The underachiever tiers of college football

cant link...ESPN+

Georgia finally nuber one...Fggie, close second


Tier I: The Dawghouse

Georgia

Full disclosure: I'm typing this while wearing a Georgia hat. I bought it during a 2018 trip to cover a game against Tennessee, my first fall visit to Sanford Stadium. It was amazing. Everyone should see a game between the hedges. Georgia has it all -- the stadium, the fan base, the finances, the town, the access to talent, the SEC. And yet a national championship continues to elude the Bulldogs.


Since 1980, when Herschel Walker helped the Vince Dooley-coached Bulldogs to a 12-0 record and a consensus national title, Georgia has been maddeningly unable to reach the sport's pinnacle. The Bulldogs came so close in 2017 before Tua Tagovailoa broke their hearts in Atlanta, and might have won it all in 2012 if they got past Alabama in the SEC title game. But Georgia went 20 years without an SEC title, from 1982 to 2002, and owns only one league championship since 2005 (the Bulldogs do have six East Division titles since then).

TIER II: The I-10 tier
Texas A&M, UCLA, Texas


Texas A&M: Texas A&M doesn't enjoy quite as many advantages as Georgia, but its lack of championships might be even more shocking. The Aggies have gone twice as long without winning a national title (1939) and own just one league title since the Southwest Conference fell apart. Texas A&M can throw money at everything, as evidenced by coach Jimbo Fisher's $75 million guaranteed contract and its sparkling facilities in College Station. There's no major program located closer to Houston, a top national recruiting area. Fisher undoubtedly has the team on a promising trajectory, as Texas A&M finished No. 4 in 2020. But it marked only the Aggies' second top-five finish since 1939. Texas A&M had only one AP top-10 finish between 1994 and last year.


UCLA: If there was a SimCFB game, you might build UCLA, a top public university with a broad and powerful tradition of athletic success, located in one of the nicest parts of Los Angeles. Anyone who has walked UCLA's campus in Westwood knows that the place sells itself. And yet UCLA hasn't won a conference title in 23 years! The Bruins have only two Pac-12 division championships, one AP top-10 finish and zero New Year's Six bowl appearances during the span. There has been some laziness involved, as UCLA until recently had some of the worst facilities in the Power 5. The lack of an on-campus stadium hurts, but UCLA also plays its home games at the Rose Bowl, not some soulless NFL venue. Other than a stretch under coach Terry Donahue in the 1980s, UCLA hasn't been a consistently relevant program.


UCLA may play its home games at the Rose Bowl but the Bruins haven't made an appearance in the bowl game since 1999. Alika Jenner/Getty Images

Texas: I initially had Texas in the "lost-glory" tier of underachievers, but the Longhorns honestly belong here, alongside their old friends the Aggies. Texas owns a national title in somewhat recent memory (2005) and actually won league titles during this millennium (2005, 2009). But the extended runs of mediocrity both before and after coach Mack Brown's tenure enhance Texas' status as an underachiever. The team has just one 10-win season since 2009, and has yet to make the CFP. Like UCLA, Texas is an elite public institution in a great location. Unlike UCLA, Texas isn't lacking for resources and carries one of the most powerful brands in college sports. Texas is undeniably a top-five job. While also a complex job, Texas has no excuse not to win at a much higher level than it has been.

TIER III: Location, location, location
Well-located schools that can't break through.

North Carolina, Arizona State, Maryland


North Carolina: Mack Brown's return to Chapel Hill has helped UNC flash its potential again -- interestingly enough, Brown is the only coach to pry two programs on this list (North Carolina, Texas) out of underachiever status, but he can't erase the past 20 years. UNC is a basketball school and always will be, but football should be much stronger there, given the local recruiting area, the appeal of the university and even some of its hoops connections such as the Jordan brand. No conference titles since 1980 and only one ACC Coastal Division title is unacceptable. North Carolina has only two AP Top 25 finishes since 1997, which marked its last top-10 finish in the final year of Brown's first go-round as coach.


Arizona State: In the 1970s, Arizona State emerged as college football's newest Western power, recording five AP top-13 finishes, five Fiesta Bowl wins and a No. 2 final ranking in 1975 under coach Frank Kush. ASU recorded No. 4 finishes in 1986 and 1996, but no top-10s since and only four poll finishes since 1997 (none in the past six years). Despite an appealing location in a growing city, increased resources and a massive student body/alumni network, ASU remains a sleeping giant. The Sun Devils haven't won a league title since 2007 and own only one South Division title (2013). Other than consecutive 10-win seasons in 2013 and 2014, they haven't won more than eight games since 2007.


Maryland: Anyone who follows recruiting knows about the DMV -- D.C., Maryland, Virginia -- and the talent it produces annually. Maryland is the closest major program to the DMV region, located right outside the Washington city limits, and has had little trouble recruiting over the years. But the Terrapins have just one conference title since 1985, only one AP Top 25 finish since 2003 and no top-10 finishes since 1976. Other than a 31-8 stretch under coach Ralph Friedgen from 2001 to 2003, Maryland has eclipsed seven wins just three times since 1985. Maryland is a basketball-first school and has not invested enough in football until recently. But a school located so close to a major talent hub should deliver more success.