College Football: Which School has the Richest Tradition?

From being one of the several schools to have a claim at being ‘Linebacker U,’ to national championships in 1982 and 1986 (and having an argument for a couple more), to 21 top-10 finishes under Joe Paterno, to a 27-11-2 record in bowls, and 790 total wins in their history, it’s been happy in Happy Valley for a long while.

While dozens of coaches have come and gone at many, many other schools, PSU has had only four coaches in 90 seasons. You’ve got to respect that.

Pittsburgh

The Panthers haven’t been in the national spotlight much for the last 25-odd years, though they may be primed for a return over the next couple of years. But, Pitt (or should I say Pittsburgh) has a pretty glittering history, well, up until the early 80s.

They’ve been home to coaches like Pop Warner, Johnny Majors, and Jackie Sherrill, and they’re the alma mater of Hall of Famers Dan Marino, Tony Dorsett, Mike Ditka, and Joe Schmidt.

Oh and the nine national championships (the school’s claimed total) don’t hurt either.

Tennessee

Though Tennessee has had some ups and downs over recent years, things have rarely been really rocky on Rocky Top through the school’s history.

Since the Southern Conference days in the 1920s and early 30s (or what it is now the SEC, in its more present form), Tennessee has had only 11 losing seasons in 87 years.

The Volunteers have bagged a few (as many as six, as few as two, depending on who you ask) national championships, 13 SEC championships, 48 bowl appearances, and well over 700 wins.

Texas

The David McWilliams and John Mackovic eras saw just as many downs as ups for the Longhorns, but under Mack Brown, Texas has returned to being a perennial power, winning the school’s fourth national title in that epic 2006 Rose Bowl against USC and posting seven straight 10-win seasons.

Brown has the program at (or close to, at least) the heights that it was during the Darrell Royaldays, when the Longhorns won national championships in 1963, 1969, and 1970.

All told, Texas has 29 conference championships and 820 wins (third all-time). Don’t mess with Texas, or the Horns (of Bevo) may literally hook you.

USC

While Notre Dame, Ohio State, and Florida are all strong contenders, USC currently holds the mantle as the team that everyone loves to hate, but it’s not a bad thing, because it shows how successful the Trojans have been under Pete Carroll.

In the last seven seasons, USC has two (complain all you want, but the AP one does count for something) national titles, three Heisman winners, and five straight Pac-10 titles, giving USC nine national championships, seven Heisman winners, and 37 conference titles dating back to the Pacific Coast Conference days.

There’s also the ability to stake a claim as ‘Heisman U,’ ‘Tailback U,’ ‘Linebacker U,’ and you can’t forget about the hallowed No. 55.

So, which school has the richest tradition? I’ll leave it up to the fans to decide before weighing in with my personal opinion, so try to be as unbiased as possible.

(Originally posted on The Red Zone Report - Check out the original post and place your vote!)

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