Ranking the all-time best Power 5 college football programs from Blue Bloods to Horrible ft. Alabama, Colorado and more

Even in the college football offseason, there's time to rank and re-rank the sport's top programs. From the gold standard schools atop the list to the perennial bottom dwellers, it's hard to stack them up.

But credit to collegefootballreport for doing just that on X. But what's one prediction without some criticism? Here's CFR's rankings, and our thoughts on where they look a bit iffy.

---

Ranking the all-time best Power 5 college football programs

Nebraska's inclusion on a list of blue blood college football programs is a bit iffy.

Blue Bloods

Alabama

Michigan

Ohio State

Southern California

Notre Dame

Oklahoma

Texas

Nebraska

Our take: Nebraska? Yes, the five NCAA championships are impressive. But remember that the most recent was in 1997. For that matter, the last conference title was in 1999. People who are old enough to have children can't remember Nebraska being a significant player in college football. The Rose Bowl on January 3, 2002 was the last significant Nebraska game. They're a bit high here.

---

Almost a blueblood

Georgia

LSU

Our take: Fair enough. Given the current situation and likely near future, Georgia and Nebraska could be swapped. But these two seem reasonable.

---

Elite Programs

Tennessee

Penn State

Clemson

Florida State

Florida

Miami

Our take: Miami feels a little iffy too. Hurricanes football was built up from nothing by Howard Schnellenberger, who did bring in an era of nearly 20 years when Miami was a national player. But since then? It's pretty dry again. Miami's last national title was in 2001 and its last conference title was in 2003. This might be a bit ambitious.

---

Great Programs

Texas A&M

Auburn

Washington

Michigan State

Minnesota

Pittsburgh

Iowa

Georgia Tech

Our take: Minnesota feels a bit out of place. Yes, they have an illustrious history but with one national title since 1941, and that in an 8-2 1960 season, Minnesota doesn't fit right. They haven't won a conference crown since 1967. It is hard to balance an impressive past with a ho-hum last half century, but this seemed generous as a ranking.

---

Good programs

A merely good college football program? Coach Prime and Colorado might take issue with CFR.

UCLA

Wisconsin

Stanford

Colorado

Arkansas

TCU

Oregon

Ole Miss

Arizona State

Utah

California

BYU

West Virginia

Our take: Particularly with the Minnesota take above, putting teams like Ole Miss, BYU, and Oregon below them is a bit odd. Ole Miss-- like Minnesota-- was great long ago, but has done a better job re-approaching that level.

BYU and Oregon had flashes of glory, but those flashes are certainly more recent than the 1930s and 1940s. College football has enough ups and downs to be a challenge for all.

---

Average programs

Illinois

Missouri

Virginia Tech

Boston College

Syracuse

Oklahoma State

Maryland

North Carolina

Our take: And again, the dividing line between these and teams above feels a bit arbitrary. All of these schools had their moments, even if none are exactly blue chip. You could put these teams and those of the level above in a hat and choose them out at random and it'd look no better or worse.

---

Below average

Kentucky

Cincinnati

Virginia

South Carolina

Arizona

Texas Tech

Louisville

Houston

Baylor

North Carolina State

Purdue

Our take: Baylor could be low here. Yes, the Bears don't have a glorious college football tradition of manufactured 1930s titles. But they have been in New Year's Six bowl games thrice in the last decade and have won the Big 12 three times in 12 years. They'd be the most upwardly mobile pick here.

---

Horrible

Iowa State

Indiana

Mississippi State

Rutgers

Wake Forrest

Oregon State

UCF

Kansas

Vanderbilt

Washington State

Kansas State

Northwestern

Duke

Our take: Pretty solid list at the bottom too. While teams like Washington State, Kansas State, and Duke have had their moments, it'd be hard to move them up more than one slot without the pick looking worse than it does. It turns out that the bottom of college football is nearly as stable as the top.