5 Most under-achieving programs.......

[Riversetvol]

Still don't understand UCLA......

1. UCLA- sure they are in the same town with USC, but hell they could let USC pick their Top 25 recruits and there would be enough left over to finish in the Top 10-15 every year. Beautiful campus, beautiful women, play in the Rose Bowl, what's the problem in Westwood?

2. Texas- ONE NC in 40 years for the school that is one of the Top 3 jobs in the country? (UF and USC the other two)

Little UT has everything, money, facilities, tradition, great in-state talent) so what's the problem?

Could be Oklahoma, who had 44 players on their roster from Texas the other night.

3. UGA- TWO SEC Championships in the last 27 years. Pitiful for a school with all the in-state talent Georgia has.

4 Texas A&M- kind of like UCLA, they could let Texas pick the Top 25 and still should have enough talent in Texas left to be a Top 20 school every year.

5. Illinois- had a brief revival under Zook, but appear to have peaked now. With all the talent in Chicago alone, they s hould be a contender with the Big 3 in the Little 10.

[Gravedigger]

Also add Florida State to that list. How many titles does Daddy Bowden have in the 34 years there?

[Napervol]

I don't understand Illinois the most. Zook has Indianapolis 2hrs to his east, Chicago 2 hrs to the north, St. Louis 1.5 hrs to his west, and Memphis four hours south. Lot of speed and talent in those cities to recruit to.....and yet, he really only had that one great recruiting year.

ND, Michigan, and Ohio State cannot get all of those players so where are they going. Fan support would be phenomenal down there if they would just contend every year.

[Vespid]

Great insight and I would add Notre Dame to that list.

[GhostofJohnnyMajors]

Texas has got to be #1 on that list. They get a top 5 recruiting class every season and I believe they have won 1 Big 12 Championship in Mack Brown's 11 years as head coach. Fortunately enough for him he was able to achieve a national title that same year so he has plenty of "equity". Florida State and Tennessee under Fulmer would have to numbers 2 and 3.

[tatar salad]

ClemSuk. They ALWAYS disappoint.

[msvolfan]

I can't think of many more programs that were as underachieveing as we were from about 1997-2002

[jeff1vol]

Underachieved? Maybe from a talent standpoint in the mid 90's, but considering the WHOLE picture, which would include instate talent, population, location, conference competition level etc. I think that UT during most years has overachieved. We've been a pretty stout program over the last couple of decades.

[AtlantaVol]

I guess it depends on the time period but I was thinking of a 10 year time period rather than decades long.

My top 5 Underachievers for past decade (in no certain order)

1) Tennessee- Top 5 overall athletic budgit and Top 5 seating capacity stadium. #1 Recruiting budgit in the country. Absolutely NOTHING to show for it.

2) UCLA- big name school sitting in a Hot Bed of athletic talent. No NFL in town for years so only USC to compete with for local talent. With the Hollywood type setting and tons of good looking chicks then should be able to recruit nationwide. Has NOTHING to show for it for well more than a decade now.

3) ND- Media darlings with a monster athletic budgit. Seems like they could "name" their HC but has chosen Davie, Willingham, and Phat Ass Weiss instead. Has less than nothing to show for it.

4) Michigan- Monster budgit and monster stadium. More wins than anyone in NCAA history. Has been as bad or worse than UT for the last decade.

5) Tie between TX A & M, Colorado, and Washington- hard to seperate these. TX A & M is surrounded by boatloads of talent but is out in the middle of nowhere so that might hurt them with city or suburban recruits. Colorado and Washington are schools in nice settings that are the main state schools. Neither have the recruits like A & M so might put them lower after all.

[gallavol]

Tx A&M suffers from the increase in popularity, with media, of the Texas/OU rivalry. The TX/TxA&M rivalry has decreased in profile and appeal, and so has A&M recruiting.

ND just sucks.

Two words explain the decade long TN decline, Phillip Fulmer.

[jeff1vol]

Oh I would agree with what UT has done lately, Atlanta! No doubt our talent has been wasted much of this decade and the last part of the 90's.

Overall, however, I still contend that Tennessee has done pretty well over a longer period of time than others.

Using that logic...UF would be one of the BIGGEST underacheivers of all-time considering those same factors listed above. Shit...they didn't even know what a football was until Saint Steve showed up!

[msvolfan]

Oh I would agree with what UT has done lately, Atlanta! No doubt our talent has been wasted much of this decade and the last part of the 90's.

Overall, however, I still contend that Tennessee has done pretty well over a longer period of time than others.

Using that logic...UF would be one of the BIGGEST underacheivers of all-time considering those same factors listed above. Shit...they didn't even know what a football was until Saint Steve showed up!

i agree jeff. uf from pre sos would definately qualify.

[SoftballVol]

I don't understand Illinois the most. Zook has Indianapolis 2hrs to his east, Chicago 2 hrs to the north, St. Louis 1.5 hrs to his west, and Memphis four hours south. Lot of speed and talent in those cities to recruit to.....and yet, he really only had that one great recruiting year.

ND, Michigan, and Ohio State cannot get all of those players so where are they going. Fan support would be phenomenal down there if they would just contend every year.
None of that matters if Zook is your coach. Look at how he floundered when he had all that Florida talent at his fingertips. The moron couldn't even get his boys to win a street fight with a bunch of candy-ass frat boys. You could relocate UI to Gainesville or Los Angeles and it wouldn't make any difference. Zook makes even Fulmer look good by comparison. I'm sure that UI hired the idiot thinking that he would improve their recruiting but like the people who defended CPF all those years because of his perceived recruiting talents it turns out that even top talent has to be coached. Zook is surely the single worst college football coach I've ever seen. If only he could somehow come back to the SEC, maybe to UF again or perhaps to Bama when Saban moves on to his next gig.

[Orangeman]

You know, I don't know why South Carolina does not win more. They are in an area with lots of talent in state and nearby. The fans are rabid and fill the stadium so there is passion. Even Spurrier can't win consistently there. Strange. Perhaps if they went to the ACC they would win?

[murrayCod]

I think "sleeping giant" discussions are more fun than talking about underachievers.

Top Five Sleeping Giants -- all it takes to make the leap is landing the right coach (e.g. Spurrier @ UF); in no particular order:

South Carolina - obvious pick is obvious
Pitt - yeah Johnny won the NC there, but other than that historically a .500 team
Maryland - never understood how they don't just wreck the ACC every year
Rutgers - thought Schiano had awakned the giant but looks like a false alarm
Illinois - zero excuse for them to be what they are

[gatewayghost]

1. Nebraska

2. Miami

3. UCLA

4. Florida St

5. Tennessee