NCAA Division I FBS national football championship

A college football "national championship" in the highest level of collegiate play in the United States, currently the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), is a designation awarded annually by various third-party organizations to their selection(s) of the best college football team(s). Division I FBS (formerly Division I-A) football is the only NCAA sport in which a yearly champion is not determined by an NCAA sanctioned championship event.

National championships in the Official NCAA Division I Football Records Book

The NCAA maintains an official records book of historical statistics and records for Division I football. In the records book, with consultation from various college football historians, it has created and maintains a list of "major selectors" of national championships throughout the history of college football along with their championship picks for each season.

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Math

The mathematical system is the oldest systematic selector of college football national champions. Many of the math selectors were created during the "championship rush" of the 1920s and 1930s, beginning with Frank Dickinson's system, or during the dawn of the computer age in the 1990s. Selectors are listed below with years selected retroactively in italics.

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*The BCS uses both polls and a mathematical system to determine a season ending matchup between its top two ranked teams in the BCS Championship Game. The champion of that game is contractually awarded the Coaches' Poll and National Football Foundation championships.

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Poll

The poll has been the dominant national champion selector since the inception of the AP poll in 1936. It is notable that the NFF merged with UPI from 1991?1992 and USA Today from 1993-1994. Selectors are listed below with years selected retroactively in italics.

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For many years, the national champion of various polls were selected prior to the bowl games. The national champion was selected before bowl games as follows: AP (1936?64 and 1966?67), Coaches' Poll (1950?1973), FWAA (1954), and NFF (1959?1970). In all other latter-day polls, champions were selected after bowl games.

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Presently the winner of BCS Championship Game is automatically awarded the national championship of the Coaches' Poll and the National Football Foundation.

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In addition to these, since 2005 the BCS has commissioned Harris Interactive to conduct a poll of former college football players, coaches, and administrators. This human poll is used to help calculate the BCS standings. No final poll is taken after the BCS championship game and no national championship is awarded or named by Harris Interactive.

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Research

College football historian Parke H. Davis is the only selector considered by the NCAA to have primarily used research in his selections. Davis did all of his work in 1933, naming retroactive national champions for most of the years from 1869?1932 and naming Michigan and (his alma mater) co-champions at the end of the 1933 season.

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Yearly national championship selections from major selectors

Below is a list of the national champions of college football from 1869-present (with the exception of 1871, in which no games were played) deemed to be chosen by "major selectors" as listed in the Official NCAA Division I Records Book..

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Please note that the Harris Interactive Poll (2005?present) is contracted by the BCS to help formulate its standings, and although its final ranking which occurs prior to the bowl games is listed in the Official NCAA Record Book, it does not conduct a final poll or award or name a national champion on its own and so has been eliminated from the following table. Therefore, these claims represent how each individual school sees their own history on the subject of national championships.

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This table below includes only national championship claims originating from each particular school and therefore represents the point-of-view of each individual institution. Each total number of championships, and the years for which they are claimed, are documented by the particular school on its official website, in its football media guide, or in other official publications or literature (see Source). If a championship is not mentioned by a school for any particular season, regardless of whether it was awarded by a selector or listed in a third-party publication such as the Official NCAA Records Book, it is not considered to be claimed by that institution.

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a In Yale's Media Guide Year-By-Year Results section, the 1887 is listed as National Champs, however this title is not referred to elsewhere and is not included in the list of 26 National Championships that are claimed in the media guide or on Yale's athletic website.

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b In an on-line list of the university's national championships, Georgia lists only two for football (1942 and 1980). However, in Georgia's football media guide, although those years are highlighted as consensus championships, each of the five championships are described separately and has itself recognized selectors that it has deemed to be the most acceptable throughout history. These include the National Championship Foundation (1869?1882), the Helms Athletic Foundation (1883?1935), the College Football Researchers Association (1919?1935), the Associated Press Poll (1936-current), and the Coaches Poll (1950-current). From its research, it has compiled a list of Recognized National Championships for each season. Some years include recognition of multiple teams for a particular season. Please note that the CFBDW list of Recognized Champions does not confer any additional legitimacy to the titles. In this regard, some universities claim championships not recognized by CFBDW or do not claim championships that are recognized by CFBDW. Please consult the above table of National championship claims by school or individual team articles and websites for possible additional or alternative national championship claims.

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Below is a list of all of the CFBDW recognized national championships from 1869-present.

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NCAA Division I FBS national football championship related Images and Photos (experimental)

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