Perhaps the BEST B1G Forum anywhere, here at College Football Fan Site, CFB51!!!

One of our favorite topics.  My list, and feel free to ..., is:

Texas  USC  Notre Dame  Bama  OSU (The)  OU  Michigan Nebraska

Just out: Penn State, and then somewhere near the club, Clemson, UGA, UF, LSU,  ....    FSU, Miami, Wisconsin, grey area

I might be forgetting somebody, like Easter Michigan.

In the Club but slipping are USC Texas Nebraska, and Michigan somewhat.  You could argue Nebbie has slipped.

Out but gaining is Clemson, UGA ....?

I don't see any reason the Penn State is not a helmet. They certainly fit the bill.

It was nice to see UW beat USC a few years back.

It's an opinion, but in my opinion, we have to go back more than 50 years.  A lot is perception.

Maybe, but IMHO probably not much more than 50 years and possibly not at all.  

One concept here that I consider is "living memory".  Most people don't remember a lot from before they were about 10 years old.  Sure, you'll remember things with your family and within your house and school before you were 10, but most people don't remember much about CFB games played when they were <10 or so.  

Example, Woody was hired by Ohio State in 1951 and won his first NC in 1954.  When I was a kid (80's) there were a LOT of people around Ohio who remembered both of those things.  It had only been 30-40 years prior so anyone 50 or older could remember it.  Now . . .  If you turned 10 the year Woody was hired you'll turn 80 this year.  How many people really remember Woody's hiring or remember watching games from the 1954 season when Woody won his first NC?  Precious few IMHO.  My dad did but he was born in 1940 and died earlier this year.  

Certainly anything past 70 years is outside the living memory of all but a handful of elderly fans.  Winning Percentage from 1951-2020:

1	Ohio State	0.77475	603	170	15	788
2	Oklahoma	0.76357	627	190	12	829
3	Alabama	0.73128	597	214	17	828
4	Penn State	0.72380	584	221	6	811
5	Nebraska	0.70072	579	245	8	832
6	Michigan	0.69686	548	235	12	795
7	Southern Cal	0.69603	552	236	18	806
8	Texas	0.69390	564	246	10	820
9	Notre Dame	0.67625	524	248	11	783
10	Georgia	0.67294	546	261	17	824
11	Florida	0.67174	543	261	17	821
12	Auburn	0.67036	539	262	12	813
13	Florida State	0.66440	529	263	17	809
14	Louisiana State	0.66422	534	265	20	819
15	Tennessee	0.65530	528	273	20	821
16	Clemson	0.65031	523	278	14	815
17	Miami-Florida	0.64366	515	284	5	804
18	Arizona State	0.64096	503	280	8	791
19	Virginia Tech	0.61228	488	307	11	806
20	Brigham Young	0.60930	500	319	9	828
21	West Virginia	0.60589	478	309	11	798
22	UCLA	0.60139	468	307	19	794
23	Arkansas	0.60136	481	317	11	809
24	Fresno State	0.59130	473	326	6	805
25	Washington	0.59023	465	321	12	798
26	Southern Miss	0.58976	463	321	7	791
27	Louisiana Tech	0.58528	397	280	9	686
28	Miami-Ohio	0.58202	435	310	17	762
29	Mississippi	0.58030	455	327	15	797
30	Texas A&M Texas A&M	0.57983	461	332	15	808

Then I think you need a hard-to-define, "some but not too much" recency bias so here is the same list for the last 35 years:

1	Ohio State	0.78388	333	90	5	428
2	Florida State	0.74651	320	108	2	430
3	Oklahoma	0.74490	327	111	3	441
4	Alabama	0.73023	314	116	0	430
5	Miami-Florida	0.72390	312	119	0	431
6	Florida	0.71995	317	123	1	441
7	Clemson	0.70993	313	127	3	443
8	Nebraska	0.70957	311	127	1	439
9	Georgia	0.70729	310	128	1	439
10	Michigan	0.70000	299	127	4	430
11	Penn State	0.69258	298	132	1	431
12	Auburn	0.68014	292	136	5	433
13	Louisiana State	0.67981	292	137	2	431
14	Southern Cal	0.67500	281	134	5	420
15	Oregon	0.66900	287	142	0	429
16	Notre Dame	0.66423	272	137	2	411
17	Virginia Tech	0.65789	286	148	3	437
18	Texas	0.65741	283	147	2	432
19	Texas A&M Texas A&M	0.65668	284	148	2	434
20	Brigham Young	0.65471	291	153	2	446
21	Tennessee	0.65242	281	149	3	433
22	Wisconsin	0.62759	271	160	4	435
23	Toledo	0.62470	256	153	4	413
24	Utah	0.61905	260	160	0	420
25	West Virginia	0.61765	261	161	3	425
26	Texas Christian	0.60979	255	163	1	419
27	Iowa	0.60956	259	165	5	429
28	Fresno State	0.59491	256	174	2	432
29	Washington	0.59123	248	171	3	422
30	Louisville	0.58768	247	173	2	422

In my view, if you aren't on both lists, you aren't in the discussion.  If you are, we can talk.  So here are the teams on both lists:

• Ohio State is #1 on both, obviously a helmet.  
• Oklahoma is 2/3, obviously a helmet.  
• Alabama is 3/4, obviously a helmet.  
• Nebraska is 5/8 . . . I think they are a helmet but it has been a long time since they've been a serious NC contender.  
• Florida State is 13/2 . . . I think they are a helmet.  
• Penn State is 4/11 . . . I think they are a helmet.  
• Michigan is 6/10 . . . I think they are a helmet but it has been a long time since they've been consistently elite.  
• Florida is 11/6 . . . I think they are a helmet.  
• Georgia is 10/9 . . . I think they are awfully close.  
• USC is 7/14 . . . I think they are a helmet.  
• MiamiFL is 17/5 . . . I think they are a helmet.  
• Clemson is 16/7 . . . I think they are awfully close, closer than UGA due to hardware.  
• Auburn is 12/12 . . . I think they are close.  
• Notre Dame is 9/16 . . . I think they are a helmet.  
• Texas is 8/18 . . . I think they are a helmet.  
• LSU is 14/13 . . . I think they are a helmet but it is a close call.  
• VaTech is 19/17 . . . I do NOT think they are a helmet.  
• Tennessee is 15/21 . . . I think they are a former helmet.  
• BYU is 20/20 . . . I do NOT think they are a helmet.  
• WVU is 21/25 . . . I do NOT think they are a helmet.  
• FresnoSt is 24/28 . . . I do NOT think they are a helmet.  
• Washington is 25/29 . . . I do NOT think they are a helmet.  
• aTm is 30/19 . . . I do NOT think they are a helmet.  

Thus, my "helmets" are:

• Ohio State
• Oklahoma
• Alabama
• Nebraska
• Florida State
• Penn State
• Michigan
• Florida
• USC
• MiamiFL
• Notre Dame
• Texas
• LSU

Of those 13, Nebraska and Michigan are on the shakiest ground at this point IMHO.  

Then you have a list of near-helmets that are close and threatening to become helmets:

• Georgia:  Has the win% but lacks the hardware.  
• Clemson:  Has the hardware but lacks the proven staying-power.  
• Auburn:  Close in both.  

It's an opinion, but in my opinion, we have to go back more than 50 years.  A lot is perception.

Of course it matters, but how much does it matter?  Half of the top programs from the first half of the last century aren't even FBS anymore.  

My listing is subjective, by definition, as I think about it.  It's in large part which programs are known to casual fans as being good, even if they aren't, and they will think when say Michigan plays say Clemson, Michigan should win.  I think it also impacts the polls.

You're describing 70 year old women.  No one directly involved with the game is like this.  The players aren't, the coaches aren't, and the fans aren't.