There are currently 129 FBS teams spread across 41 states. Five of those teams call Alabama home, and have helped it become the best college football state in the country.
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The five schools have combined for 2,355 wins and 120 ties in 3,850 games, giving them a winning percentage of 62.73 — the best of any state with more than one school.
Sure, a little state school out of Tuscaloosa has accounted for almost 40 percent of those wins, but Auburn has 759 wins of its own, and Troy and South Alabama are both above 50 percent for their lifetimes.
Before we get to the rest of the list, here’s a fun trivia fact. There are nine states without FBS teams: Alaska, Delaware, Maine, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, and Vermont.
Those states can thank Texas, which isn't keen on sharing. No state has more FBS teams than the Longhorn state which, unsurprisingly, also has the most wins. Here are the top five states by sheer number of wins:
| State | No. of teams | Wins | Losses | Ties | Total games |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 12 | 6,261 | 5,484 | 403 | 12,148 |
| Ohio | 8 | 4,682 | 3,820 | 336 | 8,838 |
| California | 7 | 4,371 | 3,081 | 288 | 7,740 |
| North Carolina | 7 | 3,292 | 3,063 | 214 | 6,569 |
| Michigan | 5 | 3,269 | 2,239 | 187 | 5,695 |
But a win total doesn’t tell a complete story. States with fewer and/or younger teams are at an obvious disadvantage. So to find the most successful college football state, we looked at winning percentage: Wins (plus half of all ties) divided by the total games played.
Before we finalized the list, we had to narrow it down one more time to states with more than one team, since those totals said more about the lone program than the whole state. This disqualified Connecticut, Hawaii, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
Here are the top five (all stats are through 2017-18 season):
1. Alabama
Full record: 2355-1375-120
Winning percentage: 62.73 percent
Teams:
Alabama: 891-328-43 (72.3%)
Auburn: 759-436-47 (63.0%)
Troy: 527-403-28 (56.5%)
South Alabama: 52-50-0 (51.0%)
UAB: 126-158-2 (44.4%)
2. Georgia
Full record: 1940-1199-107
Winning percentage: 61.41 percent
Teams:
Georgia: 808-420-54 (65.1%)
Georgia Southern: 377-216-10 (63.3%)
Georgia Tech: 728-496-43 (59.2%)
Georgia State: 27-67-0 (28.7%)
3. Florida
Full record: 2414-1580-77
Winning percentage: 60.24 percent
Teams:
Florida State: 539-250-17 (67.9%)
Miami: 623-354-19 (63.5%)
Florida: 714-415-40 (62.8%)
South Florida: 146-105-0 (58.2%)
UCF: 241-210-1 (53.4%)
Florida Atlantic: 87-119-0 (42.2%)
FIU: 64-127-0 (33.5%)
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4. Oklahoma
Full record: 2087-1362-128
Winning percentage: 60.13 percent
Teams:
Oklahoma: 884-323-53 (72.3%)
Tulsa: 618-493-27 (55.5%)
Oklahoma State: 585-546-48 (51.7%)
5. Michigan
Full record: 3269-2239-187
Winning percentage: 59.04 percent
Teams:
Michigan: 943-339-36 (72.9%)
Michigan State: 694-453-44 (60.1%)
Central Michigan: 617-411-36 (59.7%)
Western Michigan: 562-447-24 (55.6%)
Eastern Michigan: 453-589-47 (43.8%)
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And here is the list of all 41 states, ranked by winning percentage:
| State | No. of teams | Wins | Losses | Ties | Winning % | Wins per team |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nebraska | 1 | 893 | 380 | 40 | 69.54% | 893.00 |
| Alabama | 5 | 2355 | 1375 | 120 | 62.73% | 471.00 |
| Georgia | 4 | 1940 | 1199 | 107 | 61.41% | 485.00 |
| Florida | 7 | 2414 | 1580 | 77 | 60.24% | 344.86 |
| Oklahoma | 3 | 2087 | 1362 | 128 | 60.13% | 695.67 |
| Michigan | 5 | 3269 | 2239 | 187 | 59.04% | 653.80 |
| Arizona | 2 | 1215 | 846 | 57 | 58.71% | 607.50 |
| Wisconsin | 1 | 697 | 490 | 53 | 58.35% | 697.00 |
| California | 7 | 4371 | 3081 | 288 | 58.33% | 624.43 |
| Pennsylvania | 3 | 2063 | 1488 | 135 | 57.80% | 687.67 |
| Minnesota | 1 | 688 | 516 | 44 | 56.89% | 688.00 |
| Virginia | 3 | 1458 | 1108 | 94 | 56.58% | 486.00 |
| South Carolina | 2 | 1331 | 1031 | 89 | 56.12% | 665.50 |
| Tennessee | 4 | 2488 | 1931 | 164 | 56.08% | 622.00 |
| West Virginia | 2 | 1324 | 1035 | 92 | 55.90% | 662.00 |
| Washington | 2 | 1260 | 1000 | 95 | 55.52% | 630.00 |
| Utah | 3 | 1767 | 1411 | 88 | 55.45% | 589.00 |
| Ohio | 8 | 4682 | 3820 | 336 | 54.88% | 585.25 |
| Indiana | 4 | 2417 | 1973 | 166 | 54.87% | 604.25 |
| Arkansas | 2 | 1178 | 976 | 77 | 54.53% | 589.00 |
| Hawaii | 1 | 533 | 443 | 24 | 54.50% | 533.00 |
| Mississippi | 3 | 1805 | 1508 | 100 | 54.35% | 601.67 |
| Missouri | 1 | 669 | 558 | 52 | 54.34% | 669.00 |
| Maryland | 2 | 1352 | 1147 | 100 | 53.94% | 676.00 |
| Idaho | 2 | 897 | 775 | 28 | 53.59% | 448.50 |
| Colorado | 3 | 1605 | 1392 | 82 | 53.46% | 535.00 |
| Kentucky | 3 | 1690 | 1467 | 91 | 53.43% | 563.33 |
| Massachusetts | 2 | 1229 | 1072 | 87 | 53.29% | 614.50 |
| Texas | 12 | 6261 | 5484 | 403 | 53.20% | 521.75 |
| New York | 3 | 1760 | 1577 | 128 | 52.64% | 586.67 |
| Louisiana | 5 | 2730 | 2475 | 164 | 52.37% | 546.00 |
| Oregon | 2 | 1178 | 1086 | 96 | 51.95% | 589.00 |
| North Carolina | 7 | 3292 | 3063 | 214 | 51.74% | 470.29 |
| New Jersey | 1 | 649 | 646 | 42 | 50.11% | 649.00 |
| Illinois | 3 | 1716 | 1734 | 145 | 49.75% | 572.00 |
| Iowa | 2 | 1164 | 1198 | 85 | 49.31% | 582.00 |
| Nevada | 2 | 771 | 825 | 37 | 48.35% | 385.50 |
| Wyoming | 1 | 526 | 568 | 28 | 48.13% | 526.00 |
| Connecticut | 1 | 508 | 561 | 38 | 47.61% | 508.00 |
| Kansas | 2 | 1108 | 1270 | 100 | 46.73% | 554.00 |
| New Mexico | 2 | 913 | 1219 | 61 | 43.02% | 456.50 |
