Undefeated teams in college football history: Here's a list of every perfect national champion all time

College football tends to thrive on chaos. 

Upsets are what makes the sport so captivating at times — when a smaller school topples a national power, it reminds fans what they enjoy so much about the landscape of NCAA football. But while upsets are fun, there are sometimes teams that are simply too dominant to overcome.

College football has had its share of teams to go unbeaten across an entire season, some of which also claimed a win in that year's national championship. Some undefeated squads didn't get the opportunity to play for the title, while others steamrolled their way to college football glory, whether in the College Football Playoff, Bowl Championship Series or other previous playoff systems.

Here's a full breakdown of the history of undefeated college football teams, including national champions.

MORE: Which teams have the most wins in college football history?

How many undefeated teams in college football history?

With college football having a complicated history within its structure, there a few ways to view the history of undefeated teams — regardless of whether they won a national championship or not. In total, there have likely been hundreds teams to finish a college football season unbeaten, but with varying circumstances, tiebreaker and playoff rules and number of games.

Pre-1900, when college football was still free of ties and informal with plenty of differing rules, the NCAA has 26 teams on-record to finish their season unbeaten and untied, per the NCAA's 2009 Division I records report, which included any teams with a minimum of five games against opponents above the high school level. From 1900 to 1936, the year the AP Poll was introduced, there were an additional 133 teams to finish a season unbeaten and untied.

From 1936 to 1991, the year before the Bowl Coalition was created — helping to better establish a national champion and provide better-quality bowl matchups — the NCAA has 134 teams on-record to finish a season unbeaten and untied.

From 1992-2013, which spans between the Bowl Coalition, Bowl Alliance and Bowl Championship Series eras of the postseason, the NCAA has 40 teams on-record to go unbeaten and untied.

However, in terms of comparing college football teams, it's easiest to assess the unbeaten teams in the College Football Playoff era, since 2014. Because this playoff format is still used by the NCAA, allows top teams to go head-to-head in the playoff, and limits the number of unbeaten squads, it's the easiest way to assess a "perfect" team in recent history.

In the CFP era, there have been six FBS teams to go unbeaten in a full season, five of which won the CFP championship. A 13-0 USF team in 2017, which was not selected to the playoff bracket, is the lone non-champion.

Trimming the parameters from 1994-2025, which largely covers the most modern era of college football, there have been a total of 30 FBS teams to go undefeated in a season. Nebraska had three (1994, 1995, 1997), while 11 of those 30 teams did not with the national championship, for varying reasons.

Overall, the history of unbeaten teams is a complicated one, especially when looking at non-national champions. With the CFP in place, the era of multiple undefeated teams in one season is virtually obsolete, helping to quiet those complications. For years, there were consistently undefeated teams that didn't get a shot at the championship, including 1998 Tulane, 2004 Auburn, 2006 Boise State, 2008 Utah and 2010 TCU.

Examining the history of undefeated teams to win the national championship is a bit more defined — while there have been many college football teams to finish a season unbeaten, especially in the early eras of the sport, a more select few have gone unbeaten with a title.

MORE: Most losses in college football history by school

Undefeated college football national champions

Since 1936, the year the Associated Press released its first Top 25 poll, there have been 64 NCAA-recognized undefeated college football champions. That includes co-title holders.

Notre Dame has six of those perfect championship seasons, while Nebraska and Alabama both have five.

Here's the list of every undefeated national champion, separated by era (CFP, BCS, pre-BCS), according to the NCAA.

CFP Era (2014-present)

BCS Era (1998-2013)

Pre-BCS Era (1936-1997)

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Last undefeated college football team

The last college football team to finish a season undefeated was the Michigan Wolverines in 2023. Led by head coach John Harbaugh and quarterback J.J. McCarthy, the Big Ten squad went 15-0 and won the College Football Playoff championship over Washington. Michigan's 2023 season resulted in controversy over a sign-stealing scandal, however. 

Harbaugh, in his ninth season at Michigan, guided his team to a 12-0 regular season in 2023. The Wolverines then beat Iowa 26-0 in the Big Ten Championship game and took down Alabama 27-20 in overtime of the Rose Bowl, a CFP semifinal game. To win the national title, Michigan beat Washington 34-13, winning the 12 title in program history and first since 1997.

Michigan became the first national champion to have a lead at halftime in every game it played since 2001 Miami. Harbaugh's unit also became the first-ever Big Ten team to go 15-0. Outside of McCarthy, key contributors included guard Zak Zinte, running back Blake Corum, tight end Colston Loveland, defensive lineman Mason Graham and cornerbacks Mike Sainristil and Will Johnson.

There were a few reasons for controversy around Michigan's 2023 season, though. For one, Harbaugh had been suspended by his university for the first three games of the season due to alleged recruiting violations during the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, in November of the 2023 season, a sign-stealing scandal became apparent that gained national interests.

Michigan sign-stealing scandal

In October 2023, the NCAA began Michigan's football program amid allegations of sign-stealing, the Big Ten announced. The Wolverines were being accused of in-person scouting of future opponents. In early November, staffer Connor Stalions resigned due to his role in the schemes, while Harbaugh was suspended by the Big Ten for the team's final three regular-season games for violating sportsmanship rules.

Eventually, the NCAA's investigation officially found in 2025 that Michigan's football program had "committed violations involving an off-campus, in-person scouting scheme." Through interview testimonies, ticket receipts and transfer data and other evidence, Stalions was found to have made scouting violations.

"During the 2021, 2022 and 2023 football seasons, Stalions directed and arranged for individuals to conduct off-campus, in-person scouting of Michigan's future regular-season opponents. In doing so, Stalions purchased game tickets and transferred them to those individuals, who included another staff member, interns and acquaintances of Stalions. The network of individuals was referred to as the 'KGB.' While in attendance, they filmed the signal callers on the future opponents' sidelines and then provided that film to Stalions," the NCAA's report said. "Using the footage they collected — which Stalions referred to as 'dirty film' — Stalions then deciphered opponents' signals. Stalions and other individuals involved in the scheme acknowledged or corroborated this process. 

Additionally, on one occasion, Stalions personally attended a future opponent's contest. In total, 56 instances of off-campus, in-person scouting of 13 future regular- season opponents occurred across 52 contests."

The NCAA's report also said that Stalions had spent nearly $35,000 on tickets in 2022 alone for the scheme. It also reported that Stalions, Harbaugh, Sherrone Moore and former director of player personnel Denard Robinson all failed to meet "expectations of cooperation" in the investigation, ranging from "destroying relevant materials" to "providing false and misleading information during interviews."

Punishments for the scandal were also released by the NCAA. Then-Michigan head coach, Sherrone Moore, was suspended three games, Stalions received an eight-year show-cause penalty, Harbaugh received a 10-year show-cause, and a fine was expected to eclipse $30 million for the school, per ESPN.

Regardless of that investigation and the noise in made in the college football world, the Wolverines continued their dominance into the CFP and completed a perfect season. After the title win, Harbaugh left the program to be the head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers in the NFL, not dealing with many of the consequences that were handed to the program from the sign-stealing scandal.

MORE: Explaining the 2025 Sherrone Moore scandal at Michigan

Has a college football team ever gone 16-0?

Technically, there has been just one college football team to finish a season at 16-0. In 1894, Yale's football team accomplished the feat. However, there are plenty of reasons to take that feat with a bit of an asterisk.

There wasn't just no CFP or no officially recognized national champions in 1894 — there was minimal padding for players and no helmets. It was a much different sport in the late 19th century and early 20th century.

Since then, there have been a number of teams to go 15-0, but going 16-0 often hasn't been a possibility due to the length of the regular season, or the playoff format. If you count the FCS, there has been one other 16-0 team: North Dakota State in 2019.

With the creation of the 12-team CFP in 2024, it became possible for an FBS team to play 16 games between the regular season, their conference championship and the playoff bracket. In January 2026, the Indiana Hoosiers will have an opportunity to join 1894 Yale as the only 16-0 teams in college football history.

MORE: The full list of biggest blowouts in CFP history