NCAA Division I-A national football championship
The
NCAA Division I-A national football championship is the only
Division I-A
NCAA-sponsored sport without an organized
tournament to determine its champion.
Although football is the most popular NCAA sport and the sport in which public interest in the "championship" might be highest, there may be in fact no undisputed champion in any given year. Criticisms lodged against the NCAA DI-A football division include the fact that the final ranking of NCAA DI-A football teams is decided by subjective standards which are often regarded as being arbitrary. Many believe that the champion of the most popular collegiate sport should not be decided by polls. The major push for changes to the system is less than a decade old, while Bowl traditions approach a century old. The most vocal supportors of a change to the system are fans, sportscasters, and some coaches, while school presidents largely favor the current system..
Since the start of college football, there have been many individuals, publications and organizations that have selected their national champion. Some carried more weight than others. Also, some organizations have gone back and researched those early seasons and retroactively constructed rankings and determined recognized champions of major college football. Some examples of these type of polls include the National Championship Foundation, the College Football Researchers Association, and the
Helms Athletic Foundation. Other systems, such as the Dickinson System, used statistical analysis to determine a ranking.
One of the first major media poll was the
AP Poll released in 1936 and is still in use today. This poll utilizes a vast network of sportswriters to determine its ranking. Another poll still in use today is the
Coaches Poll which polls a random selection of 62 collegiate football
head coaches to determine its ranking.
The tradition, and the controversy, is carried on today with the
Bowl Championship Series (BCS), created for the
1998 season, and its predecessors — the
Bowl Coalition from seasons
1992 to
1994, and the
Bowl Alliance from seasons
1995 to
1997. The
AP and Coaches' polls, computer rankings, strength of schedule and performance against other top teams were combined into a formula, with the top two teams meeting in the
BCS National Championship Game.
Most recently, in
2003 USC did not play in the BCS title game, despite finishing the regular season as #1 in both the AP and coaches polls. In the BCS formula Oklahoma was ranked #1 at the end of the regular season and
LSU ended up #2. Under the BCS agreement Oklahoma played LSU in the championship game. LSU won the BCS title game, giving it the BCS title and #1 ranking in the coaches' poll, while the sportswriters voted USC #1 in the AP poll. The resulting "split" national championship forced more changes to the BCS formula for the 2004 season, when the BCS formula was once again tweaked (see
Bowl Championship Series article).
On two occasions, the BCS formula has worked ideally: in 2002 & 2005 there were only two undefeated teams at the end of the season. In 2002 those teams were The Ohio State Buckeyes (OSU) and The Miami Huricanes. In 2005 those teams were the
USC Trojans and the
Texas Longhorns. In 2002 The Ohio State Buckeyes defeated Miami in the Fiesta Bowl to claim the outright title and in 2005 The Texas Longhorns defeated USC in the Rose Bowl to claim the outright title. The use of the
Bowl Championship Series formula, however, has fostered debate amongst those college football fans who are proponents of a playoff system.The term Division I-A was not used until 1978, and before that the term 'major college champion' was often used.
August 3, 2006- The Division I Board of Directors took action regarding the two football subdivisions in Division I (Division I-A and I-AA), the Board approved new labels. The presidents approved a change in terminology to "
Football Bowl Subdivision" for the former I-A classification and "
NCAA Football Championship Subdivision" for the former I-AA group. The Collegiate Commissioners Association helped develop the new labels.
The presidents believe the new nomenclature, which becomes effective in December 2006, more accurately distinguishes Division I institutions for purposes of governing football, the only sport for which such a distinction is necessary. Members felt the old nomenclature inaccurately tiered Division I institutions in all sports, not just football, and produced instances in which media outlets and other entities incorrectly cited institutions as being Division I-AA in basketball or baseball, for example.
The new nomenclature does not effect the voting structure used in Division I governance matters.
As mentioned previously, the NCAA does not award a consensus national champion for Division I-A football and thus many polls take that responsibility. The most widely accepted polls in use today are the AP Poll and the Coaches Poll/BCS Ranking (the voters of the Coaches Poll has to choose the winner of the BCS National Championship Game as its national champion so these are one in the same for this purpose). Prior to 1936, determining national champions is more difficult. According to the website, College Football Data Warehouse, the most acceptable selectors throughout history are the National Championship Foundation, Helms Athletic Foundation, and the College Football Researchers Association.
Following is a table of the polls that will be used for this ranking:
*1947 Michigan, there was an unofficial post-bowl poll that moved Michigan ahead of Notre Dame. The official final AP poll, taken before the bowls, had Notre Dame #1 and Michigan #2.
This is a source of much debate. Before 1901 the national title was dominated by teams that are now members of the
Ivy League. Yale and Princeton each claim as many as 24 national championships. However, Yale's last title was in 1927 and Princeton's was in 1935. The University of Michigan won the first non-Ivy League national championship in 1901 (game played in January, 1902).
Using only the sources recognized above, the following teams have won the most championships since 1901:
| Team | Recognized titles | Winning years |
|---|
| Notre Dame | 13 | 1924, 1929, 1930, 1938, 1943, 1946, 1947, 1949, 1953, 1966, 1973, 1977, 1988 |
| Alabama | 11 | 1925, 1926, 1930, 1945, 1961, 1964, 1965, 1973, 1978, 1979, 1992 |
| USC | 11 | 1928, 1931, 1932, 1939, 1962, 1967, 1972, 1974, 1978, 2003, 2004 |
| Oklahoma | 9 | 1949, 1950, 1953, 1955, 1956, 1974, 1975, 1985, 2000 |
| Michigan | 7 | 1901, 1902, 1932, 1933, 1947, 1948, 1997 |
| Ohio State | 7 | 1942, 1944, 1954, 1957, 1961, 1968, 2002 |
| Minnesota | 6 | 1934, 1935, 1936, 1940, 1941, 1960 |
| Miami (FL) | 5 | 1983, 1987, 1989, 1991, 2001 |
| Nebraska | 5 | 1970, 1971, 1994, 1995, 1997 |
| Tennessee | 4 | 1938, 1950, 1951, 1998 |
| Texas | 4 | 1963, 1969, 1970, 2005 |
| Georgia Tech | 4 | 1917, 1928, 1952, 1990 |
|
Several universities claim more championships than are listed above (e.g., Michigan claims 11 national championships) and some claim fewer championships than are listed above (e.g., Oklahoma claims 7 national championships).
Futhermore, some universities have received mention as a national champion by at least one source â€" which some universities would claim as a national title â€" but do not count it among the consensus championships. For instance, by some counts, Notre Dame has 11 consensus titles (1924, '29, '30, '43, '46, '47, '49, '66, '73, '77, '88), but another 8 seasons where one reliable source declared Notre Dame the national champion (1919, '20, '27, '38, '53, '64, '67, '70).
*
NCAA Division I-A national football champions*
NCAA Division I-AA Consensus Mid-Major Football National Championship*
NCAA Division II national football championship*
NCAA Division III national football championship*
List of college bowl games*
NCAA football page
