The Greatest College Football Programs Of All Time—ranked
Princeton’s history in college football dates back longer than the school’s current name. When the Tigers took the field in November 1869 against Rutgers in the first college football game ever played, the university was known as the College of New Jersey. Today, Princeton claims a record 28 national championships in football — 15 of which are officially recognized by the NCAA — all but one of which came before the so-called poll era, which began in 1936.
The program has also delivered a remarkable 21 players to the College Football Hall of Fame, including halfback Dick Kazmaier, who became the only Tiger to win the Heisman Trophy in 1951.
While Princeton has one of the deepest histories in the sport, Boise State is still building its own impressive legacy as one of the great programs. The team has only been in Division I since 1978 and didn’t become an FBS squad until 1996 but the Broncos have already accomplished more in that time than most ever have. The program’s .732 winning percentage since 1968, when Boise State became a four-year university, is the best mark in the entire sport.
On top of that, they’ve won 12 FBS bowl games, including two Bowl Championship Series games and a New Year’s Six contest, and the blue turf at their home stadium has become one of college football’s most iconic sights.
When the Big Ten was founded in 1896 as the nation’s first collegiate athletic conference, Illinois was one of the original seven institutions in its membership. The Fighting Illini were a football powerhouse in the pre-poll era, winning five national championships from 1914-1951, including three between 1919 and 1927.
All-time football legends like “Red” Grange and Dick Butkus are included among the program’s 12 College Football Hall of Famers and six Pro Football Hall of Famers, the latter of which ranks them in the top 10 for that institution.
Programs on the West Coast haven’t typically earned the same kind of acclaim as the ones on the other end of the country, but Oregon has been an exception. The Ducks — also known as the Webfoots in the old days — have consistently been one of the best programs in the Pac-12 during the current era. They’ve won 12 conference titles overall, seven of which have come since 2000, and have won 15 FBS bowl games. The team was also part of the first-ever College Football Playoff in 2015, when they made it to the championship game.
The United States Naval Academy has a long tradition of excellence on dry land, at least on the gridiron. For one, the program has produced an impressive 22 players who landed in the College Football Hall of Fame, including Joe Bellino and Roger Staubach, both of whom won the Heisman in the early 1960s. They have a claimed national title from 1926 and have won 12 FBS bowl games in total, including five since 2013, renewing their standing in the sport for a new generation of fans.
There are only eight college football programs that have sent at least eight players to the Pro Football Hall of Fame and Syracuse is one of them. Since their first season in 1889, the Orange have given us iconic stars like Larry Csonka, Marvin Harrison, Donovan McNabb and arguably the greatest football player in history, Jim Brown. That’s not even to mention the school’s only Heisman winner, Ernie Davis, who was the first Black player to ever win that coveted award in 1961.
Throw in the undefeated 1959 national championship team and 16 FBS bowl wins and you’ve got one of the sport’s richest legacies.
In the Big Ten’s long history, only Michigan and Ohio State have won more outright conference championships than Wisconsin. The Badgers also count themselves among that elite group of programs to have produced multiple Heisman winners, with rushers Alan Ameche and Ron Dayne each taking the honor. The school has also had a stellar 12 unanimous All-American selections and won the national championship in 1942.
In the past couple decades, Wisconsin has reclaimed its status as one of the nation’s premiere football schools, winning 10 of its 16 total FBS bowls since 2000 alone.
The only team in the Pac-12 to have won more conference titles than Washington’s 17 is USC and this West Coast powerhouse is also one of the winningest programs nationwide. In addition to having won nearly 750 total games since 1889, the Huskies have four claimed national championships and another unclaimed one, including three from 1984-1991. That period of dominance saw College Football Hall of Famers Steve Emtman and Lincoln Kennedy play starring roles as just two of Washington’s 12 former players to be enshrined by that institution.
They also count 18 FBS bowl wins and an appearance in the 2016 College Football Playoff among their milestones.
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