First off, each conference with a legitimate representative should be used. This eliminates the ACC sadly because no matter how good Florida State is, their program has only been good a short amount of time compared to the others on this list. We are using the polls since 1936 to decide which national championships count. The UP (United Press) from 1950-57 counts, so does the AP (Associated Press) since 1936, INS (International News Service) from 1952-57, the UPI (United Press International) from 1958-90, the FW (Football Writers Association of America) from 1954-now, the NFF (National Football Foundation and Hall of Fame since 1991, and finally, the USA Today/CNN since 1991. Now, the criteria used will be the following…
National Championships and NC opportunities (broken down into 3 categories)
#1 vs. #2 Matchups in major bowl games for the NC. Outright national championships before 1968, when it was finally decided that AP polls for who should be NC would be taken after the bowl games. Every year before (except 1965) the NC was decided before the bowl games, which means you could be NC but lose your bowl game, and that makes no sense. If you split the national title, that counts, almost as much as an outright because at least the pollsters realized that the best team is subjective, and maybe two teams are the best but never played (USC and LSU in 2003). I cannot take into account EVERY single season where a #4 team could have jumped to #1 with all the losses had they won their bowl game, such as in 1983 when all that mess happened. Three of the top 5 teams lose, but a #5 Miami-FL leapfrogs a #3 Auburn. Huh? If Texas wins, ranked #2, they win the national title, but ifs are just that, ifs, and didn’t happen.
Ok, there will be no points system. I’m not going to arbitrarily decide that some national title should count for a 100 points and this for that many points or whatever, that’s BS. I could manipulate the points systems so that whoever wins by 7 points because they have the most Academic All-Americans or some BS. No, this will be stat based, but at the same time, the stats need to be examined in context, not just, hey they won a title, check. Also, no awards for individuals will be counted and this includes All-Americans, Academic All-Americans, Heismans and any other individual trophies, it’s all about teams, because this is about the greatest program in history, which to me means the most consistently great program that rarely has bad eras where they could not compete. Every program is allowed a bad year or two to rebuild based on rebuilding if they lost a great senior class or early draft picks, which happens a lot more now. But still, consistency is the key, as is how strong your conference is. If we go from 1935 on, the last year before the AP stepped in and started declaring national champions, look at the conference breakdowns of what programs have won national championships.
Big 10: Iowa (1958), Michigan (2), Minnesota (5), Michigan St. (3), Ohio State (7), and Penn State has 2, but none as a member of the Big 10.
Big 8: Oklahoma (7), Nebraska (5), and Colorado (1990).
SWC: SMU (1935), TCU (1938), Texas A&M (1939), Arkansas (1964) and Texas (4).
Pac-10: USC (7), UCLA (1954), Washington (1991)
SEC: Alabama (7), Tennessee (2), Florida (3), LSU (3), Auburn (1957), Ole Miss (1960) and Georgia (1980). Arkansas has not won a title since joining the SEC.
By this statistical evidence, the SEC and Big 10 would be the most well-rounded conferences, but the SEC has their national champions spread out over decades (every one since the 50s). I will also put how many wins each team that comes into consideration has, but this will be going since 1953 because that’s the most comprehensive and accurate info I could find. Bowl wins mean very little since you could have won the California Bowl but who cares, the major bowls are what matters, where you face the best competition. The Big 5 matter most (Cotton, Rose, Sugar, Orange and Fiesta), but the Fiesta only counts since the mid-80s, when Penn St.-Miami FL legitimized it as an important bowl game that could decide the national title.
Lastly, a team’s worst ten-year period since 1953 will be counted. It’s important as I mentioned earlier that a team has consistency. Losing records, very few bowl wins, a lack of high conference finishes, few AP poll appearances (at the end of the season) will be factored. I’ve broken down the criteria and who qualifies, here are the candidates: Alabama, Michigan, Nebraska, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Southern Cal, and Texas. I give Michigan a break even though the criteria should be at least 4 national titles, which means Minnesota would make it over them. However, looking at winning from 1936-2008, Michigan is far superior.
Alabama: 7 national titles. Let’s look at them. Five of them have been split titles, in 1961, 1964, 1965, 1973 and 1978. Now, in the two taken before the bowl games, they won the Sugar Bowl over Arkansas in 1961, then lost in 1964 to Texas in the Orange Bowl. So, how many are legit? Well two are outright, no disputing those. In 1973 they won despite losing their bowl game. So, we can count 5 as truly legitimate. Their record since 1953: 460-182-18. Alabama is 2-1 in bowl games where they were in a #1 vs. #2 bowl matchup. They won in 1978 and 1992, but lost to Nebraska in 1971. Alabama has won 4 of the 5 major bowl games, losing their only Fiesta Bowl appearance in 1990 to a very good Louisville team, 34-7. Worst 10-year period: 1997-2006. They have one BCS appearance, losing to Michigan by one. They have six bowl appearances overall, 2 AP poll appearances, and 5 winning records. By all means that’s a good resume, especially considering how good the SEC has been forever, having won a national title in every decade since the 50s.
Michigan: 2 national titles. Now, the Wolverines have an impressive history, there’s no questioning that. However, they’ve never been in a #1 vs. #2 bowl matchup, so no groundbreaking victories to capture a NC and their 1948 title featured no bowl game. Also, their only title in the last 50 years is a split title. So, only one may really be legitimate and the other was 60 years ago. Their record since 1953: 447-171-12. They have won 3 of the 5 major bowls, but the 1985 Fiesta Bowl win was over a good, but not great 9-2 Nebraska team. From 1960 to 1990 they lost 7 Rose Bowls and won only 3, which is of course the premier bowl they could have gone to being in the Big 10. Their worst 10-year period was from 1958 to 1967 when they only had 4 winning records, 1 AP Poll appearance (1964, #4), and just one bowl appearance. This run was pretty bad, but after 1967 they only missed the final AP poll two times in the following seasons until 2004. It’s a resume that most programs would love to have, but then again, they have a lack of major bowl success and not as many national titles as the others.
Nebraska: 5 National titles. All of Nebraska’s national titles came as a result of polls taken after the bowl games and every single NC has been undefeated or unbeaten (11-0-1 in 1970). Now, in 1970, Ohio State and Texas split the title with Nebraska, but both of them won polls that were decided on before the bowl games, and both lost. Therefore, the ‘Huskers remained the only unbeaten team. They then won 3 of 4 undisputed national titles in 1994, 1995, and 1997. They also lost a #1 vs. #2 national title matchup in 1993 with Florida State, beat Alabama in 1971 in the Orange Bowl in a 1 vs. 2 and also lost to Miami in the BCS title game in 2001 (a game they probably shouldn’t have been in to begin with, being ranked #4 by the AP). Thusly, by losing in 1983 to Miami (FL), they have had plenty of legit national title opportunities and only one title, 1997, could really be considered controversial, splitting with Michigan. Their record since 1953: 484-170-7. The only Big 5 bowl they haven’t won is the Rose, having played in it just once. They are under .500 in the Big 5 bowl games, which isn’t impressive, but they have been to over 30 of them combined. Their worst 10-year period was from 1953-62 when they only had two winning seasons, and is easily the worst decade of the 7 teams up for consideration. The one positive for them was when they hired Bob Devaney at the end of that run (in 1962) they immediately turned the program around. The final verdict is it’s a great program, but that 10-year run was pretty bad, however, the lack of controversial NC helps a lot.
Ohio State: 7 national titles. Their first national title was in 1942, and they had a loss, but after the bowls, nobody was undefeated. In 1954 they won the national title again but split it with UCLA, however, of the 3 undefeated teams, they were the only ones to play a bowl game. In 1957 they swept 3 of the 4 major polls for the national title, but they split it with Auburn. The reverse happened in 1961 when they won one major poll, with Alabama taking the other three. In 1968 they were undefeated and swept every poll, but in 1970 they had the split with Nebraska and Texas and the poll was taken before the bowls. They also won the title in 2002 by beating Miami (FL) in the BCS title game. Therefore, only 3 of the titles may be undisputed, but another did have 3 of the 4 major polls. Their record since 1953: 470-143-13. The Buckeyes won the 1968 title in a #1 vs. #2 matchup with USC, then beat Miami (FL) in 2002 but lost a golden opportunity losing to Florida in 2006. They have had countless other national championship opportunities losing to Michigan so many times, but that’s neither here nor there. It was hard picking a 10-year lull for the Buckeyes because they had bad years from 1958-67, but also won a national title in 1961, so no there. 1983-1992 was their worst period, with just one Big 10 title, missing the final AP poll 4 times and their highest final ranking was #7. They also went 3-5 in bowls. The Buckeyes make another very good case, hardly ever having bad seasons for more than 5 years in a row and they also have plenty of titles, some controversial, some not.
Oklahoma: 7 National titles. Ok, the first Sooners title in 1950 is marred by an Orange Bowl loss to Maryland since the NC was decided before the bowls. However, every other top 5 team lost their bowl, so who would have taken their place? 1955 features no argument as they were undefeated and won their bowl. They didn’t get to play in a bowl after their 1956 title, but every top 5 team lost besides #5 Texas A&M, so again, no controversy. Oklahoma may have won an outright title in 1974, but they were on probation. Therefore, USC took 3 of the 4 major polls in 1974. In 1975 they had one loss and #2 Arizona State went undefeated, so why not the Sun Devils? In 1985, Oklahoma had one loss and was chosen over Michigan, since the Sooners beat #1 Penn St. in the Orange Bowl. The 2000 title was undisputed as that featured a BCS title win over Florida St. The 1-loss national titles are somewhat controversial, and so is the no bowl season, but the others are pretty cut and dry. Their record since 1953: 485-155-11. Oklahoma is one of the few teams to win the Big 5 bowl games, with the Rose and Cotton victories coming in the last decade. Regarding the issue of #1 vs. #2 bowl matchups, Oklahoma is an unimpressive 1-4, only winning in 2000. They lost to Miami (FL) in 1987, LSU in 2003, USC in 2004 (a massacre) and to Florida in 2008. Their worst ten-year period may have been the worst of any major program being considered. The 1990s were horrible, going to 4 bowl games, winning only 2. They finished in the final AP poll just three times (#16 in 1991 was the highest) and had five seasons where they either had a losing record or were just .500. Well, all things considered, Oklahoma has been very good and very consistent, but that run in the 1990s was awful. How can the greatest program in history have an off-decade? No other team was that bad for that long. OU fans should be grateful Bob Stoops stepped in to save them.
Southern Cal (USC): 7 national titles. Well, of the Trojans seven titles, 1962 was undisputed, having blownout #2 Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl (before the Badgers made a near-legendary comeback). In 1967, USC survived as the best 1-loss team and won their bowl, despite it being a pre-bowl poll NC. In 1972 they won their bowl and took an outright NC, as they did again in 1974, winning 3 of the 4 polls thanks to OU’s probation. In 1978, they only took one poll’s NC thanks to Alabama’s dominance, but who was the outright champion was controversial considering so many teams had one loss. They split the title in 2003 with LSU despite the BCS’s plans, but they were dominant in 2004, beating OU in the BCS title game. Therefore, thanks to OU’s probation, 4 of their titles should be undisputed, with 1967, 1978 and 2003 being either/or situations. Their record since 1953: 448-182-18. They have a very good Rose Bowl record at 15-6, helping their overall mark in the Big 5 bowl games, also having won the Cotton and Orange bowls (3-0 between the two bowls). They have only been to the Fiesta once and never to the Sugar, so that hurts their cause, but then again, generally when they were dominant, they went to the Rose Bowl. They have a very impressive resume of going into bowl matchups as either a 1 or a 2. They beat #2 Wisconsin in the 1962 Rose Bowl, then lost to Ohio State in 1968, but made up for it by crushing Oklahoma in 2004. However, they lost their last #1 vs. #2 Texas, but that was one of the great bowl games of all-time so, let’s cut them some slack. Their worst 10-year period was from 1991 to 2000, but still, they won the Cotton and Rose Bowls in back-to-back years, 1994 and 1995 (as well finishing #13 and #12, respectively). They also shared 2 Pac-10 titles. 1991 and 2000 featured losing seasons, but every other season had them at .500 or better, so for a bad stretch, it wasn’t bad at all. Now, considering the overall strength of those stats, USC can make a very good case, but then again, their conference may easily be the weakest of the bunch. Even though Oklahoma and Nebraska have weak competition, they still had to battle each other and Colorado, which were legit threats.
Texas: 4 National Titles. Despite only having 4 titles, the Longhorns still have some pretty good claims, considering in 1963 they beat #2 Navy and Heisman winner Roger Staubach convincingly in the Cotton Bowl. In 1969, after a grueling game with Arkansas ended with President Richard Nixon proclaiming the ‘Horns the NC, UT survived an amazing game with Notre Dame, 21-17. In 1970 they had a little less to brag about, splitting the NC with Nebraska and Ohio State. They also lost their bowl game to Notre Dame. In 2005 they survived maybe the greatest game of all-time, beating 2-time defending champs USC in the BCS title game, so three of the four titles are pretty undisputed. Only the 1970 title has reason for doubt, what with two other legit contenders. Their record since 1953: 457-180-10. Texas can claim 4 of the Big 5 bowls, but considering they’ve only played in the Sugar Bowl twice, they could easily have had them all. Nonetheless, they had numerous Cotton Bowl appearances during the SWC’s heyday, clinching numerous NCs and playing in some bowl games with major NC implications. Vince Young also led them to back-to-back Rose Bowls. They beat Navy in a #1 vs. #2 bowl game in 1963 and they also clinched some polls in 1969 by beating Arkansas in a #1 vs. #2 clash in December (since some polls still voted before the polls). There is also the 2005 BCS game, where enough has been said. The worst part for Texas is their 10-year drought from 1984 to 1993 where they only finished in the final AP poll once, 1990 (#12). They had four losing seasons, but the shining light is not just 4 bowl games, but making the then-prestigious Cotton Bowl in 1990, even though that game ended badly. In conclusion, that 10-year streak is inexcusable for a team that doesn’t have enough national titles to begin with to really be considered the best. The SWC was also getting a little weak at that point, especially with SMU getting the death penalty. Houston, Arkansas and Texas A&M had become very good however, so maybe the losing ways were to be expected.
After looking at all the evidence, every team has a very good record since 1953, so going by that is probably pointless, but it’s fun to compare who had the most wins (best win pct.). Also, even though national titles are subjective, Texas, Michigan and Nebraska get the axe. Nebraska was a tough cut to make, especially considering how indisputable their national titles really are. Still, they have had a good run since 1962, and that’s how they pile up most of their points. Then again, their titles come in spurts, back-to-back ones in the 70s, then 3 of 4 in the 90s, so it’s almost as if they have great spurts, then a 9-win season and a Big 5 loss (2-6 in Big 5 bowls from 1984 to 1992, and a Citrus Bowl loss to NC GA Tech in 1990). That won’t cut it.
Now, you have USC, Ohio State, Oklahoma and Alabama. Ohio State, I would love to choose you, it seems pretty wise, but then again, you have struggled so many times in big games and could do so much more to be an all-time program. While the Buckeyes had chances at winning NC if they could just beat Michigan numerous times, from 1980 to 2001 they basically went 22 seasons without having a shot at the NC come bowl season. USC, yeah very impressive, but I can’t get over the lack of real competition. Yes, Oregon is coming on, Stanford was good in the 70s, UW was great under Don James and UCLA has been consistent for decades, but only a handful of times was USC’s competition elite.
So, this leaves Alabama and OU. Now, Sooners fans, there’s no love lost, but let’s face it, the Big 8 wasn’t that great. I know Colorado has been good since the early 70s and Nebraska was on a roll for awhile, but Iowa State, Missouri, Kansas St. Those are some of the worst programs ever, hardly ever rising up for great seasons. Oklahoma State was only good sparingly, but never NC competition. Kansas has been good at times, but again, not NC worthy. Alabama meanwhile, they have had 6 other teams win NC. In the 2000s they had Florida and LSU win NC, which I realize wasn’t Alabama’s strongest decade. Still, besides Alabama’s title, Tennessee and Florida each won titles in the 90s, Georgia took one in the 80s and the Crimson Tide dominated the 70s. Before that, Ole Miss and Auburn would claim titles under great coaches like Johnny Vaught and Shug Jordan in the 50s and 60s. Auburn even deserved a title in 1993 but were on probation. Paul “Bear” Bryant saved this program in 1958 and the tradition he established delivered titles in the 60s, 70s and then resurrected itself under a Bryant protégé, Gene Stallings, in 1992. All of this coupled with the scandals and probation involved with the Oklahoma programs during some national title runs (’74), it’s hard to excuse the Sooners. Would they have won without cheating under Switzer’s reign, because NCAA officials were constantly snooping around? The probation doesn’t seal the deal, however, it’s the SEC competition, and considering what Alabama has been doing for decades, against all of that talent, makes them my greatest college football program since 1936 (the invention of the AP poll).
