The Top 25 Universities That Have Never Won a National Championship Virginia Tech is ranked first, and Arizona State is ranked second. West Virginia is number three. Utah number four. In Wisconsin, there are five. Texas Tech is located at 6 North Carolina7. Navy number eight. 9 in Oregon Arizona number ten. These are the top 10 colleges that have never won a national title.
Virginia Tech has been ranked No. 1 for the last two seasons - 2004 and 2005. The Hokies were undefeated during that time span but lost each game after being awarded a penalty flag because of an offensive pass interference call against them during their final regular season game. The call nullified what would have been Tech's winning touchdown pass as time ran out. Florida State then went on to beat Virginia Tech in the semi-final round of the NCAA Football Championship Game. Virginia Tech has also never made it past the second round of the NCAA Basketball Tournament. The Hokies were invited in 1999 but lost to Duke 93-79 in the first round.
Arizona State has been ranked No. 2 for the last two seasons - 2003 and 2004. The Sun Devils were undefeated during that time but lost each game after being awarded a penalty flag because of an illegal contact call against them during their final regular season game. Michigan State then went on to beat Arizona State in the semi-final round of the NCAA Football Championship Game.
West Virginia has been ranked third for the last two seasons - 2001 and 2002.
As the Cougars continued to win and other teams continued to lose, they ascended in the rankings, eventually reaching the top spot on the last weekend of the regular season. BYU then defeated a 6-5 Michigan squad in the Holiday Bowl to claim the only national championship granted to a non-Power 5 school other than Notre Dame in the modern era.
Florida became the first school in history to win both the NCAA football and basketball championships in the same season in 2006. Maryland and Syracuse, both ACC institutions, have won one NCAA football and basketball title each.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL'S WINNINGEST TEAM IN THE LAST TEN YEARS IS RANKED! We dusted out the adding machines last week to identify the winningest NFL club in the last ten years. This week, we do the same with college football, going back to 2005 to see which school has generated the most victories in the previous decade.
Here's how our list stacks up against others that have been published:
1. USC (936 wins): No. 1 on both ESPN and CBS Sports' lists.
2. Ohio State (914 wins): Second on both lists.
3. Alabama (890 wins): Third on both lists.
4. Florida State (852 wins): Fourth on both lists.
5. Texas A&M (824 wins): Fifth on ESPN's list; sixth on CBS Sports' list.
6. Michigan (809 wins): Sixth on ESPN's list; fifth on CBS Sports' list.
7. Auburn (801 wins): Seventh on ESPN's list; fourth on CBS Sports' list.
8. Oklahoma (796 wins): Eighth on ESPN's list; third on CBS Sports' list.
9. Georgia (782 wins): Ninth on ESPN's list; second on CBS Sports' list.
Five teams have never won an ACC football championship: Miami, Boston College, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, and Louisville, while two schools who are no longer members of the conference have titles: Maryland has nine championships and South Carolina has one.
The Hurricanes have the most appearances without a title at five. They've played in the championship game each year since 1995 but have never been able to win it all. Miami's last trip to the title game was lost 21-14 to Florida State in 2015. Before then, the Canes had won three straight from 2002 to 2004 when they made it to the final game of the season every year. That loss ended any hope of bringing home a title for Miami.
Boston College, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, and Louisville have each lost in the first round of the playoffs once during their ACC careers. All four teams were members of the old Big East before leaving to join other conferences.
Miami and BC met in the inaugural game of the new league on September 5, 1996. The Hurricanes defeated the Eagles 26-3 at Miami Stadium. It took another eight years for the next meeting between these two programs. The Canes returned to Atlantic Coast Conference action with a 31-28 victory over BC in Chestnut Hill on November 24, 2004.
Every national championship-winning college football team was fantastic, but I've attempted to rate every title-winning squad over the last 50 years by asking the following questions: What was the strength of their schedule? What was their track record? How dominating were their victories? Did they come out on top in their conference? Did they come out on top in their bowl game?
Here are my rankings:
1. Texas (2005) - The highest-rated team according to my system.
2. Ohio State (2002) - Also ranked second by my system.
3. Florida State (1999) - Three straight undefeated seasons for Jimbo Fisher's Seminoles.
4. Nebraska (1994) - Their regular season was finished before Thanksgiving each year.
5. Miami (Fla.) - They had three games decided by one score.
6. Alabama (2016) - I gave this team a higher rating than Ohio State because it seemed like more people liked them better even though they lost. It's possible that could change if Utah or some other team wins this year's National Championship.
7. USC (1983) - They had five games decided by one score.
8. Oklahoma (1975) - Four straight seasons with at least 10 wins for Bob Stoops' Sooners.
All 76 College Football Teams Ranked for 2020 (Following Week 1)
The college football teams that have won the most national championships
Later, the Billingsley Report and the National Championship Foundation proclaimed Yale the first national champion, but Parke H. Davis, a college football historian, decided in 1933 that both Rutgers and Yale were co-champions. Since then, 187 national champions have been crowned, with some years seeing two or three teams crowned.
It's also worth noting that 10 of the league's 14 teams have winning records in bowl games. Ties are broken based on the total number of bowls played. The whole list may be seen here.
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