College football is back and it couldn’t come soon enough. Expect another season of thrills and great battles and rivalries. There have been a plethora of great teams. Here are 50 of the absolute best the college game has given its fans.
50. Georgia Tech 1917
An oldie but a goodie. A year after going 8-0-1, John Heisman and the Yellow Jackets were perfect. Talk about blitzing the opposition, Georgia Tech scored 491 points and allowed 17. And this was a year after the Rambling Wreck hammered Cumberland, 222-0.
49. BYU 1984
BYU haters will hate the Cougars’ place on this list. However, they won the national championship and went 13-0, no easy feat in any season at any time. Under LaVell Edwards, BYU averaged better than 35 ppg. The Cougars opened the season with a win at No. 3 Pitt and closed it with a victory over Michigan in the Holiday Bowl.
48. Alabama 1930
Nick Saban’s Tide teams have nothing on the Wallace Wade squad of 1930. How about allowing 13 points in a 10-0 season? That is precisely what Alabama did in running the table and winning the national championship by dropping Washington State, 24-0, in the Rose Bowl.
47. UCLA 1954
UCLA went 9-0 under Red Sanders. It isn’t so much the perfect season. More impressive is the defense, which allowed 40 points, half of which came in a one-point victory over Washington. After that you factor in five shutouts. The last five victories came by a combined 235-6.
46. Tennessee 1998
Phil Fulmer and the Volunteers went 13-0 as they averaged better than 33 ppg. Along the way they picked off six ranked teams. The finale was a Fiesta Bowl victory over Florida State.
45. Nebraska 1970
Call these Cornhuskers almost perfect. They were ranked ninth when they visited the LA Coliseum to face USC and came away with a 21-21 tie. After that, Nebraska was off and rolling, capping an 11-0-1 season with a 17-12 victory over LSU in the Orange Bowl.
44. Alabama 1926
Talk about an unsatisfying finish to a great season. Alabama came into the Rose Bowl undefeated, having allowed 20 points all season. The Tide only permitted Stanford seven points but it was all it needed to gain a 7-7 tie and leave Alabama at 9-0-1 under Wallace Wade.
43. Michigan 1947
Fritz Crisler coached the Wolverines to an undefeated season. That did not eliminate debate as The AP ranked Notre Dame first in its final poll. The Wolverines went 10-0 and outscored their foes 394-53, earning them a spot here.
42. Notre Dame 1947
Another dispute unsettled. Frank Leahy and the Fighting Irish were named the top team by AP. They went 9-0 but in those days, Notre Dame did not play in bowl games. The Irish defense was impressive, allowing only Northwestern to reach double digits.
41. Ohio State 1954
Woody Hayes led his Buckeyes to a 10-0 record. They scored 249 points but had to settle for a split national title with UCLA. Unfortunately, for the Bruins and Buckeyes, they could not settle things in the Rose Bowl. UCLA was ineligible for the game because of a “no-repeat” rule. Imagine trying that now?
40. TCU 1938
Dutch Meyer coached and Davey O’Brien ran the offense as the Horned Frogs went 11-0. The offense scored 269 points and the defense was stiff, allowing only 60. The season was capped with a 15-7 victory over Carnegie Tech in the Sugar Bowl.
39. Ohio State 2002
Maurice Clarett was the workhorse as Ohio State went 14-0 in Jim Tressel’s second season. The Buckeyes beat five ranked teams, including Miami in double-overtime for the national title.
38. Oklahoma 1949
Bud Wilkinson led the Sooners to an 11-0 mark. The defense pitched five shutouts, including two in a row at the end of the season, which finished with a 35-0 win over LSU in the Sugar Bowl.
37. Alabama 2009
The start of a run that saw Alabama win three of four national titles. With Mark Ingram carrying the ball, the Tide went 14-0. They beat six ranked teams, including Florida and Texas to conclude the season.
36. Michigan 1902
An oldie and a sterling team. Fielding Yost led the Wolverines to an 11-0 mark. They won shutouts by 88, 60, 86, 107 and 60 points. In the 107-0 trashing of Iowa, Michigan scored 17 touchdowns.
35. Alabama 1971
Bear Bryant and the Tide finished the season on a sour note as they were pummeled by Nebraska, 38-6, in the Orange Bowl. That should not ruin the 11 straight victories the Tide registered to get there. Johnny Musso rushed for better than 1,000 yards and Alabama averaged better than 30 ppg. It just ran into a juggernaut in Nebraska.
34. Minnesota 1940
The second of back-to-back championships for the Gophers saw them go 8-0 and allow 71 points. Minnesota victimized three ranked teams while taking the national title.
33. Penn 1897
George Woodruff and Penn went 15-0. The Quakers allowed a grand total of 20 points in their undefeated season. They had eight shutouts in a row at one point and finished with 12.
32. USC 1932
Howard Jones and his single-wing offense scored 201 points while the defense allowed 13 in going 10-0. The Trojans had eight shutouts, including a 35-0 beating of Pitt in the Rose Bowl.
31. Alabama 2012
Alabama went 13-1 and the only person who kept the Tide from a perfect season was a quarterback named Johnny Manziel at Texas A&M. The Tide took the national title by pounding Notre Dame in the BCS Championship.
30. Clemson 2016
The first of two titles for Dabo Swinney and the Tigers. Deshaun Watson ran the offense. Clemson would be considered higher except its defense allowed 270 points, including 43 in the lone loss of the season, a one-point defeat against Pitt, which was only 8-5 that year.
29. Alabama 1992
Gene Stallings was the coach as Alabama ran off a 13-0 record and earned another national title. The Tide defeated four ranked teams and earned the No. 1 spot by downing Miami in the Sugar Bowl.
28. Georgia 1980
Herschel Walker rushed for 1,616 yards as Vince Dooley led the ‘Dawgs to a 12-0 season. Georgia outscored its foes by nearly 200 points. The Bulldogs beat three ranked teams and capped the season with a victory over Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl.
27. Penn State 1994
The Nittany Lions were in classic form for Joe Paterno, running off a 12-0 season. The least amount of points they scored in any game was 31.
26. Notre Dame 1947
The second national title in a run of three out of four for Notre Dame. The Irish went 9-0 while allowing 52 points. Frank Leahy went 36-0-2 in the four-year span between 1946-49.
25. Alabama 2015
The Tide went 14-1 while facing nine ranked opponents. The only team to derail Alabama was Ole Miss early in the season. The Tide outscored its opponents by 299 points and finished the championship campaign with a thrilling 45-40 victory over Clemson.
24. Florida 2008
The Gators scored 611 points as Tim Tebow threw 30 TD passes against only four picks for Urban Meyer. They went 13-1 with the lone loss being by a point against Ole Miss in the final week of September. Florida defeated six ranked teams en route to its second national title.
23. Oklahoma 2000
Bob Stoops went 13-0 as the Sooners averaged 37 ppg. They won games against six ranked foes, the final one being a 13-2 victory over Florida State in the Orange Bowl.
22. Pitt 1976
Johnny Majors was the coach and Tony Dorsett was the star and the Panthers were unbeatable. They were seventh in the nation in offense and defense and outscored foes by 20 ppg. The Panthers concluded the championship run by beating Penn State and Georgia, in the Sugar Bowl.
21. Notre Dame 1966
Oh for the ugly tie. Ara Parseghian and Notre Dame played Michigan State to a 10-10 tie in a Game of the Century. Other than that, Notre Dame ran off nine victories. The Irish played four ranked teams and concluded their season with a 51-0 victory over USC in Los Angeles. They still were not playing bowl games so nothing was settled for them after the regular season.
20. Florida 1996
The coach was Steve Spurrier and he guided the Gators to a national championship at 12-1. The offense averaged better than 500 ypg. The Gators played six ranked teams and gained revenge for their lone loss by hammering then-No. 1 Florida State in the Sugar Bowl, 52-20.
19. Washington 1991
The Huskies were loud and proud as they crushed foes while going 12-0. Washington, under Don James, scored 495 points while allowing 115. Only two teams reached the 21-point mark. The perfect season was capped with a 34-14 victory over Michigan in the Rose Bowl, the third Top 10 team to be toppled by the Huskies.
18. Miami 1987
One of Jimmy Johnson’s best Miami teams went 12-0. Steve Walsh was the QB and completed almost 60 percent of his passes while throwing only 7 picks. Miami opened and closed the season by playing three straight ranked teams.
17. USC 2004
A frightening powerhouse of a football team. USC went 13-0 while rolling up 496 points. The backfield of Lendale White and Reggie Bush rushed for more than 2,000 yards. Matt Leinart threw for 3,322. Scary.
16. Ohio State 1968
Another great Woody Hayes team that went 10-0. The Buckeyes were three-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust as Jim Otis rushed for 968 yards while never taking a loss on any play. They beat four ranked teams, including USC, 27-16, in the Rose Bowl.
15. Syracuse 1959
An 11-0 record and a team that scored 413 points while permitting 73. The late Ernie Davis was the star, averaging 7.0 ypc. The Orange captured the national title by going to Texas and defeating the Longhorns in the Cotton Bowl.
14. Florida State 1993
Bobby Bowden and his Seminoles have had many great teams. The 1993 team suffered one blemish, a 31-24 loss to Notre Dame. However Charlie Ward & Co. played seven ranked teams and came away with 12 victories and a national title. Strong.
13. Notre Dame 1988
Lou Holtz and Notre Dame went 12-0 and scored impressive victories. The Irish snapped Miami’s 36-game regular-season winning streak with a stirring, 31-30 victory. They closed the season with wins over USC on the road and an unbeaten West Virginia team in the Fiesta Bowl.
12. Nebraska 1995
Nebraska ran the table, going 12-0 while averaging 53,2 ppg for Tom Osborne. The least amount of points the Cornhuskers scored was 35. They went over 70 twice and devoured Florida, 62-24, in the Fiesta Bowl.
11. LSU 1958
Paul Dietzel led LSU to an 11-0 record. Billy Cannon was the start of a team that averaged better than 25 ppg. The impressive side was the defense, which allowed one team to reach double digits and had four shutouts.
10. Texas 2005
Vince Young was incredible as the Longhorns went 13-0 and stunned USC in the Rose Bowl. Texas scored 40 or more points in every game, including a 70-3 thrashing of Colorado in the Big 12 championship. The Longhorns outscored their foes by 439 points.
9. Clemson 2018
Don’t claim recent bias here. The Tigers went 15-0 — 15! — and were a juggernaut. Dabo Swinney and Clemson scored 664 points. They won their two College Football Playoff matchups by a combined 74-19. Nine times the Tigers roared past the 40-point plateau.
8. Alabama 2011
Despite suffering a loss to LSU in the regular season, Alabama was staunch in 2011. The Tide got revenge on the Tigers with a 21-0 victory in the BCS Championship, vaulting them into our Top 10. Defense was the rule as Alabama allowed 106 points while going 12-1.
7. USC 2004
Pete Carroll saw his Trojans roll to a 13-0 record, which was capped by a 55-19 annihilation of No. 2 Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl. The roster was talented from top to bottom, starting with Heisman winner Matt Leinart and Reggie Bush. If you want to take style points away, the Trojans only played four ranked teams.
6. Texas 1969
Got to love that Wishbone offense of Darrell Royal. The Longhorns beat three Top 10 teams en route to an 11-0 record. One of the victories was against Arkansas, 15-13, in the Game of the Century, witnessed by three people who turned out to be Presidents of the United States. Texas outscored its foes by a collective 316 points.
5. Army 1945
Doc Blanchard and Glenn Davis were the offense. The defense was impeccable, allowing 46 points in a 9-0 season that saw a 48-0 victory over Notre Dame as one of its highlights.
4. Oklahoma 1974
Barry Switzer’s Sooners dropped from No. 1 to No. 3 after an opening 28-11 victory over Baylor. Not good to tick off OU. Oklahoma made Utah State pay the next week, 72-3, and was on its way to an 11-0 season. These were the days when teams paid dearly for running afoul of the NCAA. Oklahoma was on probation for recruiting violations and was ineligible for ranking in the Coaches’ poll and could not appear on network television or appear in a postseason bowl game
3. USC 1972
Ah, the good old days when USC would dominate each and every foe. John McKay saw his Trojan team outscore foes by more than 300 points. USC downed six ranked teams en route to a 12-0 record, which was finished with a 42-17 demolition of No. 3 Ohio State in the Rose Bowl. The Trojans scored more than 40 points in seven games.
2. Nebraska 1971
Bob Devaney’s Cornhuskers are borderline unrivaled when it comes to dominance. They went 13-0 and outscored opponents 507-104, with 31 of the foes’ points coming in a 35-31 victory over Oklahoma. In 10 games, the Cornhuskers gave up seven or fewer points. On offense, Nebraska never scored fewer than 31 points. The championship season culminated with a 38-6 throttling of Alabama in the Orange Bowl.
1. Miami 2001
The 12-0 Miami team defined a college football hurricane as it stormed through opponents, outscoring them by 395 points. Miami downed five ranked teams, including four straight to finish the season. The championship was culminated with a 37-14 thrashing of Nebraska in the Rose Bowl. A slender edge as the top team of all-time.
