NCAA College Football Teams with the Most National Championships

College football is a national pastime – and there’s nothing more important in the sport than winning national championships. Every school in the country wants to win the most national championships in college football. Still, only one can come out on top every year.

So which schools have won the most NCAA football championships? And how did they do it? This article will answer those questions. Keep reading to discover the universities with the most college football national championships.

5 Football Teams with the Most National Championships

Before we get into the schools with the most college football championship, it’s important to make a quick clarification. Our list is based on the AP Top 25 era because it’s generally considered the starting point of modern college football.

Schools like Yale and Princeton would be on our list if we started from the very beginning of college football. However, neither has won a championship since the 1920s. 

1. Alabama

# of National Championships Won: 14

Years Won: 1941, 1961, 1964, 1965, 1973, 1978, 1979, 1992, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2017, 2020

Description:

Alabama is far and away the most successful college football program in the AP Top 25 era. The school has six more national championships than the closest competitor. It’s also had two of the most dominant coaching runs in NCAA football history.

Bear Bryant dominated the college football world in the 1960s and 1970s, and Nick Saban has done the same in the 21st century. 

2. Notre Dame

# of National Championships Won: 8

Years Won: 1943, 1946, 1947, 1949, 1966, 1973, 1977, 1988

Description:

Notre Dame is one of the most beloved teams in college football. Lou Holtz is the most recent championship-winning coach for the team, having brought home the trophy in 1988.

The team went through a period of struggling to keep up with the top competition but is now starting to regularly make appearances in the NCAA top 10. Is another championship coming soon?

3. Oklahoma

# of National Championships Won: 7

Years Won: 1950, 1955, 1956, 1974, 1975, 1985, 2000

Description:

Tied for third on our list is Oklahoma, the only school in history with four 100-win coaches. It’s also had some significant success during the college football playoff era, having made it to the semifinals four times since they started. However, the team has yet to advance to a college football final game.

4. USC

# of National Championships Won: 7

Years Won: 1962, 1967, 1972, 1974, 1978, 2003, 2004

Description:

USC is another team that’s won seven national championships and is our first West Coast team on the list. It was especially successful under coaches John McKay in the 1960s and 1970s and Pete Carroll in the early 2000s. USC is also set to join the Big Ten conference in 2024.

5. Ohio State

# of National Championships Won: 6

Years Won: 1942, 1954, 1957, 1968, 2002, 2014

Description:

Finally, Ohio State rounds out our list, winning six national titles in the Top 25 era. Its most recent victory was in 2014 under head coach Urban Meyer. The school has the distinction of winning the first-ever national title in the college football playoff era.

What Conference Has the Most National Championships?

The conference with the most NCAA football championships depends on how you want to measure it. If you go from the beginning of college football, the Ivy League has won by a wide margin since they were the only schools that could win one in the pre-1920 era.

If you look at the Top 25 era, the Big 12 comes out on top thanks to dominant runs by programs like Ohio State, Michigan, and Notre Dame.

But if you want to look at the most recent performance, the SEC has the most championships in NCAA football by a wide margin since 1990.

Landing a Career with A Winning College Football Team

If all this talk of national championships has got you inspired, then it may be time to start looking into your options for a college football career. Who knows, maybe you could be part of a national championship-winning program one day.

If that’s something that interests you, then here’s how to get started.

Get the Right Qualifications

The first thing you need to have is the right qualifications. You need to be able to help the college football program that you join in a way that they value. Employers will typically want to see that you have a college degree and experience in the kind of jobs that you’re going to apply for.

For example, suppose you want a job as an assistant coach. In that case, you’ll need previous coaching experience – or at least high-level football-playing experience.

But if you want to get a job in a college football program’s marketing department, you’ll need experience working in marketing and a degree.

The key here is understanding the specific college football jobs you want and then going out and getting the experience and education you need to become a competitive applicant.

Network

Networking is a significant component of landing a job in college football. There are tons of passionate college football fans who apply for these positions every year. You have a much better job of beating them out if you connect with the person doing the hiring.

That’s why it’s crucial to start getting out there and meeting people in the college football scene. The more people you know, the better your chances of landing your dream job.

Find the Top Jobs Faster with JobsInSports.com

Another significant component of getting hired for a college football job is making sure you apply for the positions as quickly as possible when they become available. Doing so could be the difference between getting your resume to the top of the pile and scoring an interview or not.

That’s why you should create a free account with JobsInSports.com. We’ll notify you when new jobs in your area of interest become available so that you can always be the first to apply for them.