The 30 best college football programs of the conference realignment era

Florida and Florida State are among the most successful football programs since 1990.

In 1990, the first major conference realignment domino fell when Penn State joined the Big Ten.

In 1991, Florida State joined the ACC, and Arkansas and South Carolina joined the SEC.

In 1996, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech and Baylor left the Southwest Conference for dead and merged with the Big 8 to form the Big 12.

You probably know the rest. Miami and Virginia Tech joined the ACC in 2004, joined by Boston College a year later. Then all the chaos from 2010–14 that saw a dozen Power 5 teams change conferences.

Now another wave is starting with Texas and Oklahoma headed to the SEC.

It’s been over 30 years since that first domino fell. Let’s take a look at which programs have been the most successful since 1990.

Ranking the top programs since 1990

Alabama has won seven national championships since 1990.

To rank each program, I took a look at the Top 5 of the final AP poll for each season. I awarded five points for a №1 ranking, four points for a №2 ranking, and so on.

Teams are ranked by the number of points they scored.

Ties were broken in this order: 1) Total Top 5 finishes, 2) Total first-place finishes, 3) Total second-place finishes, 4) Total third-place finishes, 5) Total fourth-place finishes, 6) Best non-Top 5 ranking since 1990.

1. Alabama (47) 7–2–0–1–2
2. Ohio State (45) 2–4–3–3–4
3. Florida State (38) 3–1–3–4–2
4. Florida (29) 3–1–2–1–2
5. Southern Cal (27) 2–1–3–2–0
6. Miami (25) 2–2–2–0–0
7. Clemson (23) 2–2–1–1–0
8. LSU (21) 2–2–1–0–0
9. Oklahoma (20) 1–0–3–1–4
10. Nebraska (20) 2–2–2–0–0
11. Oregon (18) 0–3–1–1–1
12. Auburn (15) 1–2–0–1–0
13. Georgia (13.5) 0–2–1–1–.5
14. Texas (13) 1–1–0–1–2
15. Notre Dame (10) 0–1–0–2–2
16. Washington (10) 0–1–1–1–1
17. Tennessee (10) 1–0–1–1–0
18. Penn State (10) 0–1–2–0–0
19. Colorado (9) 1–0–1–0–1
20. Michigan (7) 1–0–0–0–2
21. TCU (7) 0–1–1–0–0
22. Utah (6) 0–1–0–1–0
23. Stanford (5) 0–0–1–1–0
24. Virginia Tech (4) 0–1–0–0–0
25. Georgia Tech (4) 0–1–0–0–0
26. Boise State (3) 0–0–0–1–1
27. Missouri (3) 0–0–0–1–1
28. Michigan State (3) 0–0–1–0–0
29. Oklahoma State (3) 0–0–1–0–0
30. Texas A&M (2.5) 0–0–0–1-.5

Other programs with a Top 5 finish since 1990 (9 programs): Arizona, Arizona State, Arkansas, BYU, Oregon State, South Carolina, UCLA, West Virginia, Wisconsin

Power 5 programs with zero Top 5 finishes since 1990 (28 programs): Baylor, Boston College, California, Duke, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Kentucky, Louisville, Maryland, Minnesota, Mississippi, Mississippi State, North Carolina, Northwestern, NC State, Pittsburgh, Purdue, Rutgers, Syracuse, Texas Tech, Vanderbilt, Virginia, Wake Forest, Washington State