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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.

Good list-all these schools could be great by getting the right charasmatic Coach who excelled at recruiting. Said Coach would probably be gone in 4-5 years except perhaps North Carolina. San Diego St. and UH have facility issues which really hurt the program. The North Carolina schools have had some academic obstacles imposed by the State that hurt their recruiting. Pitt and North Carolina are about two seasons into renewed recruiting success which should be sufficient to at least annually go to bowls in coming years. Both those schools are probably a year or so away from really bheing competitive athletically.

With Phil Bennett and the swinging gate how can Pitt go wrong?

I guess that's why the loyaly SMU fans haven't given up the last 20 years. We always knew it was in us to be great again.

Stallion wrote:Good list-all these schools could be great by getting the right charasmatic Coach who excelled at recruiting. Said Coach would probably be gone in 4-5 years except perhaps North Carolina. San Diego St. and UH have facility issues which really hurt the program. The North Carolina schools have had some academic obstacles imposed by the State that hurt their recruiting. Pitt and North Carolina are about two seasons into renewed recruiting success which should be sufficient to at least annually go to bowls in coming years. Both those schools are probably a year or so away from really bheing competitive athletically.

Speaking from the perspective of our conference mate, UH, on the above bolded items.

The Houston area is obviously loaded with HS talent and I am curious to see if Sumlin, who recruited Houston for OU, will be able to tap into the talent. Briles, while I think is a very good coach, never did make any headway in getting top flight local talent.

UH has fantastic training/practice facilities but Robertson stadium is awful. For anyone who has been there, you know that the stadium is mediocre in comparison to many 5A and 4A high school district stadiums. A facelift to it will not help- they need to start over. Plop Ford Stadium with an extra 10k seats on Houston's campus and I think it would make a world of difference. The one saving grace is beer is served at all UH home games, which naturally makes Roberston much more tolerable.

I will say this for Pitt, with Wannstedt and Phil they have two of the most powerful 'staches in the business.

the mustache power from bennett and wanny alone should be enough to make them .5000

Is there a team in CUSA that has better football facilities than SMU?

PonySnob wrote:Is there a team in CUSA that has better football facilities than SMU?

UCF?

Not sure if UCF has a practice facility but their stadium isn't as nice as Ford. It is a definite improvement over the Citrus Bowl (but what wouldn't have been) but still not as nice. It seats a few more. I would guess 45,000 or so (although that could be a little off). Just one man's opinion

I would add Syracuse, one of the traditional college powers, who is the only large Div. 1 school in NY State. Others who come to mind include Michigan State, who seems to raise expectations and then run of out gas.

Historically, Minnesota was a dominant team a half a century ago, while Penn State has been good, but has under-performed (relative to past dominance) since joining the Big Ten.

Water Pony wrote:I would add Syracuse, one of the traditional college powers, who is the only large Div. 1 school in NY State.

U. of Buffalo is bigger than Syracuse.

RGV Pony wrote:

PonySnob wrote:Is there a team in CUSA that has better football facilities than SMU?

UCF?

except the concourse in the stadium is dirt

Minnisota suffers from being in a State with very poor high school football-they produced only 14 Division 1A Football Players last year-Dallas Ft. Worth produced 10 times that many. The State of Texas produced about 26 times more. The point this commentator was making is that each of those schools were in recruiting hotbeds.

SDSU should really be better than what they are. it'd be cool for them to rise and compete with other pac10 schools in recruiting. they have potential to own the mwc