Branding Montana

I have a suspicion I’m being baited, but anyway, here’s Stewart Mandel’s Mailbag yesterday ($$), returning to a familiar topic:

Stewart. Have you done another updated edition of “Kings and Barons” recently? I would love to see if the group of Kings has shrunk to three to five teams and the group of Barons has expanded to include former elite programs like Texas, USC, Penn State and Florida State? — KC, Phoenix

For those not familiar, KC is referring to a series of columns I’ve written, beginning in 2007, that divided the Power 5 programs into a four-tier pecking order based on their perceived level of prestige — Kings, Barons, Knights and Peasants. The most recent edition was in May 2017, for a previous employer. To this point, I’ve rigidly adhered to the “every five years” rule, which means the next edition won’t come until 2022. As I’ve stated many times, it takes more than a year or two for a program to significantly alter its brand nationally, either for better or worse. These are reputations that took decades upon decades to build. As a result, I assure you all four of the teams you mentioned very much remain Kings.

But there are definitely a few schools whose classifications could swing up or down based on the next two seasons. Consider this a mini-status update between editions.

Georgia: This whole thing started 13 years ago with a question about the Dawgs and my assertion they were more of a regional than national power. But seven months after that 2017 update, Kirby Smart’s team came within 2nd and 26 of winning that elusive first national title since 1980. And over the past three years, the program has gotten more national attention than at any time since the Herschel Walker era.

I’d still like to see the Dawgs climb that last rung and hoist a trophy before including them with a group of programs that have all won ones more recently, but even a second CFP berth might be enough to justify that long-awaited promotion out of the Barons.

Seriously, is there any rhyme or reason to that?  Has there ever been any rhyme or reason to that?

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