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I recently made a list of the top programs in college football. Now, here’s my five programs that I think should be great, but aren’t.
Why do I think these schools should be great? Well, they all have a good recruiting base, a modicum of past success and tradition, manageable academic admissions and, maybe most importantly, no major power standing in the way.
1. San Diego State–The Aztecs could be a powerhouse if they ever got their act together. They are in a fertile recruiting area, the weather is wonderful, the academic standards are lax and there is at least a little bit of history and tradition there (think Marshall Faulk and Brian Sipe). With the right emphasis and a visionary coach, SDSU could be the next Boise State.
2. Pittsburgh–The Panthers actually have a grand tradition, but it seems to have fallen along the wayside in the last 25 years or so. Pitt has the potential to dominate the Big East with its Pennsylvania recruiting base, but hasn’t been able to put it all together.
3. Houston–Some recruiting experts consider the city of Houston to be as rich a recruiting area as there is in the country. The Cougars have actually won a Heisman Trophy in the recent past (Andre Ware in 1989) and have a solid tradition on which to build a powerhouse.
4. North Carolina–The Tar Heels have flirted with success many times, but can’t seem to get away from its identity as a basketball school. Why couldn’t UNC be the class of the ACC, especially now that FSU and Miami are down? Maybe Butch Davis can get it done.
5. Southern Methodist–Yeah, I know the death penalty was a horrible blow, but that was over 20 years ago. The Mustangs have an incredible tradition and more than enough talent to draw from in the Dallas area. I’m curious to see what June Jones can do here.
Comments
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Uh, SDSU academic standards are lax? Perhaps if compared to Harvard or Caltech but Peterson’s ranks them as “moderately difficult” in terms of admission (44% of applicants are admitted; average GPA 3.77 SAT 94-1160 - almost exactly the same as at least one Pac 10 school [Oregon State] and much higher than several other schools on your list). Might have been true decades ago but several years of fixed enrollment limits and increasing applications have had their effect.
When it comes to athletics, yes, their standards are lax. Athletes are not held to the same standard as what Peterson’s describes.
SMU is a small, private, theological institution with a small fan base. Texas A&M and OU in the past stripped Dallas clean and now Tech and UT are getting their kicks out of their too. SMU has no potential. Houston is a commuter school primarily for older students. It, again, has no fans, no resources for football and only Pitt outranks it as a bad college football experience for home games.
The school from Texas that should be a powerhouse that isn’t is not Houston or SMU but Texas A&M. Big school, lots of tradition, big stadium that sells out for anyone worth watching–they can raise and spend as much money as UT and OU. They are suitably close to Houston, Dallas and Central Texas. Little more than a decade ago A&M dominated the region over LSU, OU and UT and could do the same again if those programs take a step back and A&M has the right coach to move in.
And NC State, not NC, is the underperforming program in North Carolina. It is a big school with slightly lower academic standards with a better location and no distractions from other sports. NC State produces a lot of pro talent, but can’t put it together and produce really good teams.
I agree completely with Pitt and SDSU (though both would need a change of culture and better “college” facilities), but it isn’t appropriate to call SDSU the next Boise State. Boise, San Diego and Beijing all are about equally similar in size, culture and character.
Pitt has NFL facilities to boot.
SDSU academic standards are lax? Here is quote from the SDSU AD from an athletics update from last week.
“SDSU and Air Force are now the most difficult schools in our Conference to get student-athletes admitted. If we were in the Pac 10, only Stanford and UCLA would be more difficult than SDSU!”
http://goaztecs.cstv.com/genrel/072208aaf.html
Nice try.
SDSU academic standards are lax. Marty McFly just told me so from 1955…
An AD at a school with lousy sports programs says his or her school has the toughest academic standards second only to (insert Harvard, Cal Tech, Stanford). I am shocked.
And the source is the house organ from said school?
Color me shit stunned.
I spent enough time as an athletics administrator to hear this tripe repeated ad infinitum. Call it the Loser’s Serenity Prayer. Oh, Lord, grant me the strength to piss and moan about terrible facilities, lack of commitment by the president’s office, and no support from the admission’s office. May I find the strength to overlook the terrible hiring decisions I make.
Instead of the AD’s bluster, let’s look at the athletics department itself. The financial scandal was my favorite.
If SDSU played a game against Houston and since no one cares, then did they play the game?
Classy post Bevo.
Have another beer bevo. Your comments make no sense. You obviously know nothing about SDSU.
Clearly, I must’ve known nothing about SDSU. Is it really true that a Cal State school has tough academic standards for athletes? That would be unprecedented.
Well, SDSU allows approx 15-18 special admits to their entire athletic programs, mens and womens. Not many at all. You may want to look a little further into the academic situation before you make unfounded comments. Some years ago, yes there were less restrictive entrance requirements. No longer!! Just check out what’s going on at the University and you’ll find it’s a pretty damn impressive scene.
“Effective with the class of 2003 the University of California and California State University systems agreed to adopt the same pattern of academic courses required for freshman eligibility, enabling high school students to take the same courses to prepare for admission to both institutions. Although in most instances, the CSU and UC have fully aligned their basic requirements for eligibility for admission, in some areas, CSU and UC will continue to have different admissions practices. Following a request from several high school counselors to explain where the two systems are aligned and where they differ, the following summary was prepared:”…
http://www.ophs.opusd.k12.ca.us/uc_&_csu_systems.htm
Don, that still doesn’t clear up SDSU’s academics. Both UCLA and Cal are UC schools, but they do not follow the same admissions standards. It is up to the individual school. Let’s just agree that SDSU is not a tough place for an athlete to get into school.
Wow, even with all this new info you still won’t change your mind.
virginia tech will be the team to take over the acc not North Carolina
“And NC State, not NC, is the underperforming program in North Carolina”
Actually,NC IS “the underperforming program” in the state. Maybe NC State hasn’t set the woods on fire either but that doesn’t alter the harsh realities of the unc program. Quite frankly,the heels are irrelevant…more likely to make headlines thru the criminal exploits of a player than they are for anything accomplished on the field. Here’s a school with all the resources in the world and extremely,uhhhh,”welcoming” entrance requirements yet,historically speaking,they’ve rarely been anything more than mediocre-to-lousy.
I have no doubt unc will improve greatly under Butch Davis. He’s bringing in the same type of 4-5 star players that he did at Miami. In fact, one commit just got busted for selling drugs on the unc campus and Butch hasn’t withdrawn the offer. Why hasn’t BD pulled Jared McAdoo’s offer?
Busted: http://www.wral.com/sports/story/3059074/
Still on the commit list: http://northcarolina.scout.com/a.z?s=78&p=9&c=8&yr=2009
SYRACUSE?!?!?! Talk about a program that is in the pits that used to be a powerhouse. Jim Brown, anybody remember him? Look where it’s at now.
Houston, SMU, and San Diego State are mid-majors, maybe they could have built something decades earlier but now they’re sideshows. Listing them as potential football powers is like listing Moldova, Uzbekistan, and Uganda as future superpowers
Houston is a sleeping giant and we are starting to wake up. In January we will start construction on a $38 million endzone facilty. This will add more luxury boxes and more seats to Robertson Stadium. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/college/houston/5916575.html
True - SMU is a small, private, theological institution with a small fan base.
False - The school from Texas that should be a powerhouse that isn’t is not Houston or SMU but Texas A&M.
A&M is located in a crap hole village, in the middle of nowhere. The football program thrived because the others were mismanaged and UT was too busy sending the others to get sanctions for doing what they were doing themselves. Outside the state of Texas, no one of consequence, knows A&M. They are now in the downward spiral to where they should have been years ago as everyone else in Texas and Oklahoma gets their act together.
Once again, the comments on this blog prove that NC State fans are complete idiots.
Too bad that none of these schools hired Howard Schnellenberger — he would have been a perfect fit at Houston.
They should have closed down A&M long ago when Texas was created like they originally planned. They are nothing but a brain-washed cult. They also produce poor quality professionals. The only people we fired from my job since I began working there were from A&M because they are such idiots. I know people who went there that said everybody there cheats off of each other to get passing grades. Pathetic…
Hi I’m Shasta and i was rejected from aTm, whomp whomp
Hi my names shasta and I’m an Alaskan jackass!
They should have shut down the football program at A&M after it got 12 of our fine students killed doing a stupid stunt- BONFIRE! Letting a bunch of liquored up kids crawl around on tons and tons of log - all in the name of football. And to hear them tell it - it is a right of passage and those dead students would do it over again. It is crap like this that make me regret going there.