FBS all-time winningest college football programs: Each College Football Playoff team can add to their total

Texas, Notre Dame, Penn State and Ohio State are looking to add on to their incredible program records

By Austin Nivison

Jan 9, 2025 at 2:19 pm ET • 1 min read

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The College Football Playoff continues on Thursday and Friday, and the semifinals feature four programs very familiar with winning. Penn State, Notre Dame, Texas and Ohio State are all among the top 10 winningest programs in the FBS, and they will try to add to that total over the next couple of days.

On Thursday night, Penn State and Notre Dame will go head-to-head in the Orange Bowl with a spot in the national championship on the line. One day later, Texas and Ohio State will do the same thing in the Cotton Bowl.

The winners of those games will only add to their already impressive win totals, and there's a chance that Notre Dame and Texas break their tie at No. 4 all-time. The Fighting Irish and Longhorns are tied at 961 wins, so one of them might be in sole possession of fourth place all-time.

Ohio State has the most wins of the four remaining playoff teams, racking up 976 wins throughout its history. That's good for second all-time, which is 36 behind rival Michigan at the top.

Penn State is bringing up the rear all the way back at seventh all-time with 943 wins. The Nittany Lions could close that gap and get closer to another national championship with a win over the Irish.

In terms of the semifinal matchups, these teams have scored at least one win against each other. Notre Dame and Penn State have met 19 times, and that all-time record is deadlocked at 9-9-1. The last time they played, in 2007, the Nittany Lions rolled to a 31-10 victory.

Texas and Ohio State have only met three times previously, but all of them have come since 2005. The most recent clash between these two iconic programs was in the 2009 Fiesta Bowl. Mack Brown's Longhorns came from behind in the fourth quarter to beat Jim Tressel's Buckeyes 24-21.

Before these programs attempt to boost their gaudy all-time win totals, here are top 10 winningest FBS programs going into the College Football Playoff Semifinal.