The 50 greatest college football teams throughout history

8. Best college football teams of all-time: 1956 Oklahoma

This Sooners team was so good they didn’t even require a bowl game to win their National Championship. The 1956 edition of the Oklahoma Sooners football program was led by one of the most versatile halfbacks in history in halfback Tommy McDonald, who rushed for 14 touchdowns, caught for four more and threw three touchdown passes on the season.

About the bit above — the Sooners couldn’t participate in a bowl in the 1956 season due to conference rules, but it didn’t stop them from being named the national champions. This Oklahoma team was in the middle of a 47-game winning streak and ended up going 10-0 while averaging 47 points a game while forcing six shutouts on defense including stonewalling teams like Texas and Notre Dame.

Though the aforementioned McDonald may have finished third in voting in the Heisman Trophy race, perhaps more impressive is the showing by linebacker Jerry Tubbs, who finished fourth in the voting as a defensive player.

Though they only played one ranked team throughout the season, No. 18 Colorado, the way they dismantled opponents is perhaps what makes them so impressive. They are one of the few teams to ever play a season where no, not even one, was close or competitive.

An impressive team on both sides of the ball, it was a no-brainer to include them in this list.