I was going to post some questions to Alex (or do some research myself) on the equivalent of today's Power 5 schools "in the modern era" to hopefully remove some subjectivity and identify the true top schools. In order to do that, I need to define the criteria. My initial thought is to count only schools that have played in the equivalent of a P5 conference the entire time since 1960. It needs to be only schools that have been in power conferences so that rough apples and apples comparisons can be made. 1960 is the date by which all really blue-blood programs were firmly established (and to get Texas' 3 MNCs in the mix). It also eliminates most of the service academy dominance since they are not currently relevant. Here are a few examples and clarifications:
- This would include the Big East and SWC in their waning weak days but the limited number of years would not dilute the data much.
- Independents would be included only if they stayed in a Power 5 conference when not independent. Notre Dame, Florida State, and Miami would be in, but BYU (WAC) would be out.
- TCU would be out due to WAC affiliation but Iowa State, Kansas, and Vanderbilt would be in.
- The number of schools would be less than 64 (14 ACC + 10 Big 12 + 14 Big 10 + 12 PAC 12 + 14 SEC) - probably in the 40-50 range.
