BIG teams ranked based on football traditions/ prowess

UCLA is tier 1 or 2

The facilities arms race never stops.  What's state-of-the-art now won't be in a few years.  

UO has unquestionably raised its profile and sees itself as a football school now, but if they don't find a replacement megadonor (Knight has literally given them a billion dollars) they may not have the resources to duke it out with the big boys in this conference.  Even with Knight's largesse, they've had trouble keeping their coaches around.

Oregon's population has grown over the years but is still pretty small compared to most Big Ten states.  In fact, the only B1G state that it is bigger than is Iowa.  It's also not real diverse: Black people make up 2% of the state's population.

The main advantage it has, recruiting-wise, is being close to California.  That and being willing to wear whatever experimental stuff Nike has.

That will just puts them on equal footing with 17 (probably more like 19+) Big Ten schools.  In the Pac-12, they had more money than their rivals thanks to their sugar daddy.

Yeah, MSU is unique because the Dantonio era was clearly a high-water mark and I'm not sure if it's reproducible, but they do have some money and it's a school that does care about football.  But they absolutely look a step behind where they once were.  Honestly, Iowa once Ferentz leaves will probably look like them as well.  But in terms of trajectory 3rd feels fine.

PSU is weird because they recruit and act like a top-10 team but they are also clearly behind the top 2 teams in their division.  Like, they've won 10+ games a number of times under Franklin but outside of that one Rose Bowl year have they ever looked like an elite club?  Not really, or at least not consistently.  This year feels like a real make-or-break for them in terms of ceiling; if they still can't beat UM and OSU and make a playoff run then it feels like Franklin has basically signaled how high he can take them.

Terry Donahue had them at the top of the PAC-10 in the 80s. That’s about the only time they were tier 1. Overall, they’re 5-7 in the rose bowl and 607W - 404L - 31. That’s Iowa-esque. 

But the thing to me is that PSU has had Franklin for going on a decade now and they probably hit their peak in 2016 and really haven't built on it.  Also, NY6 bowls don't really mean a ton in terms of overall seasons; PSU got the Cotton in 2019 by going 10-2 (with no conference championship game appearance) while Oregon went 10-2 (with a loss to Utah in the Pac-12 conference title game) and got shifted off to the Alamo Bowl. 

And let's be honest; Oregon has been getting less than PSU for years now and it doesn't seem to really matter.  Schools like PSU and Oregon aren't like IU or Illinois, who need big TV contracts because they don't have a ton of fan interest/support and financial backing.  Oregon isn't unable to recruit or develop kids because of lower TV money, and even when Knight leaves it's not like Oregon will be cast out.  They'll go back to being one of many big brands but they absolutely are still a big brand and seemingly kids want to play for them.  Recruiting isn't the be-all, end-all but over the past 5 recruiting cycles Oregon has had 3 top-10 classes to PSU's 1, and again that's with coaching turnover.  

I think PSU is a good program but I think people talk about them like they're the team that just beat OSU in 2016 when that trajectory seems to have plateaued.  Oregon still feels like a program that has a bit more room to grow with the new staff. 

Notre Dame had a huge following because they won AND people who were catholic used that as an excuse to justify jumping on their bandwagon. That's how they got their own TV deal.

That was over 30 years ago now, and as much as they try to stay independent they would have been better accepting the Big Ten's offer in the early 2000s.