College football all-time power rankings: The 30 best programs ever
By Dante Pryor
Ranking the 30 best college football programs of all-time.
College football has been played for more than 150 years and with a sport that’s lasted a century-and-a-half, there is a certain hierarchy among the best teams.
There have been programs that have had great single seasons and there have been programs that have consistently had great seasons for more than 100 years. Whether they are classic brands like Michigan and Notre Dame, service academies like Army and Navy or teams like Alabama, Clemson and Ohio State who are competing for national championships on an annual basis, the all-time college football power rankings will determine which programs are the best.
Factoring in the all-time record, bowl record, national and conference championships, Heisman Trophy winners and All-Americans, those will be the overriding factors in determining the order of the all-time college football rankings.
The rankings are sure to generate a debate among the fans who have their favorite teams and alma maters represented.
30. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
- All-Time Record: 736–507–43 (.589)
- All-Time Bowl Record: 25–20–0 (.556)
- National Championships: 4 (claimed)
- Conference Championships: 15
- Consensus All-Americans: 21
- Heisman Winners: 0
In recent times, Georgia Tech has fallen on tough times with current head coach Geoff Collins rebuilding the Yellow Jackets from a triple-option offense to more of a pro-style offense. The history of Yellow Jackets can be split into four eras; the Heisman era, the Bobby Dodd era, the Bobby Ross era and the Paul Johnson era.
John Heisman — yes, that Heisman — was the coach that helped Georgia Tech rise to prominence. Heisman won 104 games ad 16 consecutive non-losing seasons while at Tech. Heisman is most famous for a 33 game winning streak and 222-0 route of Cumberland in 1916. The Golden Tornado, as they were called then, won their first national championship in 1917. After coach Heisman retired, he became the first Athletic Director of the Downtown Athletic Club of New York.
At the behest of the DAC officers, Heisman created a system to vote for the best college football player in the country; the award was named after Heisman in 1936 after Heisman succumbed to pneumonia. Though William Alexander led Georiga Tech to their second national championship and is second in wins at Georiga Tech, Bobby Dodd is considered the legendary coach in ‘Tech history.
Dodd would lead the Yellow Jackets to a 31-game winning streak from 1951-52. Georgia Tech won the SEC in 1952 and the national championship. The Yellow Jackets also won eight straight against Georgia during Dodd’s tenure. Bobby Dodd would retire as Georgia Tech’s all-time winningest coach.
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It would be 38 years until the Yellow Jackets would win their fourth and last national title with Bobby Ross at the helm. The 1990 team Ross coached is considered by many the greatest Georgia Tech team of all time. When Paul Johnson took over in 2007, the landscape of the ACC had changed.
The ACC now had divisions. Georgia Tech is shadowing juggernaut programs like new powers Clemson, Virginia Tech and Florida State. Johnson’s hire was a signal the Yellow Jackets had to be unique to compete. Johnson’s triple-option offense would garner coach of the year honors in 2008, four division titles and an ACC title in 2009.