Toughest State In College Football

Back on the topic of the thread... College Football!

Paul Brown, Canton, Buckeye Nuts aside... There are three schools that dominate worldwide (not just Ohio) recognition of the sport..

1. The Fighting Irish of Notre Dame
2. Michigan Wolverines
3. Alabama Crimson Tide

These are the most highly recognized names in college football worldwide, according to some study done back in the 80s by some pinhead researchers who got paid to find it out. Hmm... none of those are in Ohio! :D
 
I'm not sure I wouldn't put bama second.
I couldn't tell you how many NC big blue has
doesn't BAma have 6?
 
Dixie said:
Back on the topic of the thread... College Football!

Paul Brown, Canton, Buckeye Nuts aside... There are three schools that dominate worldwide (not just Ohio) recognition of the sport..

1. The Fighting Irish of Notre Dame
2. Michigan Wolverines
3. Alabama Crimson Tide

These are the most highly recognized names in college football worldwide, according to some study done back in the 80s by some pinhead researchers who got paid to find it out. Hmm... none of those are in Ohio! :D
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Who cares how popular their name is worldwide. We've been kicking Michigan's ass pretty much this whole decade with exception to 2000 and 2003. Notre Dame hasn't done shit lately either.

Alabama is the only one on that list worth mentioning. You have good team there with a good past as well. Congrats...

One thing I'd like to point out though about Ohio and a team that doesn't get much recognition. The Kent State Golden Flashes. I don't know what it is, but they are doing something right to turn players into All-Stars in the Pros.

They've produced names like Jack Lambert and Nick Saban. Lately, they have names out there like Josh Cribbs, Jerome Harrison, and though he didn't play football a Kent.. Antonio Gates. The team pretty much stinks however, but you definatly can find good players on their roster.
 
DigitalDave said:
Who cares how popular their name is worldwide. We've been kicking Michigan's ass pretty much this whole decade with exception to 2000 and 2003. Notre Dame hasn't done shit lately either.

Alabama is the only one on that list worth mentioning. You have good team there with a good past as well. Congrats...

One thing I'd like to point out though about Ohio and a team that doesn't get much recognition. The Kent State Golden Flashes. I don't know what it is, but they are doing something right to turn players into All-Stars in the Pros.

They've produced names like Jack Lambert and Nick Saban. Lately, they have names out there like Josh Cribbs, Jerome Harrison, and though he didn't play football a Kent.. Antonio Gates. The team pretty much stinks however, but you definatly can find good players on their roster.
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That's what baffles me about North Carolina. They have loads of talent in that state. They put as many players into the Pros as Ohio does. The best LB I've ever seen play the game came from UNC....but they still just can't seem to build a winning program at the college level in the state. UNC has the resources and talent available to compete with the top 10 programs nearly every year.
 
Mott the Hoople said:
The 4 toughest states are Texas, Ohio, California and Florida.
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So when HE says Florida, he is wrong, but when YOU say it is right???

Are we talking about THIS year or about on average in a given year?

If it is the latter then TX and FL are the top two.

If it is the former then I would go with TX and OH.
 
Who cares how popular their name is worldwide.
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Well, those who want to talk about "the greatest" can usually acknowledge this is a good criteria. If you asked worldwide, who was "the greatest" boxer, they would probably say Mohamed Ali, if you ask them who is "the greatest" golfer, they would probably say Tiger Woods. So, in a discussion about who has "the greatest" college football, I think it is worth mentioning.
 
Mott the Hoople said:
We've been debating which conference is the toughest in FBS (Div I) college football but which state is the toughest?
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If you're talking sheer quantity, you have to give it up for California. Over the long run, Cal, USC, Stanford, and UCLA routinely or commonly are in the top 25. Are there any other states that have four DIV 1 schools that routinely crack the top 25?

Again, for sheer quantity, you gotta give it up to texas and florida as well. Texas Tech, UT, and A&M are routinely cracking the top 25 over the long term, as is FSU, Gators, and Miami in FLA.
 
WinterBorn said:
I would say it would be CA, TX, & FL. The rest are "also rans".
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Take your pick of decades, but since the 80s, schools from the State of Florida have produced 1/3 of all national champs, first the AP, then the BCS. That, even though the state has less population than Texas or California, and adding to that the age of the population makes it even more notable. In that same period, more first round NFL draft choices came from Florida than elsewhere with the "U" leading the way. (I know LT was great at NC, but Ray Lewis isn't exactly a second stringer either.)
I don't know about the worldwide population, but until the UF/'Bama game, 4 of the five most watched college regular season non-bowl games were with the "U". I suspect that the SEC championship of this year added yet another Florida team to that list.
I will add once again that when 'Bama wins in January, 1/2 of the BCS champs will have been from the SEC, the current college football hotbed.
 
Superfreak said:
So when HE says Florida, he is wrong, but when YOU say it is right???

Are we talking about THIS year or about on average in a given year?

If it is the latter then TX and FL are the top two.

If it is the former then I would go with TX and OH.
Click to expand...
I didn't state an opinion here SF. I went by the number of wins.
 
belme1201 said:
Take your pick of decades, but since the 80s, schools from the State of Florida have produced 1/3 of all national champs, first the AP, then the BCS. That, even though the state has less population than Texas or California, and adding to that the age of the population makes it even more notable. In that same period, more first round NFL draft choices came from Florida than elsewhere with the "U" leading the way. (I know LT was great at NC, but Ray Lewis isn't exactly a second stringer either.)
I don't know about the worldwide population, but until the UF/'Bama game, 4 of the five most watched college regular season non-bowl games were with the "U". I suspect that the SEC championship of this year added yet another Florida team to that list.
I will add once again that when 'Bama wins in January, 1/2 of the BCS champs will have been from the SEC, the current college football hotbed.
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and your the only State in the SE that can play the mans game. Not in the same league as Pittsburgh, Green Bay, the Giants or the Bears but then again you've only been playing pro ball for 40 years. In that 40 years Florida has won 3 championships. That represents all the championships in the SE in the mans game.
 
Mott the Hoople said:
and your the only State in the SE that can play the mans game. Not in the same league as Pittsburgh, Green Bay, the Giants or the Bears but then again you've only been playing pro ball for 40 years. In that 40 years Florida has won 3 championships. That represents all the championships in the SE in the mans game.
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Again with the "man's game"?

When does pro football offer the same chance at upsets that college ball offers? What possible equivelent would the pros have to App State beating Michigan, or teams coming from no where to beat powerhouses?

And what does college ball have that equates to the pros not being concerned with losing a game just before the playoffs? Once they make the playoffs, they had rather conserve their people. In college, every single game matters.


Pro fans love their teams. Teams like Pittsburg and Green Bay have some hardcore fans. But can they ever come close to the fanatical fans of major college programs?

And what retired pro players return to their pro stadiums year after year after year?


Pro football is fun to watch. But there is no comparison as far as quality ball.
 
Mott the Hoople said:
and your the only State in the SE that can play the mans game. Not in the same league as Pittsburgh, Green Bay, the Giants or the Bears but then again you've only been playing pro ball for 40 years. In that 40 years Florida has won 3 championships. That represents all the championships in the SE in the mans game.
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"The Toughest State in College Football" is the title of the thread, I'll leave it at that.
I knew the Big Ten, I think before you did as an Illini, and, as a Chicagoan early on. Notre Dame was the school of choice in the most heavily Catholic city in the US at the time. Since that time I watched both the Big Ten and the Irish slouch their way to mediocrity in their failure to catch up to the type of football now being played. Hopefully that's changing.
I moved to So Fla. just before Schnellenberger took over at the U and mined the barrios for speedy players that could run circles around their bigger opponents. If he needed line backers and FBs he put the larger running backs, safetys, and corners into the weight room to beef up but still emphasizing speed. Linemen he got from the cane fields and citrus orchards, then he taught all of them they're as good as anybody and can win at football and go to school too. Once they started winning championships, FSU and UF caught on and joined the competition for players from previously neglected areas even though, as long as 50 years ago, Miami was playing HS double headers in the Orange Bowl and drawing 40,000+ to important games at a time when Miami had less than a half million people in the Metro area. In the time since Schnellenberger arrived, Florida's universities won 10 National Championships in the following 26 years. I don't think there are any 2 states in the country combined that can make that claim.
For a little emphasis to my previous post, in the game between Central Florida and Rutgers, the player of the game was a linebacker from Miami, not from UCF, but from Rutgers, the state university of New Jersey, another Miami boy scored 2 of Rutgers' touchdowns, one on a 65 yard pass play.
While we're at it, when OSU meets Oregon in the Rose Bowl, watch out for Blount the RB, a boy from near here, and Cincinnatti's top receiver with more than 80 receptions lives just 10 minutes down the road from me. just to mention a few off the top of my head.
 
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belme1201 said:
"The Toughest State in College Football" is the title of the thread, I'll leave it at that.
I knew the Big Ten, I think before you did as an Illini, and, as a Chicagoan early on. Notre Dame was the school of choice in the most heavily Catholic city in the US at the time. Since that time I watched both the Big Ten and the Irish slouch their way to mediocrity in their failure to catch up to the type of football now being played. Hopefully that's changing.
I moved to So Fla. just before Schnellenberger took over at the U and mined the barrios for speedy players that could run circles around their bigger opponents. If he needed line backers and FBs he put the larger running backs, safetys, and corners into the weight room to beef up but still emphasizing speed. Linemen he got from the cane fields and citrus orchards, then he taught all of them they're as good as anybody and can win at football and go to school too. Once they started winning championships, FSU and UF caught on and joined the competition for players from previously neglected areas even though, as long as 50 years ago, Miami was playing HS double headers in the Orange Bowl and drawing 40,000+ to important games at a time when Miami had less than a half million people in the Metro area. In the time since Schnellenberger arrived, Florida's universities won 10 National Championships in the following 26 years. I don't think there are any 2 states in the country combined that can make that claim.
For a little emphasis to my previous post, in the game between Central Florida and Rutgers, the player of the game was a linebacker from Miami, not from UCF, but from Rutgers, the state university of New Jersey, another Miami boy scored 2 of Rutgers' touchdowns, one on a 65 yard pass play.
While we're at it, when OSU meets Oregon in the Rose Bowl, watch out for Blount the RB, a boy from near here, and Cincinnatti's top receiver with more than 80 receptions lives just 10 minutes down the road from me. just to mention a few off the top of my head.
Click to expand...

You make a very compelling argument for Florida in this debate, I must admit. Big fan of Schnellenberger, one of Bear Bryant's proteges, as was Bobby Bowden. I can't think of another state that has dominated the NCAA Championships like Florida, Miami, and FSU have over the last 20 years. In that regard, the proof is in the pudding as they say, Florida is the Toughest State in College Football, I concur!

Texas was my top pick based on the sheer size of the state, if nothing else. There is a lot of football talent in the state of Texas, just because Texas is huge. It is harder to be #1 in the state... it's hard to be the top recruiter... it's hard to maintain it consistently enough to dominate... so in terms of "toughness" it would have to be more difficult to compete in Texas. California is much the same way, it is so large from a population standpoint, there is just a lot of talent there... more talent means more competitive. Both states have Florida beat in terms of how many schools play football, but that doesn't mean they are the "toughest" states.
 
Not surprisingly, the chart shoots down the Mott's theory that Ohio is such a great state, while Alabama is so low.

Ohio - 226
Alabama - 224


The biggest 3 were expected, then NC and TN. So Ohio is #6 and AL is #7.

Also, I see that the Big 10 and the Pac 10 each accounted for 10% of the players drafted during that time. While the SEC accounted for 14%.




Good find, CAWacko.
 
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