Top programs since 2010

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Sporting News ranked the top 16 college football programs this decade based on our statistical formula. Here are the eight categories we used to determine those programs:

National championships: 10 points each
National title game appearances: 5 points each
College Football Playoff appearances: 5 points each
New Year's Day Six/BCS bowl appearances: 3 points each
Heisman Trophy winners: 2 points each

Overall winning percentage, conference winning percentage, NFL Draft picks and NFL first-round picks were awarded with a poll style 16-1 score.

Here are the 16 best college football programs since 2010:

1. Alabama
Total score: 172
Why they're here: Look at the gap between Alabama and everybody else: It's growing with each season of the College Football Playoff era. The Tide have made four straight Playoff appearances and have won two national titles during that stretch. That couples well with the pair of BCS national championships this decade. Nick Saban continues to churn out winners. Alabama has lost one regular-season game or fewer each of the last seven seasons. The next step is shooting for a perfect 15-0.

2. Ohio State
Total score: 101

3. Clemson
Total score: 95

4. Florida State
Total score: 77.5

5. Oklahoma
Total score: 62.5

6. LSU
Total score: 43
Why they're here: From 2010-13, LSU was 44-9 and made an appearance in the 2012 BCS championship game. The last four seasons, the Tigers are 35-16 and the transition from Les Miles to Ed Orgeron has been anything but easy. It requires a big jump from here to get to the top five schools.

7. Stanford
Total score: 41.5

8. Oregon
Total score: 40

9. Auburn
Total score: 34
Why they're here: Auburn remains the lowest-ranked program on this list with a national championship this decade, which Heisman Trophy winner Cam Newton delivered in 2010. The Tigers are the most up-and-down program on this list, however, and that trend continued with an SEC championship game appearance in 2017. Gus Malzahn faces those same expectations in 2018.

10. Wisconsin
Total score: 34

11. Georgia
Total score: 31.5
Why they're here: Kirby Smart has Georgia inching closer to a national championship that has eluded the program since 1980, and the Bulldogs were close against Alabama last season. Given Smart's prowess on the recruiting trail, there's a chance he could build something more out of the consistent winner Mark Richt had before him. But that national title still hangs over the program.

12. Florida
Total score: 31
Why they're here: We're sticking to the formula here. Sure, Dan Mullen is the program's fourth coach this decade, and the results on the field haven't been up to the expectations Urban Meyer set in the 2000s. Florida did win two SEC East championships in 2015-16 and ranks third in NFL draft picks and first-round picks this decade. That's where the number comes from.

13. Boise State
Total score: 27.5

14. Notre Dame
Total score: 27

15. Michigan State
Total score: 22

16. Washington
Total score: 19.5