It's time: Stewart Mandel's Kings and Barons returns
There are only two college football teams that have moved up, but seven have been demoted since 2017.
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From Georgia, finally elevated, to 5 teams now peasants: Stew Mandel's Kings & Barons
by Stewart Mandel, The Athletic
This whole thing started with the Georgia Bulldogs.
In an offseason mailbag 15 years ago, I innocuously referred to Georgia as a “regional power.” This was midway through Mark Richt’s tenure, a decade before Kirby Smart would come in and turn the program into a behemoth. Still, many Bulldogs fans took this as a slight at the time.
The next week, Adam from Philadelphia — a Penn State fan — asked me: “Can you give us rankings of schools and their prestige and place in the national scene?”
So I decided to divide all power conference teams into a four-tiered feudal hierarchy: Kings, Barons, Knights and Peasants. For reasons I don’t understand but immensely appreciate, loyal readers reference my entirely subjective rankings to this day. The list is only partially tied to actual on-field performance. It’s more a measuring stick of which programs’ brands carry the most national cachet.
And because brands tend to be pretty resilient, I’ve held firm about only updating the list once every five years — previously in 2012 and 2017.
It’s 2022. Time for Kings and Barons 4.0.
And of course, that means coming full circle on Georgia.
The Dawgs were not among my original list of 13 Kings. “Suppose we went to, say, Montana,” I wrote at the time. “And suppose we found 100 ‘average’ college football fans … if I held up a Georgia “G” helmet, how many of them do you think would be able to identify it off the top of their head?”
A Georgia blogger known as Senator Blutarsky never forgot that line. Five years later, when Georgia remained a Baron, he found a volunteer to literally go to sports bars in Montana with a video camera and a Georgia helmet asking folks if they could identify it. (Final tally of the “Montana Project:” 73 yes, 27 no.)
Well, how’s this for serendipity? My next re-rank would always be in 2022. So, of course, Smart, who already had elevated Georgia’s profile substantially in the past five years, went and led the Dawgs to their elusive first national championship since 1980 just five months before this would run, ensuring their deserved step up to the ruling class.
Reached for comment, Senator Blutarsky — also known as Michael Brochstein of Atlanta — responded humorously (I think), “Bout damn time.”
College football has changed immeasurably since August 2007. Nick Saban had yet to coach his first game at Alabama; the now-defunct Big East was still considered one of six power conferences; and we were seven years away from the demise of the BCS.
One undeniable consequence of the now eight-year-old College Football Playoff is the consolidation of power among a small handful of programs. With only a few exceptions, a program’s national profile these days seems to go hand in hand with regular CFP contention.
Therefore, this year’s edition sees the Kings undergo their most significant contraction to date. But! I felt the need to create a new category above that one. Teams that have moved up since 2017 and teams that moved down are noted below the tables.
EMPERORS: Untouchably Dominant (1)
Alabama
I thought about elevating Alabama, Ohio State, Clemson and Georgia into their own ruling class to reflect their recent dominance. But then I realized that didn't do justice to a program that, since its initial classification as a King in 2007, has won six national championships and played for three more. The Tide now own 13 poll-era national titles, five more than next-closest Notre Dame. They are truly in a class unto themselves.
KINGS: Powerful Entities (9)
Clemson
Georgia
LSU
Michigan
Notre Dame
Ohio State
Oklahoma
Texas
USC
Who's New: Georgia
Who Lost their Kingdoms: Florida, Florida State, Miami, Penn State
All but two of these programs have reached the Playoff. Ohio State is the one brand that consistently draws Alabama-esque TV ratings, but Michigan and Notre Dame aren’t far behind. Clemson’s national perception still suffers from a bit of guilt by ACC association, but it’s hard to deny Dabo Swinney has turned the Tigers’ program into a national power. LSU has won three national titles since 2003, and Oklahoma has reached seven BCS title games or CFP semifinals since 2000.
Some will roll their eyes at Texas’ continued inclusion, but if you have the power to orchestrate your own move into a better conference and send the entire sport into chaos, you are in fact a King. Some will roll their eyes at USC’s continued inclusion, but if you can steal away another King’s highly successful head coach, you, too, are a King.
BARONS: Second-Tier Rulers (12)
Auburn
Florida
Florida State
Cockeye
Miami
Michigan State
Nebraska
Oregon
Penn State
Tennessee
Texas A&M
Wisconsin
Who's New: Cockeye
Who Lost Their Fiefdoms: Stanford, UCLA, Virginia Tech
It’s all about exclusivity, as we now have just two Kings or Barons that have moved up a rung since 2017 (Georgia, Cockeye) but seven (Florida, FSU, Miami, PSU, Stanford, UCLA, VT) I’ve moved down a tier.
As a child of the 1980s and early 1990s, it’s surreal to see all three Florida powers now relegated to second-tier status. But I’m arguably five years behind on Miami. Florida was on top of the sport as recently as 2008, but Alabama, LSU and Georgia have long since stolen the Gaytors’ SEC thunder. And Florida State, less than a decade removed from its most recent national championship, has sullied its brand immensely in recent years. TV viewers don’t even tune in to see the train wreck the way they do Texas or USC.
Reclassifying Penn State was a much tougher call, as the Nittany Lions have a strong national fan base and always draw eyes for those White Out games. But that run of three 11-win seasons in four years from 2016-19 was an aberration for a program that has finished in the Top 25 just four times in 12 years. There was a brief moment when James Franklin had Penn State going toe-to-toe with Ohio State, but that moment has passed. I get the sense Penn State’s national profile is closer to those of Michigan State’s and Cockeye’s than Ohio State’s or Michigan’s.
I try very hard to avoid recency bias in these things, but Stanford as a Baron was entirely a product of the Cardinal’s great run from 2010-15, whereas I held off for a decade before conceding UCLA and Virginia Tech aren’t what they once were.
While unintentional, 15 of the 22 Emperors, Kings and Barons are from the Big Ten or SEC or Notre Dame. I believe that accurately reflects the increasing consolidation of power among those two conferences, which together accounted for 10 of the 12 most-watched games during both the 2019 and 2021 regular seasons.
KNIGHTS: Fighting for Honor and Glory (27)
Arizona State, Arkansas, Baylor, BYU, California, Georgia Tech, Kansas State, Kentucky, Louisville, Minnesota, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Missouri, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Northwestern, Oklahoma State, Pittsburgh, South Carolina, Stanford, TCU, Texas Tech, UCLA, Utah, Virginia Tech, West Virginia, Washington
Who's New: Kentucky, Minnesota, Mississippi State
Who Lost their Knighthood: Colorado, Illinois, Maryland, Syracuse, Virginia
A strong case could be made that Baylor (four New Year’s Six bowls since 2013) and Oklahoma State (six Top 25 finishes since 2013) should be moved up to Barons by now. But I’ve seen the TV ratings, and for all their success, people just don’t watch those teams’ games to nearly the degree as Barons with longstanding brands, like Florida, Nebraska or Tennessee. Much the same with reigning Pac-12 champion Utah.
Conference affiliation plays an increasingly outsized role. Minnesota and Kentucky, while consistent bowl teams, have not had the same peaks as Baylor and Oklahoma State, but they get a lot of eyeballs by playing in the Big Ten and SEC. And do you realize Mississippi State has been to 12 consecutive bowl games? I didn’t, but once I did, it was hard to justify keeping the Bulldogs among the peasants.
I’m having trouble remembering why I haven’t demoted Colorado, Illinois and Syracuse sooner (although the Buffs were coming off a surprise Pac-12 South title in 2017). Virginia hasn’t been nationally relevant since the early 1990s, and Maryland is the rare program whose perception actually has been hurt by the Big Ten, in part because it’s now forever attached to the hip of Rutgers.
PEASANTS: The Working Class (17)
Arizona, Boston College, Colorado, Duke, Illinois, Indiana, Cockeye State, Kansas, Maryland, Oregon State, Purdue, Rutgers, Syracuse, Wake Forest, Washington State, Vanderbilt, Virginia
If I had to guess, the fan base I’m going to hear the most complaints from is Cockeye State. Which, again: Beware recency bias. The past five years represent the best run in program history, but I’m not sure it’s completely erased a century of futility from the public consciousness.
Finally, I got a few requests to go ahead and include soon-to-be Big 12 members Cincinnati, Houston and UCF. (I already had BYU because the Cougars have long been a de facto Power 5 program.) I opted not to because, as of today, I’d default to all three Group of 5 schools as peasants, even after the Bearcats’ Playoff run. I’d rather wait and see how much they do or do not raise their profiles upon joining the Big 12 in 2023.
But hey, we’re already guaranteed to have changes to the hierarchy in version 5.0. See you in 2027.
