RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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See the full story · 1 sourcesSN 140: The top college football teams of each decade dating back to the 1800s originally appeared on The Sporting News .
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College football has been evolving in hyperspeed the last five years and shows no signs of slowing down. And yet, the more things change ...
As part of Sporting News' year-long celebration of 140 years of publishing, we took a look back at a sport that loves its history and traditions perhaps more than any other in the U.S. Last week, SN named seven All-Decade All-America teams, starting in the 1960s. This week, we are going all the way back, to when we published our first newspaper, when touchdowns were four points and field goals were worth five. We are naming our top program of each decade -- with some being obvious and some being absolutely not obvious.
But it is interesting to note, teams that were at the top of the sport in the '40s, '50s, '60s, '70s and '80s will be contending for College Football Playoff spots in 2026. If you want to learn how the modern-day bluebloods of the sport became blueboods, read about their dominance from decades ago.
We hope you enjoy your trip back in time as we look ahead to 140 more years of publishing (and college football!).
SN 140 ALL-AMERICA TEAMS BY DECADE: 2020s | 2010s | 2000s | 1990s | 1980s | 1970s | 1960s
SN 140: Greatest college football teams of all time
Sporting News College Football Teams of the Decade
Pre-1900s - Yale
National titles: 1874, 1876, 1877, 1880, 1881, 1882, 1883, 1884, 1886, 1887, 1888, 1891, 1892, 1894
Record: 225-13-13
Why they are here: By the time The Sporting News published its first newspaper in 1886, Yale had put together 10 unbeaten seasons and were retroactively awarded eight national championships by the National Championship Foundation. The following 15 seasons brought more glory, as Walter Camp became the team’s first official coach in 1888 and proceeded to go 68-2 in his first five seasons. (Princeton and Harvard bested the Yaleies). Captains served as coach before then, and Camp was the captain for three of his playing seasons. He was also instrumental in several rule changes that slowly made the violent, brutal nature of the first iterations of the game slightly less violent and brutal.
Honorable mention: Princeton and Harvard gave Yale the most competition, and Penn emerged late in the 1890s, but had stopped playing Yale at that point. The only non-Ivy League school to claim a national championship in the 1800s was 1896 Lafayette, which went 11-0-1 with the tie coming against Princeton.
1900s - Michigan
National titles: 1901, 1902, 1903, 1904
Overall record: 82-8-3
Why they are here: Fielding Yost took the reins of the Michigan program in 1901 and proceeded to steamroll everything in its path in his first five years. Michigan went 11-0 in his first year and beat Stanford 49-0 in the Rose Bowl, finishing the season with 550 points scored and 0 allowed. In ‘02, they allowed six points during another perfect season. A 6-6 tie against Minnesota was the only blemish in 1903 and 1904 produced another perfect season that included a 130-0 win over West Virginia. The Wolverines were 55-1-1 in Yost’s first five seasons. They outscored Ohio State 285-18 for the decade, finishing 9-0-1 against their rivals.
Honorable mention: Yale notched 100 wins, with most coming against major competition as college football was more established in the Northeast. The Bulldogs were awarded the 1900, 1907 and 1909 national titles, plus had undefeated seasons in 1902, 1905 and 1906. Princeton, Penn and Harvard were also Northeast powers, while Michigan’s competition in the Midwest came from Chicago under Amos Alonzo Stagg and Minnesota.
1910s - Georgia Tech
National titles: 1917
Overall record: 66-16-4
Why they are here: John Heisman (yes, the Trophy guy) had quite a run in Atlanta, going 24-0-2 from 1915-17 against what was considered a difficult schedule at the time. Included in that stretch was the Yellow Jackets’ infamous 222-0 win over Cumberland. The 1917 national championship team gave up just 17 points in nine games and Tech had a winning record all 10 years of the decade.
Honorable mention: Minnesota remained a Western Conference power with a 52-13-4 record. Pitt was retroactively awarded three national titles in 1910, 1916 and 1918 (with a war-shortened 4-1 record), the latter two under coach Pop Warner. Pitt matched Georgia Tech by going undefeated from 1915-17. Vanderbilt and Auburn were consistently elite, and Harvard owned New England football at the time with a gaudy 65-7-5 record.
1920s - Notre Dame
National titles: 1924, 1929
Overall record: 83-11-3
Why they are here: Knute Rockne took over in 1918, went undefeated in 1919 and rolled through the ‘20s suffering either no losses or one loss in eight of the 10 seasons. Legend has it he was an early adopter of the forward pass, and his Irish traveled coast-to-coast and created a national following. By 1928, ND went east to play Penn State, south to play Georgia Tech and west to play USC. That type of travel was unique to the Irish at the time.
Honorable mention: Cal picked up two national titles and had five undefeated seasons while winning at an .805 percentage for the decade. Vanderbilt (68-17-7) and Alabama (74-21-6) were early powers in the new Southern Conference. Cornell went 24-0 from 1921-23 under Gilmour Dobie, though the 1923 national title went to Champions of the West(ern Conference) – Michigan.
1930s - Minnesota
National titles: 1934, 1935, 1936
Overall record: 57-19-6
Minnesota won the first AP national championship in 1936 after a pair of undefeated seasons in 1934 and 1935 that were retroactively awarded national titles by the Helms Athletic Foundation and the NCF. Coach Bernie Bierman had a record of 93-35-6 from 1932-50.
Honorable mention: Notre Dame ...
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