Ryan Day's first Ohio State squad is remembered mostly for its final game, a brilliant, somewhat controversial 29-23 loss to Clemson in the CFP semifinals. The defense boasted Bennie Blades and Bubba McDowell in the secondary and dual All-Americans Jerome Brown and Dan Sileo at tackle. It was in the 1997 Rose Bowl where ASU was undefeated and had the Buckeyes' number, or so it seemed. The Tigers went 13-0 and had arguably the countrys best defense, but missed the BCS Championship. If he cannot get the players, it may be a while before Indiana ever contends for a Rose Bowl berth, let alone a BCS National Championship. Record: 11-1 The Horned Frogs had an undefeated regular season and still made the four-team College Football Playoff after an overtime loss to Kansas State in the Big 12 championship game. Teams ordered by the number of undefeated seasons in the top division. Sure, the Commodores do not come to mind when talking about national title contenders. Record: 14-1 (Of course, schools sometimes solve this issue by claiming national titles that voters didn't vote for.). Texas beat Oklahoma 45-35, defeated an excellent Oklahoma State team and won nine other games by an average of 47-14. They beat Penn State to win the 1985 national title and came awfully close to titles in 1986 and 1987. LSU ran right into college football lore in this place, drubbing Clemson 42-25 to win the fourth national championship in school history and the third in the last 17 years, a golden era in Baton . Heres the complex answer. They beat Clemson to open the season, knocked off BYU in the Motor City Bowl, and finished #10. After Michigan's Rose Bowl romp, a Detroit AP voter arranged an unofficial postseason poll, and Michigan won it. The Rock Chalk Jayhawks have claimed eight conference titles, but their all-time record (573-570-8, 50.1 percent) indicates that they have not come that close to contending for a national title. This year marks the 23rdseason since the BCS era began in 1998, a system that eventually gave way to the College Football Playoff, but still left us with several teams more remembered for the fact they didn't win the national title. Before Cooke's arrival, the team had played in one Super Bowl, in 1973, losing to the undefeated Miami Dolphins. Auburn went 11-0 under Terry Bowden in 1993 and was the only major college team to finish unbeaten. Points for/against: 39.3 (3rd), 16.7 (12th) Combine that with the size of the FBS itself -- throughout its history, college football's top-division roster has typically featured well over 100 teams -- and you're going to end up with one heck of a list of amazing teams that never won the national title. Toledo! On behalf of Boot Hill Casino & resort (KS). That's a shame because Michigan was Notre Dame's equal in 1947. The College Football Playoff Just Made Its Worst Selection Ever Their lone chance came against Notre Dame in 1988 (1989 Fiesta Bowl), where they lost 34-21. Though LSU and Clemson have finished undefeated in consecutive seasons (2018 Clemson, 2019 LSU), they were the first to do so since Florida State in 2013. College Football National Championship Ticket Stub, 2 showdowns against both Texas and Michigan. Predicting when each team will suffer their first loss of the 2020 season. This page is not available in other languages. The closest Tech has been in recent memory was in 2008, where infamous quarterback Graham Harrell threw the game-winning touchdown pass to Michael Crabtree against Texas, knocking the rival Longhorns out of the BCS National Championship. Frank Beamer has been as consistent a coach as we have seen in the recent history of college football, but his boys have never won that coveted national title.