Since the AP Poll came online in 1936, 33 teams have won a national title. Which former blue bloods have the best shot of returning to title status?
Until the turn of the 21st century, the college football national championship was a nebulous concept. There were several attempts to name national champions prior to the AP Poll, but 1936 marks the genesis of the first long-lasting attempt at finding a nationwide consensus via polling.
Since the dawn of the AP Poll era, 33 different college programs have earned at least a share of the national title. If we narrow down the range of time to the period since the inception of the BCS era in 1998, though, that number drops to just a dozen. Tennessee kicked off the BCS by ending its 47-year national title drought. Teams like USC, Texas, LSU, and Auburn also ended long periods of waiting to return to championship status.
For some of the other 21 teams, it has been more than half a century since their last titles. In other cases, teams whose last titles came prior to the BCS have remained perennial contenders who just haven’t yet returned to the pinnacle of the FBS.
Sunday Morning Quarterback returns after a hiatus, and titles are on the mind as we head into the offseason. Which fallen blue blood programs have the best chance of winning another national title? This is the question we will tackle this week. Keep reading to see the top five faded blue blood schools with the best chance to return to the promised land.
There was a time when Notre Dame was the preeminent program in the country. Their last period of sustained glory, though, is now three decades in the rearview mirror. The Fighting Irish won their last national title back in 1988, back when Lou Holtz was the head coach in South Bend instead of a television personality.
Notre Dame’s last period of relevance coincided with the last era when independent programs still held major influence over the sport. As the Fighting Irish continue to cling to independence, the blue blood faces an increasingly steep battle to regain the upper hand in the national title race.
Under Brian Kelly, the Fighting Irish have managed to get one shot at a national title. Notre Dame made it through the 2012 season undefeated, setting up a clash with SEC champion Alabama in the BCS national championship game. Nick Saban’s squad overran the Irish 42-14 in that game, preventing Notre Dame from adding a 12th claimed national title.
But of those blue blood schools that have fallen out of relevance, Notre Dame remains one of the biggest brand names of the bunch. Independence makes it harder to gain the upper hand, but any time the Irish run the table they will be among the four College Football Playoff participants. And any team that can get into the playoff field can ostensibly break a title drought.
Washington made it into the College Football Playoff field as recently as two years ago. Like others we will look at today, their path to another national championship was cut short by Alabama. But while they fell short in that opportunity, the dormant blue blood in the Pacific Northwest could be the next of the former champions to end its championship drought.
The Huskies claim two national titles, in 1960 and 1991. In both cases, it was a share of the national title rather than an outright claim. Prior to that, Washington first rose to prominence prior to World War I under Gil Dobie. No school went undefeated over a longer stretch than the early 1900s crews that went 64 straight games without a loss.
The most recent title was shared in 1991 with Miami, raising an early discussion about creating a single national championship game to cap each I-A season. That team went 12-0 to win the Pac-10 championship and the Rose Bowl to give Don James the honor of bringing a national title to Seattle.
Petersen was one of the sport’s top coaches at Boise State for nearly a decade. Since heading west to Washington, he has helped resurrect the Huskies. They won the Pac-12 title two years ago, and the Huskies will be a Pac-12 North powerhouse as long as Petersen is in Seattle. Washington is back on the path to blue blood status thanks to the hire.
Another former blue blood that could benefit greatly from a new hire is Nebraska. The Cornhuskers turned to a former national championship-winning quarterback in Lincoln to try to resurrect the team’s fortunes. Scott Frost arrives back at his alma mater after leading UCF to the only undefeated season in FBS football in 2017.
Nebraska has gone two decades without a national championship, after winning three in four years between 1994 and 1997. Frost was the man who quarterbacked the last title winner in Lincoln after transferring back to his home state following two years at Stanford. The Huskers remained relevant in both the Big 12 and the Big Ten after shifting conference affiliation, playing in conference title games in both leagues.
Back in 2001, the Cornhuskers controversially got the opportunity to play Miami for the BCS national championship despite failing to win the Big 12. Nebraska was trounced by the Hurricanes in that contest, and they have struggled to return to that level of prominence ever since.
Under Bo Pelini, the Huskers were good for four losses every year like clockwork. Their first attempt to shift fortunes for the better backfired, with Mike Riley causing the school to backslide among FBS programs. Frost understands the culture and knows what it will take to return Nebraska to the blue blood ranks.
UCLA has spent decades watching its crosstown rival earn national championships. The Bruins have just one national championship to their name, a share of the 1954 title. That UCLA team finished first in the Coaches Poll and No. 2 in the AP Top 25 behind an Ohio State team that beat the Bruins in the Rose Bowl.
The Bruins are blessed with plenty of benefits. UCLA is located in the heart of a recruiting hotbed and they play at a historic home venue in the Rose Bowl. The university has a history of success in basketball and other sports. There is no reason why UCLA shouldn’t be a perennial contender in the Pac-12.
The program made a major bid to return to blue blood status. After parting ways with Jim Mora as their head coach, UCLA turned to former Oregon head coach Chip Kelly to take over the program. Kelly returns to the college ranks after four years in the NFL and a year in the television studio, so it is quite a gamble by the Bruins.
If Kelly can recapture the magic that made him one of college football’s offensive masterminds in Eugene, however, he could put a second Pac-12 school on the path toward blue blood status. Should that happen, UCLA could be the next team to pull off a return to the top of the sport.
Last season, it looked like SEC champion Georgia was going to break its streak of futility on the national stage. The Bulldogs took a 13-0 lead against Alabama into the halftime break. Entering the fourth quarter, Georgia was up 20-10 on their conference rivals. It appeared that a three-decade drought was about to come to a close for the title-starved Bulldogs fan base.
But Nick Saban’s squad managed to turn things around and prevail once again in a national championship game. With freshman sensation Tua Tagovailoa taking over at quarterback for Jalen Hurts, Alabama forced overtime and then prevailed in the extra frame. An interception of Georgia’s freshman sensation, Jake Fromm, sealed the Crimson Tide victory.
Making the College Football Playoff national championship game in head coach Kirby Smart‘s second season was impressive. The last title for Georgia came back in 1980, when Herschel Walker was the team’s freshman sensation at tailback. Fromm nearly pulled off the feat 37 years later as the freshman quarterback.
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Instead, Tagovailoa was the freshman who earned the ultimate accolades in Atlanta. But Fromm has at least two more years to get the Bulldogs back to the title game. Smart will continue to develop Georgia into a title contender, and they are currently the fallen blue blood that is most likely to win another national title.