Recently, my friend Bob (of saltystix.com) of an article on SI.com by Stewart Mandel where he made a hierarchy of the most elite football programs in the country (see link below). In the article, he placed teams into four categories: Kings, Barons, Knights, and Peasants. The teams were divided based on how "prestigious" each of the 66 BCS teams are. He bases "prestige" based on how familiar basic fans are with these teams. For example, he puts Notre Dame as a King, Auburn as a Baron, ASU as a knight, and Cincinnati as a peasant.
Although I do see where Mandel is coming from, I wonder what makes the college prestigious. Is it the success of a team? The coach? The former players? The mascot?
From reading Mandel's article, it seems that he is basing it on the familiarity of the major symbols of the university. He uses Joe Paterno and the Michigan Helmet as examples.
If I were do to do the same thing, I would base it not on just on the major icons of the program, but also the success that the program has had for an extended amount of time. This means that I would not put Virginia Tech so high on the list because the program has only been good for the last 15 years or so.
This means that, for the most part, I would keep his Kings the same. All of the programs that he has there are elite programs and have been so for an extended amount of time. In terms of his Barons, I would be willing to move my beloved Badgers down only because of they have only been successful since the Alverez era began in 1992-1993. Before then, they were known to win only one or two games per year. In fact according to my father, during his four years at Wisconsin, the Badgers won 7 games the whole time he was there.
There are a few teams in the Knights category that I believe should be moved up. One of these programs is Iowa. Longtime head coach Hayden Frye brought the team back to glory and was the mainstay at the helm of the Hawkeyes for almost 20 years. He won three Big Ten titles, went the three Rose Bowls, and achieved a #1 ranking in the AP Poll. Also, he was the mentor to several coaches, such as Alverez, Bob Stoops of Oklahoma, and current Hawkeye coach, Kirk Ferentz.
Another program that I feel should be moved up is Northwestern. Although they are usually doormats of the Big Ten, they have produced some decent pros, had a Rose Bowl birth in the mid-Nineties, and they always seem to upset one of the major schools every year. Also, if we were going on just recognition, as Mandel did, I feel that if we were to hold up the iconic purple helmet with the white "N" on it, i would say 85/100 people would recognize it.
The Website- http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/stewart_mandel/08/08/cfb.bag/index.html
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If you are going to drop Wisconsin from the ranks of the Knights because it hasn't really had longterm success, look at Florida. Contrary to popular belief, this team wasn't that great at all before 1990 (when Spurrier was hired). They never officially won the SEC (might have had a couple in the 80s taken away for violations) until the 90s.
I think prestiege is a function of long term success, and current clout. A team like Alabama has had lots of success in the past (especially with Bear Bryant), but has been kinda down lately. However, it never really lost its clout, and people are talking about it a lot now that Saban is there.
Notre Dame is similar in that the Irish have had extensive success in the 30s,40s, 60s, 70s, 80s, and early 90s, but dropped off in the past ten years. However, they never lost their clout which is evidenced by their National television contract, high apparel sales, and recognizable symbols.
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