Most Successful College Football Programs of the 30's (1931-1940)

USC had the best season in the country for three straight years, 1931-1933. However, a decade is ten years long, and the Trojans did not follow it up with seven more strong seasons. In fact, the Trojans had sub-.500 seasons three of the next seven years and only end up ranked #13 among programs of the 1930's. Our team of the decade is Alabama, which only had one season ranked number one, but six seasons in the top ten and all ten seasons in the top 25. Close behind is the Tennessee Volunteers, who had seven seasons finishing in the top ten, including two ranked #1, but also went 4-5 in 1935 to drop out of the top spot.

1. Alabama Crimson Tide
2. Tennessee Volunteers
3. Pittsburgh Panthers
4. Duke Blue Devils
5. Minnesota Golden Gophers
6. Ohio State Buckeyes
7. Notre Dame Fighting Irish
8. Fordham Rams
9. Tulane Green Wave
10. LSU Tigers
11. Nebraska Cornhuskers
12. Santa Clara Broncos
13. USC Trojans
14. TCU Horned Frogs
15. Utah Utes
16. Army Black Knights
17. Holy Cross Crusaders
18. North Carolina Tar Heels
19. Auburn Tigers
20. Washington Huskies
21. Stanford Cardinal
22. Michigan State Spartans
23. Boston College Eagles
24. Georgia Bulldogs
25. Purdue Boilermakers
26. Duquesne Dukes
27. Colgate Raiders
28. Northwestern Wildcats
29. SMU Mustangs
30. California Golden Bears
31. St. Mary's Gaels
32. Michigan Wolverines
33. Texas A&M Aggies
34. Oklahoma Sooners
35. Dartmouth Big Green
36. Cornell Big Red
37. Villanova Wildcats
38. Detroit Mercy Titans
39. Colorado Buffaloes
40. Navy Midshipmen
41. Columbia Lions
42. Princeton Tigers
43. UCLA Bruins
44. Oregon Ducks
45. Texas Tech Red Raiders
46. Rice Owls
47. Vanderbilt Commodores
48. Oregon State Beavers
49. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
50. Texas Longhorns
51. Ole Miss Rebels
52. Temple Owls
53. Pennsylvania Relays
54. Arkansas Razorbacks
55. Yale Bulldogs
56. Tulsa Golden Hurricane
57. Baylor Bears
58. Washington State Cougars
59. Kentucky Wildcats
60. Clemson Tigers
61. Kansas State Wildcats
62. Harvard Crimson
63. Mississippi State Bulldogs
64. Arizona Wildcats
65. Syracuse Orange
66. New York University Violets
67. Carnegie Mellon Tartans
68. Marquette Golden Eagles
69. Utah State Aggies
70. George Washington Colonials
71. Wisconsin Badgers
72. Centenary Gents
73. Denver Pioneers
74. Bucknell Bison
75. Furman Paladins
76. Georgetown Hoyas
77. Indiana Hoosiers
78. Iowa Hawkeyes
79. Penn State Nittany Lions
80. Manhattan Jaspers
81. BYU Cougars
82. Illinois Fighting Illini
83. Florida Gators
84. Missouri Tigers
85. Colorado State Rams
86. Kansas Jayhawks
87. Wake Forest Demon Deacons
88. Iowa State Cyclones
89. Washington & Jefferson Presidents
90. Miami Hurricanes
91. New Mexico Lobos
92. West Virginia Mountaineers
93. NC State Wolfpack
94. Virginia Tech Hokies
95. Loyola Marymount Lions
96. Maryland Terrapins
97. Gonzaga Bulldogs
98. San Francisco Dons
99. Northern Colorado Bears
100. South Carolina Gamecocks
101. Brown Bears
102. Richmond Spiders
103. Oklahoma State Cowboys
104. Idaho Vandals
105. Montana Grizzlies
106. Drake Bulldogs
107. Washington (MO) Bears
108. VMI Keydets
109. William & Mary Tribe
110. Creighton Bluejays
111. Davidson Wildcats
112. Colorado College Tigers
113. New Mexico State Aggies
114. Chicago Maroons
115. UTEP Miners
116. St. Louis Billikens
117. Washington & Lee Generals
118. Arizona State Sun Devils
119. Mercer Bears
120. Virginia Cavaliers
121. Wyoming Cowboys
122. Citadel Bulldogs
123. Montana State Bobcats
124. Grinnell Pioneers
125. Northern Arizona Lumberjacks
126. Sewanee Tigers
127. Western State Mountaineers
128. Washburn Ichabods
129. Colorado Mines Orediggers

Special thanks to James Howell's College Football Scores, which provided the data for our analysis.