RADIO
Top 12 winningest programs in college football history. Who are the best programs and teams in NCAA football history? Read the rankings and analysis.
1. Michigan - 1,012 Wins
At the top of the list, Michigan is the premier college football program of all time in terms of overall victories. The Wolverines have 12 claimed national championships, and the program found its way back to the mountaintop in 2024 when Jim Harbaugh led the team to its first “natty” of the 21st century.
The future of the program is somewhat uncertain, but Michigan has all the tools and resources to continue to pile up victories in the new-look Big Ten. While Michigan struggled for much of the 2024-25 campaign, wins over Ohio State and Alabama signaled exciting things to come under head coach Sherrone Moore.
2. Ohio State - 978 Wins
Ohio State collected its 978th win last week in the College Football Playoff National Championship Game in a victory over Notre Dame. The Buckeyes have won at least double-digit games in 18 of the last 20 seasons. The only times they fell short of at least 10 victories were during the Covid-shortened season, and the year Luke Fickell acted as the interim head coach.
Sure, Ohio State fans feel like they should have had more national championships over the last two decades, but a 10-win floor is hard to come by. This program doesn’t appear to be slowing down anytime soon.
3. Alabama - 974 Wins
The Alabama program has 18 national championships on its resume, and names like Bear Bryant and Nick Saban have solidified the Crimson Tide as one of the greatest programs ever. While Alabama had a down year following Nick Saban’s retirement, the investment from the university into the football program will keep the Tide as one of the top teams in the nation for years to come.
With Saban at the helm, it looked like Alabama was on its way to catching Michigan in wins. We’ll see if that’s a possibility moving forward.
4. Notre Dame - 962 Wins
Notre Dame was one of the premier college football programs in the early days, collecting national titles in the 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. The late 1990s and early 2000s were not kind to the Irish, but head coaches Brian Kelly and Marcus Freeman have returned to the program to a team regularly finishing in the top 10.
Notre Dame fell just short of capturing another national title in 2024-25, but last year’s team won a school-record 14 games. Will Freeman continue to pile up wins in bunches, or was this a one-year wonder situation?
5. Texas - 961 Wins
Texas is back, and just in time to gain more ground on arch-rival Oklahoma on the all-time wins list. Just in the last two seasons, the Longhorns have racked up 25 wins, and the future in Austin is as bright as any program in the country. UT has always enjoyed the benefit of ridiculous in-state talent in Texas, but now they wear the “SEC” patch on their uniforms, which goes a long way for stealing recruits out of states like Florida, Georgia, and Louisiana.
With Arch Manning set to take over QB1 duties for Steve Sarkisian, don’t expect the Longhorns to go away anytime soon.
6. Oklahoma - 950 Wins
Longtime Sooners’ head coach Barry Switzer has a lot to do with why the Oklahoma program sits No. 6 on the all-time wins list. However, both Bob Stoop and Lincoln Riley also had Oklahoma consistently ranked inside the top 5-10 during their tenures.
Now, the pressure is on Brent Venables to get things back on track in Norman. Oklahoma is one of the most storied programs in college football history, and the resources are there to return the program to glory.
7. Penn State - 943 Wins
Amazingly, one head coach accounts for almost 44% of Penn State’s all-time wins. Joe Paterno posted a 409-136-3 record from 1966 to 2011. His long tenure included two national championships and three Big Ten titles. Now, James Franklin is at the helm, and he’s had a successful run in Happy Valley. The Nittany Lions have won 101 of his 143 games since he took over the program in 2014.
Penn State could have its best team since the Joe Paterno era in 2025, as quarterback Drew Allar and several key veterans opted to come back to school rather than enter the 2025 NFL Draft.
8. Nebraska - 924 Wins
Of all the teams on this list, Nebraska has had the most disappointed fanbase over the last decade. Since the start of the 2015 season, Nebraska has posted a winning record just twice, and the program has not won at least 10 games since 2012. Many are hopeful Matt Rhule will bring the proud program back to the top starting in his third season in Lincoln, and soon-to-be sophomore quarterback Dylan Raiola could be a program-altering player.
Nebraska won big consistently back in the Bob Devaney and Tom Osborn days of the second half of the 20th century, so it can be done.
9. Georgia - 892 Wins
After Nick Saban hung up the clipboard in 2024, Kirby Smart became the best active coach in college football. The former Georgia defensive back is off to an unreal 105-19 start to his head-coaching career. He’s already captured three SEC titles and two national titles. Smart, Mark Richt, Vince Dooley, and Wally Butts are an impressive quartet of coaches for one program.
We’ll see if Georgia can get back to a national championship or if the Dawgs will continue to be on the outside looking.
10. USC - 882 Wins
USC has four different head coaches with a national championship, and it wasn’t all that long ago that Pete Carroll was leading the Trojans to college football’s greatest heights. The program has been up and down since Carroll’s departure, as Lane Kiffin, Steve Sarkisian, Clay Helton, and Lincoln Riley have all had their struggles in Los Angeles.
The move into the Big Ten was expected to come with an adjustment period, but a 7-6 campaign in 2024 is far from what is expected from USC on a year-to-year basis. Can Riley get the program back on track and continue to pile up wins?
11. Tennessee - 875 Wins
The fall of the Tennessee football program was one of the hot topics for the mid-2000s and 2010s. After Phillip Fulmer, who won 151 games for the Vols, resigned in 2008, chaos followed. From his last year at the helm to Josh Heupel’s first year in Knoxville (2021), Tennessee compiled a 62-75 record. That was a shocking run of mediocrity for one of the most proud programs in the country.
However, Tennessee is back to being one of the better SEC programs under Heupel, who has racked up a 30-9 record over the last three seasons. If Heupel can sustain his success, the Vols will safely be the 11th-winningest team ever, and catching USC for the No. 11 spot is not out of reach.
12. LSU - 815 Wins
LSU had some quality football teams before the year 2000 arrived, but most of its success is in the 21st century. Nick Saban, Les Miles, and Ed Orgeron each won a national championship, and the Tigers were a perfect 15-0 in 2019. Brian Kelly is out to a modest 29-11 start in Baton Rouge, but that’s not good enough for a fan base that has come to expect to be competing for championships.
However, this is another program that has a high floor thanks to its significant investment from the university.
