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The original was posted on /r/cfb by /u/jimbobbypaul on 2023-07-31 19:59:48.
Main hub thread with the full 131 rankings
And with that, we have our final, and best, Group of 5 team, Boise State. Well deserved. The Broncos have been nothing short of incredible since moving up to the FBS in 1996, possessing a 257-62 record (.806 win percentage) in the last 25 years. The fact that they’re this high despite only playing 27 FBS seasons is a testament to how successful they’ve been—if this list just covered the last 20 years (2003-22), they’d be #8. They went 84-8 from 2006-12 and 129-15 from 2002-12. The Kellen Moore era (2008-11) was 50-3 with the 3 losses by a combined 5 points. Crazy.
Best Seasons and Highlights
1. 2009: 4. Boise State: 14-0 (46.333) 2. 2006: 5. Boise State: 13-0 (45.100) 3. 2010: 7. Boise State: 12-1 (43.866) 4. 2011: 5. Boise State: 12-1 (38.982) 5. 2003: 7. Boise State: 13-1 (34.475) 6. 2004: 7. Boise State: 11-1 (33.097) 7. 2008: 9. Boise State: 12-1 (32.850) 8. 2002: 9. Boise State: 12-1 (31.610) 9. 2014: 12. Boise State: 12-2 (31.065) 10. 2019: 16. Boise State: 12-2 (26.247) 11. 2018: 20. Boise State: 10-3 (22.897) 12. 2017: 18. Boise State: 11-3 (22.472) 13. 2012: 21. Boise State: 11-2 (20.516) 14. 2000: 22. Boise State: 10-2 (15.588) 15. 2016: 25. Boise State: 10-3 (15.349) 16. 2007: 31. Boise State: 10-3 (12.619) 17. 2021: 36. Boise State: 7-5 (9.553) 18. 2022: 34. Boise State: 10-4 (8.293) 19. 1999: 29. Boise State: 10-3 (7.808) 20. 2005: 27. Boise State: 9-4 (7.494) 21. 2020: 38. Boise State: 5-2 (4.516) 22. 2001: 39. Boise State: 8-4 (4.065) 23. 2015: 50. Boise State: 9-4 (2.361) 24. 2013: 59. Boise State: 8-5 (-1.698) 25. 1998: 70. Boise State: 6-5 (-19.556) 26. 1997: 84. Boise State: 4-7 (-32.198) 27. 1996: 109. Boise State: 2-10 (-62.219) Overall Score: 29980 (25th)
- 263-79 record
- 14 conference titles
- 13-7 bowl record
- 3 consensus All-Americans
- 43 NFL players drafted
Imagine your 5th worst season in the FBS being a 9-4 record. Boise State wins 10+ games on average every 2 of 3 years, totalling 6 10-win seasons, 3 11-win seasons, 6 12-win seasons, 2 13-win seasons, and 1 14-win season. Unreal. Also, Boise State’s 2021 season (7-5) being ranked higher than their 2022 season (10-4) shows you the power of strength of schedule, play tough teams and you will be rewarded. Boise State’s won 14 titles despite just being here for 27 years, and all 14 came during a 21 year period (1999-2019). The consensus All-American and NFL draftee totals tell you everything you need to know about Boise State—they win despite a lack of talent. They’ve signed just 15 4-stars in their history, yet average 10 wins a season. The consensus All-Americans are OT Ryan Clady (2007) who is Boise State’s highest ever draftee at the 12th overall pick, OT Nate Potter (2011), and AP Avery Williams (2020) who won the Johnny “The Jet” Rodgers Award with 2 punt return TDs and 2 kick return TDs in just 7 games. Top NFL players include OT Ryan Clady, DE DeMarcus Lawrence, RB Doug Martin, LB Leighton Vander Esch, CB Orlando Scandrick, RB Jay Ajayi, and S George Iloka.
Top 5 Seasons
Worst Season: 1996 (2-10 overall, 1-4 Big West)
Boise State had a bumpy transition to the FBS, going just 2-10 in their first year, but this was bigger than football. Coach Pokey Allen, who had led Boise State to an FCS National Championship appearance in 1994, underwent surgery for his muscle cancer before the season, missing most of 1996. Interim coach Tom Mason stepped up for the first 10 games, going 1-9 with a 33-22 win over Portland State. 2 of their losses were to FCS teams (Eastern Washington and Northwestern State), with blowout losses to #5 Arizona State, Nevada, Utah State, and Fresno State. Pokey Allen returned to the sidelines for the final 2 games of the season, first against New Mexico State in Las Cruces. Boise scored a late TD to win 33-32 in an emotional victory, and Pokey got his first and only FBS win. He’d pass just 1 month later to rhabdomyosarcoma, but his legacy lives on and he was inducted into the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame in 1998. This was by far Boise’s worst season, as they finished as my 3rd worst team in the country. QB Tony Hilde, who led Boise to the 1994 title game, threw for 2473 yards and ran for 381, with 25 total TD. Boise would go 4-7 the next year, 6-5 after that, and then their domination would start and hasn’t let up since.
5. 2003 (13-1 overall, 8-0 WAC)
With 2006 and 2009-11 obviously taking the top 4 spots, there’s a lot of Boise teams that could be placed here. The 2004 and 2008 teams finished the regular season unbeaten before losing in their bowl games, but ultimately it was 2003 that gets the nod for the 5th spot. At this point Boise wasn’t nationally known yet, but they were rolling with Ryan Dinwiddie at QB and Dan Hawkins at coach, coming off a 12-1 #15 season. Boise started the year unranked, but returned Dinwiddie for his senior season. They took out a pair of in-state rivals Idaho State and Idaho, but lost a close one on the road to eventual 8-5 Oregon State. Nonetheless, Boise would begin their quest for a 2nd straight WAC title, edging out some close wins early like 43-37 over Louisiana Tech and 27-20 over Tulsa, but toward the end of the season, had wins like 77-14 over San Jose State, 50-12 over BYU, and 31-17 over Fresno State in the de-facto WAC title game. Wrapping up the season with a 56-3 win over Nevada and 45-28 win on the road against 8-4 Hawaii, #18 Boise State played #19 TCU in the Fort Worth Bowl. This was the first time these two teams had met, but their legacies over the next decade would be closely tied with one another. Boise held TCU to 7 points in the second half to win 34-31, finishing the year #16 at 13-1.
Dinwiddie led the #1 offense in the nation, averaging 43.0 PPG. He won WAC Offensive POTY in his final season, throwing for 4356 yards 31 TD 7 INT. He left as the NCAA’s career passing efficiency leader at 168.9, throwing for 9819 yards 82 TD 21 INT on 9.9 YPA. RB David Mikell had over 1000 rushing yards and WR Tim Gilligan had over 1000 receiving yards. Dan Hawkins and offensive coordinator Chris Petersen would coach 2 more seasons together, until Petersen took over as head coach in 2006.
2003 Boise State is my 20th best Group of 5 team since 1983.
4. 2011 (12-1 overall, 6-1 Mountain West)
QB Kellen Moore’s senior season. Boise was coming off a near-miss at a potential national title berth in 2010, or at least another BCS bowl appearance, so they had one more year to run it back in 2011. #5 Boise State kicked off against #19 Georgia in Atlanta, doing what Boise does by smoking the big boy. Moore completed 28 of 34 passes and Boise took a 35-14 lead in the 4th quarter before winning 35-21. The rest of the non-conference schedule paled in comparison, but a 40-15 win over Toledo and 41-21 win over Tulsa were actually somewhat impressive, given that they finished 9-4 and 8-5, respectively. Games against Nevada and Fresno State were now non-conference games as Boise had just moved from the WAC to the Mountain West, but it was just like old times, beating the Wolfpack 30-10 and the Bulldogs 57-7. As conference play started, everyone had their eye on the Boise vs TCU matchup. Eventually it was time for #5 8-0 Boise State vs 7-2 TCU, and while TCU wasn’t up to their usual standard, anything can happen when these two play. TCU scored a late touchdown and 2 point conversion to go up 36-35 with 1 minute left, but Moore drove Boise into FG position. As usual, it was a missed kick that did Boise in, this time from 39 yards out, and they got their first loss of the season and their first loss at home in 36 games. Boise won out, beating Arizona State 56-24 in the Las Vegas Bowl, but finished 2nd in the MWC to TCU. If not for the 1 point loss to TCU, Boise State very well may have gotten a national title appearance over 11-1 Alabama and 11-1 Oklahoma State.
If you weren’t around for Moore’s career, he’s the best “Group of 5” QB in history, but even that’s selling him short, he’s one of the best QBs the college game has ever seen. Moore completed 74% of passes for 3800 yards and 43 TD 9 INT in his final year, winning Mountain West Offensive POTY and the QB of the Year Award. Moore left as the winningest QB in NCAA history with a 50-3 record, with the losses by a combined 5 points. The QB of the Year Award was renamed to the Kellen Moore Award, and has since been given to top players like Baker Mayfield and Dwayne Haskins. Moore left college with career stats of 69.8% completions (3rd all-time), 14,667 passing yards (5th all-time), 142 passing TDs (2nd all-time), and a 169.0 passer rating (3rd all-time). Other great players on the team included future All-Pro RB Doug Martin (1299 yards and 16 TD), consensus All-American OT Nate Potter, and 1st round pick DE Shea McClellin. 6 players were selected in the 2012 NFL Draft, which is 14% of Boise’s drafted players over the last 27 years in just 1 year.
2011 Boise State is my 10th best Group of 5 team since 1983. They’re also my 196th best team overall since 1983.
3. 2010 (12-1 overall, 7-1 WAC)
I firmly believe this is the best Group of 5 team of all time, they just couldn’t get it done against Nevada. 2010 Boise State was a juggernaut unlike non-AQ conferences had ever seen, and would’ve won 10+ games in any Power 6 confer…
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