The Most Talented College Football Team In History

[Playoffs]

DEC 13 @ 9:00 P.M. ET THE U PART 2 ON ESPN
DEC 14 @ 12:00 A.M. ET THE U PART 2 ON ESPN2
DEC 18 @ 11:30 P.M. ET THE U PART 2 ON ESPN2

This Saturday, ESPN is airing “The U Part 2,” a “30 for 30” by director Billy Corben that follows up on his 2009 documentary about the Hurricanes’ dominant, lawless football program of the 1980s. The sequel explores the process that rebuilt the scandal-ridden team into what would become, statistically, the most talented — if not quite the most dominant — team in college football history.

The Most Talented College Football Team In History

If we judge the players by where they were drafted in the NFL, tally the expected future approximate value for players picked in that slot, add it up for each school by each historical draft class, and assign a weighted sum of the previous four years to each college team-season,3 the Miami teams built by Davis and eventually coached by his successor, Larry Coker, are in a universe unto themselves.

The single most talented college roster of the past 48 years, according to this measure, was the fabled 2001 Miami Hurricanes, who went 12-0 and won the BCS title while posting one of the best point differentials (+395) of any national champion. Davis-built Miami teams in 2000 and 2002 also rank third and fourth, respectively...

2001 Miami Hurricanes were BCS's best

Miami Hurricanes' pursuit of perfection in 2001: an oral history