Who has the most wins in college football history? List of top-10 teams
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/2025/11/01/college-football-all-time-wins-list-top-10/86953707007/
By Austin Curtright
USA Today
November 1, 2025
College football is filled with endless debate, from hypothetical matchups to whose school is better.
There's no debate, however ...
True, dat ... Texas is da best. It's jest a scientific fact.
... when it comes to all-time wins.
Sure, some schools have been around for longer than others, driving some programs up the all-time wins list. Then there are other schools with fewer all-time games but a higher win percentage, keeping the debate as fiery as usual.
Regardless, there's a clear correlation between all-time wins and the top perceived programs of all time, which is to be expected.
Here's a look at the 10-most winningest college football programs ever, ahead of Week 10 of the 2025 season:
1. Michigan - 1,018 wins (.733 win percentage)
Michigan's first season came in 1879, a whopping 146 years ago. The Wolverines, one of the most historic programs in college football history, have 12 claimed national championships and three Heisman Trophy winners.
2. Ohio State - 985 wins (.736 win percentage)
Michigan's top rival, Ohio State has the highest win percentage of any team in college football, ranking second in all-time wins with 985, despite its first season coming in 1890 — 11 years after the Wolverines' first season.
Ohio State has nine claimed national championships and seven Heisman Trophy winners, which ranks tied-for second all-time with Oklahoma.
3. Alabama - 981 wins (.733 win percentage)
The greatest program in modern college football history, the Crimson Tide have two of the greatest stretches of any team in the modern era, claiming six national championships under Paul "Bear" Bryant from 1958-82 and again under Nick Saban from 2007-23.
They program is also younger than Michigan and Ohio State, as the program was created in 1892. Alabama also ranks third all-time in wins with 981, and tied for third in win percentage with Michigan.
4. Notre Dame - 967 wins (.731 win percentage)
Notre Dame's first football team played in 1887, and has since become one of the most historic programs in college history.
The Fighting Irish have 967 wins, a .731 win percentage and 11 claimed national championships, although they haven't won a title since 1988. They also have seven Heisman winners, with the last coming in 1987 when Tim Brown won the award.
5. Texas - 967 wins (.703 win percentage)
Texas, a year younger than Alabama, is the newest team of any in the top five, having debuted in 1893. Texas' win percentage is at .703, though, which ranks the worst among the top six teams. The Longhorns have four claimed national titles in their history, the last coming in that legendary 2006 Rose Bowl performance from Vince Young and Co.
6. Oklahoma - 956 wins (.723 win percentage)
Oklahoma's first season came in 1895, 12 years before Oklahoma even became a state. It has 956 wins all-time, including a .723 win percentage (which is higher than archrival Texas).
Notably, 47 of those wins came consecutively from 1953 through 1957, a stretch run that included consensus national championships in 1955 and 56 and still serves as the longest undefeated streak in FBS history, pre- or post-modern. The next-closest streak saw Washington win 40 games from 1908 through 1914.
The Sooners have seven claimed national titles and seven Heisman winners, two of the more impressive feats on the list.
7. Penn State - 946 wins (.690 win percentage)
Penn State's program debuted in 1887 and is the first team in the top 10 without a win percentage higher than 70%. The Nittany Lions only have two claimed national titles, in 1982 and 1986, despite being one of the most historic programs ever.
8. Nebraska - 930 wins (.678 win percentage)
Nebraska isn't quite the program it used to be, with the program arguably reaching its zenith with a stretch run of three titles in four years form 1994-97.
That said, the Cornhuskers were one of the most-feared teams in college football history for multiple decades, a status given credence with the program's 930 all-time wins since debuting in 1890. The Cornhuskers have five claimed national championships, including two in 1970 and 1971.
9. Georgia - 898 wins (.667 win percentage)
Georgia has rapidly climbed up this list in recent years, as the Bulldogs are among the highest tier of programs in the current landscape of college football. Georgia has 898 wins, with four national titles and 17 conference titles since its first season in 1892.
Of note: Kirby Smart has coached two of those national championships and 111 of those victories — 12.4% of the Bulldogs' all-time wins — over the last nine-plus seasons.
10. USC - 887 wins (.694 win percentage)
The only team west of Texas on the list, USC comes in at 10th with 887 wins.
The Trojans formed in 1888 and have 11 claimed national championships, having had some of the greatest runs in the sport's history (most recently in the early 2000s, which saw the team win national titles in 2003-04 and one fourth-down stop away from a third straight in 2005). They also have eight Heisman winners, which ranks first all time in college football history.
USC has fallen off in recent years, but the program is oozing with history.
The essential American soul is hard, isolate, stoic, and a killer. It has never yet melted. ~ D.H. Lawrence
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