The 50 best college football programs over 150 years

Several months ago, our Stats & Information Group was presented with a huge challenge: to rank the top programs in college football history.

Our goal: Honor the accomplishments of teams across 150 seasons and all divisions, while rewarding successful programs at the highest level in the sport's most competitive era.

Teams should be judged by winning games and winning championships, since those records exist all the way back to the early years. While some early game outcomes are even disputed between teams, national titles are subject to far greater debate. Fortunately, the NCAA decided that issue for us with its official list of major-college champions.

In our judgment, integration and scholarship limitations have made the past 50 years the most competitive the game has seen. The previous 50 years (the middle 50) were less so due to segregation and some regionalized scheduling that still allowed for occasional games against non-college teams. And the first 50 years, for all they gave us, were just a shadow of today's sport due to large-scale scheduling inequities and rules and a scoring system that were still in flux.

With all of these considerations, we created a formula (noted at the bottom of the page) to rank college football's greatest programs across all divisions using one metric. Let the debate begin.

1. Alabama

Rating: 74.9 | 15 national titles

The Crimson Tide's history is a panorama of strength and longevity: From Wallace Wade in 1925 to Nick Saban five times in the past decade, four coaches have won a national championship. Seven have won an SEC title. Twelve have at least one 10-win season. Everyone wins there -- except Ears Whitworth (4-24-2, 1955-57). But Bama fans even love him. Without Ears, Bear Bryant wouldn't have heard Mama call.

2. Notre Dame

72.9 | 13 national titles

If you took a snapshot of the middle of college football's life -- from its 50th anniversary in 1919 through its 125th birthday in 1994 -- the Fighting Irish would be an easy No. 1. The genius of Knute Rockne made the Irish a national team in a regional sport. The Hall of Fame coaches who carried the burden of working in his shadow -- Frank Leahy, Ara Parseghian, Dan Devine and Lou Holtz -- maintained Notre Dame's dominance. The past 25 years? Not so much. But Brian Kelly has the Irish knocking at the door again.

3. Ohio State

69.6 | 8 national titles

Buckeyes fans are known to be demanding, but that's because they've grown accustomed to excellence. It will come as news in Tuscaloosa that Ohio State finished first in our rating since 1969. That's because five of the Buckeyes' six coaches since 1951, from Woody Hayes to Urban Meyer, are either in the College Football Hall of Fame or waiting for the call (Meyer will be eligible in 2021). No pressure, Ryan Day.

4. Oklahoma

68.5 | 7 national titles

Oklahoma has rarely taken a year off from the top since Bud Wilkinson took over in 1947. From Wilkinson to Barry Switzer to Bob Stoops to the current head coach, Lincoln Riley of Muleshoe, Texas, the Sooners have done of a great job of bringing talent north from the rich soil of the Lone Star State. That's how the state university of the state that ranks 28th in population has maintained its status among the sport's elite for three-quarters of a century.

5. USC

67.25 | 9 national title

College football royalty on the West Coast arrives on a white horse named Traveler. The Trojans rank in the top 10 of three of our five categories. Since Howard Jones established USC as a dominant program before World War II, USC's power has flowed way more than it has ebbed. John McKay and Pete Carroll both won a lot and escaped to the NFL, and the NCAA cleaned up after. History tells us that the Trojans' current sabbatical from the top of the game won't last long.

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