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The 50 Greatest College Football Programs All-Time Statistically Ranked

By Daniel

Aug 30, 2014; Ann Arbor, MI, USA; Michigan Wolverines defensive end Brennen Beyer (97) defensive back Delonte Hollowell (24) running back De
Aug 30, 2014; Ann Arbor, MI, USA; Michigan Wolverines defensive end Brennen Beyer (97) defensive back Delonte Hollowell (24) running back De /
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Sep 14, 2013; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Southern California Trojans mascot Tommy Trojan performs with the Spirit of Troy marching band during the game against the Boston College Eagles at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. USC defeated Boston College 35-7. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 14, 2013; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Southern California Trojans mascot Tommy Trojan performs with the Spirit of Troy marching band during the game against the Boston College Eagles at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. USC defeated Boston College 35-7. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports /

5. Notre Dame Fighting Irish: 1,564 Points*

Notre Dame is the great independent power of all-time. They’ve claimed a jaw-dropping 11 National Championships and won seven Heisman Trophies. They’ve also won 16 bowl games all-time to go along with their 880 wins. Most impressive may be their 97 consensus All-Americans. Obviously Notre Dame never won a conference championship as they’ve never had the ability to. So I quantified that fact, and their score. See the asterisk at the end of the article.

4. Alabama Crimson Tide: 1,675.5 Points

The Crimson Tide have been one of the most dominant programs in the history of college football. They’ve claimed 15 National Championships (14 recognized) and have won 838 games all-time. They’ve won their conference 27 times as well as 35 bowl games. Alabama has also had 55 consensus All-Americans in its history. Despite being the best in recent years, they’re not quite the most consistent program in college football history, but their history is still overwhelmingly amazing.

3. Michigan Wolverines: 1,677.50 Points

Michigan has claimed 11 National Championships and won more games than any other program (910). It has also won 42 conference championships and 20 bowl games. Three Heisman Trophy winners have played in Ann Arbor and so have 78 consensus All-Americans. Although the Wolverines are currently in a down period, they’ve historically been one of the most consistent programs of all-time.

2. Oklahoma Sooners: 1,686.50 Points

The team from Norman comes in at No. 2 on this all-time greatness list. They’ve claimed seven National Championships (all since 1950) and have won their conference 44 times. The Sooners have also won 28 bowl games and 842 games all-time. They’re no stranger to individual success either. Five times a Sooner has won the Heisman Trophy and 75 times one has been named consensus All-American. They truly are one of the all-time greatest programs in college football history.

1. USC Trojans: 1,706 Points

The No. 1 greatest college football team of all-time is USC. The Trojans have simply amassed too many amazing accolades not to be No. 1. They’ve claimed 11 National Championships (10 recognized) and have won 32 bowl games. They’ve also won their conference 36 times and have exactly 800 wins all-time. But their success doesn’t end there, they’ve won seven Heisman Trophies and have had 80 Trojans named consensus All-American.

The Trojans have a little bit of a lead, but they will have to get back to playing at an elite level if they want to hold off Oklahoma and Alabama in the coming years. Both of those teams will continue to put pressure on USC for the No. 1 spot. Don’t sleep on Notre Dame either, they’re winning a lot of games under head coach Brian Kelly and you can bet that Michigan, with all of their history and pride, will rise from ashes sooner than later. But enjoy the title Trojan fans, your favorite team has earned it by being consistently the greatest program, in terms of all-around success, in college football history.

For fans of Boise State Broncos and the BYU Cougars I also put your teams’ histories through the point system despite not being in ‘Power 5’ conferences. Boise State came out with 492 points (placing it 47th on this list) and BYU came out incredibly impressive with 761 points (placing it 25th on this list). Both are quite respectable rankings for teams outside of the ‘Power 5’ conferences. Which begs the question why BYU, as a current independent, isn’t considered a ‘Power 5’ conference team like Notre Dame. The numbers do not lie and history suggests the Cougars should be included with the ‘big boys’ of college football.

If you liked this you may like checking out the 25 most successful college football programs of the BCS Era.

Sep 27, 2014; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; The Notre Dame Fighting Irish mascot gestures to the crowd against the Syracuse Orange during the third quarter at MetLife Stadium. Notre Dame defeated Syracuse 31-15. Mandatory Credit: Rich Barnes-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 27, 2014; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; The Notre Dame Fighting Irish mascot gestures to the crowd against the Syracuse Orange during the third quarter at MetLife Stadium. Notre Dame defeated Syracuse 31-15. Mandatory Credit: Rich Barnes-USA TODAY Sports /

*Explanation of Notre Dame’s Ranking:

I took a creative approach to account for the fact that Notre Dame has never been in a conference, thus hasn’t had the ability to win conference championship games (or amass any points in that category) like all other programs have — at least some time in a conference. Yes, some programs were independents, but are now in conference and have been for years. This isn’t the case with Notre Dame.

I took the average numbers conference championship wins of the other nine teams that have won 800+ games and applied that to Notre Dame (for an average adjustment of how many they would have won if they were in a conference, just to put them on a level playing field with the rest of the competition).

Those nine 800+ win teams have won 280 conference championship games in their collective histories. I divided that number by nine and got 31.1. So I awarded Notre Dame points for 31 conference championship games to account for the fact that they didn’t have the ability to win a conference championship, but still continually played very hard schedules filled with ‘Power 5’ teams. These nine teams are the only teams on the same tier historically as Notre Dame, in total success, so I figured the average of their collective conference championships was the most adequate way to quantify this conundrum.

Hope you enjoyed this, college football fan! These teams will continue to change spots on this list after every year as the future unfolds. So if you don’t like where your team is, just cheer even louder at its next game, eventually they might move up a few spots. Who will win the National Championship this year and potentially move up? We’ll have to wait and see. Here’s to a great second half of the 2014 college football season!

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