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College football's ten most victorious programs

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Success of a college football program can be measured subjectively or through objective numerical criteria. Two numerical methods for determining College football's ten most victorious programs are the total number of wins the program has achieved, and their winning percentage over their history. These methods have the advantage that they rely on empirical numerical data. A disadvantage to these methods is that team schedules are not chosen randomly throughout the country and uneven competition faced by different teams could theoretically skew the results.

Top ten programs by number of wins and winning percentage

At the start of the 2007-2008 Division I FBS season, the following eleven NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision teams were in the top ten either by winning percentage and/or total number of wins:

Team Years Won Lost Tied Pct. Total Games
Michigan 127 860 282 36 .745 1,178
Notre Dame 118 821 269 42 .744 1,132
Texas 114 810 313 33 .715 1,156
Oklahoma 112 768 292 53 .714 1,113
Ohio State 117 786 301 53 .713 1,140
Alabama 112 780 308 43 .709 1,131
Nebraska 117 803 326 40 .704 1,169
Southern California 114 743 300 54 .702 1,097
Tennessee 110 761 316 53 .697 1,130
Penn State 120 780 343 41 .688 1,164
Bowl and playoff games are included in the table, and each tie game is computed as ½ won and ½ lost.

National championships

Another way to rank programs is to look at which ones have the most most national championships. However, the top division of college football does not have an official championship. Instead, variously publications, analysts and scholars have identified championship teams over the history of college football. Some of these titles have been awarded retrospectively, and many seasons feature co-champions or competing claims to the title. The Bowl Championship Series attempts to solve this problem by having the two most highly-ranked teams play each other at the end of the season. This has not eliminated controversy, however, since choosing the top two teams is still a largely subjective matter. This has led the title of national football champion to be called a Mythical National Championship.

Team Championships Recognized by University
Alabama 12
Notre Dame 11
Southern California 11
Michigan 11
Pittsburgh 9
Ohio State 7
Oklahoma 7
Tennessee 6
Miami 5
Nebraska 5
Texas 4
Penn State 4

Sources and references



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Last updated on Sunday July 20, 2008 at 22:00:28 PDT (GMT -0700)
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