College football teams with the most national championships

The first college football national championship was in 1869. That season was eight days long and consisted of exactly two games: Princeton at Rutgers (which Rutgers won), and Rutgers at Princeton (which Princeton won).

Later, the Billingsley Report and the National Championship Foundation named Yale the first national champion, while in 1933, college football historian Parke H. Davis concluded that both Rutgers and Yale were co-champions.

Before we begin, here’s the criteria used for this list. It only includes teams that played in the largest national division at the time. That means you’ll see teams here that are no longer part of FBS football, for example. It also doesn’t include FCS, which crowned its first champion in 1978.

Here are the 10 teams who have won the most college football national championships, beginning with those who have more than five:

10. Minnesota — 6

Championships: 1934, 1935, 1936, 1940, 1941, 1960

Football was slightly different when Minnesota won its first national title in 1934. The Golden Gophers averaged 325 yards per game that year — 295 of which came on the ground.

9. Oklahoma — 7

Championships: 1950, 1955, 1956, 1974, 1975, 1985, 2000

The Sooners won a trio of titles each under Bud Wilkinson and Barry Switzer. Oklahoma leads all FBS programs with four different 100-win coaches in school history.

T8. Ohio State — 8

Championships: 1942, 1954, 1957, 1961, 1968, 1970, 2002, 2014

Ohio State officially formed a football team in 1890, but the Buckeyes wouldn’t win a national championship until 1942. That year, after losing dozens of players who left to fight in World War II, Ohio State went 9-1, its only loss coming against No. 6 Wisconsin.

T8. Harvard — 8

Championships: 1875, 1890, 1898, 1899, 1910, 1912, 1913, 1919

The 100^th anniversary of its most recent championship was in 2019.

T6. Southern California — 9

Championships: 1931, 1932, 1962, 1967, 1972, 1974, 1978, 2003, 2004

No USC coach was more successful than John McKay, who in 16 years at the helm, led the Trojans to four national championships between 1960 and 1975.

T6. Michigan — 10

Championships: 1901, 1902, 1903, 1904, 1918, 1923, 1933, 1948, 1997, 2023

Michigan famously holds the record for the most wins in college football history, so it naturally follows that the Wolverines have a few titles to their name. They have two in the poll era (since 1936) and one in the College Football Playoff era, for the 2023 season. 

4. Notre Dame — 13

Championships: 1919, 1924, 1929, 1930, 1943, 1946, 1947, 1949, 1964, 1966, 1973, 1977, 1988

Notre Dame’s nine championships in the poll era are the second-most out of all teams. You can thank coach Frank Leahy for four of those, but Leahy also won two titles as a player for the Fighting Irish under another famous coach — Knute Rockne.

3. Princeton — 15

Championships: 1869, 1870, 1872, 1873, 1878, 1879, 1880, 1885, 1889, 1893, 1896, 1903, 1906, 1911, 1922

Princeton claims 28 national championships, though only 15 are recognized by the NCAA. None of them came in the poll era, but there’s no denying the Tigers’ ridiculous run in the late 19^th century, when they won championships in 11 of 28 years, including four in five years from 1869 to 1873.

2. Alabama — 16

Championships: 1925, 1926, 1930, 1961, 1964, 1965, 1978, 1979, 1992, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2017, 2020

Alabama can claim the most NCAA titles in the poll era, with only three of its 16 coming prior. With the 16^th title — a win in the College Football Playoff in 2020, coach Nick Saban surpassed the legendary Bear Bryant with seven championships  

1. Yale — 18

Championships: 1874, 1876, 1877, 1880, 1881, 1882, 1883, 1884, 1886, 1887, 1888, 1891, 1892, 1894, 1900, 1907, 1909, 1927

Yale football has one of the most impressive resumes in the sport, with two of the first three Heisman winners, 100 All-Americans, 28 Hall of Fame inductees, and 18 national championships recognized by the NCAA — the most all time.

See below for the complete listing of every NCAA football champion:

College football national champions from 1869 to 2022.