The All-Time Program Rankings

About the Book

For many decades people from around the country have debated about which college football program is the all-time best. In South Bend and in southern California, Austin and Ann Arbor, Tallahassee and Tuscaloosa, and in many other places around the country this debate rages. As part of these debates folks often cite reasons why their particular college football program is the greatest of all-time. Often times these discussions become arguments. Many reasons are given to defend ones point of view. Some say that a teams overall winning percentage is the deciding factor of who the greatest college football program is of all-time. Others say that in order to determine the best, you must look at how many national championships a school has won. Still others argue that because their team has the most bowl victories, or most Heisman Trophy winners, or the most conference championships, or the most top 5 finishes in the polls, or the most NFL Hall of Fame inductees, that their team they follow and love is the greatest college football team of all-time. To be sure, there are, and should be, several critical factors and elements that go into deciding which programs are the best of all-time.

In order to settle the argument once and for all of who the greatest college football programs are of all-time, I have developed a scoring system that encompasses all of the factors discussed above, and many more, that is used to rank the teams. Based upon official NCAA statistics and records and substantiated fact, the attempt has been made to substantiate, with a non-biased viewpoint, once and for all who the greatest Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division 1-A) college football programs are of all-time.

The following factors are used in the scoring system:

All-time Winning Percentage
All-time Wins
Final Poll Points
National Championships
Non BCS and National Championship Game Bowl Results
BCS Bowl Games
National Championship Bowl Games
Conference Championships
Heisman Trophies
College Football Hall of Fame Inductees
Special Award Winners
Consensus 1st Team All-Americans
NFL Hall of Fame Inductees
NFL First Round Draft Picks
Strength of Schedule
Attendance
Graduation Rates
Football Revenue
Major Probation Infractions (negative points)

Each of these scoring categories will be discussed in depth. Included in the discussion will be the point weight assigned to each category, and a brief description of exactly what information is used for the particular category.

All 119 current members of the Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division 1-A) are ranked, according to the entire history of college football. In addition, the top 30 programs are profiled in depth.

As mentioned above, only current Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division 1-A) schools are included in these ratings. The point has to be made however that there are several Ivy League schools that have such rich histories and success in the past, that they would be positioned very high within these ratings. In the end however, those schools could not be included in this scoring system since they have not played against major college football competition on a regular basis since the 1970’s, and have played in a lower division than the current Bowl Subdivision members since 1981.

About the Author

Gregory D. R. Dayton is an avid and devout fan of college football. He’s followed the sport for over 30 years. His love for the sport prompted him to write this book. He works for a customer relationship management company as Assistant Director of Training & Development. Born and raised in Huber Heights, Ohio, he currently resides in the Columbus, Ohio area.