The 10 Former College Football Powerhouses That Have Experienced The Biggest Fall From Grace

Every college football program experiences its fair share of ups and downs, but there are more than a few teams that have been largely immune to extended stretches of mediocrity while cementing themselves as perennial contenders. However, there are some others who once belonged to that group who have lost the right to call themselves a powerhouse after watching the wheels fall off.

No college football programs have experienced a bigger decline from their glory days than these teams

There’s not necessarily any concrete criteria when it comes to defining what constitutes a college football powerhouse, but if I can borrow a phrase from former Supreme Court justice Potter Stewart, I know it when I see it.

All of the teams on this list were a force to be reckoned with for an extended period of time, and while there’s always a chance they’ll be able to regain that status at some point, they have some serious work to do as things currently stand.

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I’m not listing these in any particular order, but if I were, I think Nebraska would be firmly at the top.

The Cornhuskers emerged as one of the best teams in the country after Bob Devaney took over in Lincoln in 1962, and he led them to a couple of titles before Tom Osborne seized the reins in 1973. His successor had some big shoes to fill, but he ended up doing exactly that and then some after leading Nebraska to three national championships in the span of four years in the mid-1990s.

However, the team has been a husk of its former self since the turn of the millennium and shows no sign of turning the corner anytime soon.

Florida

Nebraska is just one of a few schools on this list that can credit one or two legendary coaches for earning a reputation as a powerhouse in the first place, and Florida definitely fits the bill as well.

The Gators had never done anything to earn that label before Steve Spurrier took over in 1990 and transformed the team into perennial contenders as fans quickly became accustomed to a certain level of success. Ron Zook wasn’t able to meet those expectations, but Urban Meyer certainly was during the tenure that began in 2005.

The three men who succeeded him did what they could to keep the momentum going, but it began to wane before the glory days were officially snuffed out during the Billy Napier Era that’s seemingly on the verge of coming to an end.

Miami

Florida isn’t the only team in the Sunshine State that’s still chasing the dragon of a bygone era, as Miami has not gotten back to where they were at one point in time.

There is some evidence that suggests the Hurricanes are Back based on how they’ve fared in 2025 after going 10-3 last season, and Mario Cristobal appears to have found his footing after getting off to an underwhelming start.

That start was just the continuation of close to 20 years of disappointment stretching back to the end of Larry Coker’s tenure, as he, Butch Davis, Dennis Erickson, Jimmy Johnson, and Howard Schnellenberger were responsible for making The U the juggernauts they transformed into at the start of the 1980s.

Florida State

You could also argue Florida State  is Back based on how the Seminoles have looked since kicking off their 2025 campaign, but I’m not going to give them a pass when you consider they firmly earned a spot on this list thanks to what transpired in 2024.

FSU can credit the legendary Bobby Bowden for its one-time reputation as a powerhouse. It took them more than a decade to get there after he became their head coach in 1976, but it was no longer in doubt by the time they earned the first of the two national championships he won during his time in Tallahassee in 1993.

Jimbo Fisher added a third after taking over, but Willie Taggart brought the good times to a screeching halt. Fans have been riding a rollercoaster since Mike Norvell took over, and we’ll have to wait and see how the journey ends.

Michigan State

Michigan State got its first taste of success at the start of the 1950s. Biggie Munn led the Spartans to back-to-back titles starting in 1951, and Duffy Daugherty was responsible for four of them during the 19 years he spent in East Lansing after taking over in 1954.

They’d already started to go downhill by the time he departed in the wake of the 1972 season, and fans had to wait more than three decades for Mark Dantonio to breathe some new life into the program when he arrived in 2007. Unfortunately, Mel Tucker ushered in another period that has seen the Spartans fade from the forefront yet again.

Auburn

Auburn also had a fairly brief period of success with the two national championships the team won in 1957 and 1958, but the Tigers didn’t really come into their own until Pat Dye arrived in 1981.

Auburn managed to win a title in each of the four ensuing decades (a feat it achieved under four different head coaches) while firming up its status as a powerhouse. There’s always a chance that streak remains intact by the time the 2020s come to a close, but things aren’t looking too promising.

Texas A&M

You have to go all the way back to 1939 to find the last time Texas A&M won a national championship, and the Aggies experienced a lengthy stretch of underwhelming football that didn’t really come to an end until Emory Bellard arrived in the 1970s.

His time as head coach was a glimmer of hope that was extinguished during the three seasons Tom Wilson spent at the helm, but things finally started to go right for the team after Jackie Sherrill righted the ship at the start of the 1980s. R. C. Slocum kept things rolling until the gas ran out around the turn of the millennium, and it’s largely been a pattern of false hopes and broken dreams since then.

Minneosta

This one is a bit of a throwback, but you may be surprised to learn Minnesota sits in the Top 10 when it comes to the FBS schools with the most national championships thanks to the six that are recognized by the NCAA.

Unfortunately, the Golden Gophers (who won five in the span of eight seasons starting in 1935) have not been able to win one since 1960, and they entered a period of mediocrity by the end of that decade that they’re still struggling to emerge from more than 50 years later.

Army

This one is also fairly ancient history, but I can’t really talk about Minnesota without bringing Army into the mix as well.

The Black Knights have five national championships to their name, which includes the three consecutive titles they won under Earl Blaik beginning in 1944.

However, the program has been a bit of an afterthought since then. Army may have gone 12-2 in 2024, but that looks like more of a fluke than anything when you consider they kicked off the 2025 season with a loss to an FCS team.

UCLA

I acknowledge I may be getting a bit liberal with the use of “powerhouse” when it comes to UCLA, which can only claim the national championship it earned in 1954.

It may be known as a basketball school, but the Bruins spent decades trotting a solid product onto the gridiron more often than not while earning a spot in dozens of bowl games and posting 10-win seasons on a fairly regular basis.

That includes the two consecutive 10-3 campaigns Jim Mora had in 2014 and 2015 before UCLA found itself in the midst of a skid that may reach its nadir in 2025.

Honorable Mention: Every Former Ivy League Powerhouse

One of my favorite pieces of college football trivia is that there isn’t a single school in the country that can claim more national championships than Yale, which has 18 to its name.

However, almost all of them were won more than a century ago, which is also the case with the 15 titles Princeton won and the eight Harvard got in the bygone days when college football ran through the Ivy League.