Ranking Football States Utah #14

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1651755-power-ranking-all-50-states-by-their-college-football-teams?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=college-football#/articles/1651755-power-ranking-all-50-states-by-their-college-football-teams/page/30" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;



The state of Utah has been surprisingly good at football in recent years, led by BYU and Utah State.

The bad thing about BleacherReport is that you can't do anything without having to view a freakin' slideshow.

True but the link should have taken you straight to that page. Hint -- if you know where you are going you can change the page number in the URL and skip a lot of the slides.

Its BLEACHER REPORTS...



May as well make my own list:



#1a OHIO (Ohio State, Cincinnati, Toledo)

#1b ALABAMA (Alabama, Auburn, UAB)

#3a Florida (Florida, Florida State, Miami, South Florida, Central Florida)

#3b California (Cal, Stanford, USC, UCLA, SDSU, Fresno State, SJSU

#5 Texas (Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, TCU, Rice, Houston, UTEP, NTSU, TXSA)

#6 Oklahoma (Oklahoma State, Tulsa, Oklahoma)

#7 Georgia (Georgia Tech, Georgia)

#8 Michigan (Michigan State, Michigan, Western Michigan)

#9 South Carolina (Clemson, South Carolina)

#10 Oregon (Oregon, Oregon State)

#11 Washington (Washington, Washington State)

#12 Indiana (Indiana, Purdue, Notre Dame)

#13 Utah (BYU, Utah State, Utah)

#14 Pennsylvania (Temple, Penn State, Pittsburgh)

#15 Louisiana (LSU, La-Monroe, La-Lafayette, La-Tech, Tulane)

#16 Illinois (Northwestern, Illinois, Northern Illinois)

#17 Colorado (Air Force, Colorado State, Colorado w/special tribute to Adams State, home of the film "Revenge of the Nerds without which Colorado would rank about 30th).

#18 New York (Syracuse, Army, Buffalo)

#19 North Carolina (North Carolina, NC -State, Duke, Wake Forest)

#20 Virginia (Va Tech and Virginia)

#21 Mississippi (Mississippi State, So. Miss and Ol' Miss)

#22 Kentucky (Kentucky, Louisville)

#23 Idaho (Idaho, Boise State)

#24 Iowa (Iowa State, Iowa)

#25 Kansas {Kansas State and Kansas)

Anyone else confused by #11?

Schmoe wrote:
Anyone else confused by #11?

That and NO WAY are there four football states higher than Texas...

Ohio #1? Ohio State's program is great, but Cincinnati and Toledo really don't move the scale. Are they just looking at 2012? Or arbitrarily looking at the best season of each team? Powerhouses like Kent State and University of Ohio? Please!



Texas, Florida, and California are EASILY the top 3. E-A-S-I-L-Y. It's a great debate on the pecking order of those three.



Alabama has to be in the top-5 discussion because the national champion has come from this state for the last 4 years (Alabama x3, Auburn x1). But after that, it's Troy and...? South Alabama (a new FBS team)? BCS Championship appearances - 5 (Alabama x4; Auburn x1).

Dunno what to think about this. The states I've lived in: CA, UT, FL, SC, GA. From my personal observations and interactions I will have to rank these states:

1) Alabama

2) Alabama

3) Alabama

4) Alabama

5) Alabama

6) South Carolina

7) Georgia

8) Florida

9) Utah

10) California

I'm a lifelong Cougar fan and Puke hater. But from what I've seen and experienced, our rivalry ain't nutin compared to the states I've listed ahead of them. In CA they really don't give a crap about much of anything except protecting trees. Too many old transient people live in FL to make it a hotbed of football passion. GA is okay, but when your orphaned baby sister school (Ga. Tech) is in Atlanta and the Bulldogs are in little Athens, there just seems to be a disconnect there. South Carolina amazed me. Those Clemson fans are really rabid, especially for the bunch of ignorant farmers they are. Gamecock fans are rabid too but usually too drunk to care. But 'Bama. Wow! There's nothing like the Alabama - Auburn rivalry. I mean, Ohio State - Michigan, Georgia - Florida, and others are great rivalrys, but they are inter-state, not intra-state, rivalries. And the Ala/Aub rivalry bleeds across borders with the same passion that exists within the state. Many of you can disagree with me. But I'm only saying what I've experienced.

1967cougar wrote:
Dunno what to think about this. The states I've lived in: CA, UT, FL, SC, GA. From my personal observations and interactions I will have to rank these states:

1) Alabama

2) Alabama

3) Alabama

4) Alabama

5) Alabama

6) South Carolina

7) Georgia

8) Florida

9) Utah

10) California

If we are talking how big football is in the community and how active the fan bases are, I absolutely agree with you. I would throw Louisiana in the mix and Texas before Utah...and California behind just about every other state outside of New York.



But if we're evaluating which state has the best college football programs from a performance standpoint Texas and California are kings.

California? Who's good in California?

The top 15 states, based on performance - by my analysis (Utah #10):



1) Texas - 3 different top-10 teams the last 5 years (Texas, A&M, TCU); 6 different teams in year-end rankings (add Baylor, Houston, and Texas Tech), 4 BCS appearances in last 5 years (Texas x2, TCU x2)



2) California - a top 10 team almost every year (Stanford and USC, recently); 4 different teams in year-end rankings in the last 5 years (add Cal and SJSU) and UCLA and SDSU close, 4 BCS appearances in last 5 years



3) Florida - three of the last 10 national champs (Florida x2, Miami); 4 different teams in year-end rankings in the last 5 years (add Florida State and UCF), 4 BCS appearances in last 5 years



4) Alabama - the last 4 national champs (Alabama x3, Auburn), 5 straight BCS appearances. Only knock on the state of Alabama is that there is very little after Alabama and Auburn - and Auburn was horrible last year.



5) Ohio - 2 different top-10 teams the last 5 years (Ohio St. and Cincinnati) and in 4 of the last 5. 5 BCS bids in the last 5 years (would be more but for OSU's bowl ban). Big drop off after Ohio St. and Cincinnati, although Kent St. and Miami(OH) have sniffed the top-25 in the past 3 seasons (but didn't finish there).



6) Oklahoma - 2 different top 10 teams and 3 different top-25 teams in the last 5 years (Oklahoma, Okie State, Tulsa), 3 BCS bids in the last 5 years.



7) Oregon - Oregon and Oregon State are the only programs, but Oregon has been top 5 in the last 3 years and both have been ranked in the top 25 TOGETHER, twice, in the last 5. 4 straight BCS bids for Oregon. But, no other programs in the state.



#8 Georgia - Georgia or Georgia Tech have finished ranked in 4 of the last 5 (both in 2008). Georgia finished in the top 5 last year. One BCS bid (Georgia Tech 2009). A ranked team in 9 of the last 10 years (Georgia x8 - 5 in the top 10, Georgia Tech x2).



9) Louisiana - this all about LSU. 4 straight in the rankings (including two top-10) and 9 out of 10, with 6 top-10 finishes. 2011 BCS bid and 2007 national champion. Louisiana Tech has been close to finishing the season in the rankings, but doesn't add enough to help the state's ranking.



.....10) Utah - 3 different top-25 teams in the last 5 years (Utah, BYU, Utah State), one BCS appearance in the last 5 years (Utah 2008). A ranked team in 9 of the last 10 years (BYU x5, Utah x5, USU x1).



11) South Carolina - Clemson or S. Carolina have been in the year-end rankings in 8 of the last 10, with BOTH ranked in the last two seasons (and S. Carolina in the top 10). Only one BCS bid (Clemson 2011). This may be owing to the fact that S. Carolina is in the SEC, however...and the fact that Clemson just can't consistently beat Florida State or Virginia Tech for the ACC auto-bid.



12) Michigan - 3 different top-25 teams in the last 5 years (Michigan, Michigan St., Central Michigan), but no top-10 finishes. Michigan has gone to 3 BCS bowl games in the last 10 years, but none in the last 6 seasons.



13) Idaho - this is all about Boise St. 5 straight seasons finishing in the year-end rankings, and 8 out of 10, with 4 top-10 finishes. Only one BCS bowl in the last 5 years. Idaho stinks, so there's no one to help the Bronco's.



14) Virginia - Virginia Tech has finished ranked in 8 of the last 9 seasons, with 4 top-10 finishes. 4 BCS bowls in the last 9 years - but that's mostly because VA Tech had a good run in the weak ACC. Virginia has ended the year ranked one time, but has been close in 3 other seasons - but nothing in the last 5 years.



15) Pennsylvania - the last three years have been dry (with Penn St. just outside the top 25), but the previous 6 years saw Penn St. or Pitt finish in the top 25 (and the other close to the top 25), with three top-10 finishes by Penn St. and 3 BCS bowl bids (albeit one by Pitt's weak Big East affiliation - trounced by Utah in '04).



Other noteworthies (but mostly only one in-state program): Wisconsin (UW- ranked 8 of last 9 and 3 straight BCS bids - though not rightfully earned), West Virginia (UWV - ranked 6 of 8 with 3 BCS bids - from the weak Big East), Indiana (Notre Dame - ranked x3 and 3 BCS bids in last 10 years), and Kentucky (Louisville - ranked in 4 of 9, and 2 BCS bids in last 10 years)

hawkwing wrote:
California? Who's good in California?

San Jose State :blush:

hawkwing wrote:
California? Who's good in California?

Come on! Stanford has gone to three straight BCS bowls and finished in the top 10 3 straight years. USC went to 6 straight BCS bowls from 2003-2008 and had a run of 6 top-5 finishes. A top 10 team in 9 of the last 10 seasons (USC x7, Stanford x3 Cal x1). 6 different teams in the year-end rankings over the last 10 years (USC, Stanford, Cal, UCLA, SJSU, and Fresno St.). Only Texas can compete with that resume.