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Friday, January 8th, 2010feedback | Posted by Editor - Blog News Service

BCS football- Ranking the decade’s national champions

BCS Champions

BCS Champions

Where does Alabama rank among the national champions from the past 10 seasons? Not at the top, that’s for sure. But not at the bottom, either.

Here’s the Hotline rankings of the decade’s national champions.

Please note:

* There are 11 teams listed because I’ve included USC ‘03, which won the AP title (the only year there were split AP/BCS champions).

* I’m only ranking the champions, even though at least one runner-up (USC ‘05) was better than several teams on this list.

11. LSU ‘07: The two-loss Tigers handled no-business-being-there Ohio State in the NCG, but only because a bevy of last-day losses by higher-ranked teams let them jump from No. 7 to No. 2 in the BCS standings.

10. Ohio State ‘02: Upset Miami in a terrific title game (thanks to a controversial pass interference call in OT). Although undefeated, the Buckeyes were hardly dominant, winning half their games by a touchdown or less and scoring fewer than 20 points in four of their last seven games.

9. Florida ‘06: Pulled a NCG surprise by easily dispatching No. 1 Ohio State. Pretty decent QB combo in Chris Leak and Tim Tebow. Lost once, at No. 10 Auburn.

8. Alabama ‘09: Thought about putting the Tide a few spots higher because of their running game, defense and dominance of the SEC. But their skittish performance against Colt McCoy-less Texas — it shouldn’t have been that close (three points with three minutes left) — prompted a slight downgrade.

7. LSU ‘03: Nick Saban’s first national champ had one loss (at Florida) and beat Oklahoma by a touchdown in the NCG. Would have loved to see them play …

6. USC ‘03: Didn’t play for the BCS title despite being ranked No. 1 in both polls. The Trojans opened the season with a shutout at No. 6 Auburn and closed with a two-touchdown victory over Michigan.

5. Oklahoma ‘00: Handled Florida State in a dud of a NCG. Behind QB Josh Heupel, the Sooners beat No. 11 Texas, No. 2 Kansas State and No. 1 Nebraska on consecutive weeks in October.

4. Florida ‘08: Beat Alabama in SEC thriller then stifled super-charged Oklahoma in the title game. Tebow, Harvin, James, Haden, Spikes — you know the names. (And yes, I realize the Gators lost a game. )

3. Texas ‘05: Outlasted USC in a title game for the ages thanks to QB Vince Young’s performance for the ages. One of the greatest offensive teams in college football history (seven games of 50 or more). Michael Huff-led defense wasn’t bad, either.

2. Miami ‘01: Led by Ken Dorsey, Clinton Portis, Ed Reed and Andre Johnson, the ‘Canes smashed Nebraska in the title game and played only one close game all season (the regular-season finale at VaTech). Thought about them for No. 1 but eventually went with …

1. USC ‘04: The Matt Leinart/Reggie Bush-led offense (two Heisman winners in the same backfield) scored 40 or more seven times while the Shaun Cody/Matt Grootegoed-led defense allowed more than 20 only twice. Crushed Oklahoma in the BCS title game.

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