The 50 greatest college football teams throughout history

11. Best college football teams of all-time 1997 Nebraska

The Nebraska Cornhuskers, led by head coach Tom Osborne in the 25th season of his tenure, made history when they compiled a perfect 13-0 record and eventually claimed their third national championship in four years.

When the season finished, the Cornhuskers were ranked as the No. 2 team in the nation by the AP Poll and the No. 1 vote in the Coaches Poll. This has gone down in years since as one of the most controversial and contested national championship debates in college football history.

Quarterback Scott Frost and running back Ahman Green were an unstoppable duo on the offensive side of the ball. Frost became the 10th player in college football history to be a truly legendary dual-threat, both passing and running for 1,000 yards. Green was second in the country with 1,877 rushing yards and had 22 touchdowns.

This Cornhuskers team trounced No. 2 Washington at their home stadium by a score of 27-14, while also destroying No. 14 Texas A&M by 39 points in the Big 12 Championship (which was basically a road game, played in San Antonio). They went from there to roll over No. 3 Tennessee by 25 points in the Orange Bowl.

This team absolutely deserved to be a consensus national champion in Osborne’s last season. The roster also featured consensus All-American Aaron Taylor, All-Americans Jason Peter and Grant Wistrom and easily earn a spot in the top tier of our list of all-time great teams.