A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | CH | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9
Current season, competition or edition: 2023 NCAA Division I FBS football season | |
 | |
| Sport | American football |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1869 |
| First season | 1869 |
| Country | United States |
| Most recent champion(s) | Michigan (2023) |
| Most titles | Princeton (28 titles) |
| Level on pyramid | 1 |
| Related competitions | Division I (FCS) |
| Official website | ncaa.com/football/fbs |
| Championships |
|---|
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A national championship in the highest level of college football in the United States, currently the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), is a designation awarded annually by various organizations to their selection of the best college football team. Division I FBS football is the only National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) sport for which the NCAA does not host a yearly championship event. As such, it is sometimes referred to as a "mythical national championship".[1][2][3][4][5]
Due to the lack of an official NCAA title, determining the nation's top college football team has often engendered controversy.[6] A championship team is independently declared by multiple individuals and organizations, often referred to as "selectors".[7] These choices are not always unanimous.[6] In 1969 even the President of the United States, Richard Nixon, made a selection by announcing, ahead of the season-ending "game of the century" between No. 1 Texas and No. 2 (AP) Arkansas, that the winner would receive a presidential plaque commemorating them as national champions.[8] Texas went on to win, 15–14.[8]
While the NCAA has never officially endorsed a championship team, it has documented the choices of some selectors in its official NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision Records publication.[7][9] In addition, various analysts have independently published their own choices for each season. These opinions can often diverge with others as well as individual schools' claims to national titles, which may or may not correlate to the selections published elsewhere. Historically, the two most widely recognized national championship selectors are the Associated Press (AP), which conducts a poll of sportswriters, and the Coaches Poll, a survey of active members of the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA).[10][11][5]
Since 1992, various consortia of major bowl games have aimed to invite the top two teams at the end of the regular season (as determined by internal rankings, or aggregates of the major polls and other statistics) to compete in what is intended to be the de facto national championship game. The current iteration of this practice, the College Football Playoff, selects four teams to participate in national semifinals hosted by two of six partner bowl games, with their winners advancing to the College Football Playoff National Championship.
History
- Bonniwell (1924–1930)
- Rissman (1926–1930)
- Erskine (1929–1931)
- Rockne (1931–1940)
- Toledo (1934–1936)
- Litkenhous (1934–1962)
- Italian-American (1935–1936)
- Williams (1941–1947)
- O'Donnell (1948–1956)
- Grantland Rice (1954–2013)
- United Press (1956–1958)
- Bryant (1957–1965)
- MacArthur (since 1959)
- UPI (1959–1985)
- Jones (1962–1969)
- AP (1966–1977)
- Presidential plaque (1969)
- Bryant (1978–1989)
- Chicago Tribune (1980–1986)
- Top 25 (1982–1990)
- Coaches' (since 1986)
- AP (since 1990)
- ACFF (1992–1995)
- Bowl Alliance (1995–1997)
- College Football Playoff (since 2014)
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The concept of a national championship in college football dates to the early years of the sport in the late 19th century.[12] Some of the earliest contemporaneous rankings can be traced to Caspar Whitney in Harper's Weekly, J. Parmly Paret in Outing,[13] Charles Patterson,[14] and New York newspaper The Sun.[15]
"Football, however, is not a game where a great national championship is possible or desirable. The very nature of the sport would forbid anything like such a series of contests as are played in baseball."
— Walter Camp, 1919[16]
Claimed intercollegiate championships were limited to various selections and rankings, as the nature of the developing and increasingly violent full-contact sport made it impossible to schedule a post-season tournament to determine an "official" or undisputed champion.[16] National championships in this era were well understood to be "mythical".[13]
Beyond rankings in newspaper columns, awards and trophies began to be presented to teams. In 1917 members of the 9–0 Georgia Tech squad were given gold footballs with the inscription "National Champions" by alumni at their post-season banquet.[17] The Veteran Athletes of Philadelphia put up the Bonniwell Trophy for the national championship in 1919[18] under the stipulation that it was only "to be awarded in such years as produces a team whose standing is so preeminent as to make its selection as champion of America beyond dispute." Notre Dame was the first to be awarded the trophy, in 1924.[19]
Professor Frank G. Dickinson of Illinois developed the first mathematical ranking system to be widely popularized. Chicago clothing manufacturer Jack F. Rissman donated a trophy for the system's national championship in 1926 onward, first awarded to Stanford prior to their tie with Alabama in the Rose Bowl. A curious Knute Rockne, then coach of Notre Dame, convinced Dickinson and Rissman to backdate the Rissman Trophy two seasons; thus Notre Dame is engraved on the trophy for 1924 and Dartmouth for 1925.[20] The Rissman Trophy was retired by Notre Dame's three wins in 1924, 1929, and 1930; the Knute Rockne Memorial Trophy was put into competition for 1931 following the untimely death of the legendary coach. The popularity of the Dickinson System kicked off a succession of mathematical rankings carried in newspapers and magazines such as the Houlgate System, Azzi Ratem rankings, Dunkel Power Index, Williamson System, and Litkenhous Ratings.[13]
Two short-lived national championship trophies were contemporaries of the Dickinson System awards. The Albert Russel Erskine Trophy was won twice by Note Dame in 1929 and 1930, as voted by 250 sportswriters from around the country.[21][22] The large silver Erskine trophy was last awarded to USC on the field in Pasadena following their "national championship game" victory over Tulane in the 1932 Rose Bowl.[23] The Toledo Cup[24] was meant to be a long-running traveling trophy, but was promptly permanently retired by Minnesota's threepeat in 1934, 1935, and 1936.[25][26]
College football's foremost historian Parke H. Davis compiled a list of "National Champion Foot Ball Teams"[27] for the 1934 edition of Spalding's Official Foot Ball Guide.[13] Davis selected national champions for each year dating back to college football's inaugural season in 1869, for which he selected the sole competitors Princeton and Rutgers as co-champions.[13] Similar retrospective analysis was undertaken in the 1940s by Bill Schroeder of the Helms Athletic Foundation and in Deke Houlgate's The Football Thesaurus in 1954.[28][13]
The Associated Press (AP) began polling sportswriters in 1936 to obtain rankings. Alan J. Gould, the creator of the AP Poll, named Minnesota, Princeton, and SMU co-champions in 1935, and polled writers the following year, which resulted in a national championship for Minnesota.[20] The AP's main competition, United Press (UP), created the first Coaches Poll in 1950. For that year and the next three, the AP and UP agreed on the national champion. The first "split" national championship between the major polls occurred in 1954, when the writers selected Ohio State and the coaches chose UCLA.[29] The two polls have disagreed 11 times since 1950.[29]
Both wire services originally conducted their final polls at the end of the regular season and prior to any bowl games being played.[13] This changed when the AP Poll champion was crowned after the bowls for 1965 and then in 1968 onward. The Coaches Poll began awarding post-bowl championships in 1974. National champions crowned by pre-bowl polls who subsequently lost their bowl game[30] offered an opportunity for other teams to claim the title based on different selectors' awards and rankings,[13] such as the post-bowl FWAA Grantland Rice Award[31] or Helms Athletic Foundation title.[32]
Post-bowl polls allowed for the possibility of a "national championship game" to finally settle the question on the gridiron.[33] But a number of challenges made it difficult to schedule even the season's top two teams to play in a single post-season bowl game,[34] let alone all of the deserving teams.[35] Calls for a college football playoff were frequently made by head coach Joe Paterno of Penn State, whose independent teams finished the 1968, 1969, and 1973 seasons unbeaten, untied, and with Orange Bowl victories yet were left without a single major national title.[36][37]
The 1980s were marked by a succession of satisfying national championship games in the Orange Bowl and Fiesta Bowl,[34] but the 1990s began with consecutive split AP Poll and Coaches Poll national titles in 1990 and 1991. The Bowl Coalition[38] and then Bowl Alliance[39] were formed to more reliably set up a No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup in a bowl game on New Year's Day, but their efforts were hampered by the Rose Bowl's historic draw and contractual matchup between the Big Ten and Pac-10 conference champions.[39]
The Bowl Championship Series in 1998 succeeded in finally bringing the Big Ten and Pac-10 into the fold with the other conferences for a combined BCS National Championship Game rotated among the Fiesta, Sugar, Orange, and Rose bowls and venues.[20] BCS rankings originally incorporated the two major polls as well as a number of computer rankings to determine the end of season No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup.[40] Although the BCS era did regularly produce compelling matchups, the winnowing selection of the top two teams resulted in many BCS controversies, most notably 2003's split national championship caused by the BCS rankings leaving USC, No. 1 in both human polls, out of the Sugar Bowl.[41] The BCS victors were annually awarded The Coaches' Trophy "crystal football" on the field immediately following the championship game.
In 2014 the College Football Playoff made its debut, facilitating a multi-game single-elimination tournament for the first time in college football history. Four teams are seeded by a 13–member selection committee rather than by existing polls or mathematical rankings.[42] The two semifinal games are rotated among the New Year's Six bowl games, and the final is played a week later. The competition awards its own national championship trophy.[43]
NCAA records book
Although the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has never bestowed national championships in college football at the topmost level, it does maintain an official records book for the sport. The records book, with consultation from various college football historians,[44] contains a list of "major selectors"[7] of national championships from throughout the history of college football, along with their championship selections.[9]
Major selectors
While many people and organizations have named national champions throughout the years, the selectors below are listed in the official NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision Records book as being "major selectors" of national championships. The criterion for the NCAA's designation is that the poll or selector be "national in scope, either through distribution in newspaper, television, radio and/or computer online".[7] Former selectors, deemed instrumental in the sport of college football, and selectors that were included for the calculation of the BCS standing, are listed together.[7]
The NCAA records book divides its major selectors into three categories: those determined by mathematical formula, human polls, and historical research. The BCS is additionally categorized as a hybrid between math and polls, and the CFP as a playoff system.
Math
Many of the math selection systems were created during the 1920s and 1930s, beginning with Frank Dickinson's system, or during the dawn of the personal computer age in the 1990s. Selectors are listed below with years selected retroactively in italics.
| Selector | Name | Seasons | Trophy |
|---|---|---|---|
| A&H | Anderson & Hester[n1 1] | 1997–present | – |
| AS | Alderson System | 1994–1998 | – |
| B(QPRS) | Berryman (QPRS) | 1920–1989, 1990–2011 | – |
| BR | Billingsley Report[n1 2] | 1869–1969, 1970–2019 | – |
| BS | Boand System[46] | 1919–1929, 1930–1960 | Boand trophy[47] |
| CCR | Congrove Computer Rankings | 1993–present | – |
| CM | Colley Matrix | 1992–present | – |
| CW | Caspar Whitney | 1905–1907 | – |
| DeS | DeVold System | 1939–1944, 1945–2006 | – |
| DiS | Dickinson System | 1924[48][49]–1940 | Rissman trophy (1924–1925, 1926–1930) Rockne trophy (1931–1940) |
| DuS | Dunkel System | 1929–2019 | – |
| ERS | Eck Ratings System | 1987–2005 | – |
| HS | Houlgate System | 1885–1926, 1927–1958[50] | Foreman & Clark trophy[51] |
| L | Litkenhous Ratings | 1934–1978, 1981–1984 | Litkenhous trophy[45] (1934–1962) |
| MCFR | Massey College Football Ratings | 1995–present | – |
| MGR | Matthews Grid Ratings | 1966–1972, 1974–2006 | – |
| NYT | The New York Times | 1979–2004 | – |
| PS | Poling System | 1924–1934, 1935–1984 | – |
| R(FACT) | Rothman (FACT) | 1968–c.1970,[52] c.1971–2006 | – |
| SR | Sagarin Ratings | 1919–1977, 1978–present | – |
| W | Wolfe | 1992–present[n1 3] | – |
| WS | Williamson System | 1932–1963 | – |
- Notes
- ^ The NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision Records book shows Anderson & Hester listed as "Seattle Times."
- ^ The NCAA records books have contained four distinct sets of Billingsley Report national champions since the system's inclusion as a "major selector" in 1995. Billingsley made several changes to his system's formula over the years, most notably eliminating "Margin of Victory" as a BCS ranking component prior to the 2001 season. The details of the changes can be found at the system's dedicated article; all four sets of champions are included in the table below.
- ^ Wolfe did not provide rankings for the 2020 season, stating that there were not "enough games played to allow meaningful analysis," due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[53]
Poll
The poll has been the dominant national champion selection method since the inception of the AP Poll in 1936. The National Football Foundation merged its poll with UPI from 1991 to 1992, with USA Today from 1993 to 1996, and with the FWAA since 2014.
For many years, the national champions of various polls were selected before the annual bowl games were played, by AP (1936–1964 and 1966–1967), Coaches Poll (1950–1973), FWAA (1954), and NFF (1959–1970). In all other latter-day polls, champions were selected after bowl games.[54]: 112–119
During the BCS era, the winner of the BCS Championship Game was automatically awarded the national championship of the Coaches Poll and the National Football Foundation.
Selectors are listed below with years selected retroactively in italics. Poll selections that constitute a "Consensus National Championship"[55] in 1950 or later, as designated by the NCAA, are listed in bold.[55]
| Selector | Name | Seasons | Trophy |
|---|---|---|---|
| AP | Associated Press | 1936–present | Associated Press Trophy Williams Trophy (1941–1947) O'Donnell Trophy (1948–1956) Bryant Trophy (1957–1965) AP Trophy (1966–1977)[56] Bryant Trophy (1978–1989) AP Trophy (1990–present) |
| COACHES BRC UP UPI USAT/CNN USAT/ESPN USAT |
AFCA Coaches Poll Blue Ribbon Commission United Press United Press International USA Today/CNN USA Today/ESPN USA Today |
1950–present, 1922–1949 1922–1949[n2 1] 1950–1957[n2 2] 1958–1990[n2 2] 1991–1996[n2 3] 1997–2004[n2 3] 2005–present[n2 3] |
United Press Cup (1956–1958) UPI Trophy (1959–1985) The Coaches' Trophy (1986–present) |
| CFRA | College Football Researchers Association | 1919–1981, 1982–1992, 2009–present | – |
| FN | Football News | 1958–2002 | – |
| FWAA FWAA FWAA-NFF |
Football Writers Association of America FWAA FWAA-NFF Super 16 |
1954–present 1954–2013 2014–present[n2 4] |
Grantland Rice Award (1954–2013) |
| HICFP | Harris Interactive | 2005–2013[n2 5] | – |
| HAF | Helms Athletic Foundation | 1883–1940, 1941–1982[60] | – |
| INS | International News Service | 1952–1957[n2 2] | – |
| NCF | National Championship Foundation | 1869–1979, 1980–2000 | – |
| NFF NFF UPI/NFF USAT/NFF NFF FWAA-NFF |
National Football Foundation NFF United Press International/NFF USA Today/NFF NFF FWAA-NFF Super 16 |
1959–present 1959–1990 1991–1992[n2 2] 1993–1996[n2 3] 1997–present[n2 6] 2014–present[n2 4] |
MacArthur Bowl[62] |
| SN | Sporting News | 1975–2006 | – |
| TOP25 USAT USAT/CNN |
Top 25 USA Today USA Today/CNN |
1982–1990 1982[n2 3] 1983–1990[n2 3] |
Top 25 trophy[63] |
| UPI | United Press International | 1993–1995[n2 2] | – |
- Notes
- ^ At the request of several schools, the AFCA established a "Blue Ribbon Commission" in 2016 to begin retroactively selecting Coaches' Trophy winners for 1922 through 1949.[57] The trophy is awarded upon application by individual schools.[58] Trophies have been awarded to TCU for 1935 and 1938, Texas A&M for 1939, and Oklahoma State for 1945.
- ^ a b c d e United Press first published their poll of coaches in 1950. International News Service published a separate poll between 1952 and 1957. In 1958 the two news agencies merged, and the Coaches Poll was published by United Press International from 1958 to 1990 until it was taken over by USA Today in 1991. UPI then published the National Football Foundation poll from 1991 to 1992 until it too was taken over by USA Today. Finally, UPI published a poll from 1993 to 1995 that was unaffiliated with either the Coaches Poll or NFF.
- ^ a b c d e f USA Today published its own Top 25 college football poll when the national magazine launched in 1982. In 1983 the poll took on CNN as a voting and broadcast partner. In 1991 USA Today / CNN took over the Coaches Poll from UPI. Between 1993 and 1996 USA Today additionally published the National Football Foundation poll. USA Today has published the Coaches Poll since 1991, with partners CNN from 1991 to 1996 and ESPN from 1997 to 2004.
- ^ a b Since the beginning of the College Football Playoff era in 2014, the Football Writers Association of America and National Football Foundation have partnered to conduct the weekly FWAA-NFF Super 16 poll.[59] The final FWAA-NFF poll is taken at the end of the regular season with the intention of influencing the CFP Selection Committee's playoff team selections.[59] No poll is taken after the bowl games or CFP National Championship game and the FWAA-NFF poll does not award or name a national champion. The FWAA's Grantland Rice Award was retired following the 2013 season and the end of the BCS era.[59] The NFF's MacArthur Bowl is now awarded after the season to the CFP national champion.
- ^ The Harris Interactive College Football Poll was contracted by the BCS to help formulate its standings. It did not conduct a final poll following the BCS National Championship Game or award or name a national champion on its own, so is not included in the table of national championship selections.[7]
- ^ From 1998 to 2013, the MacArthur Bowl was presented to the Bowl Championship Series national champion.[61] Since 2014, it has been presented to the College Football Playoff national champion.[61]
Research
College football historian Parke H. Davis is the only selector considered by the NCAA to have primarily used research in his selections.[54]: 117 Davis published his work in the 1934 edition of Spalding's Foot Ball Guide,[27] naming retroactive national champions for the years 1869 to 1932 while naming Michigan and Princeton (his alma mater) contemporary co-champions for the 1933 season. In all, he selected 94 teams over 61 seasons as "National Champion Foot Ball Teams".[27] For 21 of these teams (at 12 schools), he was the only major selector to choose them. Their schools use 17 of Davis' singular selections to claim national titles. His work has been criticized for having a heavy Eastern bias, with little regard for the South and the West Coast.[64]
| Selector | Name | Seasons | Trophy |
|---|---|---|---|
| PD | Parke H. Davis | 1869–1932, 1933 | – |
Hybrid
The Bowl Championship Series used a mathematical system that combined polls (Coaches and AP/Harris) and multiple computer rankings (including some individual selectors listed above) to determine a season ending matchup between its top two ranked teams in the BCS Championship Game. The champion of that game was contractually awarded the Coaches Poll and National Football Foundation championships.