Kansas State, at Colorado, at Kansas, Florida
Bad Loss Score: 0 ... Bad Wins: 4. Pacific, Washington State, Missouri, Iowa State
Elite Loss: 0 .... Point Differential Score: 4.64 ... Winning Percentage: 1.00

3. Oklahoma, 2000 Big 12 (13-0)
Final Score: 27.37
Quality Wins: 8. UTEP, Texas, at Kansas State, Nebraska, at Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Kansas State, Florida State
Elite Win Score: 3.5. at Kansas State*, Nebraska, Florida State
Bad Loss Score: 0 ... Bad Wins: 4: Rice
Elite Loss: 0 .... Point Differential Score: 2.87 ... Winning Percentage: 1.00
*Oklahoma beat Kansas State, who finished 11-3, twice. The ruling was to give the Sooners a bonus score of 0.5 for the second win.

4. Nebraska, 1971 Big 8 (13-0)
Final Score: 27.28
Quality Wins: 6. Utah State, Colorado, Iowa State, at Oklahoma, at Hawaii, Alabama
Elite Win Score: 3.5. Colorado, at Oklahoma, Alabama
Bad Loss Score: 0 ... Bad Wins: 1. at Missouri
Elite Loss: 0 .... Point Differential Score: 4.03 ... Winning Percentage: 1.00

5. Florida State, 1993 ACC (12-1)
Final Score: 26.99
Quality Wins: 7. Clemson, at North Carolina, Miami, Virginia, NC State, at Florida, Nebraska
Elite Win Score: 3.5. at North Carolina, at Florida, Nebraska
Bad Loss Score: 0 ... Bad Wins: 3. at Duke, Wake Forest, at Maryland
Elite Loss: 1: at Notre Dame .... Point Differential Score: 4.07 ... Winning Percentage: 0.92

6. Notre Dame, 1930 Independent (10-0)
Final Score: 26.86
Quality Wins: 9. SMU, Navy, Carnegie Tech, at Pittsburgh, at Penn, Drake, at Northwestern, Army, at USC
Elite Win Score: 5. at Pittsburgh, at Northwestern, Army, at USC
Bad Loss Score: 0 ... Bad Wins: 1. Indiana
Elite Loss: 0 .... Point Differential Score: 1.91 ... Winning Percentage: 1.00

7. USC, 1978Pac 10 (12-1)
Final Score: 26.57
Quality Wins: 10. Texas Tech, at Alabama, Michigan State, California, at Stanford, Washington, at UCLA, Notre Dame, at Hawaii, Michigan
Elite Win Score: 2.5. at Alabama, Michigan
Bad Loss Score: 0 ... Bad Wins: 2. at Oregon, Oregon State
Elite Loss: 0 .... Point Differential Score: 1.65 ... Winning Percentage: 0.92

8. Tennessee, 1998 SEC (13-0)
Final Score: 26.42
Quality Wins: 8. at Syracuse, Florida, at Georgia, Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Mississippi State, Florida State
Elite Win Score: 3. Florida, at Georgia, Florida State
Bad Loss Score: 0 ... Bad Wins: 4. Houston, at Auburn, at South Carolina, at Vanderbilt
Elite Loss: 0 .... Point Differential Score: 2.42 ... Winning Percentage: 1.00

9. Miami, 1991 Big East (12-0)
Final Score: 26.42
Quality Wins: 6. at Tulsa, Penn State, West Virginia, at Florida State, San Diego State, Nebraska
Elite Win Score: 5. at Tulsa, Penn State, at Florida State, Nebraska
Bad Loss Score: 0 ... Bad Wins: 2. Oklahoma State, Long Beach State
Elite Loss: 0 .... Point Differential Score: 2.86 ... Winning Percentage: 1.00

10. Florida, 1996 SEC (12-1)
Final Score: 26.07
Quality Wins: 6. at Tennessee, LSU, Auburn, South Carolina, Alabama, Florida State (Sugar Bowl)
Elite Win Score: 3.5. at Tennessee, LSU, Florida State (Sugar Bowl)
Bad Loss Score: 0 ... Bad Wins: 2. Georgia Southern, at Vanderbilt
Elite Loss: 1. at Florida State .... Point Differential Score: 3.9 ... Winning Percentage: 0.92
Click to expand...

shel311 · Jan 10, 2006

Hmm, Nebraska '95 had more quality wins, more elite wins, and a higher point differential than Texas '05, and everything else was equal.

How did Texas come out ahead???

locoguano · Jan 10, 2006

shel311 said:

Hmm, Nebraska '95 had more quality wins, more elite wins, and a higher point differential than Texas '05, and everything else was equal.

How did Texas come out ahead???
Click to expand...

Texas had more quality wins and less bad loses.. Nebraska 95 only had more elite wins..

tigger1 · Jan 10, 2006

One of Texas wins!!!!!
Quality Wins; UL Lafayette

Someone double check, I have the 1958 team with 22.55 which would place them number 38.

Nutriaitch · Jan 10, 2006

2) The big debates
2004: Auburn 24.45 - USC 23.77
(thanks to the new rule counting a bowl win over a three-loss team, Virginia Tech, as Elite)
2003: LSU 25.14 - USC 22.62
1997: Nebraska 25.18 - Michigan 23.33
1994: Nebraska 25.22 - Penn State: 21.371991: Miami 26.36 - Washington 25.55
1990: Colorado 22.83 - Georgia Tech 22.39
1974: Oklahoma 22:56 - USC 19:09

Click to expand...

:thumb:

locoguano · Jan 10, 2006

tigger1 said:

One of Texas wins!!!!!
Quality Wins; UL Lafayette

Someone double check, I have the 1958 team with 22.55 which would place them number 38.
Click to expand...

They rate quality wins as wins over teams with winning records.. UL finished 6-5 and were SBC co-champs... they actually got destroyed by UT by less points than some big 12 teams.. heh..

MarineTiger · Jan 10, 2006

NU from 1995 would have murdered UT from this year.

I would take that team over any other

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CFN's All-Time Greatest Seasons (by a team) LSU #18

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