Greatest National Champions of the BCS/College Football Playoff Era, Ranked

Here's how every college football national champion from the BCS and CFP eras stacks up against each other.

It’s been almost 30 years since college football came to the stunning conclusion that it might be a good idea to have one game at the end of the year that determines a national champion — first with the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) Championship Game from 1998 until 2013, then with the College Football Playoff (CFP) since 2014, which featured semifinals and finals to determine a national champion for the first time in Division I history.

We’ll get an even more expansive playoff beginning in 2024 when the playoff goes from four teams to 12 teams, representing the biggest change to the postseason in college football history.

Here’s a ranking of the teams who have won national championships in the BCS and CFP era dating back to 1998 through 2023.

26. 2007 LSU (BCS)

Rob Carr / AP Photo

Final record: 12-2 (SEC)

Head coach: Les Miles

All-Americans: DT Glenn Dorsey, LB Ali Highsmith, DB Craig Steltz

Bottom line: The only two-loss team to win a national championship in both the BCS and CFP eras overcame a pair of triple-overtime losses to win it all.

While this made the Tigers the first team to win two national championships in the BCS era following the 2003 title, this team and this season are ones we’d like to erase from the memory banks. A two-loss national champ is a nightmare for fans. Yuck.

25. 2011 Alabama (BCS)

Gerald Herbert / AP Photo

Final record: 13-1 (SEC)

Head coach: Nick Saban

All-Americans: RB Trent Richardson, OL Barrett Jones, LB Dont’a Hightower, S Mark Baron, LB Courtney Upshaw, CB Dre Kirkpatrick, CB Dequan Menzie

Bottom line: The first of back-to-back BCS national championship teams for Alabama gets dinged on our list in a major way for winning it all despite not even winning the SEC Championship Game. They didn’t even play in it thanks to a regular-season loss to LSU, which they were able to avenge with a 21-0 win in the BCS Championship Game. One of the more boring years of college football we can remember.

24. 2017 Alabama (CFP)

David Goldman / AP Photo

Final record: 13-1 (SEC)

Head coach: Nick Saban

All-Americans: LB Rashaan Evans, DB Minkah Fitzpatrick, P J.K. Scott

Bottom line: This is one of two national championship teams from Alabama on this list who didn’t even play in the SEC Championship Game — this time thanks to a loss to Auburn in the regular-season finale. I think it’s fair to say that any team that doesn’t even win its conference championship isn’t going to be very high on this list. We were treated to one of the most thrilling national championship games of all time when Alabama defeated Georgia in the CFP title game as Alabama head coach Nick Saban made the bold move of pulling starting quarterback Jalen Hurts at halftime and replacing him with freshman Tua Tagovailoa.

23. 2003 LSU (BCS)

Dave Martin / AP Photo

Final record: 13-1 (SEC)

Head coach: Nick Saban

All-Americans: OL Stephen Peterman, DT Chad Lavalais, DB Corey Webster, AP/RS Skyler Green

Bottom line: If you want to blow away your football friends with some inside knowledge ask the trivia question: Which school had its last three coaches all win national championships? The answer is LSU, which won with Nick Saban in 2003, Les Miles in 2007 and Ed Orgeron in 2019.

All trivia aside, LSU’s first national championship since 1958 came with a large dose of controversy as three, one-loss teams — USC, Oklahoma and LSU — all seemed completely even and deserved a spot in the BCS Championship Game, with LSU and Oklahoma earning spots in the title game despite USC being No. 1 in the AP Poll and Coaches’ Poll. In one of the few split titles of the BCS era, USC still claimed a national title by finishing No. 1 in the final AP Poll.

22. 2020 Alabama (CFP)

Chris O’Meara / AP Photo

Final record: 13-0 (SEC)

Head coach: Nick Saban

All-Americans: RB Najee Harris, WR DeVonta Smith, OL Landon Dickerson, OL Alex Leatherwood, DL Christian, QB Mac Jones, LB Dylan Moses, DB Patrick Surtain II, AP/RS Thomas Fletcher, K Will Reichard

Bottom line: No team on this list featured more All-Americans than the undefeated, 2020 national champion Alabama squad. The reason you’ll never hear them discussed among the greatest teams of all time is because of the chaos the pandemic caused. The 2020 season was a patchwork series of games in which teams weren’t sure who would be available or if they would even be able to play games week to week, and SEC teams weren’t even allowed to play a non-conference schedule. How weird was this season? Alabama’s 52-24 win over Ohio State in the CFP Championship Game in Miami, Florida, was played in front of just 14,000 fans.

That said, few players in college football history have been as much fun to watch as wide receiver DeVonta Smith, the first wideout to win the Heisman Trophy in almost 30 years — Smith had 117 receptions for 1,856 yards and 23 touchdowns.

21. 2006 Florida (BCS)

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Final record: 13-1 (SEC)

Head coach: Urban Meyer

All-Americans: DE Jarvis Moss, DB Reggie Nelson

Bottom line: The first of two national championships for Florida in a three-year stretch under head coach Urban Meyer featured a two-quarterback system with senior Chris Leak and freshman Tim Tebow, who would win the Heisman Trophy the next season and lead the Gators to another title as a starter two years later.

This team didn’t do much as far as capturing the imagination of the public — they capped the year with a 41-14 blowout win over Oklahoma in the BCS Championship Game. But they’re much more interesting in a historical context, as it was the first of seven consecutive national titles for the SEC and the first time in history a Division I college won the national championship in football and men’s basketball in the same year.

20. 2012 Alabama (BCS)

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Final record: 13-1 (SEC)

Head coach: Nick Saban

All-Americans: OL D.J. Fluker, OL Barrett Jones, OL Chance Warmack, DL Jesse Williams, LB C.J. Mosley, DB Dee Milliner

Bottom line: Alabama returned 12 starters off of its 2011 national championship team and went back-to-back in 2012. In a weird twist of fate, it became a season known more for the wild things that happened to Alabama opponents than for the Crimson Tide winning the title itself.

First came Alabama’s only loss of the season — a 29-24 loss to No. 15 Texas A&M in Tuscaloosa that served as the coming-out party for freshman Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel, who would go on to win the Heisman Trophy thanks in large part to his performance against the Crimson Tide.

Second, Alabama’s 42-14 win over Notre Dame in the BCS Championship Game was almost entirely overshadowed by a catfishing scandal involving Notre Dame All-American linebacker and Heisman Trophy finalist Manti Te’o. What a weird, memorable year.

19. 2014 Ohio State (CFP)

Brandon Wade / AP Photo

Final record: 14-1 (Big Ten)

Head coach: Urban Meyer

All-Americans: DL Michael Bennett, DL Joey Bosa, QB J.T. Barrett,

Bottom line: The first champion of the College Football Playoff era, Ohio State’s 2014 team also cemented head coach Urban Meyer as one of the greatest college football coaches of all time, as he became one of just four coaches to win a national title at two different schools. What’s crazy about this team — other than their 31 NFL Draft picks — is that it was probably coaching that cost them an undefeated season.

Ohio State’s best offensive player in 2014 was sophomore running back Ezekiel Elliott, who only had eight carries in a 35-21 loss to Virginia Tech in the second game of the season. Each time Elliott had over 20 carries in 2014, he ran for over 100 yards, capped by a virtuoso performance in the CFP Championship Game against Oregon, where he ran for 246 yards and four touchdowns on 36 carries.

18. 2021 Georgia (CFP)

Darron Cummings / AP Photo

Final record: 14-1 (SEC)

Head coach: Kirby Smart

All-Americans: DL Jordan Davis, LB Nakobe Dean, TE Brock Bowers, DB Lewis Cine

Bottom line: The first national championship for Georgia in 40 years came with a quarterback nobody wanted in junior Stetson Bennett, a 5-foot-10, 180-pound dynamo who won over football fans the world over with his resilience.

Georgia wasn’t some Cinderella story, however. They had a defense that would make some of the best offenses in college football history shudder with All-American players on every level in defensive lineman Jordan Davis, linebacker Nakobe Dean and defensive back Lewis Cine.

Want an even more amazing stat? Georgia had 15 players selected in the 2022 NFL Draft, including No. 1 overall pick defensive end Travon Walker and five first-round picks in total. Only a two-touchdown loss to Alabama in the SEC Championship Game keeps the Bulldogs from being higher on the list.

17. 2000 Oklahoma (BCS)

Amy E. Conn / AP Photo

Final record: 12-0 (Big 12)

Head coach: Bob Stoops

All-Americans: QB Josh Heupel, LB Rocky Calmus, DB J.T. Thatcher, DB Roy Williams

Bottom line: Current Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel was the star for Oklahoma’s 2000 national championship team under second-year head coach Bob Stoops.

The Sooners weren’t on anyone’s mind as a possible national champion before the year started — they were No. 19 in the preseason poll coming off five years not being ranked in the preseason. They cemented their status as a contender with consecutive wins over No. 11 Texas, No. 2 Kansas State and No. 1 Nebraska.

Oklahoma won the title in one of the worst national championship games of all time — a 13-2 snoozefest win over Florida State, which was playing in the BCS Championship Game for the third consecutive year.

16. 1999 Florida State (BCS)

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Final record: 12-0 (ACC)

Head coach: Bobby Bowden

All-Americans: WR Peter Warrick, OL Jason Whitaker, K Sebastian Janikowski, DL Corey Simon

Bottom line: Florida State bounced back from its disappointing loss to Tennessee in the 1998 BCS Championship Game to win it all the next year as they were led by electric wide receiver Peter Warrick and kicker Sebastian Janikowski, the Lou Groza Award winner. It was the second national title for the Seminoles in the 1990s under head coach Bobby Bowden, as the 1999 team became the first to go wire-to-wire at No. 1 in all three polls.

In an interesting twist, the BCS Championship Game proved to be a coming-out party not for anyone on Florida State’s roster but for Virginia Tech freshman quarterback Michael Vick, who almost single-handedly took down the Seminoles.

15. 1998 Tennessee (BCS)

Jack Smith / AP Photo

Final record: 13-0 (SEC)

Head coach: Philip Fulmer

All-Americans: LB Al Wilson

Bottom line: Tennessee’s opponent in the championship game was very much up in the air until the last moments of the regular season when unbeaten UCLA and unbeaten Kansas State both lost to make way for one-loss Florida State to play the Vols.

Even at that, Tennessee’s so-so offense made them underdogs, but it was the defense that once again stepped up, holding All-American wide receiver Peter Warrick to one catch for just seven yards, and Dwayne Goodrich returned an interception for a touchdown. The team’s only All-American was on the defensive side of the ball with linebacker Al Wilson.

On offense, a pair of future NFL running backs were very good with Travis Henry and Jamal Lewis, but it was wide receiver Peerless Price who was great, racking up 199 receiving yards and the game-winning touchdown in the championship game.

14. 2002 Ohio State (BCS)

Mark J. Terrill / AP Photo

Final record: 14-0 (Big Ten)

Head coach: Jim Tressel

All-Americans: LB Matt Wilhelm, DB Mike Doss, K Mike Nugent, P Andy Groom

Bottom line: This is by far the toughest team to rank on this list because of the way they won the BCS Championship Game against defending champion Miami on arguably the most controversial call in college football history.

Although he wasn’t an All-American, freshman running back Maurice Clarett was probably the Buckeyes’ best player this year and was at his best in the championship game. It was Ohio State’s first national title since 1968 and came with an incredible amount of drama — the Buckeyes final four games were all decided by a touchdown or less, and two went into overtime.

13. 2010 Auburn (BCS)

Mark J. Terrill / AP Photo

Final record: 14-0 (SEC)

Head coach: Gene Chizik

All-Americans: QB Cam Newton, OT Lee Ziemba, DT Nick Fairley

Bottom line: Can one player be good enough to lift a team to the national title? The argument for that probably begins and ends with the 2010 Auburn squad that ran the table and won the national championship behind Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Cam Newton.

Newton, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2011 NFL Draft, was an absolute revelation in his one season with Auburn, as he threw for 2,854 yards and 30 touchdowns while also rushing for 1,473 yards and 20 touchdowns. In an interesting twist, it was the third national championship of Newton’s career, but all three titles came with different teams — he won a BCS championship as a backup with Florida in 2008, won a junior college national championship with Blinn College in 2009 and then the BCS title with Auburn in 2010.

12. 2013 Florida State (BCS)

David J. Phillip / AP Photo

Final record: 14-0 (ACC)

Head coach: Jimbo Fisher

All-Americans: QB Jameis Winston, WR Kelvin Benjamin, OL Cameron Erving, OL Bryan Stork, DL Timmy Jernigan, DB Terrence Brooks, K Roberto Aguayo, DB Lamarcus Joyner, OL Tre Jackson, LB Telvin Smith

Bottom line: Florida State really seemed like a great story back in 2013 when they ran the table and won the national championship thanks to a wunderkind quarterback with Heisman Trophy winner Jameis Winston and head coach Jimbo Fisher. Looking back a decade later, this team is not remembered as fondly, thanks to our evolving views of Winston and his off-field problems as well as Fisher’s unbelievably mediocre run since.

The Seminoles featured 10 All-Americans on their roster in 2013 and won 10 of 14 games by 30 or more points. The team only had one opponent play them within one score in the 34-31 win over Auburn in the BCS Championship Game.

11. 2015 Alabama (CFP)

Chris Carlson / AP Photo

Final record: 14-1 (SEC)

Head coach: Nick Saban

All-Americans: RB Derrick Henry, OL Ryan Kelly, DL A’Shawn Robinson, LB Reggie Ragland, DE Eddie Jackson

Bottom line: For our money, this is the best of Alabama head coach Nick Saban’s six national championship teams with the Crimson Tide. Mainly because we don’t think there are many, if any, defenses that could have ever stopped Heisman Trophy-winning running back Derrick Henry.

Henry, who is a two-time NFL All-Pro and was named NFL Offensive Player of the Year in 2020, ran for 2,219 yards and 28 touchdowns in 2015 — stats made even more amazing when you consider he had five games in which he didn’t run for over 100 yards.

10. 2016 Clemson (CFP)

John Bazemore / AP Photo

Final record: 14-1 (ACC)

Head coach: Dabo Swinney

All-Americans: DL Carlos Watkins, DL Christian Wilkins, DB Cordrea Tankersley

Bottom line: Clemson’s 2018 national championship team ran the table and went undefeated, but you’d be hard-pressed to find fans who don’t consider the 2016 squad the better (or at least more beloved) of the two title teams.

Clemson lost to Alabama in the CFP Championship Game the previous season and got a rematch this year in one of the more thrilling finishes in college football history as quarterback Deshaun Watson hit Hunter Renfrow for a 2-yard touchdown pass with just :01 second left in the game. How this team is looked at in a historical context has changed somewhat in the seven years since they won — mainly because of Watson and Swinney, who have seen their images take major hits over the years for vastly different reasons.

9. 2009 Alabama (BCS)

Marcio Jose Sanchez / AP Photo

Final record: 14-0 (SEC)

Head coach: Nick Saban

All-Americans: RB Mark Ingram, OL Mike Johnson, DT Terrence Cody, LB Rolando McClain, DB Javier Arenas, K Leigh Tiffin

Bottom line: Is Nick Saban’s first national championship team at Alabama still his best? Only the man himself could probably answer that question accurately. But this team featured not only the first Heisman Trophy winner in Alabama history with running back Mark Ingram but also the Butkus Award winner with linebacker Rolando McClain and the Broyles Award winner with defensive coordinator Kirby Smart, who was named the nation’s top assistant coach.

Playing the most difficult schedule in the country, Alabama notched five wins over Top 25 teams and closed out the season with convincing wins over No. 1 Florida in the SEC Championship Game and No. 2 Texas in the BCS Championship Game, which was most notable for Alabama’s defense injuring All-American quarterback Colt McCoy on the Longhorns’ first drive, making him unable to return to the game.

8. 2018 Clemson (CFP)

Ben Margot / AP Photo

Final record: 15-0 (ACC)

Head coach: Dabo Swinney

All-Americans: RB Travis Etienne, OL Mitch Hyatt, DL Clelin Farrell, DL Christian Wilkins, DL Dexter Lawrence

Bottom line: Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney made one of the tougher coaching decisions we can remember when he benched incumbent starting quarterback Kelly Bryant and replaced him with true freshman Trevor Lawerence one month into the season. It proved to be the right call, as Clemson ran the table in a convincing fashion. No team played the Tigers closer than three touchdowns over the last two months of the season, including blowout wins over Pittsburgh in the ACC Championship Game, No. 3 Notre Dame in the CFP semifinals and No. 1 Alabama in the CFP Championship Game.

7. 2023 Michigan (CFP)

David J. Phillip / AP Photo

Final record: 15-0 (Big Ten)

Head coach: Jim Harbaugh

All-Americans: QB J.J. McCarthy, RB Blake Corum, RB Donovan Edwards, DL Kris Jenkins, DB Mike Sainristril, DB Will Johnson, DL Mason Graham

Bottom line: Few teams have dealt with the adversity Michigan did in making its way to the national championship — the first outright title for the Wolverines since they won it all in 1948 and their first championship of the BCS/College Football Playoff era.

Head coach Jim Harbaugh was suspended twice during the season for breaking the rules — recruiting and illegally scouting — first to start the regular season then to finish it. Michigan responded by rallying around its head coach and was in the CFP for the third year, closing things out with a convincing, 34-13 win over future Big Ten foe Washington.

6. 2022 Georgia (CFP)

Mark J. Terrill / AP Photo

Final record: 15-0

Head coach: Kirby Smart

All-Americans: TE Brock Bowers, DL Jalen Carter, LB Jason Dumas-Johnson, DB Christopher Smith

Bottom line: Georgia became the first team in the CFP era to win back-to-back national championships, closing out the season with a record-setting 65-7 win over TCU in the CFP Championship Game.

No player for Georgia defined the last two seasons more than starting quarterback Stetson Bennett, a 5-foot-10, 180-pound senior who was named offensive MVP in all four CFP games he played in over two seasons and accounted for six touchdowns in the win over TCU.

Maybe time will push the team up the rankings, but they’re already pretty high up the charts in our eyes. One of the greatest national champions.

5. 2008 Florida (BCS)

Mark Humphrey / AP Photo

Final record: 13-1 (SEC)

Head coach: Urban Meyer

All-Americans: QB Tim Tebow, LB Brandon Spikes, AP/RS Brandon James, AP/RS Percy Harvin

Bottom line: This season became famous for quarterback Tim Tebow’s speech following the Gators’ only loss of the season — a 31-30 defeat at the hands of Ole Miss in Gainesville.

There is a good reason that this Florida team is the highest one-loss team on our list. After the loss, the Gators were the football version of Denzel Washington in the second half of “Man on Fire” … bringing absolute wrath and carnage down on everyone in their path with a lineup that featured twins Mike Pouncey and Maurkice Pouncey on the offensive line, Aaron Hernandez at tight end and a gaggle of future NFL Draft picks on defense led by linebacker Brandon Spikes, defensive end Carlos Dunlap and defensive back Joe Haden.

4. 2005 Texas (BCS)

Lenny Ignelzi / AP Photo

Final record: 13-0 (Big 12)

Head coach: Mack Brown

All-Americans: QB Vince Young, OL Jonathan Scott, OL Justin Blalock, DT Rodrique Wright, DB Michael Huff

Bottom line: One of the greatest college football teams of all time capped its season in arguably the greatest college football game ever played, as Texas took down two-time defending national champion USC in the BCS Championship Game at the Rose Bowl behind a virtuoso performance by quarterback Vince Young.

Few teams in NCAA history could score points like Texas, which set the NCAA record with 652 points this season and featured 24 future NFL Draft picks on its roster.

3. 2004 USC (BCS)

Chris O’Meara / AP Photo

Final record: 13-0 (Pac 12)

Head coach: Pete Carroll

All-Americans: QB Matt Leinart, OL Sam Baker, DL Shaun Cody, DL MIke Patterson, LB Matt Grootegoed, LB Lofa Tatupu, RB Reggie Bush

Bottom line: While USC would eventually be stripped of the 2004 BCS title in 2010 because of major NCAA violations — mostly things that are legal now — we can’t forget what we saw in the Trojans that year as one of the greatest college football teams of all time.

Led by Heisman Trophy winner Matt Leinart at quarterback and future Heisman winner Reggie Bush at running back, the Trojans won a second consecutive national title in the AP Poll and first in the BCS and had few challenges along the way. USC barely broke a sweat in the BCS Championship Game with a 59-14 win over Oklahoma … although true college football fans will point out that there were probably better opponents available in Auburn and Utah, teams that were also unbeaten. What a playoff year that would have been.

2. 2019 LSU (CFP)

Sue Ogrocki / AP Photo

Final record: 15-0 (SEC)

Head coach: Ed Orgergon

All-Americans: QB Joe Burrow, WR Ja’Marr Chase, OL Damien Lewis, DB Grant Delpit, DB Derek Stingley Jr.

Bottom line: The 2019 season was the stuff dreams are made of for undefeated LSU, as quarterback Joe Burrow set almost every significant college football single-season passing record and won the Heisman Trophy by the largest margin in the history of the award. Burrow, the No. 1 pick by the Cincinnati Bengals in the 2020 NFL Draft, finished with 5,671 passing yards, 60 touchdowns and six interceptions with a 202.0 quarterback rating and completed 76 percent of his passes.

The Tigers won four regular-season games over Top 10 opponents and defeated No. 4 Georgia by 27 points in the SEC Championship Game, No. 4 Oklahoma by 35 points in the CPF semifinals and defending national champion Clemson by 17 points in the CFP Championship Game.

The hesitation in calling LSU the greatest team of all time comes only because of our fear of recent bias — we really feel like more time could make this team even more appealing to us. What a magical year.

1. 2001 Miami (BCS)

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Final record: 12-0 (Big East)

Head coach: Larry Coker

All-Americans: TE Jeremy Shockey, OL Bryant McKinnie, OL Joaquin Gonzalez, DB Phillip Buchanon, DB Ed Reed, K Todd Sievers

Bottom line: Teams who faced Miami’s 2001 national championship team had nowhere to run and nowhere to hide.

On offense, there were three future NFL running backs with Frank Gore, Willis McGahee and Clinton Portis. When the Hurricanes wanted to throw the ball, future NFL tight ends Jeremy Shockey and Kellen Winslow Jr. were there as well as future Pro Football Hall of Famer Andre Johnson catching passes alongside Santana Moss and future NFL All-Pro Bryant McKinnie protecting quarterback Ken Dorsey’s blind side — McKinnie didn’t allow a sack over his entire college career.

If you somehow found a way to stop that offense, scoring points wasn’t going to be any easier with Hall of Famer Ed Reed and the late Sean Taylor in the defensive backfield and linebacker Jonathan Vilma up front. In the BCS Championship Game, Miami stomped out Nebraska 37-14.

The roster featured 38 future NFL Draft picks, and aside from a close game against Michael Vick and No. 14 Virginia Tech in the regular-season finale, the Hurricanes barely broke a sweat.