Best of "the rest" *warning, long read*
Ok, let me start off by saying that it was an EXTREMELY slow day at work today.
On Twitter, Pick Six Sports asked an intriguing question, what is the best non-P5 team ever? They could only fit four teams in their poll, and chose: 2006 Boise State, 2008 Utah, 2010 TCU, and 2017 UCF. To do it justice, I expanded this to include all the notable "non-power" teams I could think of starting with 1998 Tulane.
Note: I am using the final AP rankings for each year to determine where each team finished the season and how many ranked opponents they beat. A lot of these are easily discarded when picking your top 10, but I included them all out of respect of the many great seasons that have been enjoyed by various programs. If I have missed any notable teams, please let me know and I will include them here. FWIW, my Top 10 would be:
1. 2008 Utah
2. 2017 UCF
3. 2004 Utah
4. 2010 TCU
5. 2006 Boise State
6. 2009 Boise State
7. 2013 UCF
8. 2015 Houston
9. 2009 TCU
10. 2010 Boise State
2008 Utah simply had the best quality wins. UCF's resume followed shortly behind. 2004 Utah had one of the easier schedules but were utterly dominant in all 12 games and were led by Urban Meyer, the #1 pick in the NFL draft, and a ton of other NFL talent. 4 and 5 are fairly obvious picks as well.
Utah
2004 Utah: 12-0, won 35-7 against Pitt (8-4) in the Fiesta Bowl. 1-0 against ranked teams. Finished #5.
2008 Utah: 13-0, won 31-17 against Alabama (12-2) in the Fiesta Bowl. 4-0 against ranked teams. Finished #2.
Boise State
2003 Boise State: 13-1, won 34-31 against TCU (11-2) in the Fort Worth Bowl. 1-0 against ranked teams. Finished #16.
2004 Boise State: 11-1, lost 44-40 against Louisville (11-1) in the Liberty Bowl. 0-1 against ranked teams. Finished #12.
2006 Boise State: 13-0, won 43-43 (OT) against Oklahoma (11-3) in the Fiesta Bowl. 2-0 against ranked teams. Finished #5.
2008 Boise State: 12-1, lost 17-16 against TCU (11-2) in the Poinsietta Bowl. 1-1 against ranked teams. Finished #11.
2009 Boise State: 14-0, won 17-10 against TCU (12-1) in the Fiesta Bowl. 2-0 against ranked teams. Finished #4.
2010 Boise State: 12-1, won 26-3 against Utah (10-3) in the Maaco Bowl. 2-1 against ranked teams. Finished #9.
2011 Boise State: 12-1, won 56-24 against Arizona St (6-7) in the Maaco Bowl. 1-1 against ranked teams. Finished #8.
2014 Boise State: 12-2, won 38-30 against Arizona (10-4) in the Fiesta Bowl. 1-1 against ranked teams. Finished #16.
2017 Boise State: 11-3, won 38-28 against Oregon (7-6) in the Las Vegas Bowl. 0-0 against ranked teams. Finished #22.
TCU
2003 TCU: 11-2, lost 34-31 against Boise State (13-1) in the Fort Worth Bowl. 0-1 against ranked teams. Finished #25.
2005 TCU: 11-1, won 27-24 against Iowa State (7-5) in the Houston Bowl. 1-0 against ranked teams. Finished #11.
2008 TCU: 11-2, won 17-16 against Boise State (12-1) in the Poinsettia Bowl. 2-2 against ranked teams. Finished #7.
2009 TCU: 12-1, lost 17-10 against Boise State (13-0) in the Fiesta Bowl. 3-1 against ranked teams. Finished #6.
2010 TCU: 13-0, won 21-19 against Wisconsin (11-2) in the Rose Bowl. 1-0 against ranked teams. Finished #2.
2011 TCU: 11-2, won 31-24 against LaTech (8-5) in the Poinsettia Bowl. 1-1 against ranked teams. Finished #14.
BYU
2006 BYU: 11-2, won 38-8 against Oregon (7-6) in the Las Vegas Bowl. 1-1 against ranked teams. Finished #16.
2007 BYU: 11-2, won 17-16 against UCLA (6-7) in the Las Vegas Bowl. 0-0 against ranked teams. Finished #14.
2009 BYU: 11-2, won 44-20 against Oregon St (8-5) in the Maaco Bowl. 1-1 against ranked teams. Finished #12.
Houston
2011 Houston: 13-1, won 30-14 against Penn State (9-4) in the Cotton Bowl. 0-1 against ranked teams. Finished #16.
2015 Houston: 13-1, won 38-24 against FSU (10-3) in the Peach Bowl. 2-0 against ranked teams. Finished #8.
UCF
2010 UCF: 11-3, won 10-6 against Georgia (6-7) in the Liberty Bowl. 0-1 against ranked teams. Finished #21.
2013 UCF: 12-1, won 52-42 against Baylor (11-2) in the Fiesta Bowl. 2-1 against ranked teams. Finished #10.
2017 UCF: 13-0, won 34-27 against Auburn (10-4) in the Peach Bowl. 4-0 against ranked teams. Finished #6.
USF
2016 USF: 11-2, won 46-39 (OT) against South Carolina (6-7). 0-1 against ranked teams. Finished #19.
2017 USF: 10-2, won 38-34 against Texas Tech (6-7). 0-1 against ranked teams. Finished #21.
Memphis
2014 Memphis: 10-3, won 55-48 against BYU (8-5) in the Miami Beach Bowl. 0-2 against ranked teams. Finished #25.
2017 Memphis: 10-3, lost 21-20 against Iowa State (8-5) in the Liberty Bowl. 0-2 against ranked teams. Finished #25.
Tulane
1999 Tulane: 12-0, won 41-27 against BYU (9-5) in the Liberty Bowl. 0-0 against ranked teams. Finished #7.
Navy
2015 Navy: 11-2, won 44-28 against Pitt (8-5) in the Military Bowl. 0-2 against ranked teams. Finished #18.
NIU
2012 NIU: 12-2, lost 31-10 against FSU (12-2) in the Orange Bowl. 0-1 against ranked teams. Finished #22.
Marshall
1999 Marshall: 13-0, won 21-2 against BYU (8-4) in the Motor City Bowl. 0-0 against ranked teams. Finished #10.
2014 Marshall: 13-1, won 52-23 against NIU (11-3) in the Boca Raton Bowl. 0-0 against ranked teams. Finished #23.
Utah State
2012 Utah State: 11-2, won 41-15 against Toledo (9-4) in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl. 1-0 against ranked teams. Finished #16.
San Jose State
2012 SJSU: 11-2, won 29-20 against Bowling Green (8-5) in the Military Bowl. 0-2 against ranked teams. Finished #21.
Louisville
2004 Louisville: 11-1, won 44-40 against Boise State (11-1) in the Liberty Bowl. 1-1 against ranked teams. Finished #6.
My apologies if I have forgotten any noteworthy teams.
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