College football national championships in NCAA Division I FBS information
Annual selection of best U.S. team
National championships NCAA Division I FBS
Current season, competition or edition: 2023 NCAA Division I FBS football season
Sport
American football
Founded
1869; 155 years ago (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
1869
1870
1871
1872
1873
1874
1875
1876
1877
1878
1879
1880
1881
1882
1883
1884
1885
1886
1887
1888
1889
1890
1891
1892
1893
1894
1895
1896
1897
1898
1899
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1901
1902
1903
1904
1905
1906
1907
1908
1909
1910
1911
1912
1913
1914
1915
1916
1917
1918
1919
1920
1921
1922
1923
1924
1925
1926
1927
1928
1929
1930
1931
1932
1933
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1935
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1939
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1941
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1943
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1954
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1958
1959
1960
1961
1962
1963
1964
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1967
1968
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2015
2016
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2022
2023
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 sanction 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 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.
^"Syracuse and Cornell Still Top Gridders". The Reading Eagle. Reading, Pennsylvania. November 12, 1923. p. 12. Archived from the original on November 17, 2015. Retrieved May 5, 2015.
^Viehman, Harold H., ed. (1939). The 1939 Owl. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh. p. 276. Archived from the original on April 4, 2012. Retrieved May 5, 2015.
^Dodd, Dennis (December 22, 2004). "Subtracting AP poll leaves BCS again scrambling for legitimacy". CBS Sports. Archived from the original on March 8, 2013. Retrieved May 5, 2015.
^Peterson, Bill (November 5, 2008). "UC Football in the Hunt for a Big East Crown and BCS Bid". Citybeat.com. Archived from the original on June 9, 2015. Retrieved May 5, 2015.
^ abCite error: The named reference NCAA1960 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ abHooper, Matt (October 10, 2009). Noel, Tex (ed.). "How many national titles can Alabama really lay claim to? Better yet, why is there more than one answer? (republished with permission from the Birmingham Weekly)" (PDF). The College Football Historian. 2 (9). Intercollegiate Football Researchers Association. ISSN 2326-3628. Archived (PDF) from the original on September 24, 2015. Retrieved May 5, 2015.
^ abCite error: The named reference NCAA_2022_Major_Selectors was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ abWeinreb, Michael (June 18, 2013). "Tricky Dick's Trick Play". Grantland. ESPN Internet Ventures. Archived from the original on July 2, 2016. Retrieved January 8, 2017. In 1969, President Nixon was the decider of the national championship
^Cite error: The named reference NCAA_2022_Final_National_Poll_Leaders was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Blevins, Dave (2012). College Football Awards: All National and Conference Winners Through 2010. p. 73. the two most widely recognized and authoritative [national championship] selectors are the Associated Press (which conducts a poll of football sportswriters) and the USA Today Coaches' Poll of the American Football Coaches Association.
^Benagh, Jim (October 6, 1985). "Top Spot in Poll Draws Reward". The New York Times. Retrieved August 14, 2022. When the University of Iowa rose to No. 1 in The Associated Press and the United Press International college football rankings last week, it was reason for elation across the state. ... The polls, since the first one began 50 years ago this month, have been the prime measuring stick for determining the champion, albeit an unofficial one.
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Global Information
2023 NCAA Division I FBS football season