Florida State just completed a 14-0 season and won the national championship, making them one of the better college football teams of all-time.
But just where should they be ranked among the elite teams of the past? We're going to try to answer that question.
First we'll look at what we call "success", that is, how their 14-0 record stacks up against other teams—not considering how talented or strong the team is, but just how great of an accomplishment it was to go 14-0 against their schedule compared to other teams. Though we could go back to 1869, we'll limit our survey to the last 50 years to keep things somewhat modern.
Using our Success power rating—which doesn't consider winning margin, just who you beat and who you lose to—here are the results:
# Year Team Rec Rating
1. 1971 Nebraska 13-0 46.07
2. 1988 Notre Dame 12-0 39.32
3. 2009 Alabama 14-0 37.64
4. 2010 Auburn 14-0 36.75
5. 1987 Miami (Florida) 12-0 33.09
6. 2004 Southern California 13-0 32.19
7. 1995 Nebraska 12-0 32.11
8. 2002 Ohio State 14-0 29.54
9. 1991 Miami (Florida) 12-0 29.43
10. 1998 Tennessee 13-0 28.24
11. 2000 Oklahoma 13-0 27.23
12. 2005 Texas 13-0 27.22
13. 1997 Nebraska 13-0 26.94
14. 2011 LSU 13-1 26.43
15. 1978 Southern California 12-1 25.97
16. 1992 Alabama 13-0 25.80
17. 2004 Auburn 13-0 25.38
18. 1973 Notre Dame 11-0 25.30
19. 2013 Florida St 14-0 25.02
20. 1991 Washington 12-0 24.66
Florida State comes out #19 here, and that's probably a fair shake. Not many teams have gone 14-0 so they definitely deserve kudos for that alone, and the more wins a team has the better they will score in the Success ratings. But their schedule wasn't the toughest by any means. They beat a good Auburn team, but the Tigers had another loss, as did the next best team (11-2 Clemson) that they defeated.
Compare that to the #1 team here, 1971 Nebraska. The Cornhuskers beat both 12-1 Alabama and 12-1 Oklahoma that year; Nebraska and Oklahoma also handed 10-2 Colorado its only losses, and Alabama and Oklahoma were the only teams to beat 9-2 Auburn, who beat 11-1 Georgia. Rarely has there been a year where the pecking order is so clearly defined, and Nebraska was at the very top of the pyramid.
1988 Notre Dame came close. They beat 11-1 Miami and 11-1 West Virginia, and 10-2 USC. They also beat 9-2-1 Michigan, whose only losses were to Miami and Notre Dame, and the Wolverines also beat USC. Miami was the only team to beat 11-1 FSU that year.
At #3 and #4 are two other recent 14-0 teams with much greater accomplishments: 2009 Alabama and 2010 Auburn. Both teams ran the table in the tough SEC, but more importantly they faced a dominant team in the final game, with Alabama beating 13-1 Texas and Auburn topping 12-1 Oregon. The Alabama team also handed 13-1 Florida its only loss, which gave them the slight edge.
Miami's 1987 team rounds out the top five. The Hurricanes beat previously undefeated Oklahoma to win the championship, and also was the only team to beat 11-1 FSU. Oklahoma and FSU handed 10-2 Nebraska its only losses. Again, a pyramid, with Miami at the top.
Not all of the team in this top 20 even won the national championship. At #14, 2011 LSU finished 13-1 with a loss to Alabama in the BCS title game, but they played a much tougher schedule than the Tide, and even beat them earlier in the season. Since victory margin doesn't count here, the teams were 1-1 head to head and LSU scores much higher due to their other wins. 2004 Auburn didn't get a shot at the national title but finished 13-0 and #17 here (the winner that year was USC, who ranks #6 here). The teams at #9, #13, #15, and #12 won split national championships, winning either the AP or coaches poll but not both.
So all in all, Florida State's schedule was pretty weak on average; they rank lower than every 14-0 team except for 2009 Boise State (18.50). The ACC wasn't great this year so there wasn't much stiff competition, with Miami and Duke being the Seminoles' only other noteworthy wins.
Next post we'll try to see how the Seminoles rank from a pure Strength perspective; in other words, are they actually better than many of the teams that rank ahead of them above?
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