It's time to revoke USCw and Nebraska's "Blue Blood" honors

Blue bloods have been teams with enough long term connections and pull to get away with paying players. Now that every one can pay players that term will mean less and less

To be fair bluebloods can pay more

Alabama, Georgia, OSU, Michigan, LSU, Texas etc have a ton of money so it does.

quote:

---

I say we replace them with Georgia and Miami

---

None of those teams are blue bloods.

IMO:

Blue Bloods…

1. Alabama
2. Ohio State
3. Oklahoma
4. Notre Dame

Elite Programs:

5. Michigan
6. USC
7. Georgia
8. LSU
9. Texas
10. Nebraska
11. Florida State
12. Penn State
13. Miami
14. Florida
15. Clemson
16. Tennessee
17. Auburn

—- BIG DROPOFF—

The next in line…

18. Michigan State
19. UCLA
20. Washington
21. Oregon
22. Texas A&M
23. Wisconsin
24. TCU
25. Arkansas
26. Ole Miss
27. Iowa
28. Minnesota
29. Georgia Tech
30. Pittsburgh

A blue blood are the top programs in the sport, but I draw the line based mostly on being relevant not only now, but throughout time with very few long droughts.

Alabama- won national titles in every decade since the 1960s with the exception of the 1980s…. And they came super close considering they won titles in 1979 and 1992… just missing that 1980s championship and none prior to 1961.

Ohio State- won titles in the 1940s, 1950s, 1960s… then again in the 2000s, 2010s, and 2020s. Missing two decades.

Oklahoma- won titles in the 1950s, 1970s, 1980s, and 2000s.

Notre Dame- won titles in the 1940s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s…. None since 1988 sort of has them on watch IMO.

quote:

---

Just wondering why Michigan is not a blue blood

---

Michigan has just three titles. There were some VERY long gaps there without one. They won titles in 1948, but not again until 1997… and then their most recent in 2023.

They are arguably CFB’s most consistently strong program but IMO only three national titles is problematic… and waiting over 20 years between them each time is not a signature of a blue blood.

They claim 12

quote:

---

Blue bloods have been teams with enough long term connections and pull to get away with paying players. Now that every one can pay players that term will mean less and less

---

The last 2 title winners under the most extreme unlimited NIL where anyone is allowed to do anything have been blue bloods Michigan and Ohio St.

quote:

---

Miami

---

Miami has 1 national title in the last 30 years. Nebraska has 3. USC has 2.

The whole point of being a blue blood is once you are in that club, it takes 3 or 4 decades of being awful to ever leave it. Minnesota, Army, Navy, Yale, etc is how bad you have to be to lose blue blood status. Nebraska needs another 10-20 years of mediocrity to lose it. USC is nowhere close to being out.

Here is a measure of consistent relevancy….

Programs that have never gone more than 15 seasons between AP Top 5 Finishes:

1. Oklahoma- 13 seasons (1988 until ending the streak in 2000)

Programs that have never gone more than 20 seasons between AP Top 5 Finishes:

Oklahoma plus…

2. Alabama- 16 seasons (1946 until ending the streak in 1961)

3. Ohio State- 17 seasons (1980 until ending the streak in 1996)

4. Texas- 18 seasons (1984 until ending the streak in 2001)

5. Notre Dame- 19 seasons (1993 until ending the streak in 2012)

6. Georgia- 19 seasons (1983 until ending the streak in 2002)… I put UGA behind ND because their 2nd longest streak of not finishing in the Top 5 is longer than the Irish’, 14 seasons compared to 11).

Programs that have never gone more than 25 seasons between AP Top 5 Finishes:

Oklahoma, Alabama, Ohio State, Texas, Notre Dame, and Georgia plus…

7. Penn State- 21 seasons (1948 until the streak ended in 1968)

8. Auburn- 22 seasons (1936 until the streak ended in 1957)

9. Michigan- 22 seasons (2000 until the streak ended in 2021)… I put Michigan behind AU because their 2nd longest streak of not finishing in the Top 5 is longer than Auburn’s, 16 compared to 12).

10. USC- 23 seasons (1980 until the streak ended in 2002)

11. Tennessee- 24 seasons (2002 to present). If they fail to finish in the Top 5 by next season, they’ll roll off this list.

Not saying all of the above are blue bloods by any stretch, but I do think it’s impossible to gain blue blood status if you’ve gone quarter century periods of time without a Top 5 finish.

Another interesting stat is this…

Number of combined years without a Top 5 AP finish, adding both the longest and 2nd longest such streaks together:

1. Oklahoma- 23 seasons (streaks of 13 and 10)

2. Ohio State- 27 seasons (streaks of 17 and 10)

3. Notre Dame- 30 seasons (streaks of 19 and 11)

4. Alabama- 31 seasons (streaks of 16 and 15)

5. Texas- 32 seasons (streaks of 18 and 14)

6. Georgia- 33 seasons (streaks of 19 and 14)

7. Auburn- 34 seasons (streaks of 22 and 12)

8. Michigan- 38 seasons (streaks of 22 and 16)

9. Tennessee- 39 seasons (streaks of 24 and 15)

10. Penn State- 40 seasons (streaks of 21 and 19)

11. USC- 40 seasons (streaks of 23 and 17)

12. LSU- 48 seasons (streaks of 26 and 22)

13. Nebraska- 56 seasons (streaks of 30 and 26)

This is where the resumes of Miami and Florida are problematic, IMO. Florida didn’t have a Top 5 finish until the 49th year of the AP poll era… Miami not until the 48th year.

Under Bob Devaney and Tom Osborne from 1962-1997 Nebraska won fewer than 9 games only twice (the latter 25 of those years, all under Osborne, they never won fewer than 9 games). Over that 36 year period they finished in the AP top 10 25 times. Since Osborne retired, they have had 3 top 10 finishes (all were in the first 4 years after he retired). Osborne and Devaney were the dynasty that made them blue bloods - but 30 years of complete and total mediocrity (and worse) since then tells me they gave up their blue blood card when Tom retired.