This is the twelfth 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.
Congratulations FAU Owls for fielding the best overall-program in Conference USA football for the last three years running!
Kudos especially to the 45 student athletes who were on the roster all three seasons – 2017-18, 2018-19, and 2019-20:
Willie Wright, Chris Robison, Ahman Ross, Rashad Smith, Quran Hafiz, John Raine, Ray Ellis, Diashun Moss, Leighton McCarthy, DeAndre McNeal, Malik Vigille, Tyrek Tisdale, James Pierre, Zyon Gilbert, Chase Lasater, Chris Tooley, Da’Von Brown, James Charles, Korel Smith, David Belvin III, Jordan Helm, Akileis Leroy, Daniel Leconte, Harrison Bryant, William Davis, Vladimir Rivas, Tim Bonner, Logan Peterson, Kevin McCrary, Ean Biancardi, Hosea Barnwell V, Damian Horton, Nick Weber, Jake Jones, Brandon Walton, Deon Humphrey, BJ Etienne, Jordan Merrell, Tavaris Harrison, James Brunson, Ladante Harris, John Mitchell, Dante Cousart, Collin Dell, Anthony Bennett
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.
Before getting deeper into our winners’ accolades, here are the conference runners-up, from worst-to-first:
14th
#247 UTEP Miners
1.7 Super Squad Rating
Record:
2-34 Overall
1-23 Conference USA
0 Conference USA Titles
Average Power:
27.1
Yearly Finish:
#242, #242, #242
242, 242, 242. Wow. It must be said:
We’ve covered some steady teams in this series…but none yet hitting the same rank all three years.
This unfortunate consistency at #242 only gets worse realizing that 246 teams have performed better than UTEP on-average since 2017, putting them in the Bottom 10 of all Division I squads and dead-last in the FBS subdivision. Congratulations Miners?
13th
#209 Rice Owls
2.5 Super Squad Rating
Record:
6-31 Overall
5-19 Conference USA
0 Conference USA Titles
Average Power:
36.0
Yearly Finish:
#228, #223, #172
12th
#199 Old Dominion Monarchs
2.8 Super Squad Rating
Record:
10-26 Overall
5-19 Conference USA
0 Conference USA Titles
Average Power:
39.1
Yearly Finish:
#188, #182, #211
11th
#193 UTSA Roadrunners
3.0 Super Squad Rating
Record:
13-22 Overall
8-16 Conference USA
0 Conference USA Titles
Average Power:
40.3
Yearly Finish:
#143, #218, #200
10th
#175 Charlotte 49ers
3.3 Super Squad Rating
Record:
13-24 Overall
10-14 Conference USA
0 Conference USA Titles
Average Power:
42.3
Yearly Finish:
#226, #158, #135
9th
#147 Western Kentucky Hilltoppers
4.0 Super Squad Rating
Record:
18-20 Overall
12-12 Conference USA
0 Conference USA Titles
Average Power:
46.7
Yearly Finish:
#181, #192, #73
8th
#131 Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders
4.6 Super Squad Rating
Record:
19-20 Overall
14-10 Conference USA
0 Conference USA Titles
Average Power:
51.3
Yearly Finish:
#131, #88, #156
7th
#129 Florida International Golden Panthers
4.6 Super Squad Rating
Record:
23-16 Overall
14-10 Conference USA
0 Conference USA Titles
Average Power:
51.4
Yearly Finish:
#133, #101, #136
6th
#127 North Texas Mean Green
4.7 Super Squad Rating
Record:
22-17 Overall
15-9 Conference USA
0 Conference USA Titles
Average Power:
51.3
Yearly Finish:
#110, #92, #168
5th
#122 Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles
4.8 Super Squad Rating
Record:
21-16 Overall
16-8 Conference USA
0 Conference USA Titles
Average Power:
52.5
Yearly Finish:
#132, #120, #104
4th
#112 UAB Blazers
5.0 Super Squad Rating
Record:
28-13 Overall
19-5 Conference USA
1 Conference USA Title (2018)
Average Power:
52.6
Yearly Finish:
#159, #63, #126
3rd
#94 Louisiana Tech Bulldogs
5.8 Super Squad Rating
Record:
25-14 Overall
15-9 Conference USA
0 Conference USA Titles
Average Power:
56.0
Yearly Finish:
#96, #115, #74
2nd
#84 Marshall Thundering Herd
6.2 Super Squad Rating
Record:
25-14 Overall
16-8 Conference USA
0 Conference USA Titles
Average Power:
57.6
Yearly Finish:
#89, #78, #93
WINNER
#46 Florida Atlantic Owls
9.0 Super Squad Rating
Record:
27-13 Overall
18-6 Conference USA
2 Conference USA Titles
(2017, 2019)
Average Power:
64.9
Yearly Finish:
#32, #111, #32
Hey! We awarded a different Owls Super Squad last week. How weird is that?
With a thorny season playing out between two rosy title years – consistency hasn’t been FAU‘s recent forte, but sporadic dominance has. The Owls have the most wins in and out of Conference USA the last three years, despite losing most of their 2018 matches.
Congratulations FAU for the remarkable bounce back, and to all Owl coaches, staff, administrators, players, and especially the 45 young men present on the roster all three years that earned them 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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