Coaches Poll College Football Rankings: All-Time Ranking, Top 25

What are the top college football programs of all-time going by the Coaches Poll? Here are the top teams according to a CFN formula.

The Coaches Poll – formerly the UPI – has been one of the key college football rankings for decades. What schools come out best and which are the greatest programs of all-time? Here are the top ones according to a CFN formula using all the Coaches Poll final rankings.


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Coaches Poll College Football Rankings 
All-Time Coaches Poll Rankings | AP All-Time Rankings
ACC | Big Ten | Big 12 | M-West | Pac-12 | SEC
1950s | 1960s  | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s

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The USA Today Coaches Poll has turned into the most important of the preseason polls over the last few years, even if it doesn’t hold the influence it did before the College Football Playoff kicked in.

The AP college football poll has been around longer – starting in 1936 – and has a bigger and better history, but starting in 1950, the UPI – United Press International – created its own ranking system and became an instant factor.

Over the years, the UPI Poll held just as much weight as the AP, creating split national champions in some seasons, and eventually being acknowledged as the other standard for the sport.

Things changed in 1991 when USA Today took over for UPI creating what’s now known as the Coaches Poll, building on the history already created becoming a part of the BCS rankings before the CFP was created.

Like we did with the AP rankings, CFN devised a scoring system giving every UPI/USA Today national champion 25 points, the No. 2 team 24, No. 3 23, and so on down to the bottom of the top 20 in most years, top 25 after USA Today took over.

Coaches Poll/UPI Final Rankings Greatest Teams Of All-Time

Others Receiving Votes
This year’s ranking, team, total points, conference.

T110 Central Michigan 2 MAC
T110 Northern Illinois 2 MAC
109 Bowling Green 3 MAC
108 Cornell 6 Ivy
T103 Washington & Lee 8 ODAC
T103 Western Michigan 8 MAC
T103 Ohio 8 MAC
T103 Denver 8 CAA
T103 Appalachian State 8 Sun Belt
T99 Vanderbilt 9 SEC
T99 Holy Cross 9 Patriot
T99 Wake Forest 9 ACC
T99 Temple 9 AAC
T97 New Mexico 10 Mountain West
T97 North Texas 10 C-USA
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96 San Jose State 11 Mountain West
T94 San Francisco 12 D-II
T94 USF 12 AAC
T92 Nevada 13 Mountain West
T92 Dartmouth 13 Ivy
91 Yale 17 Ivy
T89 Louisiana 18 Sun Belt
T89 Hawaii 18 Mountain West
T87 Iowa State 20 Big 12
T87 East Carolina 20 AAC
86 Memphis 24 AAC (91)
85 Fresno State 26 Mountain West
84 Toledo 28 MAC
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T82 Rutgers 29 Big Ten
T82 San Diego State 29 Mountain West
T80 Tulane 30 C-USA
T80 Tulsa 30 AAC
79 Marshall 32 C-USA
78 Colorado State 33 Mountain West
77 Southern Miss 34 C-USA
76 Utah State 37 Mountain West
75 Indiana 43 Big Ten
74 Rice 46 C-USA
73 Cincinnati 49 AAC (74)
T71 UCF 55 AAC (72)
T71 Miami Univ. 55 MAC
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70 Princeton 63 Ivy
69 Virginia 66 ACC
68 New Mexico State 77 Independent
67 Wyoming 81 Mountain West
66 Kentucky 82 SEC
65 Mississippi State 83 SEC
64 Air Force 87 Mountain West
63 Northwestern 88 Big Ten
62 Arizona 91 Pac-12
61 NC State 95 ACC
60 Boston College 97 ACC
59 Duke 99 ACC
58 Kansas 103 Big 12
T56 South Carolina 105 SEC
T56 Army 105 Independent
55 SMU 107 AAC
54 California 109 Pac-12
53 Texas Tech 110 Big 12
52 Louisville 113 ACC
51 Oregon State 118 Pac-12
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50 Utah 120 Pac-12
49 Washington State 127 Pac-12
48 Minnesota 138 Big Ten (49)
47 Navy 139 AAC (47)
T45 Boise State 164 Mountain West (46)
T45 North Carolina 164 ACC
44 Illinois 169 Big Ten
43 Oklahoma State 170 Big 12
42 Houston 180 AAC
41 Kansas State 187 Big 12
40 West Virginia 200 Big 12
39 Baylor 203 Big 12
38 BYU 208 Independent
37 Purdue 212 Big Ten
36 Maryland 214 Big Ten
35 Missouri 228 SEC
34 Virginia Tech 236 ACC
33 Pitt 238 ACC
T31 Arizona State 251 Pac-12
T31 Syracuse 251 ACC
30 Stanford 252 Pac-12
29 TCU 254 Big 12
28 Oregon 266 Pac-12
27 Colorado 268 Pac-12
26 Georgia Tech 269 ACC

NEXT: Coaches Poll All-Time Top 25