Michigan and Ohio State made history in the last two seasons winning back-to-back championships for the first time in the history of the rivalry. How many times has that happened in the other biggest rivalries in college football? We take a look:
There is no doubt the rivalry between the Michigan Wolverines and the Ohio State Buckeyes is at the pinnacle of its history. The two have won consecutive national championships for the first time in the 127 years of The Game.
Led by Jim Harbaugh, Blake Corum and the best defense in the country, the Wolverines won the 2024 National Championship in the final season of the four-team College Football Playoff. A year later, and despite not playing the Big Ten Championship and losing to Michigan, Ohio State entered the 12-team College Football Playoff and fought its way to a national title.
How rare has this really been in the history of college football?
We took a look at the top-10 rivalries in FBS college football where at least one team in the rivalry has won a national championship. To keep this at the best of the best, each team could also only have one main rival (example: Notre Dame has rivalries with USC, Stanford, and Michigan, but for the sake of the argument, the Fighting Irish’s biggest rival is USC, so the other two were not included).
With that in mind, here are the 10 rivalries we came up with in no particular order:
- No. 1 – Michigan vs Ohio State
- No. 2 – Alabama vs Auburn
- No. 3 – Texas vs Oklahoma
- No. 4 – Notre Dame vs USC
- No. 5 – Georgia Tech vs Georgia
- No. 6 – Ole Miss vs Mississippi State
- No. 7 – Army vs Navy
- No. 8 – Florida vs Florida State
- No. 9 – Minnesota vs Wisconsin
- No. 10 – Oregon vs Washington
These 20 teams have the majority of national championship wins in the modern era and in the sport’s history. Yet somehow, only twice since 1930 have these rivals repeated as undisputed national champs, with one of them being this run for Michigan-Ohio State. Overall, since 1900, it’s happened only four times.
Most recently was actually a three-peat between Alabama and Auburn just over a decade ago. Nick Saban and the 2009 Crimson Tide were the cream of the crop in college football. Thanks to a rushing attack that boasted both Trent Richardson and Mark Ingram III, the Crimson Tide won all 14 games, including toppling an unranked Auburn team in Jordan-Hare Stadium. Then, Alabama beat the No. 1 Florida Gators with quarterback Tim Tebow in the SEC Championship, and then beat Colt McCoy and No. 2 Texas in the national title.
A year later, Gene Chizik entered his second season as head coach at Auburn. The Tigers also earned a commitment from JUCO transfer quarterback Cam Newton, the eventual Heisman Trophy winner. The Tigers led the nation in scoring offense, total offense, rushing offense and passing efficiency thanks to him. Auburn beat five top-25 teams prior to the National Championship, and had maybe the greatest comeback in the history of the Iron Bowl, beating Alabama 28-27 after trailing 24-0 in the second quarter.
Newton and the Tigers handled No. 18 South Carolina with ease in the SEC Championship. Then, kicker Wes Byrum drilled a 19-yard field goal against Oregon as time expired in the National Championship.
The pendulum swung back in Alabama’s favor in 2011 despite a blemish on the resume. The Crimson Tide fell to No. 1 LSU at home, 9-6, in overtime. Outside of that contest, Alabama was the best team in college football by a wide margin. The Tide outscored opponents, 453-106, through their 14 games and got revenge with a blowout win over Auburn to end the regular season.
Quarterback A.J. McCarron and the Tide took the momentum into the National Championship as Alabama shutout LSU, 21-0, to win it all.
Unfortunately for Auburn, its championship run was a flash in the pan compared to the dominance of Alabama. The Tide repeated in 2012 and wound up winning six of 12 under Saban. Meanwhile, Auburn made the National Championship in 2013 but lost to Florida State. The Tigers have had just one 10-win season in the last decade.
Rewinding a bit further, Notre Dame and USC won consecutive titles twice in the history of college football. In the modern era, however, it has only happened once — in 1977 and 1978 — and USC and Alabama split the national title in 1978.
Ironically, Michigan played a hand in both winning the title.
The Fighting Irish beat three top-10 teams in 1978, opening the season with a win over the reigning national champion Pittsburgh Panthers. The following week, however, they lost a shocker on the road to Ole Miss, 20-13. Later in the year, they bounced back and destroyed No. 5 USC in South Bend, 49-19, and then beat the undefeated Texas Longhorns in the Cotton Bowl.
Multiple teams had a chance to win the national championship because of this, including No. 4 Michigan, but it lost 27-20 to Washington in the Rose Bowl . It was down to Notre Dame and Alabama, which had just crushed Ohio State, 35-6, in the Sugar Bowl. In the end, the Irish ranked No. 1 in every poll and were named national champions.
USC responded in 1978, though, as they conquered No. 1 Alabama in Week 3, and No. 19 Washington, No. 14 UCLA (at the Coliseum), No. 8 Notre Dame and No. 5 Michigan (in the Rose Bowl) all in California. The game against Notre Dame was one of the greatest in the history of the rivalry — USC took a 24-6 lead into the fourth quarter, but Joe Montana threw two touchdowns and led a field goal drive in the fourth quarter to take a 25-24 lead, but failed twice on two-point conversions. It opened the door for Notre Dame kicker Frank Jordan to nail a 37-yard field goal with just two seconds left to win the game, 27-25.
In one of the most controversial plays in the history of the Rose Bowl, USC running back Charles White scored the “Phantom Touchdown” against Michigan. One official ran in and ruled a fumble on the one-yard line and signaled a possession change, while the other ruled a touchdown. Here’s the infamous play:
It led to a 17-3 deficit for the Wolverines before halftime, and Michigan would lose its third consecutive Rose Bowl.
Meanwhile, Alabama upset No. 1 Penn State in the Sugar Bowl. The Trojans became No. 1 in the UPI Poll while the Crimson Tide were the top dog in the AP Poll, leading to split national champions. It was the second split title for USC in five years and its third overall of the 1970s. Both teams would take a step back in the ‘80s until Notre Dame won it again in 1988.
Let’s go back another 40 years in 1930-1931 — this time, Notre Dame split a national title with Alabama, its second in a two-year span. The Irish went a perfect 10-0 as the new Notre Dame Stadium was unveiled at the start of the season. The Irish beat a previously undefeated Army team, 7-6, at Soldier Field in Chicago in front of 110,000 fans. Then, they head out to Los Angeles and beat USC, 27-0. It was their 19th straight to seal consecutive national championships.
USC won back-to-back titles in 1931-32. After a season-opening a loss to St. Mary’s at the Coliseum, the Trojans went on a tear by outscoring their next 10 opponents 256-39. A game against Notre Dame was the ultimate reason they won the championship. The Irish hadn’t lost in almost three years, were back-to-back champs, and led 14-0 heading into the fourth quarter. But USC scored two touchdowns in the final frame, but had an extra point blocked, making it 14-13. Kicker Johnny Baker knocked a short field goal through to win 16-14.
That was a game many assumed would conclude with a national champion being named. USC still had work to do, beating Washington and Georgia by a combined 104-7 in the final two weeks of the regular season and conquering Tulane in the Rose Bowl, 21-12, to confirm their national championship.
USC would win again in 1932, but it began a 30-year drought without reaching college football’s peak again. Notre Dame’s 1930 championship was also its last for more than a decade, but the Irish won a title four times in the 1940s to catapult back into the spotlight.
Going back into these timeframes, it was much more difficult to win a national championship. There were no conference championship games and no National Championship Games, let alone a CFP. It is now easier than ever for the best team in country to win a championship, and Michigan and Ohio State are recruiting and coaching at a level that could cause an era of dominance for two of the best programs in all of college football.