1965 Alabama

One of the annual things I do for my day job is compile the Tuscaloosa News Rankings, which try and determine who really has the best program in college football. In short, it's 10 categories in an effort to rank the Top 25 football programs -- period. Half of the categories are all-time, half are from the previous season.

It's kind of what started me down the road on this book.

Anyway, this year's rankings are basically done, except for one category, grades. So while we wait for the annual APR rankings, which may take a while, I'll periodically post a category and its rankings.

First up, recruiting, and here are the rankings from Rivals. com (a lot of people ask why I use Rivals.com. The reason is because they guy who covers recruiting for us works for Scout.com, and it's an effort to balance things out a little bit. That and I absolutely love the Rivals.com database).

2008 Recruiting rankings
1. Alabama
2. Notre Dame
3. Florida
4. Miami
5. Oklahoma
6. Georgia
7. Southern California
8. Florida State
9. Ohio State
10. Michigan
11. LSU
12. Clemson
13. UCLA
14. Texas
15. Colorado
16. Texas A&M
17. Minnesota
18. Virginia Tech
19. Oregon
20. Auburn
21. Arizona State
22. South Carolina
23. Illinois
24. Ole Miss
25. Washington

Alabama finished first, so it's time for a Crimson Tide photo.

Here quarterback Steve Sloan throws a touchdown pass to Ray Perkins for the opening touchdown as Alabama defeats Nebraska in the 1966 Orange Bowl, 39-28. The victory clinched the national championship with the Associated Press voting after the bowl games for the first time. Courtesy of the Paul W. Bryant Museum.