30 best college football teams not to win a national title

By Nicholas Ian Allen | Sep 11, 2015

Oct 12, 2013; University Park, PA, USA; A general view of the Beaver Stadium during the third quarter between the Penn State Nittany Lions and the Michigan Wolverines. Penn State defeated Michigan 43-40 in overtime. Mandatory Credit: Matthew O /

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Believe it or not, some of the greatest college football teams of all-time did not win a national championship. We rank the best teams to not win a title.

Baseball has long made its claim to be America’s national pastime, though the NFL has arguably won the country’s heart over the last few decades. However, there isn’t a more passionate sport than college football – in part because of the school and family ties that bind fans and alumni to their favorite institutions, but also because the sport’s often-changing system for determining its champion is beautifully yet horribly flawed.

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Over the course of college football history, some of the greatest teams to take the field did not win the national championship. Some had their shot, but came up short. Others were never given the chance because they happened to play in the Big Ten or Pac-10 and were tied to the Rose Bowl, or finished 13-0 but could never overcome two other undefeated teams in a subjective poll for a spot in the national championship game.

Whatever the reason, many great college football teams did not win their sport’s ultimate prize.

Honorable Mention, Great Teams to Not Win a National Title

1970 Arizona State, 11-0, WAC Champions
1973 Penn State, 12-0, Independent
1975 Arizona State, 12-0, WAC Champions
1982 SMU, 11-0-1, SWC Champions
1993 Auburn, 11-0, Ineligible
1999 Virginia Tech, 11-1, Big East Champions
2000 Florida State, 11-2, ACC Champions
2002 USC, 11-2, Pac-10 Co-Champions
2006 Boise State, 13-0, Mountain West Champions
2008 Utah, 13-0, Mountain West Champions
2008 Oklahoma, 12-2, Big 12 Champions
2009 Boise State, 14-0 WAC Champions
2009 Texas, 13-1, Big 12 Champions
2010 TCU, Mountain West Champions
2011 Oklahoma State, 12-1, Big 12 Champions

So, who is the best team to never win a national title? That’s a difficult question to answer. It’s tough to rank college football teams from different seasons and eras against one another. Should a team that lost in the BCS National Championship Game rank ahead of one that went undefeated but finished No. 2 in the final edition of the Associated Press Top 25 in a time when the BCS – let alone the College Football Playoff – had yet to exist?

What about a team that suffered just one loss in the regular season to the eventual national champ? An undefeated team that was snubbed due to a weak conference affiliation? Or perhaps there was a star-studded squad that dominated the competition 11, 12, or 13 times, but fell short of the ultimate prize because of an untimely upset or running into one of the best teams of all-time along the way?

In the pages that follow, we attempt to answer those questions and rank the best 30 college football teams to not win a national championship. Like the various reasons that excluded these teams from glory, there is sure to be controversy.

Note: Rankings listed in the following pages come from the AP Top 25 as of the week the game was played.

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