The 25 best college football teams to not win a national championship

Best college football teams without a national championship: 2015 Ohio State Buckeyes

A year after winning the inaugural College Football Playoff as the No. 4 seed in 2014, Urban Meyer produced what was probably his best Buckeye team. According to Bill Connelly’s S&P+ rankings, Meyer’s squad was the best team in college football in 2015.

Ohio State lost out on its opportunity to defend its crown by dropping a home game to Michigan State in November that ultimately prevented the Buckeyes from winning the Big Ten’s East Division.

Michigan State’s dominant defense stymied Meyer’s typically high-powered offense, holding the Buckeyes to just 132 total yards of offense. Ohio State’s defense kept them in the game, but Sparty’s Michael Geiger booted through a 41-yard field goal as time expired to give Mark Dantonio’s team the upset.

The Spartans stole the Big Ten East away, earning a spot in the playoff by beating Iowa in the Big Ten title game in Indianapolis. Michigan State was embarrassed by Alabama in the Cotton Bowl, getting soundly defeated 38-0 by the eventual national champion Crimson Tide.

Ohio State finished the regular season with its yearly stomping of Michigan and then earned a comfortable victory over Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl to finish 12-1.

Had the Buckeyes beaten Michigan State, we almost certainly would have gotten a playoff rematch between Meyer’s Buckeyes and Saban’s Crimson Tide in the Cotton Bowl. It probably would have been a closer contest than what we got instead in Arlington.

The year before, Ohio State edged Alabama in a tight Sugar Bowl contest. It’s likely that the Cotton Bowl would have produced another close result, with the winner likely hoisting the championship trophy in Glendale.