Schools with most Top 10 wins in College Football Playoff era
To be the best, you have to beat the best. And, as tends to happen in college football, there are only a few teams that live in that rarefied air of consistent elite play.
The pool of dominant, title-worthy teams has grown even smaller since the introduction of the College Football Playoff.
And with beating ranked teams a vital part of earning a spot in the final four, that metric has grown more important than ever.
Winning against highly-ranked teams isn't a guarantee that you'll make the playoff.
But it doesn't hurt, either — there's at least a connection between winning those games and making the final four and winning the national championship.
College football teams with most Top 10 wins in CFB Playoff era
10. Stanford
Wins vs. Top 10 teams: 7
College Football Playoff titles: 0
2015 was Stanford's best outing during the playoff era, beating three Top 10 teams, including No. 6 USC, No. 4 Notre Dame, and No. 5 Iowa in the Rose Bowl, itself ranking third in the final rankings of the season as Pac-12 champions.
The Cardinal knocked off a pair of ninth-ranked teams in 2017, including Washington and Notre Dame before losing the Pac-12 title game.
In 2021, unranked Stanford upset No. 3 Oregon at home in overtime, handing the Ducks a first loss that would ultimately help keep them out of the playoff.
T-10. Baylor
Wins vs. Top 10 teams: 7
College Football Playoff titles: 0
Baylor beat a pair of Top 10 teams in Art Briles' penultimate season and came within a point of beating a third in a loss to Michigan State at the Cotton Bowl.
Briles' 2015 team lost three games, but won against No. 4 Oklahoma State and knocked off a 10th ranked North Carolina in the Athletic Bowl, Briles' final game.
Dave Aranda looks to have Baylor headed in the right direction again, in 2021 upsetting a then-undefeated No. 8 Oklahoma, No. 5 Oklahoma State in the Big 12 Championship Game, and No. 8 Ole Miss in the Sugar Bowl.
8. Oregon
Wins vs. Top 10 teams: 8
College Football Playoff titles: 0
Oregon bumped off three Top 10 teams in 2014, the year quarterback Marcus Mariota won the Heisman Trophy and the team earned one of the inaugural playoff berths.
The Ducks mowed through defending national champion Florida State, 59-20, in the CFP Rose Bowl to earn a shot at the national title.
Oregon lost that game, to Ohio State, and slogged through some tough years, but re-emerged under coach Mario Cristobal. He led the Ducks to two wins over Top 10 teams in 2019, including a Pac-12 title over No. 5 Utah and a win over No. 8 Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl.
Cristobal's Ducks also secured a win at No. 3 Ohio State in the 2021 season.
7. Michigan State
Wins vs. Top 10 teams: 9
College Football Playoff titles: 0
2015 was a year Sparty faithful won't soon forget. One of the best seasons in Michigan State history, the team opened up at No. 5 in the polls and only a one-point loss to Nebraska kept it from running the table in the regular season.
MSU knocked off then-No. 3 Ohio State in Columbus en route to winning the Big Ten and earning the No. 3 spot in the CFP rankings... Only to lose, 38-0, to Alabama in the Cotton Bowl semifinal.
6. Oklahoma
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Wins vs. Top 10 teams: 10
College Football Playoff titles: 0
OU went 5-0 against ranked teams in 2015, including two Top 10 teams before succumbing to Clemson in the CFP Orange Bowl game.
And the Sooners haven't fared all that well in three other College Football Playoff games, going 0-3 under coach Lincoln Riley. OU allowed 162 points in those three semifinals, even if it finished in the Top 10 itself in all those years.
5. Clemson
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Wins vs. Top 10 teams: 13
College Football Playoff titles: 2
Dabo Swinney built a solid pre-playoff foundation at Clemson, going 42-11 in the four years leading up to the creation of the College Football Playoff. And his Tigers emerged as one of the two early dynasties of the CFP era, along with Alabama.
Clemson beat three Top 10 teams in its 2016 title run, including No. 3 Louisville, a rout of No. 2 Ohio State in the semifinal, and edging No. 1 Alabama in the title game.
It played two ranked teams in the 2018 regular season, outscoring them 68 to 14, and ran through the playoff, outscoring Notre Dame and Alabama, 74 to 19.
4. Georgia
Wins vs. Top 10 teams: 14
College Football Playoff titles: 1
Kirby Smart won 12 of those 14 games since taking over at his alma mater in 2016. He had the Bulldogs in the national championship game in his second year and won the natty in 2021, the program's first since 1980.
Georgia won four games against Top 10 teams last fall, including No. 2 Michigan in the semifinal and No. 1 Alabama in the title game.
3. LSU
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Wins vs. Top 10 teams: 15
College Football Playoff titles: 1
LSU won more than half of these games in the 2019 season alone, when it ran the table and became the third 15-0 team in college football history. (Clemson was the second, and Penn the first, back in 1897.)
Joe Burrow led arguably the sport's greatest offense in wins against seven Top 10 teams that year, outscoring them 298 to 190. Four of those teams hailed from the SEC, and LSU downed No. 3 Clemson for the national title.
2. Ohio State
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Wins vs. Top 10 teams: 19
College Football Playoff titles: 1
Ohio State won the first-ever CFP national championship in 2014-15, emerging as the No. 4 team and then beating Alabama in the semifinal and Oregon in the title game.
And the Buckeyes have had little issue against ranked teams, especially in Big Ten play. Over-matching their conference opponents with skill and speed, OSU has dominated its league like few other programs have.
Ohio State has mixed results in the postseason — it had a shot at another national title, if not for running into the Alabama steamroller in 2020. Clemson ended the Buckeyes' hopes in two other semifinal games.
1. Alabama
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Wins vs. Top 10 teams: 21
College Football Playoff titles: 3
Playing in the SEC is the toughest gig in college football, and that weekly fistfight produces the best, most-tested teams in the country on an annual basis.
No program has better weathered that life than Alabama, which has defined the sport for the 21st century under head coach Nick Saban. He owns the record with seven career national championships, six of which he won with the Crimson Tide, three in the CFP era.
Alabama also owns the record for most playoff appearances, wins, and titles. And no other team has played better against the best the sport has to offer in recent years.