Who has the most wins in college football history?

College football is one of the most celebrated sports in America and the universities with a top-notch football program are members of the NCAA. In 1869, the first-ever national championship for college football was held. There were two games played throughout the eight-day season: Princeton at Rutgers, which Princeton won, as per the NCAA.

Yale was later proclaimed the first national champion by the Billingsley Report and the National Championship Foundation. However in 1933, Parke H. Davis, a college football historian, concluded that Yale and Rutgers shared the championship. Despite Rutgers and Princeton being the founding teams of collegiate football, a couple of the Midwest clubs have won the most games. As of January 2025, Michigan is the leader with 1012 victories.

Most wins in college football-team wise

The college football teams with the most wins in the history of NCAA college football are determined by both total wins and winning percentage, as of January 2025. It also reflects official results after vacated and forfeited games and includes teams from the NCAA Division I-Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), the NCAA Division I-Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), the NCAA Division II, and the NCAA Division III.

Michigan is ranked first among college football teams with the most wins, having amassed 1012 victories and a 73.3% winning rate. Ohio State is second with 976 wins with marginally higher winning percentage of 73.5%, and Alabama is third with 974 wins and a 73.4% winning percentage, trailing closely behind.

With 961 wins and respective winning percentages of 73.2% and 70.4%, Notre Dame and Texas are tied for fourth place. After 950 wins and a winning percentage of 72.3%, Oklahoma is ranked sixth, and Yale is ranked seventh after 943 wins and a winning percentage of 69.8%. The remaining three teams in the top ten are Penn State, Nebraska, and Harvard, with 943, 924, and 909 victories with winning percentages of 69%, 67.7%, and 68.1%, respectively.

Rank	Team	Won	Lost	Tied	Pct	Total Games
1	Michigan	1012	358	36	.733	1,406
2	Ohio State	976	335	53	.735	1,364
3	Alabama	974	341	43	.733	1,358
4	Texas	961	394	33	.704	1,388
4	Notre Dame	961	338	42	.732	1,340
6	Oklahoma	950	348	53	.723	1,351
7	Penn State	943	411	41	.691	1,395
7	Yale	943	393	55	.698	1,391
9	Nebraska	924	430	40	.677	1,394
10	Harvard	909	413	50	.681	1,372
11	Georgia	892	432	54	.667	1,378
12	Penn	882	519	42	.626	1,443
12	USC	882	374	54	.694	1,324
14	Tennessee	875	417	53	.670	1,356
15	Mount Union	868	398	38	.680	1,304
16	Princeton	865	428	50	.663	1,343
17	LSU	815	438	47	.645	1,337
18	Clemson	808	476	45	.625	1,329
19	Wittenberg	805	378	31	.676	1,214
20	Auburn	804	478	47	.623	1,328
21	North Dakota State	798	384	34	.670	1,216
22	Washington & Jefferson	790	405	40	.656	1,235
23	West Virginia	787	533	45	.593	1,365
24	Texas A&M	786	509	48	.603	1,343
25	Washington	781	473	50	.618	1,304
26	Virginia Tech	778	512	46	.600	1,335
27	Pittsburgh	768	566	42	.573	1,376
28	Florida	766	450	40	.626	1,256
29	Georgia Tech	763	546	43	.580	1,352
30	Pittsburg State	758	367	47	.667	1,172
31	Syracuse	753	580	49	.563	1,381
32	Navy	748	603	57	.551	1,408
33	Arkansas	747	545	40	.576	1,332
33	Wisconsin	747	525	53	.584	1,325
35	Dartmouth	741	472	46	.607	1,259
35	Minnesota	741	548	44	.572	1,332
37	Army	739	547	51	.572	1,337
37	Delaware	739	485	43	.600	1,267
39	North Carolina	735	576	54	.558	1,365
39	Michigan State	735	494	44	.595	1,273
41	Miami (OH)	733	489	44	.596	1,265
42	Colorado	732	548	36	.570	1,316
42	Widener	732	453	39	.614	1,224
44	Wabash	725	404	56	.635	1,188
45	Utah	724	489	31	.594	1,243
46	Missouri	721	593	52	.547	1,366
47	Tuskegee	719	396	49	.639	1,164
48	Oregon	718	512	46	.581	1,276
49	Lehigh	716	644	45	.526	1,405
50	Dayton	711	396	25	.639	1,132
51	Lafayette	706	646	39	.522	1,390
52	Northern Iowa	704	455	47	.603	1,206
53	Iowa	701	581	39	.545	1,321
53	Boston College	701	531	37	.567	1,268
55	California	698	576	51	.546	1,325
56	TCU	694	578	57	.544	1,329
57	St. John's (MN)	692	258	24	.723	974
58	Virginia	688	649	48	.514	1,385
59	North Dakota	686	440	30	.606	1,156
60	Ole Miss	685	550	35	.553	1,270
61	Maryland	681	632	43	.518	1,356
62	Rutgers	678	701	42	.492	1,420
63	Holy Cross	677	550	55	.550	1,282
64	Williams	676	403	47	.621	1,126
64	Colgate	676	527	50	.559	1,253
66	Miami (FL)	673	391	19	.630	1,081
66	Stanford	673	505	49	.568	1,227
68	Hillsdale	670	460	46	.589	1,176
69	South Dakota State	667	399	46	.617	1,112
70	Wake Forest	664	563	43	.540	1,270
71	Arizona	662	536	33	.552	1,231
72	Western Kentucky	660	455	48	.591	1,163
73	Idaho	657	514	42	.559	1,213
74	Furman	655	500	36	.564	1,191
75	Texas Tech	654	527	32	.553	1,213
76	Illinois	650	544	53	.544	1,247
77	Ball State	647	592	31	.522	1,270
78	Buffalo	644	545	43	.537	1,232
79	Coastal Carolina	642	515	28	.553	1,185
80	Michigan Tech	640	430	28	.598	1,098
81	Louisiana-Lafayette	638	471	45	.577	1,154
82	San Diego State	637	504	45	.555	1,186
83	Kent State	636	514	41	.554	1,191
84	Bowling Green	634	517	33	.550	1,184
85	Southern Mississippi	633	552	38	.533	1,223
86	Wyoming	630	574	43	.524	1,247
87	Appalachian State	628	502	49	.551	1,179
88	Missouri Western	626	444	32	.582	1,102
89	New Mexico	624	527	36	.542	1,187
90	Memphis	621	504	20	.553	1,145
91	Montana	619	430	36	.588	1,085
92	Central Michigan	617	527	33	.534	1,177
93	Army West Point	616	490	31	.565	1,137
94	Arizona State	615	511	35	.546	1,161
95	Middle Tennessee	611	471	37	.558	1,119
96	Eastern Kentucky	610	487	35	.553	1,132
97	UCF	607	404	30	.591	1,042
98	Tulsa	603	493	45	.546	1,141
99	South Carolina	600	602	44	.499	1,246
100	New Hampshire	599	459	40	.567	1,098