Breaking down which college football teams need to win a College Football Playoff national title

There are teams in college football that need to win a College Football Playoff national title, according to On3’s Andy Staples.

He responded to fan questions in his “Dear Andy” mailbag on Andy Staples On3 and discussed some teams that could be on the list, but don’t exactly need one. Those include Florida State, Florida, Miami, Auburn and Nebraska.

Schools like Florida State and Florida have won national titles within the last 15 or so years. Staples didn’t characterize those football fan bases as desperate for a national title.

Teams like Nebraska and Miami, Staples said, just be highly competitive in the current Big Ten and ACC and Auburn won a title in 2010 and played for another a few years later. Fans understand that rollercoaster.

But as far as the teams that do need a title, it’s an intriguing list. These teams have rabid fanbases, a drought and a stark need to get a title in order to get a monkey off their proverbial backs.

Ohio State

Staples: “Ohio State last won a national title in 2014 and played for the national title in 2020. If a field goal at midnight on New Year’s Eve goes in, in the Peach Bowl two years ago, Ohio State has a very recent national championship … What they have is a three game losing streak to Michigan, and a bunch of almost there, but not quite dating back to 2015 when they probably had the most talented team in the country, but didn’t make the playoffs because they lost to Michigan State.”

Staples hit the nail on the head with the Buckeyes. There might not be another team in college football that has more pressure than Ohio State. Ryan Day brought in Chip Kelly as his offensive coordinator, brought in a transfer quarterback and are going all in on beating Michigan. If they don’t get it done this year, when?

Oregon

Staples: “Oregon feels like the team that can break into the club, but they haven’t done it yet. They played for the national title twice since 2010. But they haven’t broken through … But they have not lived up to their potential yet under Dan Lanning. I think they can obviously, he’s a very young coach. We always talk about Kirby Smart and where he was in year two and year three as a head coach.”

Lanning is pushing the right buttons and seemingly is on the cusp of breaking through in his third season. As Staples said, Washington was the Ducks’ bugaboo last season. Other than that, Oregon looked like one of the best teams in the country. Perhaps they’ll win a loaded Big Ten and get that elusive first title in 2024.

Texas A&M

Staples: “Texas A&M’s last national title was in 1939. The Aggies just have not been able to get over the hump and it hasn’t mattered. Like they should have been consistently in the national title mix … It doesn’t matter what conference and it seems like Southwest Conference, Big 12, SEC. Doesn’t matter. They can’t seem to break through into regular contention and it doesn’t make a lot of sense.”

Texas A&M has the resources, the location, the fanbase and the passion to get it done. It just doesn’t. The Aggies threw so much money at Jimbo Fisher and it didn’t work. What about Mike Elko? Who knows?

Texas

Staples: “They’re in a much better place than most of the teams on this listen relative to being able to get there. Like Texas could win the national title this year. I think that’s an entirely realistic possibility. But I think the reason I feel like they have to win one. And it may sound silly, but just to retire the ‘Texas is back’ joke.”

He makes a good point. Is Texas back? Will they ever get back? What qualifies back? It seems like a national title will finally put that one to bed. The Longhorns are actually the co-favorite with Georgia to win the SEC. Now is as good of a time as ever.

Oklahoma

Staples: “Oklahoma’s last national title was 2000. 24 years ago. That is a long ass time, especially for a program that has been in the mix for national title contention. But here’s what I will say about Oklahoma. Since the early 2010s, Oklahoma has not had what it is needed on the line of scrimmage to be legitimately competitive for a national title and you saw that when Oklahoma got to the playoff against Clemson, against LSU.”

If Oklahoma just builds through the trenches, perhaps we could have a different conversation. It’s interesting that Brent Venables, a defensive minded coach, could finally be the one who does this. But now that the Sooners are in the SEC, it’s a more loaded slate year to year.

Penn State

Staples: “Penn State, last national title in 1986. Remember they beat Miami in the Fiesta Bowl? Maybe you don’t remember that, maybe you weren’t even born when that happened. Penn State has been in a weird place. From pretty much the entirety of the four-team playoff era. Penn State has been good enough to be close. Not good enough to be in. The 12-team playoff will break that logjam. But they still will have to prove they can beat a team like Ohio State or a team like Michigan.”

Boy, that 2016 Big Ten title feels like forever ago for James Franklin and the Nittany Lions. If only Penn State didn’t lose to Pitt that year, they would’ve been in the College Football Playoff. A bigger bracket will help, but Franklin has to prove that Penn State wasn’t a fluke to win the Big Ten and beat the best of the best to get to the top.

Tennessee

Staples: “The phrase ‘Feels like 98,’ how many people use that phrase 1998 was a long time ago. Can’t be living in there. Gotta live in the present. And Tennessee, I think, is improved enough to where the fans can live in the now but they want more obviously, unlike Nebraska where the fan base has sort of resigned itself that this is not going to happen again. Tennessee doesn’t have to feel that way.”

Tennessee is another team with the resources and other means to get it done. The Volunteers have made significant progress and Josh Heupel seems to have the tools. But it’d be nice for Tennessee to get it done before it goes on three decades of “hey, remember when?”

Are there other teams that could use a national title? Definitely. But these programs are at the top of the list when it comes to the ones who need it the most.