Kings, Barons, Knights & Peasants of the college football world - 2012 edition

[knapplc]

Five years ago, Stewie Mandel wrote up a hierarchy of the college football world, ranking teams as either Kings, Barons, Knights or Peasants. Five years ago, in the midst of the Callahan woes, Mandel rated us as one of the Kings of college football.

Today, I'm happy to say, Stewie still thinks we rank among college football's elite. Other Kings:

Kings

Alabama, Florida, Florida State, LSU, Miami, Michigan, Nebraska, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Penn State, Texas & USC.

All but LSU were atop the hierarchy five years ago, and all are Kings now who were Kings then with the exception of Tennessee, who dropped to Baron status.

Of the Kings, Stewart speaks mostly of why LSU jumped up a bracket, and says of Penn State: "It will be interesting to see where Penn State lands on this list if we revisit it five years down the road. The now-scandal-ridden program's identity was so closely tied to the late Joe Paterno that it may never again carry the same clout."

Other Big Ten teams ranked:

Barons

Wisconsin

Knights

Illinois, Iowa, Michigan State & Purdue

Peasants

Minnesota, Indiana, Northwestern

As usual, Stewart's Mail Bag is a good read. Highly recommended.

 

[ShawnWatson]

http://www.baylorfan...ad.php?t=241164

http://www.cyclonefanatic.com/forum/football/151710-college-football-pecking-order.html

:ahhhhhhhh :ahhhhhhhh :ahhhhhhhh :ahhhhhhhh :ahhhhhhhh

 

[NUance]

Looks like we'll be playing three kings, two barrons and a couple of knights.

2012 SCHED

09/01 ??? (Southern Miss)

09/08 Baron (UCLA)

09/15 ??? (Ark St.)

09/22 ??? (Potato State)

09/29 Baron (Wisc)

10/06 King (tOSU)

10/20 Peasant (Northwest Urn)

10/27 King (Meechicken)

11/03 Knights (Sparty)

11/10 King (State Penn)

11/17 Peasant (Gopher)

11/23 Knight (Iowa)

 

[Hoosker]

Thanks for sharing, Knapp.

I like to read this kind of stuff. I'm glad to know we are still highly touted across the country even though we haven't won a conference title since 99. We need to step it up or else we might be falling just like he mentioned Penn State might (albeit for very different reasons).

 

[The Dude]

Huh, kind of figured Purdue would have been a peasant. I guess I don't know much about them other than they have a really big drum.

I know some Nebraska fans like to think of us as being no better than the Iowas and Minnesotas of the word, but Nebraska is still a big time brand name in the world of college football. A couple 5-7 seasons doesn't just erase decades of excellence.

 

[NUance]

Huh, kind of figured Purdue would have been a peasant. I guess I don't know much about them other than they have a really big drum.

I know some Nebraska fans like to think of us as being no better than the Iowas and Minnesotas of the word, but Nebraska is still a big time brand name in the world of college football. A couple 5-7 seasons doesn't just erase decades of excellence.

+1. Yeah, look at Bama, Oklahoma and LSU. All three went through fairly long periods of sucktitude. And now all three are back on top kicking a$$. NU made it through the dark times. We'll be back on top again too. Soon. :thumbs :

 

[sd'sker]

two problems, nd is still a king. whatev. also, penn st. just got the 2nd most in donations. it is good to stand behind your team, but something stinks about them coming out stronger for the criminal negligence demonstrated by the administration. kind of like how OSU gets tats and urb'. whatev.

edit: is the hammer (other shoe, or what have you) ever going to drop for miami?

 

[BOJ]

two problems, nd is still a king. whatev. also, penn st. just got the 2nd most in donations. it is good to stand behind your team, but something stinks about them coming out stronger for the criminal negligence demonstrated by the administration. kind of like how OSU gets tats and urb'. whatev.

edit: is the hammer (other shoe, or what have you) ever going to drop for miami?

Just to check, did you just compare an administration possibly covering up child rape with some football players exchanging their own property for tattoos?

 

[sd'sker]

two problems, nd is still a king. whatev. also, penn st. just got the 2nd most in donations. it is good to stand behind your team, but something stinks about them coming out stronger for the criminal negligence demonstrated by the administration. kind of like how OSU gets tats and urb'. whatev.

edit: is the hammer (other shoe, or what have you) ever going to drop for miami?

Just to check, did you just compare an administration possibly covering up child rape with some football players exchanging their own property for tattoos?

kind of.

 

[BOJ]

two problems, nd is still a king. whatev. also, penn st. just got the 2nd most in donations. it is good to stand behind your team, but something stinks about them coming out stronger for the criminal negligence demonstrated by the administration. kind of like how OSU gets tats and urb'. whatev.

edit: is the hammer (other shoe, or what have you) ever going to drop for miami?

Just to check, did you just compare an administration possibly covering up child rape with some football players exchanging their own property for tattoos?

kind of.

Yeah, not even in the same ballpark

 

[sd'sker]

two problems, nd is still a king. whatev. also, penn st. just got the 2nd most in donations. it is good to stand behind your team, but something stinks about them coming out stronger for the criminal negligence demonstrated by the administration. kind of like how OSU gets tats and urb'. whatev.

edit: is the hammer (other shoe, or what have you) ever going to drop for miami?

Just to check, did you just compare an administration possibly covering up child rape with some football players exchanging their own property for tattoos?

kind of.

Yeah, not even in the same ballpark

i knew someone would point that out, but i guess i need to be more specific with this group. although the transgressions are not 'in the same ballpark', they are *kind of* similar in that in both incidents the school did something bad (obviously of extremely varying degrees) and because of the bad act (again, of varying degrees) the schools were arguably rewarded for it. at psu, the reward is more direct as the donations are a direct reaction to the immensely negative national backlash befallen on the school for its incredible, unforgivable, egregious acts.

 

[Blackshirt316]

I'd probably drop Miami from the Kings and I'd be pretty tempted to move Michigan State up a level.

But most of the Kings and Big Ten rankings are pretty good.

 

[huKSer]

USC Sched (odds on favorite to be MNC) 1 K, 2 B, 7 Kn

Hawaii ???

Syracuse - Knight

Stanford - Knight

California - Knight

Utah - Knight

Washington - Knight

Colorado - Knight

Arizona - Peasant

Oregon - Baron

Arizona St - Knight

UCLA - Baron

Notre Dumb - King

Last year's champ Alabama - 2 K, 3 B, 3 Kn

Michigan - King

Western Kentucky - ???

Arkansas - Knight

Florida Atlantic - ???

Ole Miss - Knight

Missouri - Knight

Tennessee - Baron

Mississippi State - Peasant

LSU - King

Texas A&M - Baron

Western Carolina - ???

Auburn - Baron

And Missouri - 2 K, 3 B, 2 Kn

SE Louisiana - ???

Georgia - Baron

Arizona St - Knight

South Carolina

UCF - ???

Vandy - Peasant

Alabama - King

Kentucky - Peasant

Florida - King

Tennessee - Baron

Syracuse - Knight

Texas A&M - Baron

NU 3 K, 2 B, 2 Kn

Others any body want? (I'm bored)

 

[Excel]

How do you drop Tennessee but leave ND, Penn State and Florida State?

How is Michigan State not on the same level of Wisconsin? They've been, more or less, just as successful as UW recently and have a better history.

 

[ZRod]

I'd probably drop Miami from the Kings and I'd be pretty tempted to move Michigan State up a level.

But most of the Kings and Big Ten rankings are pretty good.

I agree with that but you would more than likely have to drop Nebraska as well, after all we haven't had a conference title since '99 and Miami whooped us for the national title in 2001.