The end of the decade has brought many people to retrospectively look at what has happened in the last 10 seasons.
Bill Bender of Sporting News came up with a system to determine the best schools, giving 10 points for a national title, 5 points for each title game appearance and college football playoff selection, 3 points for a New Year’s Six or BCS bowl appearance and 2 points for each Heisman winner. Winning percentage, All-Americans and NFL draft picks were also part of the equation.
With that scoring system, the Irish amassed 27 points, which put them 12th. Bender breaks down the last 10 years of Irish football, noting that “Brian Kelly led the Irish to a BCS championship appearance and a College Football Playoff appearance as part of undefeated regular seasons, but the reality checks Alabama and Clemson provided show what it takes to reach those national championship heights. The Irish are 33-6 the past three seasons and have produced the 11th-most NFL draft picks.”
Looking at the top five schools, Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State, Oklahoma and LSU, only the Sooners have not won a championship in that time frame. The Nick Saban-led Crimson Tide dominated the decade, resulting in 166 points, over 40 more than second-place Clemson. Not too hard when you played for a championship 6 out of the 10 years.
Only 7 points separated the Irish and Auburn, which was 10th, while 8.5 points away was Wisconsin at 8th. The Irish are not that far away from being viewed as one of the best teams of the decade, and, hopefully, this decade is a bit more fruitful than last 10 years.