Rob's Rankings: Who will be the team of the 2020s?

As we inch closer to putting a bow on the 2010s and head toward a new decade, Rob’s Rankings peek ahead to what may be in store years down the road. The fact that Alabama has dominated the current decade isn’t really up for debate, but with Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban getting closer to retirement, it’s fair to wonder which school might dominate the 2020s. Below, Rivals.com’s Rob Cassidy outlines and ranks eight contenders to become the team of the 2020s.

ROB'S RANKINGS: Candidates to replace Nick Saban ... someday

CLASS OF 2019 RANKINGS: Rivals250 | State | Position | Team

WHY IT MAKES SENSE: The obvious and boring pick, the Bulldogs are rolling under head coach Kirby Smart and came within one play of knocking off Alabama in January’s title game. The program’s rise is obvious and its reign at the top of college football could already be under way had things broken a slightly different way a few months back.

But it’s not just the talent on the field that lands the Bulldogs in the top spot. UGA produced the nation’s No. 1 recruiting class last cycle and currently ranks No. 4 in the Rivals team rankings for 2019. Smart is a Nick Saban coaching disciple so he’s had a front-row seat for a presentation on how to maintain dynasty-level success. A few more seasons like last year will only help Georgia compound its good fortune, as Athens is clearly becoming an increasingly desirable locale for hyper-elite talent.

WHY IT WON'T HAPPEN: As successful as Smart has been in his short time at Georgia, he’s still only been a head coach for two seasons. That makes it pretty early to start dubbing UGA as a dynasty-in-waiting and hailing Smart as the next Bear Bryant. There’s plenty that can go wrong after year two, as many a coach has experienced early success only to be out of a job five years later. Smart is off to a blazing start, but the sample size remains small. It seems unlikely that the program will fall apart in the near future, but stranger things have happened.

WHY IT MAKES SENSE: Clemson is one of just four teams not named Alabama to win a national title in the last 10 years, and the momentum it’s built is impressive. With Florida State in flux and rebuilding under a new coach, and Miami still looking to become truly elite again, the road to the College Football Playoff looks clear for now. The Tigers have appeared in three of the first four and seem like solid bet to turn up in the tournament again this season.

WHY IT WON'T HAPPEN: Alabama could make a run at hiring head coach Dabo Swinney when Saban decides to retire. It’s not a sure thing by any stretch, but it certainly is a real threat. Such a move would likely set the Tigers back.

Aside from that, Clemson, while stocked with talent, has never had the surplus with which Alabama works annually. Clemson recruits incredibly well, but could stand to take yet another small step forward in that regard if it’s to dominate the decade ahead.

WHY IT MAKES SENSE: The youngest FBS head coaching the country, Lincoln Riley has youth on his side. He also has a proven offense and a College Football Playoff appearance in his first season. And while Oklahoma has long shown on-field dominance in the Big 12, the jump the program’s recruiting has taken since Riley took over as head coach can’t be understated. The Sooners landed a top-10 class last cycle and currently boast the nation’s No. 1 2019 class. Riley’s early success and youth have been good to the Sooners, who remain the team to beat in the Big 12. There’s no reason to assume OU will fail to dominate the league going forward. That kind of success could easily be parlayed into a few national titles.

WHY IT WON'T HAPPEN: Riley has just one season under his belt, so it’s not as though there’s a large sample size on him as a head coach. Assuming what he’s done so far will be the norm for a decade is quite a leap at this juncture. Oklahoma doesn’t have the same recruiting advantages as some Southeastern schools on this list, so it will have to work harder to maintain top-flight recruiting success.

WHY IT MAKES SENSE: Like Clemson, Ohio State is one of five teams to have captured a national title in the last 10 years. It’s also a recruiting juggernaut led by a coach with a national brand and a deep roster of talent. The Buckeyes are the most imposing program in a conference that seems to improve each year as of late. Urban Meyer’s program has been in the top five of the Rivals.com recruiting rankings in six of the last seven years. You don’t have to squint to picture a world where the Buckeyes dominate a decade.

WHY IT WON’T HAPPEN: The Big Ten continues to get deeper and stronger, which could help or hurt Ohio State’s road to the College Football Playoff. The bottom of the league appears to be closing the gap with the conference’s middle tier, so trap games will likely be more plentiful in the years ahead.

The Buckeyes continue to be the most talented team in the conference and are likely to be in the mix for a playoff spot annually, but the program will need to clear increasingly tall Big Ten hurdles to become the team of the 2020s.

WHY IT MAKES SENSE: It will likely be a don’t-screw-it-up situation for Saban’s successor. Alabama’s legendary coach has his program humming like few other teams before it, so whomever takes over after his departure will have plenty working in his or her favor. The Tide’s brand will be strong even without Saban and top-flight players will likely still be lining up to play in Tuscaloosa.

WHY IT WON'T HAPPEN: Nobody ever wants to follow a legend. In fact, the coaching cemetery is filled with the bodies of people that have tried. Should Alabama undergo a coaching change in the next few years, it’s likely to see an on-field hiccup or two at best. It will have to withstand such a thing to maintain its spot at the summit of the college football mountain. The upcoming transition will be a potential pitfall to say the least.

WHY IT MAKES SENSE: The trajectory is obvious. Everything Miami has done under Mark Richt indicates the Hurricanes are amid a climb up the college football mountain. Last year saw 'The U' win 10 games for the first time since 2003 and land a top-five recruiting class in the process. Coral Gables is once again the most desirable destination for the state of Florida’s elite talent, and that kind of thing usually translates to wild on-field success.

The fact that both Florida and Florida State are undergoing coaching transitions could possibly open the Hurricanes’ window even wider.

WHY IT WON’T HAPPEN: One down season doesn’t mean Florida State is dead, so the Seminoles will be a hurdle. As will Clemson, which absolutely drilled Richt’s upstart team in last year’s ACC title game. The Hurricanes were beaten soundly in their final three games last season, so they still seem to be few steps away from joining college football’s elite.

WHY IT MAKES SENSE: USC has been there before and there’s no telling what kind of juggernaut the Trojans could have become if they weren’t impeded by a controversial NCAA scandal and ensuing sanctions. The USC program recruits itself to a certain extent and will always be the top destination for elite West Coast talent, of which there is plenty. On top of that, the modern Pac-12 isn’t exactly stacked with elite teams. USC should find its way to a playoff or two in the near future … should.

WHY IT WON’T HAPPEN: While head coach Clay Helton is still a young coach, he hasn’t shown off the consistency needed to lead a dynasty just yet. USC needs to take another step on the recruiting trail and on the field if it hopes to dominate a decade under his leadership. The Pac-12’s struggles are well-documented, as no team from the league has won a national title since the Trojans in 2004. How well celebrated new hire Chip Kelly fares at UCLA will also impact what USC becomes in the 2020s.

WHY IT MAKES SENSE: The Huskers are the longshot to end all longshots, and calling them that is probably still understating the point. But it's not totally impossible. New Nebraska head coach Scott Frost, who won a national title as a QB during the Huskers' run as the team of the 1990s, hasn’t lost a game since 2016 and his high-powered offense is a proven commodity. He’s certainly no stranger to a rebuild as he transformed 0-12 UCF to a 14-0 juggernaut in just two seasons as the school’s head coach.

The Big Ten isn’t particularly accustomed to defending an offense like Frost’s, so there’s also a sense of right-place-right-time at work here. Frost coaching a major conference team is a total unknown and that kind of thing can harbor great optimism.

WHY IT WON’T HAPPEN: Pick a reason. Nebraska isn’t situated in a fertile recruiting ground like the other schools on this list. The program has registered double-digit wins just three times since 2003 and is yet to win a Big Ten title. Its current roster doesn’t have the talent to stack up with the Georgias, Ohio States and Alabamas of the world. If Frost can will Nebraska back to its 1990s glory days, people will write folk songs about his coaching acumen.