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By Bill Connelly, ESPN staff writer
Everyone has their own opinion about the greatest team in college football history. Maybe you're a 2001 Miami guy. Maybe you prefer 2005 Texas or 1995 Nebraska. Or maybe you prefer another vintage Nebraska, the 1971 version. Maybe, like Beano Cook, you're forever spreading the gospel of 1947 Notre Dame. Maybe you were enthralled by the coolness of Joe Burrow and 2019 LSU. Maybe you think the best of Nick Saban's Alabama teams — 2011, 2012, 2020 — deserve the honor. Maybe you're a 1945 Army hipster, like me.
But the best teams don't necessarily have the greatest impact on the sports world: For more than a century, the evolution of college football has been driven by big teams and small teams, and highly successful coaches and moderately successful coaches.
This list is meant to celebrate influential people like Nick Saban and Mouse Davis, LSU and Grambling. It's a list of the 30 most influential teams in college football history. This list can be made in many ways. Maybe they were teams that inspired major innovation. Maybe they were the pinnacle of a particular era. Maybe they were teams that influenced both greatness and cultural or social impact. Or maybe they were just really cool. Either way, here are 30 teams that left an especially indelible mark on the sport.
Jump to: Top 10
Head Coach: Billy Suter
record: 12-0
I don't know what tactical genius Billy Suter exhibited or what made captain and future College Football Hall of Famer Ditty Seibels so special, but what I (and millions of other college football fans) can say is that over six days and 2,500 train miles in November, Suter's Iron Man team played Texas, Texas A&M, Tulane, Louisiana State and Ole Miss. They won five games by a combined score of 91-0. A few days after returning home, they thrashed Cumberland, 71-0.
If after 125 years we are still talking about your achievements, then you must have done something special.
29. 2010 TCU
Head Coach: Gary Patterson
record: 13-0
