(06-13-2020 07:50 PM)SoCalBobcat78 Wrote: UCLA, Colorado and Pittsburgh have had their moments, but it would be a stretch to think that they were ever football powers. Tennessee and Miami were football powers. Miami still recruits well and produces a lot of NFL talent. USC and Texas are still football powers that have struggled with leadership issues the past decade but these schools still win, recruit and produce NFL talent and have the ability to win national championships. Not every power conference school can say that.
One school that is missing from your list is Nebraska. They had a great football program for many decades, but have not won a conference championship since 1999. They are not producing talent and they really don't look like a great fit in the Big 10.
Regarding Pittsburgh, from the
2020 NCAA Official College Football Records Book, it lists National Championships Major Selections as follows:
1910, 1915, 1916, 1918, 1929, 1931, 1936, 1937, 1976, 1980*, 1981*
(* not claimed by school)
#21 All-time victories
#21 in all-time NFL draft picks
#15 for number of weeks at AP #1
#9 in Consensus All-Americans (
51)
#5 Pro Football Hall of Famers (
9)
#5 College Football Hall of Famers (
26)
A major power through the 10s, 20s, and 30s, and mid-70s through mid 80s, but one of the worst programs in the 40s, late 60s, and 90s. A program of extreme highs and lows, the latter primarily caused by self-inflicted periods of deemphasis. But it is not historically accurate to state Pittsburgh was never a power equatable to UCLA or Colorado.