LSU-Alabama Rematch: If Tigers Win Round II, Where Would They Rank Historically?

Now that the LSU Tigers have won the SEC outright and are headed to the national title game, if the Bayou Bengals win part deux against Alabama, where would Les Miles' 14-0 club rank all-time?

Well, it would most certainly be a great topic of discussion so before we breakdown who they'd be compared to, let's take a gander at what the Tigers will have done.

First, what they've already done.

In Week 1 the Tigers played then ranked-No. 3 Oregon without Jordan Jefferson and eventually ran away from the speedy Ducks 40-27. Thing is, Oregon's final TD came with less than 20 seconds remaining so really the final score against LSU's starters was 40-20.

Then two weeks later they had to tough road games in Mississippi State and West Virginia. Both were ranked in the Top 25 (Bulldogs No. 25, Mountaineers No. 16) and LSU won 19-6 and 47-21.

Two weeks later again, LSU hosted No. 17 Florida and blasted the Gators 41-11 and then No. 20 Auburn 45-10 in late October. So to this point, the Tigers are 8-0 with five games against ranked teams.

Obviously the game everyone was waiting on was Armageddon against No. 2 Alabama in Tusacaloosa. The Bayou Bengals went in, won 9-6 in OT, and were rewarded with a regular season finale versus No. 3 Arkansas at home.

There, LSU won convincingly 41-17 and then smashed No. 14 Georgia in the SEC title game 42-10.

That's 13 games, all wins with eight coming against ranked schools and three within the Top 3. There's no adjective to describe that gauntlet the Tigers just blasted.

And blasted is about all you can really say, because LSU has won every game by an average score of 38-10. In the national title game is what's expected to be Alabama, well, chalk up another win over a Top 3 team.

Which would make four in one season, and all three (Alabama twice) are likely to finish ranked in the Top 10 or even Top 5.

Now when thinking of some of the greatest college football teams of all-time, surely the list goes on an on. However, there are five teams who stand out the most.

1945 Army, 1971 Nebraska, 1972 USC, 1995 Nebraska, and the 2001 Miami Hurricanes.

The 1945 Army team only played nine games but scored 412 points and allowed just 46, including five shutouts. However, their schedule was not very strong like the others.

The 1971 Cornhuskers only played three ranked teams, but all were in the Top 10. That said, the 1995 team was better so that nullifies these Huskers.

Next up are the 1972 USC Trojans. This is the best of the USC teams which is saying something. In '72, the Trojans played six ranked teams, five were in the Top 15, three were Top 10 and better.

First it was No. 4 Arkansas (won 31-10 on the road), No. 10 Notre Dame in the regular season finale (won 45-23) and No. 3 Ohio State (won 42-17).

Moving on, we see who's considered the greatest college football team ever in the 1995 Nebraska Cornhuskers.

The Huskers were the defending national champions, so the pressure to repeat is that much higher and the team that always repeats is the better team. Winning the national title once is a lot easier than repeating another undefeated season.

QB Tommy Frazier went all year without being sacked and no one came within two TDs of the Cornhuskers. In addition, four teams that Nebraska beat all finished ranked in the Top 10. Needless to say, Nebraska was the elite of the elite.

The final team here are the 2011 Miami Hurricanes. The Canes were loaded with eventual NFL talent and ultimately won one of the most lopsided national titles over No. 4 Nebraska.

Only problem with this team though, is that outside of a Huskers team that shouldn't have been in the national title game, Miami didn't beat anyone better than No. 12 Washington. And they barely beat No. 14 Virginia Tech (26-24) and an unranked Boston College team (18-7).

All this being said, in comparing some of college football's greatest teams to the 2011 LSU Tigers, if the Bayou Bengals go undefeated, they measure up quite well.

In terms of ranking them, the Tigers would get the nod over 1945 Army, 1971 Nebraska and 2001 Miami.

So, that leaves 1972 USC and 1995 Nebraska.

When comparing teams a lot of what we use is the eye test and the body of work. The '72 Trojans and '95 Huskers measure up the best because both played numerous Top 5 and Top 10 teams, and destroyed those opponents.

LSU has beaten eight ranked teams, three of which were ranked in the Top 3 at the time, and have to do it one more time. If LSU finishes 14-0 they will have beaten four schools ranked in the Top 3 (Alabama twice, Arkansas, and Oregon).

It would be difficult to not rank them near the top but nonetheless, the 2011 Bayou Bengals would be much deserving to be a part of the select few throughout the history of college football.

Follow John Rozum on Twitter @ Sportswriter27