The TidesofWar Top 25 College Football Programs (1 Viewer)

Death Valley

Name synonymous with Clemson Memorial Stadium. The Stadium was dubbed this affectionate title by the late Lonnie McMillian, a former coach at Presbyterian. He used to take his teams to play at Clemson, and they rarely scored, never mind gained a victory. Once he told the writers he was going to play Clemson up at Death Valley because his teams always got killed. It stuck somewhat, but when Frank Howard start calling it that in the fifties, the term really caught on. It is now in its 54th year.

Many people think the name is derived from the fact that there rests a cemetary outside the fence on the press box site of the stadium. But, although it would make sense, the name was first coined by Lonnie McMillian.

First Friday Parade

The Clemson football season kicks off each year with the annual First Friday Parade. The once a year event takes place on the Friday afternoon prior to the first home football game. Floats from various fraternities and sororities and other campus organizations are represented in the parade that rolls down main street in Clemson. The parade culminates at the Amphitheater in the middle of campus where the first Pep Rally of the year takes place.

The Grand Marshall of the Parade is featured at the Pep Rally. Recent Grand Marshall's have ranged from current PGA professional Dillard Pruitt, to College Football Hall of Fame legends Jess Neely and Frank Howard, to noted television announcers Brent Musburger and Ara Parseghian.

Orange Pants

The tradition of the Clemson team wearing orange pants is new according to tradition standards. The Tigers first wore the all orange uniform for the final game of the 1980 season against South Carolina. Clemson upset the 14th ranked Gamecocks and Heisman Trophy winner George Rogers, 27-6. The victory set the stage for Clemson's National Championship run of 1981.

Overall, Clemson is 29-6 in Orange pants since that 1980 game, including a 16-1 record ingames played in the month of November. The Tigers have won seven in a row in orange pants, including last year's important victory over North Carolina.

Clemson has nine wins over top 20 opponents when wearing Orange pants, including the 22-15 National Championship clinching win over Nebraska in the 1982 Orange Bowl.

Howard's Rock

When the Clemson team gathers to Run Down the Hill the players rub Howard's Rock because of the mystical powers it is supposed to give Clemson players.

The rock is mounted on a pedestal at the top of the hill and was given to Coach Frank Howard by a friend (S.C. Jones' 19) who picked it up in Death Valley, CA.

The Rock was first placed on the pedestal at the top of the hill on September 24, 1966, a game Clemson won 40-35 over Virginia.

The team started rubbing the rock for the first game of 1967, a 23-6 win over Wake Forest on September 23, 1967.

Running Down the Hill

One of the most exciting 25 seconds (about 35 seconds when Clemson dresses 120 players for homecoming) in college football from a color and pageantry standpoint. After Clemson's last warmup the team retreats to the home dressing room located under the West Stands. At about 12:50 ( for normal 1:00 P.M. game), the team boards two buses and drives around the periphery of the stadium to the east side of the field. After everyone is properly collected, the cannon sounds, Tiger Rag is played and Clemson charges down the hill (exactly 100 feet top to bottom) and onto the field. It is one of the most celebrated entrances in sport. The Tigers have done it for every game since 1942, except for 1970, 1971 and four games of the 1972 season. In all, the Tigers have run down the hill 249 times heading into 1996.

How in the world did the tradition of running down the hill start? There is no long involved explanation, it used to be the quickest way to get to the field. When the stadium was built in 1942 the football locker rooms were up the street in Fike Fieldhouse.

When the players were finished getting dressed they used to walk out the front door and walk down the street to "The Hill". Coach Howard continued the tradition when locker rooms were finally built inside the stadium because Clemson fans used to get so fired up when they gathered at the top of the hill. That's when the buses came into use to spend the trip from the locker room to the other side of the stadium.

Click to expand...

guru_007 said:

I wonder who is going to be #1 in this one.

Click to expand...

guru_007 said:

I wonder who is going to be #1 in this one.

Click to expand...

I believe the Ultimate Goal is to win and be crowned the best, so National Championships , along with Conference Championships, figure highly in the ratings process. The total number of wins and winning percentage of a Program factor in as well, along with something I consider important - a demonstrated abbility to win in different eras.

Click to expand...

]The 19th Century

The first actual team was formed in 1894 with John C. Futrall as manager and coach. For the next 19 years Futrall served as chairman of the Athletic Committee or as manager of the team and much of the time as both. The first squad picked on Fort Smith High School twice and, as would be expected, earned easy victories. But a first-year matchup with Texas was not so easy. The Longhorns drilled Arkansas at Austin, 54-0, making the train ride home that much longer.

Gradually the schedule was expanded and the 1902 squad actually finished 6-3. Still, the only coach was a volunteer from the faculty. The first full time paid coach was Hugo Bezdek, who came aboard in 1908.

The Early Years

At that time Arkansas was called the Cardinals. The student body picked the bird as its mascot since the school colors were cardinal and white. Bezdek took the Cardinals to a 5-4 season in '08, but his team was shut out by Texas and thumped by LSU in the season finale. Undoubtedly the breakthrough season for Arkansas football was 1909. Without that campaign the school might be celebrating merely years and not success. Steve Creekmore was regarded as the top quarterback in the south and perhaps all of college football after he led Arkansas to a 7-0 campaign that included victories over LSU and Oklahoma. Arkansas scored 186 points during its seven triumphs and permitted only 18 points all year.

When the train from Baton Rouge returned to Fayetteville following the seventh victory of the campaign, Bezdek addressed the student population. He said his team had played "like a wild band of Razorback Hogs." The students loved the phrase so much they voted to change the nickname. In time for the 1910 season the "Razorbacks" were born.

Creekmore returned in '10 and led the Hogs to a 7-1 season. The Hogs outscored their foes 221-19 and closed with a smashing 51-0 triumph over LSU at Little Rock. Bezdek was 29-13-1 in five years but left following the 1912 campaign. Arkansas then went through four coaches in seven years before Francis Schmidt arrived from Nebraska in time for the 1922 season. Order was restored. The Hogs were 42-20-3 during Schmidt's seven years at the helm.

Schmidt's best year was 1927 when George Cole, Glen Rose and Schoonover, a sophomore, helped lead the Hogs to an 8-1 finish. After the '28 Razorbacks went 7-2 and Garland 'Bevo' Beavers was named most valuable player in the SWC, Schmidt left to become head coach at TCU. Fred Thomsen was the replacement and a new era was born.

The Broyles Era Begins

When he was an assistant coach at Baylor, Frank Broyles became enamored with Arkansas. He could only imagine what could be done in a one-school state. He lobbied for the Razorback job when Mitchell was hired but was told by Barnhill he had to have head coaching experience first.

When the head coaching position became vacant following the 1957 season, Broyles had the experience Barnhill wanted, but barely. He had coached Missouri for one year but never hesitated when Barnhill called him. In fact, he wondered what had taken the Arkansas athletic director so long.

For 19 years Broyles patrolled the sidelines as Arkansas' head football coach. His Razorback career didn't start as if it would last, though. In 1958 the Hogs lost their first six games and Broyles and his staff wondered if the job had as much potential as they had thought. The turnaround came at Texas A&M, where Arkansas won 21-8. The Hogs won the next three, too, gaining momentum for the future.

The future came quickly. In 1959 Arkansas tied for the SWC title and finished 9-2 after ending Georgia Tech's six-game winning streak in bowls with a 14-7 triumph over the Yellow Jackets at the Gator Bowl. Halfback Jim Mooty became an all-America, and sophomore Lance Alworth emerged as perhaps the most exciting Razorback ever.

The 1960s

Alworth led the nation in punt returns in 1960 and '61 and the Razorbacks won the league title his junior year and shared it when he was a senior. Suddenly the Razorbacks were on the national map.

Billy Moore, a fabulous defensive back who also was an outstanding option quarterback, starred on both sides of the line in 1962 as the Razorbacks completed a 9-1 regular season. Ole Miss edged the Hogs in the Sugar Bowl.

Razorback fans had quickly grown accustomed to success and weren't expecting the 5-5 campaign of 1963. Neither were Broyles and his players. Little did anyone know the 27-20 victory over Texas Tech in the season finale would launch the longest winning streak in school history.

After struggling to victories over Oklahoma State and Tulsa in the first two games of the 1964 season, Arkansas was invincible the rest of the year. An 81-yard punt return for a touchdown by Ken Hatfield gave the Hogs the impetus for a 14-13 victory over defending national champion Texas at Austin. That was the fifth game of the season. Texas was the last regular season opponent to score against the Razorbacks.

After those five closing shutouts Arkansas was ranked second nationally and prepared to play Nebraska in the Cotton Bowl. The Huskers broke the Hogs' shutout string, but a fourth quarter touchdown by Bobby Burnett capped an 80-yard drive and allowed the Razorbacks to earn a 10-7 victory.

At that time the Associated Press and United Press International national championships were awarded before the bowl games. Alabama finished 10-0 and earned both titles. But Texas trimmed the Crimson Tide in the Orange Bowl and Arkansas' 11-0 mark was the only perfect record in college football. The Football Writers of America had a long standing policy of waiting until after the bowl games to determine a national champ. Their award went to the Razorbacks. By today's voting standards Arkansas would have been the runaway winner in every poll.

While the '64 national title was the only one earned during the Broyles era, the Razorbacks came excruciatingly close in 1965 and 1969. The '65 Hogs had a 10-0 regular season that pushed their winning streak to 22 games. Included was an incredible victory over Texas at Fayetteville. The Razorbacks roared to a 20-0 lead, fell behind, 24-20, then scored late in the contest for a 27-24 triumph.

Again the Hogs went into the Cotton Bowl ranked number two nationally. This time, though, AP would wait until Jan. 2 to announce its national champion. The results in '64 had a direct bearing on the change in policy. Sure enough, number one lost again. Michigan State fell to UCLA at the Cotton Bowl. This time, however, the Hogs couldn't take advantage. Quarterback Jon Brittenum suffered a separated shoulder in the first half and played but was not as effective in the second half as LSU held on to stun Arkansas, 14-7.

As sophomores, Bill Montgomery and Chuck Dicus kept the glory years alive at Arkansas in 1968. The Razorbacks finished 10-1 and Dicus was the most valuable player in the Sugar Bowl as Arkansas upset undefeated SEC champion Georgia, 16-2.

The '69 Hogs were as tough on defense as they were explosive on offense and they buried their first nine opponents. The closest call was a 28-15 victory over SMU at Dallas. ABC-TV, sensing that Arkansas and Texas could be the top two teams in the country, had asked the schools to move their shootout to Dec. 6 and the Hogs and Horns agreed.

Ohio State had been ranked number one all season long and Sports Illustrated even suggested the Buckeyes might be the best team of all time. But Michigan upset Ohio State on the last weekend in November and suddenly ABC had its one-two shootout. Texas was ranked number one and Arkansas number two. Both were 9-0.

On a cloudy, cold day at Razorback Stadium, Arkansas suffered its all time heartbreak. In fact, it's a defeat that still saddens those who were alive at the time. The Hogs blunted the Texas wishbone for three quarters and had a 14-0 lead with 15 minutes to play. However, two improbable long distance plays and a two-point conversion allowed Texas to earn a 15-14 triumph. Even Longhorn coach Darrell Royal admitted the Razorbacks thoroughly outplayed his team except for the two plays. Texas won the national title that could have belonged to Arkansas.

The Early 1970s

The Razorbacks won nine games again in 1970 and eight in 1971 behind the rifle arm of Joe Ferguson but then suffered through a three-year recession. In 1975 the Hogs returned to the top.

Scott Bull became the starting quarterback in midseason and led Arkansas to one of its greatest triumphs. In another change made for television, Arkansas and second ranked Texas A&M, 10-0 at the time, met at Little Rock on Dec. 6 with a spot in the Cotton Bowl on the line. It was scoreless until nearly halftime when Teddy Barnes made an incredible catch of a Bull pass deep in the end zone for a 7-0 Hog lead. The second half was an avalanche as Arkansas earned a 31-6 victory. Momentum carried all the way to the Cotton Bowl where Arkansas thumped Georgia, 31-10.

The Holtz Years

Broyles announced his retirement as coach following the 1976 season and handpicked Lou Holtz as his successor. The next three seasons proved exhilarating.

Arkansas was picked no higher than fifth in the SWC in any of the 1977 pre-season polls, but no one had counted on the magic of Holtz. With Ron Calcagni at quarterback and Ben Cowins running for over 1,000 yards, the Razorback offense averaged 33 points a game. Tackles Dan Hampton and Jimmy Walker led a stingy defense that permitted less than nine points per contest.

The Razorbacks finished 10-1 but were second in the SWC. So, they earned a first-ever spot in the Orange Bowl opposite number two Oklahoma. Earlier in the day top ranked Texas was defeated by Notre Dame in the Cotton Bowl, so the entire Orange Bowl focus was on the Sooners' chance to win the national championship. Most figured it was a foregone conclusion since Holtz had suspended his top two running backs and leading receiver for disciplinary reasons. Holtz became a national hero when the suspensions didn't matter and the Razorbacks stunned the Sooners, 31-6. Sophomore Roland Sales shocked OU by gaining 205 yards, an Orange Bowl record, mostly between the tackles. It ranks among the most memorable, if not the most memorable, triumph in Razorback history.

Sports Illustrated ranked Arkansas number one before the 1978 season but the Hogs suffered two midseason defeats and finished 9-2-1. Holtz had his best recruiting year before 1979, and a brilliant cast of newcomers that included Gary Anderson and Billy Ray Smith, among others bonded with an outstanding senior class. The Razorbacks shared the SWC title, won 10 games and drew an invitation to play Alabama in the Sugar Bowl.

Alabama trimmed the Hogs and earned a national championship. The Razorbacks didn't recover from that defeat until 1981 when they scored their most lopsided triumph ever over Texas. The Longhorns were ranked first nationally while Arkansas was 4-1 after suffering a stunning defeat at TCU. Smith recovered a fumble on the game's first play and Anderson scored soon after that. The steamroller was started, and didn't end until Arkansas completed a 42-11 route. Razorback fans tore down the goalposts for the first time since the '51 triumph over the 'Horns.

Holtz thought his 1982 team would finally take him to the Cotton Bowl but it didn't happen. A tie with SMU on a controversial pass interference call dashed Arkansas' hopes. Anderson, Smith, Jessie Clark, Steve Korte and the rest of the seniors concluded their careers with a victory over Florida in the Bluebonnet Bowl.

The Hatfield 80s

Following the 1983 season Holtz departed and a Razorback hero from the 1960's, Ken Hatfield, returned as head coach. When his first team won four games in the fourth quarter and surprised with seven victories, interest in the program was rekindled. In '85 the Hogs went 10-2 and edged Arizona State in the Holiday Bowl. In 1986 Hatfield directed the Razorbacks to their first victory over Texas at Austin in 20 years and a 14-10 triumph over Texas A& M led to an Orange Bowl invitation.

The '87 Razorbacks were SWC favorites but a last-play defeat against Texas at Little Rock led to an empty finish. The Hogs won nine games but ended the campaign with a disappointing Liberty Bowl loss to Georgia. It has been 13 years since Arkansas has been to the Cotton Bowl when Hatfield took the Razorbacks back. Utilizing the option skills of quarterback Quinn Grovey and the punishing running of James Rouse and Barry Foster and a stingy defense led by Wayne Martin and Steve Atwater, Arkansas opened 10-0 and had Miami on the ropes before suffering an 18-16 defeat at Miami in the regular season finale. Troy Aikman led UCLA past the Hogs in the Cotton Bowl.

Grovey out dueled Heisman Trophy winner Andre Ware in the greatest shootout of the 1989 season, and a 45-39 victory over Houston at Little Rock not only was the most talked about game in recent years, it also catapulted the Hogs into position to return to the Cotton Bowl. A late season triumph at Texas A&M secured the host spot.

In Hatfield's final game, Arkansas set all kinds of Cotton Bowl offensive records but turned the ball over inside the Tennessee 10 yardline three times in falling to the Volunteers, 31-27.

In August of 1990 Arkansas launched a geographic revolution in college football when it left the Southwest Conference for the Southeastern Confer-ence. The Razorbacks became the first addition to the SEC since the league was founded in 1933.

Click to expand...

Mr. Pickles said:

I'm here for the pics.

Click to expand...

Desert_Power said:

Started off on the wrong foot.

Click to expand...

Mr. Know-It-All said:

It will be a travesty if Yale and Princeton are not at the top of this list. Assuming modern era, I am guessing Oklahoma, USC, Notre Dame, Nebraska, and Alabama will be top 5 in some order.

Click to expand...

Aaron Rudnicki said:

guru_007 said:

I wonder who is going to be #1 in this one.

Click to expand...

gotta be Cuse, no?

Click to expand...

The Commish said:

I believe the Ultimate Goal is to win and be crowned the best, so National Championships , along with Conference Championships, figure highly in the ratings process. The total number of wins and winning percentage of a Program factor in as well, along with something I consider important - a demonstrated abbility to win in different eras.

Click to expand...

Yikes....Good luck with this. Really?

Click to expand...

TidesofWar said:

#24 - THE ARKANSAS RAZORBACKS

Arkansas is 649-446-40 for a .590 winning percentage. The Hogs have won or shared 13 Soutwest Conference titles between 1936 and 1989, and since joining The SEC have won 3 Western Division Titles, but never the SEC Championship Game.

Arkansas went undefeated in 1964, and six separate National Championship Selectors named The Hogs the best in the land. In 1969, perhaps the best Arkansas team ever, led by Joe Ferguson Bill Montgomery at QB, lost 15-14 to Texas in one of "The Games Of The Century." Texas was the eventual National undefeated National Champ.

Click to expand...

TidesofWar said:

The Commish said:

I believe the Ultimate Goal is to win and be crowned the best, so National Championships , along with Conference Championships, figure highly in the ratings process. The total number of wins and winning percentage of a Program factor in as well, along with something I consider important - a demonstrated abbility to win in different eras.

Click to expand...

Yikes....Good luck with this. Really?

Click to expand...

Not sure what you mean??

Click to expand...

The Commish said:

Mr. Know-It-All said:

It will be a travesty if Yale and Princeton are not at the top of this list. Assuming modern era, I am guessing Oklahoma, USC, Notre Dame, Nebraska, and Alabama will be top 5 in some order.

Click to expand...

According to criteria above, not sure....the top for winning % are Michigan, ND, Texas and OSU. Top four for "national championships" is ND, Alabama, USC and Michigan.

Click to expand...

TidesofWar said:

The Commish said:

Mr. Know-It-All said:

It will be a travesty if Yale and Princeton are not at the top of this list. Assuming modern era, I am guessing Oklahoma, USC, Notre Dame, Nebraska, and Alabama will be top 5 in some order.

Click to expand...

According to criteria above, not sure....the top for winning % are Michigan, ND, Texas and OSU. Top four for "national championships" is ND, Alabama, USC and Michigan.

Click to expand...

I take it you are not a big fan of using National Titles as a large part of the process??

Click to expand...

The Commish said:

TidesofWar said:

The Commish said:

I believe the Ultimate Goal is to win and be crowned the best, so National Championships , along with Conference Championships, figure highly in the ratings process. The total number of wins and winning percentage of a Program factor in as well, along with something I consider important - a demonstrated abbility to win in different eras.

Click to expand...

Yikes....Good luck with this. Really?

Click to expand...

Not sure what you mean??

Click to expand...

There is really no legit system for crowning a champion in Div 1 football.....not sure why you'd use it. I agree with the winning %, conference championships etc....could even throw in bowl wins if you wanted, but the "championship" label really doesn't mean much.

Click to expand...

Corporation said:

Are you counting only AP (or Coaches Poll back in the old split days)/BCS championships, or some of the more "loose" national championships? Please be consistent, so if you count all 12 of our (Bama of course) National Championships, please do the same for others so it will be an apples to apples comparison. If we claim the Weekly Reader championship but then only give credit for AP championships to other schools, it will invalidate what looks like a pretty well thought out listing as biased.

Click to expand...

The School Colors

Details are sketchy as to when Michigan State athletic teams officially began using the school colors green and white. But records of the Athletic Association of the then Michigan Agricultural College show that on April 11, 1899, the organization took steps toward adoption of a green monogram, "to be worn only by athletes who subsequently take part in intercollegiate events."

It is generally thought the colors came into wide use with the arrival in 1903 of Chester L. Brewer as the school's first full-time director of athletics. Brewer also coached the Spartan football, basketball, baseball and track teams, the only varsity units in existence at the time.

The Nickname

In 1926, Michigan State's first southern baseball training tour provided the setting for the birth of the "Spartan" nickname.

It all came about when a Lansing sportswriter imposed the silent treatment on a contest-winning nickname and substituted his own choice, the name that has lasted through the years.

In 1925, Michigan State College replaced the name Michigan Agricultural College. The college sponsored a contest to select a nickname to replace "Aggies" and picked "The Michigan Staters."

George S. Alderton, then sports editor of the Lansing State Journal, decided the name was too cumbersome for newspaper writing and vowed to find a better one.

Alderton contacted Jim Hasselman of Information Services to see if entries still remained from the contest. When informed that they still existed, Alderton ran across the entry name of "Spartans" and then decided that was the choice. Unfortunately, Alderton forgot to write down who submitted that particular entry, so that part of the story remains a mystery.

Rewriting game accounts supplied by Perry Fremont, a catcher on the squad, Alderton first used the name sparingly and then ventured into the headlines with it. (Incidentally, after two days of spelling the name incorrectly with an "o", Mr. Alderton changed it to Spartan on a tip from a close friend.) Dale Stafford, a sports writer for the Lansing Capitol News, a rival of the State Journal, picked up the name for his paper after a couple of days. Alderton called Stafford and suggested that he might want to join the Spartan parade and he did. As Mr. Alderton explains: "No student, alumnus or college official had called up the editor to complain about our audacity in giving the old school a new name, so we ventured into headlines with it. Happily for the experiment, the name took. It began appearing in other newspapers and when the student publication used it, that clinched it."

Spartan Mascot

Sparty has gained great national visibility lately, a tribute to its cool design as well as to the efforts behind the MSUAA's mascot program.

He's our own jolly green giant. Lovable, huggable, and for Spartans of every age, ever so photo-poseable.

In the fall of 1995, MSU's beloved Sparty leaped into national celebrity in the same dramatic fashion that gymnast Kerri Strug vaulted into Olympian history at the Atlanta games. It happened when ESPN showed Sparty holding Strug--"Beauty and the Beast" style--in its national advertising campaign for "SportsCenter."

As "beasts" go, however, Sparty is way-cool. He's massive, but cartoon-cute. The seven-foot costume weighs in at 30 pounds, allowing enough flexibility for playful gestures and animation. To Spartan fans, his national popularity came as no surprise.

Click to expand...

TidesofWar said:

Corporation said:

Are you counting only AP (or Coaches Poll back in the old split days)/BCS championships, or some of the more "loose" national championships? Please be consistent, so if you count all 12 of our (Bama of course) National Championships, please do the same for others so it will be an apples to apples comparison. If we claim the Weekly Reader championship but then only give credit for AP championships to other schools, it will invalidate what looks like a pretty well thought out listing as biased.

Click to expand...

I take pride in being as objective and fair across the Board as humanly possible - what you suggested not only insults my integrity, it would render this work meaningless.I have several quality historical sites I use to help compile this

Click to expand...

timschochet said:

As a UCLA fan, I wish we belonged in this august list but, sadly, Tides is correct, we do not.For me, if you look through the entire history of college football, there is only one program which has maintained it's incredible high level of excellence through nearly every decade. That program is the University of Michigan Wolverines.

Click to expand...

The Commish said:

Mr. Know-It-All said:

It will be a travesty if Yale and Princeton are not at the top of this list. Assuming modern era, I am guessing Oklahoma, USC, Notre Dame, Nebraska, and Alabama will be top 5 in some order.

Click to expand...

According to criteria above, not sure....the top for winning % are Michigan, ND, Texas and OSU. Top four for "national championships" is ND, Alabama, USC and Michigan.

Click to expand...

joffer said:

have you consulted with LHUCKS on this list?

Click to expand...

TidesofWar said:

I have several quality historical sites I use to help compile this

Click to expand...

TidesofWar said:

The Final Entry for today........................



#23 - THE MICHIGAN STATE SPARTANS

Michigan State is 612-442-44 all time, for yet another winning percentage of .590. The Spartans own two Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Titles in the early part of this century, and a total of 6 Big Ten Crowns. The Spartans also claim two National Titles, 1952 and 1965.

The 1952 team, coached by legendary Biggie Munn, went 9-0, and were crowned by AP and UPI, while the 1965 squad. coached by another legend in Duffy Daugherty, went 10-1. The 65 team was crowned National Champion by UPI, and shared the crown with Alabama, winner of the AP poll.

The Spartans also were named National Champion by at least one selector in..............

1951 - 9-0, selected by Helms and Poling

1953 - 9-1 selected by Massey

1957 - 8-1, selected by Billingsley, Sagarin, and Dunkel

1966 - 9-0-1, the year of the infamous 10-10 tie with Notre Dame, who took most poills, but Helms, the National Football Foundation, The College Football Researchers Association, and Poling all selected MSU.

Notable former players include Bubba Smith, Brad Van Pelt, Herb Adderly, Joe DeLamielleure, Andre Rison, Lorenzo White, Larry Bethea and Charles Rogers.

Coaching notables include.........

Clarence "Biggie" Munn, who went 54-9-2 in seven seasons, one national Title

Duffy Daugherty - 19 seasons - 109-69-5 - One National Title

Charles Bachman - 1933-1946 - 70-34-10

Michigan State and Alabama have several connections. Daugherty and Coach Bryant were great friends, and current Alabama Head Coach started his career at Michigan State. The Spartans also represent the first "Little Brother," or a quality Program who finds itself overshadowed in its own state by the likes of a Michigan.

Some Spartan History...................................

The School Colors

Details are sketchy as to when Michigan State athletic teams officially began using the school colors green and white. But records of the Athletic Association of the then Michigan Agricultural College show that on April 11, 1899, the organization took steps toward adoption of a green monogram, "to be worn only by athletes who subsequently take part in intercollegiate events."

It is generally thought the colors came into wide use with the arrival in 1903 of Chester L. Brewer as the school's first full-time director of athletics. Brewer also coached the Spartan football, basketball, baseball and track teams, the only varsity units in existence at the time.

The Nickname

In 1926, Michigan State's first southern baseball training tour provided the setting for the birth of the "Spartan" nickname.

It all came about when a Lansing sportswriter imposed the silent treatment on a contest-winning nickname and substituted his own choice, the name that has lasted through the years.

In 1925, Michigan State College replaced the name Michigan Agricultural College. The college sponsored a contest to select a nickname to replace "Aggies" and picked "The Michigan Staters."

George S. Alderton, then sports editor of the Lansing State Journal, decided the name was too cumbersome for newspaper writing and vowed to find a better one.

Alderton contacted Jim Hasselman of Information Services to see if entries still remained from the contest. When informed that they still existed, Alderton ran across the entry name of "Spartans" and then decided that was the choice. Unfortunately, Alderton forgot to write down who submitted that particular entry, so that part of the story remains a mystery.

Rewriting game accounts supplied by Perry Fremont, a catcher on the squad, Alderton first used the name sparingly and then ventured into the headlines with it. (Incidentally, after two days of spelling the name incorrectly with an "o", Mr. Alderton changed it to Spartan on a tip from a close friend.) Dale Stafford, a sports writer for the Lansing Capitol News, a rival of the State Journal, picked up the name for his paper after a couple of days. Alderton called Stafford and suggested that he might want to join the Spartan parade and he did. As Mr. Alderton explains: "No student, alumnus or college official had called up the editor to complain about our audacity in giving the old school a new name, so we ventured into headlines with it. Happily for the experiment, the name took. It began appearing in other newspapers and when the student publication used it, that clinched it."

Spartan Mascot

Sparty has gained great national visibility lately, a tribute to its cool design as well as to the efforts behind the MSUAA's mascot program.

He's our own jolly green giant. Lovable, huggable, and for Spartans of every age, ever so photo-poseable.

In the fall of 1995, MSU's beloved Sparty leaped into national celebrity in the same dramatic fashion that gymnast Kerri Strug vaulted into Olympian history at the Atlanta games. It happened when ESPN showed Sparty holding Strug--"Beauty and the Beast" style--in its national advertising campaign for "SportsCenter."

As "beasts" go, however, Sparty is way-cool. He's massive, but cartoon-cute. The seven-foot costume weighs in at 30 pounds, allowing enough flexibility for playful gestures and animation. To Spartan fans, his national popularity came as no surprise.

Click to expand...

Michigan State Cheerleaders..........Cheerleaders Take one

Take Two

Take Three

Take Four

Duffy Daugherty Before The Rose Bowl

Action from the famous 1966 10-10 tie with Notre Dame

Biggie Munn Getting a Kiss

Bubba Smith at the Senior Bowl with a Bama Belle

Spartan Stadium

Michigan State has a proud tradition, but has slipped mightily in the last few decades. There is some hope that Mark Dantonio may prove to be the answer, going 16-10 in his first two seasons. With Notre Dame and Michigan in a bit of a down cycle, there may be an opportunity for the Spartans to make a move towards the top again.

Click to expand...

Truman said:

joffer said:

have you consulted with LHUCKS on this list?

Click to expand...

Obviously.

TidesofWar said:

I have several quality historical sites I use to help compile this

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Mr. Know-It-All said:

The Commish said:

Mr. Know-It-All said:

It will be a travesty if Yale and Princeton are not at the top of this list. Assuming modern era, I am guessing Oklahoma, USC, Notre Dame, Nebraska, and Alabama will be top 5 in some order.

Click to expand...

According to criteria above, not sure....the top for winning % are Michigan, ND, Texas and OSU. Top four for "national championships" is ND, Alabama, USC and Michigan.

Click to expand...

By USC, I meant the Gamecocks. As for OSU, outside of Barry Sanders they haven't ever impressed me.

Click to expand...

L5UT1ger said:

As an aside, I am thinking that The Commish needs to put in his signiture that he does recognize college football national championships as he does not agree with an arbitrary system. EVERY thread about college football he gets someone to have that discussion with him. Keep up with your notebooks people!

Click to expand...

The Commish said:

L5UT1ger said:

As an aside, I am thinking that The Commish needs to put in his signiture that he does recognize college football national championships as he does not agree with an arbitrary system. EVERY thread about college football he gets someone to have that discussion with him. Keep up with your notebooks people!

Click to expand...

I can't help myself......like a moth to a flame.

Click to expand...

Moe. said:

The Commish said:

L5UT1ger said:

As an aside, I am thinking that The Commish needs to put in his signiture that he does recognize college football national championships as he does not agree with an arbitrary system. EVERY thread about college football he gets someone to have that discussion with him. Keep up with your notebooks people!

Click to expand...

I can't help myself......like a moth to a flame.

Click to expand...

We get it. Not another year of this, please.

Click to expand...

The Commish said:

Moe. said:

The Commish said:

L5UT1ger said:

As an aside, I am thinking that The Commish needs to put in his signiture that he does recognize college football national championships as he does not agree with an arbitrary system. EVERY thread about college football he gets someone to have that discussion with him. Keep up with your notebooks people!

Click to expand...

I can't help myself......like a moth to a flame.

Click to expand...

We get it. Not another year of this, please.

Click to expand...

When people stop being stupid, I'll stop. Pretty simple.

Click to expand...

ConstruxBoy said:

The Commish said:

Moe. said:

The Commish said:

L5UT1ger said:

As an aside, I am thinking that The Commish needs to put in his signiture that he does recognize college football national championships as he does not agree with an arbitrary system. EVERY thread about college football he gets someone to have that discussion with him. Keep up with your notebooks people!

Click to expand...

I can't help myself......like a moth to a flame.

Click to expand...

We get it. Not another year of this, please.

Click to expand...

When people stop being stupid, I'll stop. Pretty simple.

Click to expand...

You're going to need to apologize to Sarah Palin for that.

Click to expand...

School Colors

The official colors of CU are silver and gold. According to the book Glory Colorado, these colors were adopted by the class of 1888, as a symbol of the mineral wealth of this state. But in 1921, as football became more popular, there were complaints from the students that silver and gold did not look good on football jerseys. In fact, silver and gold ended up looking like dirty gray and dark yellow. It wasn't until 1959 that the football team changed its jerseys to black with yellow. And although the football team seems to have set the trend with its color choice, CU still has the official colors of silver and gold.



Buffaloes

The buffalo first appeared in 1934, three weeks after a contest to select an official school nickname by the Silver and Gold newspaper had come to an end and "Buffaloes" was the winning entry. The nickname was officially bestowed upon the school's teams at halftime of the Homecoming game against Utah. For the final game of the '34 season, some students paid $25 to rent a buffalo calf mascot along with a real cowboy as his keeper. It took the cowboy and four students to keep the calf under control on the sidelines, a 7-0 win over the University of Denver on Thanksgiving Day.

Prior to 1934, CU athletic teams usually were referred to as the "Silver and Gold", but other nicknames teams were sometimes called included Silver Helmets, Yellow Jackets, Hornets, Arapahoes, Big Horns, Grizzlies and Frontiersmen. The campus newspaper announced the contest in the fall of 1934, with a $5 prize to go to the author of the winning selection. Claude Bates of New Madrid, Mo., and James Proffitt of Cincinnati, Ohio, were co-winners for the prize as both submitted Buffaloes as their entry. Athletic Director Harry Carlson, graduate manager Walter Franklin and Kenneth Bundy of the Silver and Gold were the judges. Through the years, synonyms which quickly came into use included "Bison", "Buffs", "Thundering Herd", "Stampeding Herd", "Golden Avalanche", and "Golden Buffaloes".

The "Ralphie" tradition began October 1, 1966 when Buddy Hays of Boulder's Hidden Valley Ranch first brought a six-month old buffalo calf to Folsom Field. The parade around the then-existing cinder track was relatively inconspicuous. From that time on, the pre-game and second half charges of Ralphie around the perimeter of the playing field (and often through the ranks of visiting teams) has been one of the great spectacles of college athletics.

CU, not UC

A question often asked of many former Big Eight schools: Why is it the University of Colorado, but the moniker is CU and not UC? (The same applies at Kansas-KU, Missouri-MU, Nebraska-NU and Oklahoma-OU). "Midwestern casualness," says CU historian Fred Casotti. It has always been this way at Colorado, for whatever reason, and at the other four listed above-but seemingly nowhere else in the USA.

In the 1950s, there was a concerted effort to eliminate the use of "CU" on the Boulder campus, both as a symbol and in speech, but Casotti said that no one would buy into it. "Nobody would change," he said. "It's easier to say than U of C, UC sounds like slang or something (as in 'you see'), and it was traditional. By trying to eliminate it, they reinforced it."

Ralphie the Buffalo

The University of Colorado has the most unique mascot in all of intercollegiate atheltics, a real buffalo named Ralphie. The live buffalo mascot, actually "Ralphie IV," will continue the tradition of leading the football team out on the field both at the start of the game and the second half.

It is truly one of the special sights that exists anywhere in college or professional sports, especially for opposing teams, who often stop in their tracks watching the massive buffalo round the end zone and head directly at their sideline.

Click to expand...

TidesofWar said:

#22 - THE COLORADO BUFFALOS

The Buffs won the National Title in 1990, Coached by Bill Mcartney and going 11-1-1, capped by an Orange bowl victory over Notre Dame. Colorado took the AP, Football Writers, and National Football Foundation Titles.

Click to expand...

TidesofWar said:

Notable Colorado players include Rasaam Salaam, Cullen Bryant, Joel Klatt, Mason Crosby, Barry Remington, ray Cone, Michael Westbrook, and Koy Detmer.

Click to expand...