The Ten Best College Football Teams 2000 to 2009

The first decade of the 21^st Century has come to a close and we can now officially assess which teams were the best of the last ten years. I compiled earlier lists after the 2007 and 2008 seasons. While, without 2009 in consideration, those lists were necessarily incomplete, not much has changed in the overall rankings now that all the games of the decade have been played.

2009 Alabama joins the fray. And a bit of reshuffling has occurred. But all in all, the truly great teams of the last ten years suited up in the first half of the decade.

This is a subjective ranking and, no doubt, you won't agree with all my choices. But consider that, with 115 Division 1 schools fielding ten teams a piece for the decade, that's 1150 different teams to pick just ten from. 4 National Champions didn't make the cut. That's how hard it is to show up on a list like this.

So, if you feel a particular team was snubbed, please let me know in the comments box at the bottom of the page. But keep in mind, whatever team you think should have been on here, it was probably heavily considered.

#10. 2008 UTAH UTES (13-0)

An argument can be made for each of those BCS busters to be included in the Top 10 of the decade. But I think one particular team rises to the top.

The 2009 Sugar Bowl matched #6 Utah against #4 Alabama -- an 11-point favorite. The Utes manhandled the Crimson Tide, holding the SEC runner-up to 208 yards of total offense and just 10 points. (Another Alabama touchdown was added by special teams play.) All in all, it was a more impressive victory than the eventual National Champion Florida Gators laid upon Alabama and was good enough to earn Utah a #2 ranking in the final AP poll.

So why aren't they ranked higher on this list?

The Utes beat four ranked teams, but they also occasionally struggled against lesser teams including 3-9 Michigan and 4-8 New Mexico. One misstep against either of those teams and Utah's perfect season and BCS invite would have been out the door. I actually think the 2004 team with the complete domination of its schedule and Urban Meyer under the headphones was probably a better team than this one. But the 2008 Utes' Sugar Bowl was a victory like no other in school history. And that's what ultimately gives Whittingham's squad the advantage to make this list.

#9. 2004 AUBURN TIGERS (13-0)

This team got no respect in 2004. Even after scorching Tennessee - twice - handing the Vols two of their three losses on the season. With four teams undefeated in 2004, Utah and Auburn found themselves on the outside looking in for the national title. USC and Oklahoma hogged the spotlight. And then, eventually, just USC. Fans cried foul of the BCS after the Trojans flogged the Sooners and left a total of three teams unblemished when all was said and done.

Would the Auburn Tigers have been a better opponent for USC than the Sooners? I think probably, although I just don't see a victory in the cards against Leinart and Bush. Still, 2004 Auburn was an impressive team, beating five ranked opponents and dominating nearly every team they played. A low preseason ranking kept the Tigers from proving their mettle against another Top 10 team of the decade

Like the 2000 Sooners, Ohio State's 2002 run foreshadowed the Buckeyes' emergence as one of the best programs of the decade.

#8. 2002 OHIO STATE BUCKEYES (14-0)

2002's national champs put together a solid run, with victories over four ranked opponents including in what was one of the most spectacular national championship games ever played, defeating defending champs Miami 31-24 in double overtime.

But it's hard to call the 2002 Buckeyes dominant. With the exception of Washington State, the Buck's victories over ranked opponents were narrow wins. A blown opportunity here and there could have spelled a different track for each team involved. Additionally, the Buckeyes squeaked by several unranked opponents including, Cincinnati, Northwestern, Wisconsin, Purdue and Illinois, beating those five teams by an average of only 6 points.

Even so, 14 wins in a season had rarely ever been accomplished to that point and OSU's National Title Game win against a Miami squad still brimming with the kind of talent that put the previous year's Hurricanes among the best college football teams of all time is nothing to shrug off.

#7. 2009 ALABAMA CRIMSON TIDE (14-0)

The 2009 Crimson Tide used the nation's stingiest defense and a power rushing attack to nearly cruise through a slate full of pitfalls. While showing occasional vulnerability against teams it perhaps shouldn't have (Tennessee and Auburn), Alabama was absolutely crushing in its defeats of it toughest opponents -- Florida and Texas.

The Gators and Longhorns each received their only losses of the season against Alabama and finished third and second in the final polls, right behind the Tide.

Running back Mark Ingram became Alabama's first ever Heisman-winner while shaking off the curse that usually faces the teams of such winners in National Title games.

While the BCS Championship game was still tight late in the fourth quarter, (Texas trailed 21-24 with two minutes left in the game) Alabama's relentless defense forced turnovers to quickly kill any hopes of a Texas comeback, winning 37-21.

Alabama won 14 games playing in the nation's toughest conference. But those moments of vulnerability against Auburn, Tennessee and even Texas (despite the final margin) prevents me from rating them higher than 7^th.

#6. 2008 FLORIDA GATORS (13-1)

Darn those special teams! As head coach at Utah, Urban Meyer had one undefeated team and zero National Championships. As coach of the Florida Gators, Meyers has two one-loss teams and two National Titles. Which do you think Meyers prefers? Well, the two National Titles, of course, but an undefeated champion would undoubtedly be nice, too. And the 2008 Gators came so close to giving one to him. A blocked extra point was all that stood between Florida and shaking off a pesky Ole Miss team which Florida had dominated in all statistical categories except turnovers and points.

In a press conference afterward, Tim Tebow vowed that nothing like that would happen again while he was the quarterback at Florida. And, for 2008 at least, he was a man of his word.

Behind Tebow's firey leadership, the Gators were never again challenged in ten straight games, until they met up with #1 Oklahoma in the BCS title game. The 2008 National Champions pulverized all comers with an 11-point win over then #1 Alabama, a 30-point win over #20 Florida State and a 39-point victory over #6 Georgia.

The BCS Championship went differently than the high-scoring affair many expected. Oklahoma brought in the highest scoring offense of all time. Florida claimed that it had a defense that could slow it down and an offense good enough to keep up. They were right on both counts, holding the Sooners to just 14 points -- OU's lowest total of the season by three full touchdowns. Oklahoma helped the Gators some by blowing two first-half drives inside the Florida 5 yard line. But, to Florida's full credit, the Gators proved to be the only defense against which Sam Branford and the Sooners could never find traction. Oklahoma was averaging 54 points going into the BCS title match and brought in an NCAA record 5 consecutive 60-plus point game streak to boot. But when the Gators held the Sooners to a mere 14 points, that 54-point average dropped by nearly three full points.

No small feat.

#5. 2005 USC TROJANS (12-1)

Matt Leinart made the astonishing announcement shortly after USC's pounding of Oklahoma to end 2004. He would forgo the NFL draft and stay his senior season to lead his team to a third straight national title. And into the history books.

It looked like his plan would work, too. If Vince Young hadn't been born. Before the 38-41 loss to Texas in the Rose Bowl, USC laid waste to defenses up and down the West Coast. The high-octane offense never scored fewer than 34 points and, in fact, scored 50 or more in an astounding 7 of their 12 regular season games.

But the chink in USC's armor was their own defense. Arizona State, Notre Dame and Fresno State showed that it was possible to put some points on the Trojan D. Something Vince Young and the Texas Longhorns would do with remarkable ease.

Leinart complained after the loss that the best team had not won that night. With scores like 70-17 over Arkansas and 66-19 over UCLA, I can see why he might think that. 2005 USC was one of the ten best teams of the decade. But they were only the second best of 2005.

#4. 2000 OKLAHOMA SOONERS (13-0)

The first champion of the decade marked the astonishingly quick resurgence of one of college football's most elite programs. After NCAA sanctions in the late 1980s led to Oklahoma's biggest slump in five decades -- one that spanned most of the 1990s -- Bob Stoops, in just his second season as Oklahoma's head coach, produced one of the best single-season onslaughts of the decade and catapulted the Sooners through the decade as one of the best programs of the last 10 years.

2000 Oklahoma clobbered four ranked opponents on their way to nearly blanking Florida State in the Orange Bowl, including an impressive 31-14 win over then top-ranked Nebraska. Oklahoma scored gaudy points over the likes of Texas and Kansas State, beating the Big 12 north champs twice with a combined total of nine touchdowns.

Oklahoma faced 6 ranked teams in all including #2 Kansas State and #1 Nebraska in back-to-back weeks. But the team's most impressive afternoon? The Red River Rivalry in which OU mud-stomped Texas 63-14.

#3. 2005 TEXAS LONGHORNS (13-0)

Some say the 2005 Longhorns were all Vince Young. I say one man alone, no matter how gifted, could put up the kind of points this team did, outscoring their opponents 652 to 203 in 13 games. Mowed down in that barrage were four ranked teams, including top 5 finishers Ohio State and USC. Indeed, none of the Longhorn's Big 12 rivals proved worthy including Oklahoma which lost 45-12 and the north division champion Colorado which had 16 touchdowns scored upon them in two games. Texas scored 40 points or more in all but one game (a win against Ohio State) and scored 60 or more points five times.

Even though it was a close game, 2005 Texas' most remarkable achievement was handing defending National Champion USC (the fifth best team of the decade) its only loss of the season. Few teams this decade could have handled the two-headed Heisman Trophy beast of Southern California. But this one could. And did.

#2. 2004 USC TROJANS (13-0)

The middle of the decade clearly belonged to the USC Trojans. Five USC teams were considered for my Top 10, and two made my Top 5. But the 2004 team would've mopped the floor with any of those other Trojan squads.

The list of victims on USC's 2004 schedule include such worthy opponents as Virginia Tech, Cal, Arizona State and Notre Dame. But 2004 USC would take on legendary status by manhandling second-ranked Oklahoma 55-19 in the Orange Bowl, blasting its way to a 38-10 halftime lead.

Along with Oklahoma, USC beat three top 10 teams in all. Like other USC teams, the 2004 team often let less worthy opponents hang on, only to demolish them in the second half. But even in these games, the threats rarely looked serious. It was as if the Trojans were merely toying with their opponents.

And they probably were.

#1. 2001 MIAMI HURRICANES (12-0)

Are the 2001 Hurricanes the best college football team in the history of the Universe? That's for another article, but there's no denying that they are the best of the current decade. I'm sure the USC fans who were captivated by Leinhart and Bush will object, but the stats speak for themselves.

Miami played six teams that finished ranked in the Top 25 of 2001. #8 Nebraska, #18 Virginia Tech, #19 Washington, #14 Syracuse, #21 Boston College and #15 Florida State. Tough schedule? Well for just about any other team, it would be, but Miami bulldozed those teams by a combined score of 254 to 79. Or a 42-13 average. Miami made some of these top tier opponents look no better than the Rutgers and Troy States of their schedule, slamming Syracuse and Washington for a combined 17 touchdowns while allowing them only one.

The culmination of the 2001 season came on January 3rd, 2002 in Pasadena whenMiami shot to a 34-0 half-time lead over then #4 Nebraska. The 2001 Huskers were themselves no creampuffs, having lead the nation in rushing offense steered by the explosive Heisman winner, Eric Crouch. But Miami dominated their opponent from the opening series on. A tough fight from Nebraska in the second half kept the game from being a total debacle, but the final outcome was never in doubt.

A direct comparison of the decade's top two teams shows why 2001 Miami beats 2004 USC. Both teams demolished their schedules up and down except for two games a piece. Miami nudged past Virginia Tech 26-24 and beat Boston College handily but not spectacularly 18-7. But both VT and BC were ranked opponents and were reasonably tight games. USC, on the other hand, had close calls against two unranked opponents. Stanford 31-28 and UCLA 29-24. Edge Miami. Both teams demolished formidable bowl opponents. But USC's opponent was tougher and they won by a wider margin than the Canes. Edge USC. USC played four teams ranked in the final poll. They beat two soundly and demolished two. Miami played six teams ranked in the final poll. Edged one. Beat another soundly. They destroyed the other four and had no close calls against unranked opponents (unlike USC). Big edge to Miami.

While some may argue that the domination level of USC and Miami are too close to call, I just don't see it. To sum. An undefeated season, a loaded schedule and an unequivocal domination of opponents makes the 2001 Miami Hurricanes the best college football team of 21st Century's opening decade.