This article was originally published January 27, 2016. We published a new, updated version August 22, 2017.
There are 671 teams across the four divisions of NCAA College Football. They represent schools large and small, cities and towns from Seattle, Washington to Coral Gables, Florida, and fan bases as diverse as the locations they call home.
Since we cover all four of these divisions here at HERO Sports, we often debate about which teams are the best. Is North Dakota State's recent run of success in the FCS more impressive than Alabama's dominance of the FBS? Is UW-Whitewater the best team in D3? Or have they not done enough to vault past Mount Union in the historical cannon?
How does one even define success in college football?
To answer these questions, we came up with a scoring system that takes into account recent and historical success in order to rank every team in the sport. Our scoring system is relative to success within each team's division, so every team gets a fair shot at their state's title. We're not saying a D3 team would beat the premier FBS team from their state. We are saying that D3 team is better against relative competition.
Scores are based on the following criteria:
Winning Percentage (since 2010) x 10
Each Conference Championship (Since 2000): 0.5 points
National Championships (Since 1960): 1 point
MVP Awards (Heisman/Payton/Hill/Gagliardi): 1 point
AFCA Coach of the Year Awards: 1 point
So let's get to it. The best college football team in each of the 50 states. Use your arrow keys or the arrows below to navigate the list.
