This is the eighteenth post in our 24-part Super Squad Series, recognizing the best programs over the last three years in every single Division I FBS & FCS Conference, as well as the upperclassmen & staff who’ve anchored them.
Full updated rankings after last week‘s rundown of American Athletic Conference programs:
About Super Squad Rating
Super Squad Ratings range 0-100, heavily-weighed toward zero. A 100.0 rating is only achievable for a team that finishes #1 in College Football all three years, with a 100+ power rating each year. The top three 2020 Super Squads rate in at 78, 57, and 47, respectively.
Best thought of as a notoriety score:
“How many normal people out of 100 should recognize this program’s success the last three years?”
EXAMPLE
Consider an SSR (Super Squad Rating) of 78 to abstractly mean that program deserves 78% of Americans’ attention.
Conversely a program with a 1.1 SSR would be worth the attention of only 11 out of 1,000 Americans.
Aannd in Series Week 18 we finally award our first Power Five Super Squad!
With zero teams in our Top 10, four in our Top 25, and the top six spanning less than 25 positions (#11-#34), the Pac-12 may just be the most-egalitarian of the Power Five conferences, and definitely has our least-obvious winner in the bunch (indeed finishing in the bottom half of our weekly Facebook poll too).
But when you look a bit closer, there is a clear leader from that top half of the conference. Last year was their weakest of the past three years; and they still finished third-best in our book, after sitting at the top for two years straight.
Congratulations Washington Huskies for being our 2020 Pac-12 Super Squad! Kudos to your entire program, especially the 45 young men who were on the roster each of these three years – 2017-18, 2018-19, and 2019-20 – listed here:
CONGRATULATIONS Hunter Bryant, Aaron Fuller, Elijah Molden, Andre Baccellia, Myles Bryant, Chico McClatcher, Benning Potoa’e, Joe Tryon, Brandon McKinney, Brandon Wellington, Alex Cook, Isaiah Gilchrist, Ty Jones, Quinten Pounds, Kamari Pleasant, Sean McGrew, Salvon Ahmed, Keith Taylor, Terrell Bynum, Kyler Manu, Joel Whitford, Zechariah Brown, Myles Rice, Van Soderberg, Race Porter, Peyton Henry, A.J. Carty, Jaxson Kirkland, Ariel Ngata, Ryan Bowman, Nick Harris, John Clark, Henry Roberts, Cole Norgaard, Henry Bainivalu, Chase Skuza, Jared Hilbers, Trey Adams, Luke Wattenberg, Luke Lane, Jordan Chin, Jacob Kizer, Cade Otton, Josiah Bronson, Levi Onwuzurike.
Before getting too caught-up in their accolades, these are the runners-up, from worst-to-first:
12th
#140 Oregon State Beavers
4.2 Super Squad Rating
Record:
8-28 Overall
5-22 Pac-12
Average Power:
47.6
Yearly Finish:
#212, #164, #55
11th
#100 Colorado Buffaloes
5.4 Super Squad Rating
Record:
15-21 Overall
7-20 Pac-12
Average Power:
54.9
Yearly Finish:
#123, #104, #83
10th
#93 Arizona Wildcats
5.8 Super Squad Rating
Record:
16-21 Overall
12-15 Pac-12
Average Power:
56.4
Yearly Finish:
#77, #103, #101
9th
#90 UCLA Bruins
6.1 Super Squad Rating
Record:
13-24 Overall
11-16 Pac-12
Average Power:
57.0
Yearly Finish:
#84, #96, #86
8th
#65 California Golden Bears
7.6 Super Squad Rating
Record:
20-18 Overall
10-17 Pac-12
Average Power:
61.2 Avg
Yearly Finish:
#78, #75, #47
7th
#51 Arizona State Sun Devils
8.5 Super Squad Rating
Record:
22-17 Overall
15-12 Pac-12
Average Power:
63.5
Yearly Finish:
#68, #70, #36
6th
#34 Stanford Cardinal
10.4 Super Squad Rating
Record:
22-17 Overall
16-11 Pac-12
Average Power:
67.5
Yearly Finish:
#23, #30, #90
5th
#29 USC Trojans
11.8 Super Squad Rating
Record:
24-15 Overall
19-8 Pac-12
1 Pac-12 Title (2017)
Average Power:
69.5
Yearly Finish:
#19, #76, #23
4th
#25 Washington State
12.3 Super Squad Rating
Record:
26-13 Overall
16-11 Pac-12
Average Power:
69.6
Yearly Finish:
#34, #17, #52
3rd
#20 Utah Utes
14.3 Super Squad Rating
Record:
24-14 Overall
17-10 Pac-12
Average Power:
73.0
Yearly Finish:
#51, #29, #10
2nd
#19 Oregon Ducks
14.5 Super Squad Rating
Record:
28-12 Overall
17-10 Pac-12
1 Pac-12 Title (2019)
Average Power:
73.3
Yearly Finish:
#58, #48, #5
WINNER
#11 Washington Huskies
19.7 Super Squad Rating
Record:
28-12 Overall
18-9 Pac-12
1 Pac-12 Title (2018)
Average Power:
78.1
Yearly Finish:
#16, #16, #15
After a rundown-examination – with more wins (Tie), more Pac-12 wins, a title, three Hierank Top 25 Finishes, half the average final ranking of anyone else, and 5 points more Average Power than their next competitor – our winner forms quite clearly above the flurry of perpetually-threatening Pacific-12 competition.
Congratulations all Huskies coaches, staff, administrators, players, and especially the 45 young men present on the roster all three years to earn this title!
Super Squad Rankings
These are our up-to-date Division I Super Squad rankings after this week’s announced winner. Follow along as each Sunday we fill in more teams and announce our next Super Squad!
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