The Winningest College Football Team by State

College football season is upon us! And if you concentrate, you can catch the sweet scent of beer and burgers in the air. Yes, it’s finally time to get our fan on. And there’s one easy way for fans to feel the thrill of victory while tamping down the agony of defeat: cheer for a team that wins. We dug into the stats and found each state’s team that wins the most games.

Maybe they don’t all win in primetime on ESPN, but they win.

• Being a fan of Alabama is as easy as it gets. With a win percentage of .721, Alabama proves again that it’s the best of the best in the toughest conference of the toughest division in college football. Roll Tide.

• It’s fun to cheer for the University of Oregon because they win a lot. Especially in the last 15 years. But Oregonians who want to avoid heartbreak in the long term should look to Linfield College, an Oregon team with a much better all-time win percentage than the Ducks.

• Poor Wyomingites can’t catch a break. Not only do they have only one team to cheer for (The University of Wyoming), but the Cowboys have an all-time win-loss record under .500.

• In Virginia, Old Dominion University and Christopher Newport University both have great win percentages, but both failed to meet our 200-game threshold, so the Virginia Tech Hokies are the best team to cheer for by default.

• Everything’s bigger in Texas, including the pool of schools competing for best-in-state. The shocking winner: The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, which has played 234 games of Division III football and won 84% of them. That’s easily the best win percentage in the whole country. Go Crusaders!

• Big FBS schools in states with a lot of NCAA football teams have a lot of competition, and thus an inherent disadvantage trying to top their rankings. The ten teams that pull off the feat are Alabama, USC, Florida State, Notre Dame, LSU, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Penn State, and Tennessee. They’re elite for a reason!

• There’s no football in Alaska. It shouldn’t be hard to imagine why, since it’s a sport played from September to December.

• It’s uncommon to see a state’s two top contenders competing in the same division. Trying to take or keep the #1 spot can add a little spice to an in-state rivalry in these cases:
  • Arizona vs Arizona St. (FBS, Arizona)
  • Utah vs BYU (FBS, Utah)
  • North Dakota State vs University of North Dakota (FCS, North Dakota)
  • Pitt State vs Emporia (D2, Kansas)
  • Georgetown vs Howard (FCS, D.C.)

• Ivy League schools are good at more than just academics; they take the #1 spot in four east coast states: Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and New Jersey.

• 16 of the #1 teams wear red. Coincidence? Of course not.