FanShot

Top 25 Teams of 2004 - 2009

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#9 – 2004 Oklahoma Why They’re Top Ten: Before the Orange Bowl loss to USC, many people were calling this potentially the greatest team ever, and with very good reason. They had the #3-rated schedule, and were dominant throughout the regular season, with a few close games and a bunch of blowouts (31-7 over Oregon, 41-10 over Kansas, 30-3 over Nebraska, 35-0 over Baylor, 42-3 over Colorado). They also pitched a shutout against Texas, whose next lowest point total for the year was 22 against Arkansas (and they also scored 65, 56, 51, and 44 points in other games, which is crazy-high offensive numbers to get shut out by anyone). Why They’re Not Top Five: 55-19. As great as the regular season resume was, you’re not in truly elite territory if you get beaten that badly, and it’s even worse when it comes in the title game (late-season games count more in the model, which jives with most peoples’ thinking). #8 – 2008 Oklahoma Why They’re Top Ten: This team played the #1-rated schedule in 2008, and was pretty dominant against it (the 65-21 annihilation of Texas Tech, 62-21 annihilation of Mizzou, 62-28 annihilation of Nebraska and 35-10 beating of TCU were extremely impressive by any standard; throwing in 52-26 against Cincy, 61-41 against OK St and others only makes the list of victims bigger and better). The Big 12 was probably the best league in 2008, and the Sooners also played Cincy and TCU. They also played a truly exceptional Florida team in the title game and came closer than any team not named Ole Miss; considering Florida’s long string of hideous beat-downs against many quality opponents, that’s a much better result than it would look at first glance. Why They’re Not Top Five: They lost not just once but twice. They’re the highest-rated two-loss team in the system, but there’s a definite limit to how good you can look with two losses. TCU was an impressive addition to the resume, and Cincy helped too, but Washington was a big drag on the schedule strength. This was a very underrated team (Colley having them 19th is ridiculous), but two losses is still two losses.

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