College football rankings: 5 best college football teams this century

The five best college football teams this century.

Since the turn of the century, college football has featured historic, sport-changing teams. Some of them revolutionized the game, whether with their dynamic offenses or forces on defense. Most of them won the BCS or College Football Playoff National Championship and created an enduring legacy.

A handful of those teams stand out as the best of these past 20 years. They hold up as forces who forever changed the game and left lasting impressions, some as recently as the past five seasons.

A group of five stands out as the best teams of the century, starting and finishing with elite, memorable teams that are still discussed in 2020:

5. Best college football teams this century: 2011 Alabama

This is the only team of the five to have a blemish on its record, but due to the titled “Game of the Century,” when the 2011 Alabama team dropped a 9-6 field goal fest against LSU. The loss was hardly representative of this superstar squad, and not making the SEC Championship Game was meaningless towards making the BCS National Championship Game against those same Tigers.

The college football star-power was on display on both sides of the ball. From a proper signal-caller in AJ McCarron to the two-headed monster of Trent Richardson and Eddie Lacy on offense and Dont’a Hightower, Mark Barron and Courtney Upshaw on defense, this was an elite unit that scored enough and did not allow opposing teams any room to operate.

The 2011 Crimson Tide allowed just one team, Georgia Southern, to score more than 14 points; not the first group to come to mind. After that, which was the third-to-last game of the season, Alabama allowed 14 points to Auburn in the Iron Bowl and blanked LSU in the title game, 21-0. Teams were kept quiet and often never stood a chance.

Richardson was the workhorse of the offense that made it work. His Heisman-finalist spot and Doak Walker award win culminated nearly 1,700 yards rushing and 24 total touchdowns. Forceful and imposing, no one was stopping him.

There was never a question of Alabama’s abilities after that first loss to LSU. They held their own for the rest of the season, somewhat controversially entered the title game amid the BCS process and won without question, ending any debate of their placement. This was a dominant team, holding the mantle ahead of the undefeated squads.