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Where Notre Dame ranks among all-time great college football programs

IMG_9992by:Tyler Horka•04/30/23•

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notre dame play like a champion today
Though Notre Dame has not won a national title since 1988, winning it all always remains the standard in South Bend. (Chad Weaver/BGI)

In the eyes of Fighting Irish faithful, there is no doubt which college football program is the most historic. Notre Dame, of course.

But in the numbers of an unweighted average ranking system devised by Winsipedia’s college football database, Notre Dame is just the fifth-best program of all time. Alabama tops the chart at No. 1.

Here’s the full top 25.

Top 10 college football programs of all time per Winsipedia

  1. Alabama
  2. USC
  3. Oklahoma
  4. Ohio State
  5. Notre Dame
  6. Texas
  7. Michigan
  8. Nebraska
  9. Georgia
  10. LSU
  11. Tennessee
  12. Penn State
  13. Florida State
  14. Clemson
  15. Florida
  16. Texas A&M
  17. Auburn
  18. Miami
  19. Washington
  20. Wisconsin
  21. UCLA
  22. Michigan State
  23. Iowa
  24. Minnesota
  25. Georgia Tech

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The rankings factor in 13 data points; winning percentage, national championships, conference championships, bowl game appearances, total wins, bowl game records, All-Americans, Heisman Trophies, NFL Draft picks, first round NFL Draft picks, weeks at No. 1 in the Associated Press Poll and weeks appearing at any ranking in the poll.

Notre Dame comes in at No. 1 in the nation in three of those categories; All-Americans, Heisman Trophies and NFL Draft picks. The Irish are top-five in six others; winning percentage (No. 4), national championships (No. 2), total wins (No. 4), first round NFL Draft picks (No. 4), weeks at No. 1 in the AP Poll (No. 4) and total weeks in the poll (No. 4).

The Irish’s lowest rankings are in bowl games (No. 24) and bowl game record (No. 49). Those numbers are hindered by the fact that Notre Dame did not regularly accept bowl game invitations until 1969. The 1924 Rose Bowl was the only bowl game Notre Dame played in until then.

Alabama’s consistency across the board earned the Crimson Tide the No. 1 spot. The Tide did not fall lower than No. 11 in any of the 13 categories. Head coach Nick Saban has helped the program surge into the top spot all-time in national championships (18). Notre Dame has 11.

Notre Dame added three NFL Draft picks to its leading total of 525 this past week. Tight end Michael Mayer went No. 35 overall to the Las Vegas Raiders, just falling outside the first round. Defensive end Isaiah Foskey went No. 40 overall to the New Orleans Saints. Offensive lineman Jarrett Patterson was picked No. 201 overall by the Houston Texans. USC is second all-time in NFL Draft picks with 523.

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