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The 50 Best College Football Programs Over 150 Years
ESPN.com
Several months ago, our Stats & Information Group was presented with a huge challenge: to rank the top programs in college football history.
Our goal: Honor the accomplishments of teams across 150 seasons and all divisions, while rewarding successful programs at the highest level in the sport's most competitive era.
Teams should be judged by winning games and winning championships, since those records exist all the way back to the early years. While some early game outcomes are even disputed between teams, national titles are subject to far greater debate. Fortunately, the NCAA decided that issue for us with its official list of major-college champions.
In our judgment, integration and scholarship limitations has made the past 50 years the most competitive the game has seen. The previous 50 years (the middle 50) were less so due to segregation and some regionalized scheduling that still allowed for occasional games against non-college teams. And the first 50 years, for all they gave us, were just a shadow of today's sport due to large-scale scheduling inequities and rules and a scoring system that were still in flux.
With all of these considerations, we created a formula (noted at the bottom of the page) to rank college football's greatest programs across all divisions using one metric. Let the debate begin.
The formula
Basic Model
Dominance, 20% -- number of National Championships
Peak Strength, 20% -- winning percentage for best 50 seasons in program history
Since integration, 30% -- winning percentage over the past 50 seasons (1969-2018)
Early Modern, 20% -- winning percentage over the middle 50 seasons (1919-1968). Mostly pre-integration and included some games against non-college teams
Pre-modern, 10% -- winning percentage over the first 50 seasons (1869-1918) *mostly pre-standardization of current rules and many games against non-college teams
Adjustments
National championships below the FBS level count at 50%
National championships before the poll era (1936) count at 50%
Winning percentages when a team was not in Division I are reduced by 10%
1. Alabama
2. Notre Dame
3. Ohio State
4. Oklahoma
5. USC
6. Michigan
7. Yale
8. Nebraska
9. Texas
10. North Dakota State
11. Princeton
12. Penn State
13. Harvard
14. Tennessee
15. LSU
16. Mount Union
17. Miami (FL)
18. St. John's (MN)
19. Florida State
20. Auburn
21. Florida
22. Georgia
23. Boise State
24. Clemson
25. Grambling
26. Pennsylvania
27. Wittenberg
28. Michigan State
29. Minnesota
30. Washington
31. Wisconsin-Whitewater
32. Texas A&M
33. Pittsburgh
34. Appalachian State
35. Linfield
36. Georgia Tech
37. Dartmouth
38. Virginia Tech
39. Army
40. Miami (OH)
41. Central Michigan
42. Colorado
43. Stanford
44. Arkansas
45. Pittsburg State
46. Arizona State
47. West Virginia
48. Georgia Southern
49. Utah
50. Wisconsin
----------------------------------
10. North Dakota State
63.6 | 15 national titles
Talk about higher education: Where else would Saturday's America have learned there's a "z" in Bison? The dominance that North Dakota State has exerted over the FCS (I-AA) in the past decade is rivaled only by the program's dominance over Division II for a quarter of a century beginning in 1965. And as we saw when College GameDay visited Fargo in 2013, Bison fans have got some juice.
45. Pittsburg State
51.6 | 4 national titles
There's no "h" in Pittsburg, Kansas, but there is one in champion. The Gorillas have won four national championships (two NAIA, two NCAA Division II), 31 total conference championships and 12 Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association titles. Most of those (nine) came in the 20 seasons coached by Chuck Broyles (1990-2009). Pittsburg State's best known football alumnus, Dennis Franchione, coached his alma mater to a 53-6 record from 1985 to 1989, before moving on, eventually to TCU, Alabama and Texas A&M.
The 50 Best College Football Programs Over 150 Years
ESPN.com
Several months ago, our Stats & Information Group was presented with a huge challenge: to rank the top programs in college football history.
Our goal: Honor the accomplishments of teams across 150 seasons and all divisions, while rewarding successful programs at the highest level in the sport's most competitive era.
Teams should be judged by winning games and winning championships, since those records exist all the way back to the early years. While some early game outcomes are even disputed between teams, national titles are subject to far greater debate. Fortunately, the NCAA decided that issue for us with its official list of major-college champions.
In our judgment, integration and scholarship limitations has made the past 50 years the most competitive the game has seen. The previous 50 years (the middle 50) were less so due to segregation and some regionalized scheduling that still allowed for occasional games against non-college teams. And the first 50 years, for all they gave us, were just a shadow of today's sport due to large-scale scheduling inequities and rules and a scoring system that were still in flux.
With all of these considerations, we created a formula (noted at the bottom of the page) to rank college football's greatest programs across all divisions using one metric. Let the debate begin.
The formula
Basic Model
Dominance, 20% -- number of National Championships
Peak Strength, 20% -- winning percentage for best 50 seasons in program history
Since integration, 30% -- winning percentage over the past 50 seasons (1969-2018)
Early Modern, 20% -- winning percentage over the middle 50 seasons (1919-1968). Mostly pre-integration and included some games against non-college teams
Pre-modern, 10% -- winning percentage over the first 50 seasons (1869-1918) *mostly pre-standardization of current rules and many games against non-college teams
Adjustments
National championships below the FBS level count at 50%
National championships before the poll era (1936) count at 50%
Winning percentages when a team was not in Division I are reduced by 10%
1. Alabama
2. Notre Dame
3. Ohio State
4. Oklahoma
5. USC
6. Michigan
7. Yale
8. Nebraska
9. Texas
10. North Dakota State
11. Princeton
12. Penn State
13. Harvard
14. Tennessee
15. LSU
16. Mount Union
17. Miami (FL)
18. St. John's (MN)
19. Florida State
20. Auburn
21. Florida
22. Georgia
23. Boise State
24. Clemson
25. Grambling
26. Pennsylvania
27. Wittenberg
28. Michigan State
29. Minnesota
30. Washington
31. Wisconsin-Whitewater
32. Texas A&M
33. Pittsburgh
34. Appalachian State
35. Linfield
36. Georgia Tech
37. Dartmouth
38. Virginia Tech
39. Army
40. Miami (OH)
41. Central Michigan
42. Colorado
43. Stanford
44. Arkansas
45. Pittsburg State
46. Arizona State
47. West Virginia
48. Georgia Southern
49. Utah
50. Wisconsin
----------------------------------
10. North Dakota State
63.6 | 15 national titles
Talk about higher education: Where else would Saturday's America have learned there's a "z" in Bison? The dominance that North Dakota State has exerted over the FCS (I-AA) in the past decade is rivaled only by the program's dominance over Division II for a quarter of a century beginning in 1965. And as we saw when College GameDay visited Fargo in 2013, Bison fans have got some juice.
45. Pittsburg State
51.6 | 4 national titles
There's no "h" in Pittsburg, Kansas, but there is one in champion. The Gorillas have won four national championships (two NAIA, two NCAA Division II), 31 total conference championships and 12 Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association titles. Most of those (nine) came in the 20 seasons coached by Chuck Broyles (1990-2009). Pittsburg State's best known football alumnus, Dennis Franchione, coached his alma mater to a 53-6 record from 1985 to 1989, before moving on, eventually to TCU, Alabama and Texas A&M.
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