Texas Football: Where Horns sat among winningest programs since 1970

Among the top 15 winningest teams in college football in the last 50 years you will find the Texas football program, and one other from the Big 12.

The winningest programs in the history of college football encompass the list of so-called “blue bloods” in today’s game. And the Texas football program is one of the more notable blue bloods in the nation. Texas has one of the biggest brands and most tradition-rich histories of any program in the nation too.

College football is a game that is usually going to favor the more tradition-rich and resourceful on the national scene. There is a period that Texas is down at the moment, at least by the usual standard of success on the Forty Acres, but it should recover soon.

In a recent list from 247Sports published back on April 6, the Texas Longhorns football program did hold a spot among the winningest teams since 1970. This list of college football’s winningest programs since the 1970 season included 15 teams. It started off with the Miami Hurricanes (.652 winning percentage), Tennessee Volunteers (.658), and Florida Gators (.679).

And then there was a good jump to the Longhorns and Notre Dame Fighting Irish, tied at No. 12. Both Texas and Notre Dame had winning percentages of (.693). The record for Notre Dame over the course of the last 50 years sits at 436-191-6. Meanwhile, Texas carried a record of 441-193-6.

Here’s what 247Sports had to say about the Longhorns on this ranking.

"Mack Brown, the university’s second all-time winningest coach behind Darrell K. Royal, managed to go 158–48 from 1998 to 2013 after coming to Austin from North Carolina. The Longhorns dominated the Big 12 and found themselves in the national title hunt annually under his tutelage, winning it all in 2005 with a perfect season. The Longhorns beat USC in the Rose Bowl to end that memorable campaign, anchored by Vince Young’s heroic performance. Royal won national titles at Texas in 1963, 1969 and 1970. Can Tom Herman and the Longhorns win the Big 12 this season?"

Texas claimed two National Championships in the span of the last 50 years. The first of those two national titles came in 1970, under legendary former head coach Darrell Royal. And the second came under former head coach Mack Brown in 2005. Brown and Royal are the two best Texas head coaches in the last 50 years.

The only other Big 12 program among the 15 winningest programs of the last 50 years (at least that is still in the conference to this day) is the Oklahoma Sooners. Oklahoma holds a record of 492-148-8 in this span of time.

And the top program on the list overall is the Ohio State Buckeyes, with a record of 504-131-8. Oklahoma’s win percentage came out to .765, and Ohio State’s at .790.

Texas finished up their 2019 season with a record of 8-5 (5-4 Big 12) after beating the No. 11 ranked Utah Utes in the Alamo Bowl. They are supposed to open their 2020 season against the South Florida Bulls on Sep. 5.