Who are the blue blood programs in college football?
Who are the blue blood programs in college football?
Aaron Gelvin, Sooners WireTue, June 23, 2026 at 7:01 PM UTC
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Who are college football's most elite programs? Asking that question leads to a myriad of different opinions, different criteria, and different conclusions. The "blue bloods" of the sport are identified by their extremely high level of success over the sport's storied century-and-a-half-plus history, but which programs truly belong in the blue blood category, and which fall short of that lofty standard?
It's no easy task to separate the elite of the elite from the rest of the great programs in college football, but there are certainly a number of things programs must do very well to be considered the best of the best, and that's where you can make some separations and some judgements. Today, we'll be looking at 11 categories, taking Winsipedia.com's totals for each FBS program, to rank the blue blood teams in college football history. Those categories are:
Total Win Percentage
Total Wins
Recognized National Championships
Conference Championships
Bowl Appearances
All-Americans
Heisman Trophy winners
Total NFL Draft Picks
First-Round NFL Draft Picks
Total Weeks in AP Poll
Weeks at No. 1 in AP Poll
We'll take a look at each of those categories, ranking where each team places within that specific category. Then, we'll take a program's average ranking from all of those categories to rank it against the other programs, with the lowest scores giving us the college football blue bloods.
To find the blue bloods, we'll split into two tiers. The first tier will be programs that had an average score of five or lower. The second tier will be programs that had an average score of 10 or lower. The teams that fall into those two buckets will make up our blue bloods, with the truest of blue bloods being placed in that top tier.
So, without further ado, here is Tier One of college football's most elite programs. These schools are listed in alphabetical order, as it's truly splitting hairs when it comes to the top tier, especially when you consider some of these programs are older than others. Each of these teams scored very close to each other, and they are the bluest of blue bloods the sport has to offer.
Tier OneAlabama Crimson Tide -
T-2nd in Total Win Percentage
3rd in Total Wins
1st in Recognized National Championships
7th in Conference Championships
1st in Bowl Appearances
4th in All-Americans
5th in Heisman Trophy winners
T-5th in Total NFL Draft Picks
3rd in First-Round NFL Draft Picks
T-4th in Total Weeks in AP Poll
1st in Weeks at No. 1 in AP Poll
The Alabama Crimson Tide began playing football in 1892, and they've built quite the storied history since then. With two of the greatest head coaches of all time in Bear Bryant and Nick Saban, Alabama leads the way with 16 recognized national titles and 79 bowl game appearances. The Crimson Tide have six championships in the BCS/CFP era, also the most in the nation.
Notre Dame Fighting Irish
Players wear golden helmets during the Notre Dame vs. Georgia Tech NCAA football game Saturday, Nov. 20, 2021 at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend. -
T-2nd in Total Win Percentage
4th in Total Wins
2nd in Recognized National Championships
N/A in Conference Championships
17th in Bowl Appearances
1st in All-Americans
T-2nd in Heisman Trophy winners
1st in Total NFL Draft Picks
4th in First-Round NFL Draft Picks
T-4th in Total Weeks in AP Poll
4th in Weeks at No. 1 in AP Poll
The Notre Dame Fighting Irish are unique to college football in the fact that they are not in a conference, instead playing as an Independent. They began playing in 1887, and have woven themselves deeply into the fabric of the sport. No one has more All-Americans or NFL Draft picks than Notre Dame, and the Fighting Irish are one of the most recognizable brands in college football.
Note: Since Notre Dame isn't in a conference, its Conference Championships ranking was omitted from its score.
Ohio State Buckeyes
Oct. 1, 2022; Columbus, Ohio, USA; A stick-ladden Ohio State Buckeyes helmet sits on the turf during warmups before Saturday's game against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights in Columbus. Mandatory Credit: Barbara Perenic/Columbus Dispatch
Sports Ohio State Rutgers Ncaa Football -
1st in Total Win Percentage
2nd in Total Wins
T-4th in Recognized National Championships
4th in Conference Championships
4th in Bowl Appearances
2nd in All-Americans
T-2nd in Heisman Trophy winners
3rd in Total NFL Draft Picks
1st in First-Round NFL Draft Picks
1st in Total Weeks in AP Poll
2nd in Weeks at No. 1 in AP Poll
The Ohio State Buckeyes lead the way when it comes to total win percentage and number of first-round NFL Draft picks, and they starting playing football in 1890. Ohio State is another team you can't tell the story of college football without, and the Buckeyes hold the distinction of having won the first title of the four-team CFP era, and the first title of the 12-team CFP era.
Oklahoma Sooners
Helmets sit on the field before an NCAA football game between the University of Oklahoma Sooners (OU) and the TCU Horned Frogs at Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman, Okla., Saturday, Nov. 23, 2019. Oklahoma won 28-24. [Bryan Terry/The Oklahoman] -
6th in Total Win Percentage
6th in Total Wins
6th in Recognized National Championships
1st in Conference Championships
6th in Bowl Appearances
6th in All-Americans
T-2nd in Heisman Trophy winners
T-5th in Total NFL Draft Picks
11th in First-Round NFL Draft Picks
3rd in Total Weeks in AP Poll
3rd in Weeks at No. 1 in AP Poll
The youngest of the blue blood programs, the Oklahoma Sooners got their start in 1895. Since then, they've made up for lost time by firmly establishing themselves as another no-doubt blue-blood program. No one has more conference championships than Oklahoma, and the Sooners have more total wins than anyone else since the end of World War II. Bennie Owen, Bud Wilkinson, Barry Switzer, and Bob Stoops have piloted OU to extremely high-level success, and its the only major program to boast four 100-plus win head coaches.
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USC Trojans
SALT LAKE CITY, UT - OCTOBER 25: View of the USC Trojans football helmets shown during their game against the Utah Utes at Rice-Eccles Stadium on October 25, 2014 in Salt Lake City, Utah. (Photo by Gene Sweeney Jr/Getty Images ) -
8th in Total Win Percentage
10th in Total Wins
T-4th in Recognized National Championships
5th in Conference Championships
5th in Bowl Appearances
5th in All-Americans
1st in Heisman Trophy winners
2nd in Total NFL Draft Picks
2nd in First-Round NFL Draft Picks
6th in Total Weeks in AP Poll
5th in Weeks at No. 1 in AP Poll
Since getting started in 1888, the USC Trojans have built quite the reputation for themselves on the West Coast. USC tops the pack with the most winners of the Heisman Trophy, and it was rare to see them lose when Pete Carroll was the head coach. The Trojans have also been historically great at sending players to the NFL, and historically great at seeing them drafted in Round 1.
Now, we'll move on to Tier Two. These teams will be listed in the order that they scored, as there was more space between the schools that fell outside of that elite of the elite group we just went through. The schools in this tier didn't have the same consistency across all of the categories that the teams ahead of them did, however, these are still iconic programs that have made a name for themselves in college football. You can't tell the story of the sport without these teams.
Tier TwoMichigan Wolverines -
4th in Total Win Percentage
1st in Total Wins
3rd in Recognized National Championships
3rd in Conference Championships
11th in Bowl Appearances
3rd in All-Americans
T-6th in Heisman Trophy winners
7th in Total NFL Draft Picks
8th in First-Round NFL Draft Picks
2nd in Total Weeks in AP Poll
13th in Weeks at No. 1 in AP Poll
The Michigan Wolverines were the top team that just missed the cut for the first tier. Michigan is the oldest team on this list, having started in 1879. No major program has more total wins than the Wolverines, and they are the only team to break the 1,000-win mark so far.
Texas Longhorns -
7th in Total Win Percentage
5th in Total Wins
T-12th in Recognized National Championships
8th in Conference Championships
3rd in Bowl Apperances
7th in All-Americans
T-13th in Heisman Trophy winners
4th in Total NFL Draft Picks
7th in First-Round NFL Draft Picks
7th in Total Weeks in AP Poll
10th at Weeks at No. 1 in AP Poll
The Texas Longhorns began playing football in 1893, and they've climbed into the top five in categories like Total Wins, Bowl Appearances, and Total NFL Draft Picks. Texas missed out on the top tier, but it is solidly in the second tier, as the Longhorns are one of the sport's biggest brands and most well-known programs.
Nebraska Cornhuskers -
10th in Total Win Percentage
8th in Total Wins
T-8th in Recognized National Championships
2nd in Conference Championships
10th in Bowl Appearances
9th in All-Americans
T-6th in Heisman Trophy winners
14th in Total NFL Draft Picks
19th in First-Round NFL Draft Picks
8th in Total Weeks in AP Poll
7th in Weeks at No. 1 in AP Poll
Since starting in 1890, the Nebraska Cornhuskers have become another one of the elite teams in college football. Nebraska has more conference titles than all but one team, and the Tom Osborne era stamped the Cornhuskers as one of the teams clearly ingrained in the sport's tapestry. The program dominated in the 1990s, winning three national titles.
According to the given criteria, those eight teams are the blue bloods of college football. Five teams (Alabama, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oklahoma, and USC) scored out at five or below and were therefore placed in the first tier, while the other three teams (Michigan, Texas, and Nebraska) scored out at 10 or below and were therefore placed in the second tier.
By no means are these the only teams that are considered iconic in college football. However, with separating the best from the very good comes a fine line, one that most programs just haven't been able to consistently walk for over a century.
High-level excellence when it comes to winning, capturing championships, award-winning players, legendary coaches, and sending players to the next level are what make a program a blue-blood college football institution. College football has been around for 150-plus years, with hundreds of teams to keep track of. Making it to blue blood status means you're the very best of the best, something that comes with decades upon decades of sustained and incredible success.
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This article originally appeared on Sooners Wire: Who are college football's blue blood programs?
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