Which Football/Basketball Combos Had the Best Season?

Very quietly, the University of Utah sneaked into the top 25 in the final college football polls with an 8-4 record, not to mention a big win over the Colorado State Rams in the Royal Purple Las Vegas Bowl by a score of 45-10. Up to that point in the college basketball world, the Runnin' Utes were making noise, starting their non-conference schedule at 8-2 and eventually cracking the top 10 by week nine. When all was said and done, the Runnin' Utes finished with a 25-8 record and a Sweet 16 berth, the programs 16th such appearance in its 107 year history.

In its inaugural season in the Atlantic Coast Conference, the Louisville Cardinals just continued their success from when they left the American Athletic Conference. They regressed a bit to a 9-4 record from an 11-1 record in 2013, but an increase in competition level is cause for that. The Cardinals finished the season on a sour note, dropping the Belk Bowl to the Georgia Bulldogs 37-14, but that's still nothing to be embarrassed about. However, Rick Pitino and his basketball squad was a force throughout the season, but ran into a buzzsaw Michigan State Spartan team in the East Regional Final in the NCAA Tournament. The Cardinals were a presence in the top 15 all season, but were only able to muster up a four seed come the Big Dance. Their Elite 8 appearance was the 14th in the program's illustrious history.

We should all know by now that the Oregon Ducks are a legitimate football program. Within the past five seasons, the Ducks have played for two national championships, two Rose Bowl victories, a Fiesta Bowl victory, and an appearance in the first ever College Football Playoff National Championship, which happened to be this past season. They finished at 13-2, which is a pretty decent record. But as they were doing work on the gridiron, the Ducks were also getting the job done on the hardwood. They were constantly see-sawing in and out of the top 25, finishing with a 25-9 record, but eventually made a big run in the Pac-12 Tournament and mustered up an 8 seed in the NCAA Tournament, and nearly knocked off current Final Four and number one seeded squad the Wisconsin Badgers.

As mentioned earlier, the Wisconsin Badgers are a current Final Four team in the NCAA Tournament. They won the Big 10 regular season championship and the Big 10 conference tournament. Bo Ryan has built one of the most dominant programs in college basketball. Before he took this team to the top of the college basketball world, however, Gary Anderson and Paul Chryst had the football program on a roll. Anderson left the Badgers after the regular season, and Chryst took over, but the program was still doing well, even after an embarrassing loss to the Ohio State Buckeyes in the Big 10 championship game, 59-0. Wiscy finished the season with a 11-3 record and put the cherry on top with a win over the Auburn Tigers in the Outback Bowl, 34-31.

On the surface, this doesn't seem like the most successful program of the school year, but if you take into consideration how bad the basketball team started off, and where they're at now, this becomes a no-brainer decision. Head basketball coach Tom Izzo had a slow start to the season with his young Spartan team, but as the season progressed, they gelled together, made a run in the Big 10 tournament, and now are two wins away from winning a national championship. Along with this surprising result, the football team, led by Mark Dantonio, heralded a 11-2 record with a victory over a top 10 team in the Baylor Bears in the Cotton Bowl, 42-41, and finished the season as the 5th ranked team in the Coaches Poll.