College football national championships in NCAA Division I FBS

{{Season sidebar

| image =

| caption =

| title = National championship trophies

| list =

• Bonniwell (1924–1930)
• Rissman (1926–1930)
• Erskine (1929–1931)
• Rockne (1931–1940)
• Rissman (1932)
• 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)
• {{nowrap|College Football Playoff (since 2014)}}

}}

File:First ever year-end college football ranking from The Sun newspaper (1901).jpg was among the first to publish year-end college football rankings]]

The concept of a national championship in college football dates to the early years of the sport in the late 19th century.{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=g_pBAAAAIBAJ&pg=6880%2C6406648 |title=Doctors After the Indians |newspaper=Baltimore American |location=Baltimore, Maryland |date=October 31, 1899 |volume=187 |number=34,129 |page=4 |access-date=May 5, 2015 |archive-date=November 17, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151117044914/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=g_pBAAAAIBAJ&pg=6880%2C6406648 |url-status=live |quote=[Carlisle was] defeated by Harvard last Saturday, which gives the Crimson the best chance for national championship honors this year.}} Some of the earliest contemporaneous rankings can be traced to Caspar Whitney in Harper's Weekly, J. Parmly Paret in Outing, Charles Patterson,{{cite journal | url=http://www.secsportsfan.com/support-files/may_09.pdf | title=Three Actual Polls from the 1901 College Football Season | journal=The College Football Historian | publisher=Intercollegiate Football Researchers Association | editor-first=Tex | editor-last=Noel | date=May 2009 | volume=2 | issue=4 | issn=2326-3628 | access-date=May 5, 2015 | archive-date=September 24, 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924095959/http://www.secsportsfan.com/support-files/may_09.pdf | url-status=live }} and New York newspaper The Sun.{{cite news |date=December 4, 1899 |title=In the Football World: How the Leading Elevens are Impartially Rated |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/120276251/the-sun-1899-football-ratings-football/ |work=The Sun |publication-place=New York |access-date=March 5, 2023 |quote=With the football season at an end, the critics are busily engaged in reviewing the various big games and in rating the leading elevens according to merit. |archive-date=March 6, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230306035334/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/120276251/the-sun-1899-football-ratings-football/ |url-status=live }}

{{Blockquote |text="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." |author=Walter Camp |source=1919{{cite magazine |last=Camp |first=Walter |author-link=Walter Camp |date=December 13, 1919 |title=Walter Camp's All-America Football Team |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y2AwAQAAMAAJ&pg=RA19-PA46 |magazine=Collier's |access-date=March 6, 2023 |volume=64 |number=20 |page=46 |quote=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.}}}}

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. National championships in this era were well understood to be "mythical".

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.{{cite news |last=Jemison |first=Dick |date=December 9, 1917 |title=Everett Strupper Elected To Lead 1918 Tech Eleven |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/112822862/1917-national-champion-trophies/ |work=The Atlanta Constitution |access-date=February 21, 2023 |quote=To each member of the team was presented from admiring alumni gold footballs with the inscription, "National Champions." |archive-date=February 22, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230222062819/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/112822862/1917-national-champion-trophies/ |url-status=live }} The Veteran Athletes of Philadelphia put up the Bonniwell Trophy for the national championship in 1919{{cite magazine |date=January 1925 |title=Bonniwell National Football Trophy of America Awarded to Notre Dame |url=http://www.archives.nd.edu/Alumnus/VOL_0003/VOL_0003_ISSUE_0004.pdf |magazine=The Notre Dame Alumnus |location=South Bend, Indiana |editor-last=Ryan |editor-first=Alfred C. |publisher=The Alumni Association of the University of Notre Dame |volume=III |number=4 |pages=96, 105 |access-date=November 8, 2022 |archive-date=November 9, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221109045130/http://www.archives.nd.edu/Alumnus/VOL_0003/VOL_0003_ISSUE_0004.pdf |url-status=live }} 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.{{cite news |date=December 5, 1924 |title=Notre Dame to Receive National Title Trophy |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/120284238/1924-notre-dame-to-receive-national/ |work=The News-Journal |place=Philadelphia |publication-place=Lancaster, Pennsylvania |access-date=March 5, 2023 |quote=[The Bonniwell Trophy] is "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." |archive-date=March 6, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230306065853/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/120284238/1924-notre-dame-to-receive-national/ |url-status=live }}

File:Rissman Trophy 1929.jpg]]

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.{{cite book|last1=Walsh|first1=Christopher J.|title=Who's #1?: 100-Plus Years of Controversial National Champions in College Football|date=2007|publisher=Taylor Trade Publications|isbn=9781461734765|pages=13–16, 148–149|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7cEVAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA135|access-date=May 5, 2015|archive-date=November 26, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151126063024/https://books.google.com/books?id=7cEVAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA135|url-status=live}} 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.

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.{{cite news |date=February 7, 1930 |title=Football Award will be made at Pittsburgh |newspaper=The Reflector |volume=VIII |number=17 |page=3 |publisher=Indiana Central College |location=South Bend, Indiana |publication-place=Indianapolis, Indiana |access-date=May 17, 2022 |url=https://uindy.edu/archives/files/reflector/1930s/1930-02-07.pdf |quote=The Albert Russell {{sic}} Eskine Trophy, emblematic of the national football championship as determined by 250 sports writers, will be presented to Notre Dame, 1929 winner, at the Pittsburgh–Notre Dame basketball game in this city, February 8. |archive-date=March 6, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230306080406/https://uindy.edu/archives/files/reflector/1930s/1930-02-07.pdf |url-status=live }}{{cite news |date=January 1931 |title=Notre Dame Receives Erskine Award |newspaper=The Notre Dame Alumnus |volume=IX |number=5 |page=169 |publisher=The Alumni Association of the University of Notre Dame |location=South Bend, Indiana |access-date=May 17, 2022 |url=http://www.archives.nd.edu/Alumnus/VOL_0009/VOL_0009_ISSUE_0005.pdf |quote=Nation's sports writers pick Notre Dame football team as champions by record vote; Trophy awarded in New York January second. |archive-date=March 6, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230306080406/http://www.archives.nd.edu/Alumnus/VOL_0009/VOL_0009_ISSUE_0005.pdf |url-status=live }} 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.{{cite news |author= |date=January 2, 1932 |title=Trojans Get Erskine 1931 Grid Award |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/99164983/trojans-get-erskine-1931-grid-award/ |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |access-date=May 17, 2022 |quote=Southern California's 21–12 victory over Tulane brought the Trojans the Albert Russell Erskine football trophy and the national grid championship for 1931. Presentation of the trophy was made in front of the Trojan rooting section following the game by William R. Moorehouse, member of the Erskine award board. The Erskine award brought a Studebaker President eight sedan to Coach Howard Jones, an engraved cup to the University of Southern California and a scroll signifying the national championship to the Trojan team. |archive-date=May 25, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220525024213/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/99164983/trojans-get-erskine-1931-grid-award/ |url-status=live }} The Toledo Cup{{Cite sign |title=Toledo Cup — National Collegiate Football Championship |date=January 6, 2023 |type=Trophy |location=Gibson-Nagurski Athletic Center, University of Minnesota |url=https://www.toledoblade.com/image/2023/01/06/1140x_a10-7_cTC/screenshot-2023-01-06-at-3-22-10-pm-png.png |access-date=May 6, 2023 |quote=1934, 1935, 1936 — University of Minnesota |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230506163456/https://www.toledoblade.com/image/2023/01/06/1140x_a10-7_cTC/screenshot-2023-01-06-at-3-22-10-pm-png.png |archive-date=May 6, 2023}} was meant to be a long-running traveling trophy, but was promptly permanently retired by Minnesota's threepeat in 1934, 1935, and 1936.{{cite news |last=Briggs |first=David |date=January 8, 2023 |title=What if one of the greatest trophies in sports was named after Toledo? In college football, it once was |url=https://www.toledoblade.com/sports/college/2023/01/07/briggs-what-if-one-of-sports-greatest-trophies-was-named-after-toledo-in-college-football-it-once-was/stories/20230107030 |work=The Blade |publication-place=Toledo, Ohio |access-date=February 3, 2023 |archive-date=February 3, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230203203314/https://www.toledoblade.com/sports/college/2023/01/07/briggs-what-if-one-of-sports-greatest-trophies-was-named-after-toledo-in-college-football-it-once-was/stories/20230107030 |url-status=live }}{{cite news |last=Emerson |first=Seth |date=August 20, 2023 |title=College football's last 3-peat: The Minnesota national title history Georgia is chasing |url=https://theathletic.com/4787218/2023/08/20/minnesota-football-three-peat-bierman-georgia/ |work=The Athletic |place=Minneapolis |access-date=September 14, 2023 |archive-date=August 28, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230828014312/https://theathletic.com/4787218/2023/08/20/minnesota-football-three-peat-bierman-georgia/ |url-status=live }}

College football's foremost historian Parke H. Davis compiled a list of "National Champion Foot Ball Teams" for the 1934 edition of Spalding's Official Foot Ball Guide. 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. 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.{{cite news |last=McLellan |first=Bruce |date=September 3, 1983 |title=A Belated Look at Some No. 1 Teams |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/112743559/a-belated-look-at-some-no-1-teams/ |work=The Macon Telegraph |publication-place=Macon, Georgia |access-date=November 8, 2022 |archive-date=November 8, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221108174212/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/112743559/a-belated-look-at-some-no-1-teams/ |url-status=live }}

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. 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. The two polls have disagreed 11 times since 1950.

Both wire services originally conducted their final polls at the end of the regular season and prior to any bowl games being played. 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 offered an opportunity for other teams to claim the title based on different selectors' awards and rankings, such as the post-bowl FWAA Grantland Rice Award or Helms Athletic Foundation title.

Post-bowl polls allowed for the possibility of a "national championship game" to finally settle the question on the gridiron. 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, let alone all of the deserving teams. 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.{{cite news |agency=Associated Press |date=January 5, 1978 |title=Paterno Advocates Playoff System |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/120432832/paterno-advocates-playoff-system-1978/ |work=Lancaster New Era |place=New York |publication-place=Lancaster, Pennsylvania |access-date=March 8, 2023 |archive-date=March 8, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230308165643/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/120432832/paterno-advocates-playoff-system-1978/ |url-status=live }}{{cite news |agency=Associated Press |date=December 5, 1985 |title=Paterno: Playoffs should decide who's No. 1 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/120430145/paterno-playoffs-should-decide-whos/ |work=The Sentinel |place=New York |publication-place=Carlisle, Pennsylvania |access-date=March 8, 2023 |archive-date=March 8, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230308165643/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/120430145/paterno-playoffs-should-decide-whos/ |url-status=live }}

The 1980s were marked by a succession of satisfying national championship games in the Orange Bowl and Fiesta Bowl, but the 1990s began with consecutive split AP Poll and Coaches Poll national titles in 1990 and 1991. The Bowl Coalition and then Bowl Alliance 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.

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. 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. 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. 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. Until 2024, four teams were seeded by a 13–member selection committee rather than by existing polls or mathematical rankings. The two semifinal games were rotated among the New Year's Six bowl games, and the final was played a week later. Beginning in 2024, the playoff field was expanded to 12 teams. The competition awards its own national championship trophy.

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, contains a list of "major selectors" of national championships from throughout the history of college football, along with their championship selections.

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". 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.

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.

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.

File:Litkenhous Ratings Championship trophy.jpg Championship trophy, 1934–1962]]

;Notes

{{reflist|group=n1}}

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.{{rp|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" in 1950 or later, as designated by the NCAA, are listed in bold.

;Notes

{{reflist|group=n2}}

College football historian Parke H. Davis is the only selector considered by the NCAA to have primarily used research in his selections.{{rp|117}} Davis published his work in the 1934 edition of Spalding's Foot Ball Guide, 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". 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.{{cite web|url=https://tiptop25.com/parkedavis.html|first=James|last=Vautravers|title=Parke Davis|access-date=March 11, 2022|archive-date=November 20, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211120060935/https://tiptop25.com/parkedavis.html|url-status=live}}

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.

Unlike all selectors prior to 2014, the College Football Playoff does not use math, polls or research to select the participants. Rather, a 13-member committee selects and seeds the teams.{{cite news|last1=Whitley|first1=David|title=College football playoff selection committee members will need witness protection|url=http://www.sportingnews.com/ncaa-football/story/2013-02-08/college-football-playoff-selection-committee-bcs-members-bobby-bowden-slocum|access-date=May 5, 2015|publisher=AOL SportingNews.com|date=February 9, 2013|archive-date=July 9, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150709041433/http://www.sportingnews.com/ncaa-football/story/2013-02-08/college-football-playoff-selection-committee-bcs-members-bobby-bowden-slocum|url-status=live}} The playoff system marked the first time any championship selector arranged a bracket competition to determine whom it would declare to be its champion.

Below is a list of the national champions of college football since 1869 chosen by NCAA-designated "major selectors" listed in the official Football Bowl Subdivision Records publication.

Many teams did not have coaches as late as 1899. The first contemporaneous poll to include teams across the country and selection of a national champions can be traced to Caspar Whitney in 1901. The tie was removed from college football in 1995 and the last consensus champion with a tie in its record was Georgia Tech in 1990.

As designated by the official NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision Records publication:

• Champions included in this table are exclusively those named by an NCAA-designated "major selector" for the given year.
• Teams and selectors listed in italics indicate retroactively applied championships.
• Teams listed in bold reflect the NCAA's designation as "Consensus National Champions" by virtue of their selection from 1950 onward by one or more of the following selectors: Associated Press, United Press/UPI, Football Writers Association of America, National Football Foundation, and USA Today.

A letter next to any season, team, record, coach or selector indicates a footnote that appears at the bottom of the table.

^aParke H. Davis' selection for 1901, as published in the 1934 edition of Spalding's Foot Ball Guide, was Harvard. The NCAA Records Book states "Yale" for 1901, which is an error that has been perpetuated since the first appearance of Parke H. Davis' selections in the 1994 NCAA records book.

^bThe FWAA stripped USC of its 2004 Grantland Rice Trophy and vacated the selection of its national champion for 2004. The BCS also vacated USC's participation in the 2005 Orange Bowl and USC's 2004 BCS National Championship, and the AFCA Coaches Poll Coaches' Trophy was returned.{{cite web|title=USC loses Grantland Rice Trophy|url=https://www.espn.com/los-angeles/ncf/news/story?id=5500128|date=August 26, 2010|work=ESPN|access-date=May 5, 2015|archive-date=August 27, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100827191213/http://sports.espn.go.com/los-angeles/ncf/news/story?id=5500128|url-status=live}}

^cRecord does not count wins against UCLA, or against Oklahoma in the BCS Championship game on January 4, 2005, as they were vacated by the NCAA.{{cite web|title=University of Southern California Public Interactions Report|url=http://i.usatoday.net/sports/college/2010-06-10-usc-ncaa-report.pdf|website=USA Today|publisher=NCAA|access-date=May 5, 2015|archive-date=November 7, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151107105137/http://i.usatoday.net/sports/college/2010-06-10-usc-ncaa-report.pdf|url-status=live}}

^dThe NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision Records book lists Dunkel as having selected LSU, while Dunkel's official website gave USC as its 2007 selection.{{cite web |last1=Dunkel |first1=Bob |title=Final 2007: Trojans Finish Ranked No. 1 |url=http://www.dunkelindex.com/rankings/football/ncaa/ |publisher=The Dunkel Index |access-date=October 31, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080906111701/http://www.dunkelindex.com/NCAA_Football_2007_Div1A_Rankings.asp |archive-date=September 6, 2008 |url-status=dead |quote=LSU was able to beat Ohio State (38-24) to claim its second BCS championship, but it was USC that finished with the top rating in the Index after dismantling Illinois in the Rose Bowl (49-17). The Trojans' domination of the Illini -- a team that had beaten Ohio State on the road during the final weeks of the regular season -- vaulted USC to the top spot while the Tigers finished No. 2.}}

^eThe NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision Records book lists CCR as having selected LSU, while CCR's official website gives USC as its 2003 selection.{{cite web|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20040217190540/http://www.collegefootballpoll.com:80/2003_archive_computer_rankings.html |url-status=dead|archive-date=February 17, 2004|url= http://www.collegefootballpoll.com:80/2003_archive_computer_rankings.html| title= Final 2003–2004 Season Congrove Computer Rankings |website= College Football Poll|access-date=December 10, 2021}}

^fThe NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision Records book lists DeVold (DeS) as having selected Florida, while DeVold's official website gives Ohio State as its 2006 selection.{{cite web|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070203031126/http://homepages.cae.wisc.edu/~dwilson/rsfc/rate/devold.txt |url-status=dead|archive-date=February 3, 2007|url= http://homepages.cae.wisc.edu/~dwilson/rsfc/rate/devold.txt| title= Harry DeVold's final 100 Best College Football Teams For 2006 |website= University of Wisconsin-Madison Computer-Aided Engineering |access-date=December 10, 2021}}

^gThe NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision Records book lists R(FACT) as having selected Florida, while R(FACT)'s official website gives co-champions Ohio State and Florida as its 2006 selection.{{cite web|url=http://homepages.cae.wisc.edu/~dwilson/rsfc/history/rothman.txt| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20190916071202/http://homepages.cae.wisc.edu/~dwilson/rsfc/history/rothman.txt|url-status=dead|archive-date=September 16, 2019|title=FOUR DECADES OF COLLEGE FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS|website=University of Wisconsin-Madison Computer-Aided Engineering|access-date=December 10, 2021}}

^hThe NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision Records book lists Wolfe as having selected Florida, while Wolfe's official website gives Utah as its 2008 selection.

ⁱThe NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision Records book lists CCR as having selected Alabama, while CCR's official website gives LSU as its 2011 selection.

^jThe NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision Records book lists Anderson & Hester (A&H) as having selected LSU, while A&H's official website gives Missouri as its 2007 selection.

^kThe NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision Records book lists Anderson & Hester (A&H) as having selected Alabama, while A&H's official website gives LSU as its 2011 selection.

^lThe NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision Records book lists the Williamson System as having selected TCU and LSU as co-champions for 1935. However the system's post-bowl final rankings published in January 1936 show TCU first, SMU second, and LSU third. The accompanying column written by Paul B. Williamson states "There was no undisputable national champion in 1935".

^mThe NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision Records book lists the Williamson System as having selected LSU in 1936. However the system's post-bowl final rankings show Minnesota first and LSU fourth.

ⁿThe NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision Records book lists the Williamson System as having selected Pittsburgh in 1937. However the system's post-bowl final rankings show California first and Pittsburgh second.

^oThe NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision Records book lists the Williamson System as having selected TCU alone in 1938. However the system's post-bowl final rankings show a tie between TCU and Tennessee.

^pThe NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision Records book lists the Williamson System as having selected Tennessee in 1940. However the system's post-bowl final rankings show Stanford first and Tennessee sixth.

^qThe NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision Records book lists the Billingsley Report as having selected Army in 1944 and Ohio State and Army in 1945. According to Billingsley's official website, these selection years are reversed.

^rKansas' 1960 defeat of Missouri was overturned by the Big Eight Conference on December 8 (ineligible player). The reversal erased the only loss on Missouri's record.{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=lcMxAAAAIBAJ&sjid=buUFAAAAIBAJ&pg=6111%2C5489823 |work=Lawrence Daily Journal-World |location=(Kansas) |last=Morey |first=Earl |title=Big Eight voted 5–3 to strip KU's title in Bert Coan action |date=December 9, 1960 |page=1 |quote=The move gave MU a 10–0 season record and a 7–0 record in league play. |access-date=April 4, 2022 |archive-date=April 4, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220404175433/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=lcMxAAAAIBAJ&sjid=buUFAAAAIBAJ&pg=6111,5489823 |url-status=live }}

The national title count listed below is a culmination of all championship awarded since 1869, regardless of "consensus" or non-consensus status, as listed in the table above according to the selectors deemed to be "major" as listed in the official NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision Records.

The totals can be said to be disputed. Individual schools may claim national championships not accounted for by the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision Records or may not claim national championship selections that do appear in the official NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision Records (see National championship claims by school below).

File:College Football Champions Map.png

National championship selectors came to be dominated by two competing news agencies in the later half of the 20th century: the Associated Press (AP) and United Press International (UPI).

These wire services began ranking college football teams in weekly polls, which were then promptly published in the sports sections of each agency's subscribing newspapers across the country. The team ranking No. 1 in each agency's final poll of the season was awarded that agency's national championship.

National championships are often stated to be "consensus" when the two major polls are in agreement with their selections.{{cite news |date=January 3, 1986 |title=Major polls agree: Sooners consensus national champions |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/120097199/major-polls-agree-sooners-consensus/ |work=The Fresno Bee |access-date=March 3, 2023 |archive-date=April 11, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230411065744/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/120097199/major-polls-agree-sooners-consensus/ |url-status=live }}

{{Main|AP Poll}}

{{See also|AP Trophy}}

The Associated Press (AP) college football poll has a long history. The news media began running their own polls of sports writers to determine who was, by popular opinion, the best football team in the country at the end of the season. One of the earliest such polls was the AP College Football Poll, first run in 1934 (compiled and organized by Charles Woodroof, former SEC Assistant Director of Media Relations, but not recognized in the official NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision Records) and then continuously from 1936. The first major nationwide poll for ranking college football teams, the Associated Press is probably the most well-known and widely circulated among all of history's polls.{{cite web |url=http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/football_records/2022/FBS.pdf |title=Football Bowl Subdivision Records |publisher=NCAA |access-date=January 4, 2023 |archive-date=January 2, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230102151639/http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/football_records/2022/FBS.pdf |url-status=live }} Due to the long-standing historical ties between individual college football conferences and high-paying bowl games like the Rose Bowl and Orange Bowl, the NCAA has never held a tournament or championship game to determine the champion of what is now the highest division, NCAA Division I, Football Bowl Subdivision (the Division I, Football Championship Subdivision and lower divisions do hold championship tournaments). As a result, the public and the media began to take the leading vote-getter in the final AP Poll as the national champion for that season.

File:University of Michigan 1997 AP Trophy.jpg {{circa|1997}}]]

In the AP Poll's early years, the final poll of sportswriters was taken prior to any bowl games and sometimes even prior to the top teams' final games of the regular season. In 1938, the poll was extended for one week after Notre Dame, No. 1 in the scheduled "final" poll,{{cite news |last=Fullerton |first=Hugh S. Jr. |agency=Associated Press |date=November 29, 1938 |title=Irish Still Top Scribes' Ballot |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108100133/1938-irish-still-top-scribes-ballot/ |work=The Indianapolis News |place=New York |publication-place=Indianapolis |access-date=August 22, 2022 |quote=In the final Associated Press football ranking poll of the year, ninety sports writers and editors chose Notre Dame as the nation's No. 1 team with Duke in third place. Texas Christian, which hoped for a Rose bowl bid, came in between them. |archive-date=August 22, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220822175348/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108100133/1938-irish-still-top-scribes-ballot/ |url-status=live }} subsequently lost to rival USC.{{cite news |last=Middleton |first=Drew |agency=Associated Press |date=December 6, 1938 |title=Texas Christian, Duke and Tennessee Top in Nation; Notre Dame Falls to Fifth |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108099605/texas-christian-duke-and-tennessee-top/ |work=The Indianapolis News |place=New York |publication-place=Indianapolis |access-date=August 22, 2022 |quote=The poll was extended for another week because of the select quality of last Saturday's games, three of which had a direct bearing on the ranking. |archive-date=August 22, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220822175347/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108099605/texas-christian-duke-and-tennessee-top/ |url-status=live }}

Following the 1947 season the AP held a special post-bowl poll{{cite news |agency=Associated Press |date=January 3, 1948 |title=AP Conducts Special Poll; Only Notre Dame, Michigan In Running |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108067523/ap-conducts-special-poll-only-notre/ |work=The La Crosse Tribune |place=New York |publication-place=La Crosse, Wisconsin |access-date=August 21, 2022 |quote=The AP's final poll of the top ten teams, released Dec. 8 at the conclusion of the regulation season, resulted in Notre Dame Winning first place with 1,410 points. Michigan was second with 1,289. While the latest poll—which will be released to afternoon papers of Tuesday, Jan. 6—will not supersede the regular season-end poll, it is intended to serve as a final summing up of the opinion on the two teams. |archive-date=August 22, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220822024649/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108067523/ap-conducts-special-poll-only-notre/ |url-status=live }} with only two teams on the ballot, Notre Dame and Michigan, but stated that the result would not supersede that of the final poll conducted following the end of the regular season. The rivals, both unbeaten and untied, had been ranked No. 1 and No. 2 respectively in the final poll. January voters were impressed by Michigan's 49–0 win over common opponent USC in the Rose Bowl and elevated the Wolverines above the Irish in the special post-bowl poll.{{cite news |last=Chandler |first=John |agency=Associated Press |date=January 7, 1948 |title=Scribes of Nation Pick Michigan |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108075130/scribes-of-nation-pick-michigan/ |work=The Salt Lake Tribune |place=New York |publication-place=Salt Lake City |access-date=August 21, 2022 |quote=This post-season poll, conducted by the Associated Press by popular demand after Michigan thumped Southern California in the Rose bowl, 49–0, doesn't supersede the weekly A. P. poll held during the regular season. The final poll released Dec. 8 gave Notre Dame 1410 points for first place, with Michigan 1289 for second. The Irish had just polished off Southern California 38–7. |archive-date=August 22, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220822041200/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108075130/scribes-of-nation-pick-michigan/ |url-status=live }}

The AP champion would lose its bowl game five times, following the 1950, 1951, 1953, 1960, and 1964 seasons.{{cite news |date=January 3, 1993 |title=Teams No. 1 in final AP Poll that lost Bowl game |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/120036762/national-champion-teams-no-1-in-final/ |work=Tallahassee Democrat |access-date=March 2, 2023 |quote=1950 Oklahoma, 1951 Tennessee, 1953 Maryland, 1960 Minnesota, 1964 Alabama |archive-date=March 2, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230302200248/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/120036762/national-champion-teams-no-1-in-final/ |url-status=live }}

In 1965 the AP decided to delay the season's final poll until after New Year's Day, citing the proliferation of bowl games and the involvement of eight of the poll's current top ten teams in post-season play.{{cite news |last=Grimsley |first=Will |agency=Associated Press |date=November 23, 1965 |title=MSU Tightens No. 1 Grip |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108075873/msu-tightens-no-1-grip/ |work=St. Cloud Times |access-date=August 21, 2022 |quote=Another poll will be staged after this week's few remaining games and the final balloting, determining the national championship, will be held after the bowl games on New Year's Day. The decision to delay the final poll until after the New Year was made because of the broad growth of the post-season attractions and the involvement of most of the teams in the Top Ten. Actually, eight of the Top Ten will be in action after the regular season. |archive-date=August 22, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220822044419/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108075873/msu-tightens-no-1-grip/ |url-status=live }}{{cite news |date=January 4, 1966 |title=Crimson Tide Named National Collegiate Football Champions — Third Title in Five Years |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/107773164/1965-alabama-permanent-possession-of/ |work=Fort Collins Coloradoan |agency=Associated Press |last=Green |first=Bob |access-date=August 17, 2022 |quote=Ironically, when the Tide won last year, the poll was taken at the close of the regular season and 'Bama went on to lose to Texas in the Orange Bowl. This year the final poll of the season was conducted after the New Year's bowl games—the first time it had been held until after the bowls—because the six top teams were in action New Year's Day. |archive-date=August 17, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220817165632/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/107773164/1965-alabama-permanent-possession-of/ |url-status=live }} In the next season, 1966, neither of the top two teams (Notre Dame and Michigan State) were attending bowl games so no post-bowl poll was taken,{{cite news |last=Rapoport |first=Ron |agency=Associated Press |date=December 31, 1966 |title=Bear Bryant Still Figures His Team Is Best in Land |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108198562/1966-ap-poll-so-no-post-season-poll/ |work=Sun-Journal |publication-place=Lewiston, Maine |access-date=August 24, 2022 |quote=Last year, the AP took a post-Bowl game poll because Michigan State and Alabama were involved in Bowl games. This year, with the No. 1 and 2 teams not in Bowl games, so no post-season poll is planned. |archive-date=August 25, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220825104930/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108198562/1966-ap-poll-so-no-post-season-poll/ |url-status=live }} even after two-time defending AP national champion No. 3 Alabama won the Sugar Bowl and finished the season unbeaten and untied. In 1967 the final poll crowning USC national champion was taken before No. 2 Tennessee or No. 3 Oklahoma had even played their final games of the regular season,{{cite news |agency=Associated Press |date=November 30, 1967 |title=USC, Vols 1–2 in AP poll |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108274609/usc-vols-1-2-in-ap-poll/ |work=Honolulu Star–Bulletin |page=71 |place=Los Angeles |publication-place=Honolulu, Hawaii |access-date=August 25, 2022 |quote=Southern California is king of 1967 college football. [...] Tennessee, 8–1 with one regular season game remaining before its Orange Bowl date with Oklahoma, received 11 first-place votes. |archive-date=August 25, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220825165118/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108274609/usc-vols-1-2-in-ap-poll/ |url-status=live }} and well before those two teams met in the Orange Bowl.

In 1968 the final poll was again delayed until after the bowl games so that No. 1 Ohio State could meet No. 2 USC in a "dream match" in the Rose Bowl.{{cite news |agency=Associated Press |date=December 3, 1968 |title=Poll Matches Rose Foes – 'One-Two' Fracas Set |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108292609/poll-matches-rose-foes-one-two/ |work=Moberly Monitor–Index |page=8 |publication-place=Moberly, Missouri |access-date=August 25, 2022 |quote=That Dream Match—the No. 1 team against the No. 2 outfit in the Rose Bowl—remained a reality today... but just barely. [...] Because the race is so tight, the final AP poll of the season won't be released until after the Jan. 1 bowl games. |archive-date=August 25, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220825171313/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108292609/poll-matches-rose-foes-one-two/ |url-status=live }} Every subsequent season's final AP Poll would be released after the bowl games. UPI did not follow suit until the 1974 season;{{cite book|last=Whittingham|first=Richard|title=Rites of Autumn: The Story of College Football|publisher=Simon and Schuster|year=2001|page=46|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1SpDAVDRkpkC&pg=PT63|isbn=9780743222198|access-date=April 26, 2017|archive-date=April 26, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170426155848/https://books.google.com/books?id=1SpDAVDRkpkC&pg=PT63|url-status=live}} in the overlapping years, the Coaches Poll champion lost their bowl game in 1965, 1970, and 1973. The AP's earlier move to crown a post-bowl champion paid off, as in all three years the losing team had also been the No. 1 team in the pre-bowl penultimate AP rankings.

The AP Poll was used as a component of the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) computer ranking formula starting in 1998, but without any formal agreement in place like the contract made between the BCS and the Coaches Poll. For the 2003 season the AP Poll caused a split national title and BCS controversy when it awarded its national championship to No. 1 USC instead of BCS champion LSU. In December 2004 the AP opted out of the BCS formula, requesting that the BCS "discontinue its unauthorized use of the AP poll as a component of BCS rankings", in response to three AP voters from Texas elevating Texas above California into the Rose Bowl in the last regular season AP Poll.{{cite news |last=Schlabach |first=Mark |date=December 22, 2004 |title=AP Opts Out Of Formula For BCS |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/sports/2004/12/22/ap-opts-out-of-formula-for-bcs/80001a92-4577-4fdc-a52e-0bfc4588829c/ |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=August 26, 2022 }}

In the College Football Playoff era, the Associated Press has continued to award the AP Trophy to the No. 1 team in the final AP Poll. AP rankings are not incorporated in the CFP selection committee's seeding, and voting AP sportswriters are not obligated to award their title to the winner of the CFP national championship game. In 2015 the Associated Press's global sports editor stated that "it is not out of the realm of possibility that a team could win the AP national championship without winning the College Football Playoff's national championship", although that scenario has yet to occur.{{cite news |last=Kilgore |first=Adam |date=September 1, 2015 |title=College football rankings provide problems and little else in playoff era |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/sports/wp/2015/09/01/polls-still-popular-but-have-little-impact-after-arrival-of-college-football-playoff/ |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=March 2, 2023}}

{{Main|Coaches Poll}}

{{See also|The Coaches' Trophy}}

File:BCS Championship Media Day, Jan. 5, 2013.jpg]]

News agency United Press (UP), the main competitor to the Associated Press, began conducting its own college football ratings during the 1950 season.{{cite news |last=Petersen |first=Leo H. |date=September 13, 1950 |volume=XLII |number=21 |page=8 |title=United Press Will Poll Coaches for Ratings on Leading College Elevens |url=https://coshoctontribune.newspapers.com/clip/107502000/1950-up-coaches-poll-announcement/ |work=Coshocton Tribune |location=New York |agency=United Press |access-date=August 13, 2022 |quote=Thirty-five of the nation's foremost football coaches will rate the country's top collegiate football teams each week for the United Press this coming season. |archive-date=December 8, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221208003631/https://coshoctontribune.newspapers.com/clip/107502000/1950-up-coaches-poll-announcement/ |url-status=live }} The wire service came to be known as United Press International (UPI) following a merger with International News Service in 1958.

The weekly ranking was a joint polling effort between the news agency and the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA), with UP/UPI sports writers gathering and tabulating the coaches' votes and publishing the results in newspapers across the nation.

The UP/UPI rankings were originally conducted by polling 35 of the nation's college football coaches. The coaches were chosen to represent every major football conference, with 5 coaches from each of 7 regions, in an apparent effort to combat the perceived East Coast bias of the rival AP Poll's constituent sports writers.

{{Blockquote

|text=Their votes will provide the only football rating based on the opinion of the men who know the sport best. The nature of the board, giving each section of the country equal representation, avoids the sectional bias and ballot box stuffing for which other football polls have been criticized.

|source=United Press Football Ratings announcement, September 1950

}}

Each season's final Coaches Poll was initially published following the regular season and did not take bowl game results into account; the UP/UPI national champion lost its bowl game 8 times between 1950 and 1973. Since the 1974 season the poll has awarded its national championship following the postseason bowls. That same year the AFCA voted to thereafter not rank any team currently under NCAA or conference-sanctioned probation.{{cite news |date=January 17, 1974 |title=Sports News Briefs — U.P.I. Poll to Include Bowl Results |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1974/01/17/archives/sports-news-briefs-upi-poll-to-include-bowl-results-quartet-shoots.html |work=The New York Times |access-date=August 14, 2022 |quote=The American Football Coaches Association, acting on a proposal by United Press International, has voted to permit member coaches to extend their future U.P.I. rankings of the top 10 teams to include results of postseason bowl games. Since their Inception in 1950, rankings by the U.P.I. board of 35 coaches—five from each of the nation's seven geographical areas—have ended each year with the final Saturday of the regular season. This action will conform with the practice of the Associated Press, whose final ratings based on the votes of sports writers and broadcasters, include the bowl results. — A.F.C.A. members for many years expressed preference for including only regular-season games in the U.P.I. board's final rankings, A factor in the decision was the circumstance of first-ranked Alabama losing to fourth-ranked Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl this season. — In a separate action, the A.F.C.A. recommended that no votes be cast by them or anyone else for football teams the National Collegiate A.A. has placed on probation, with sanctions, for violating the N.C.A.A. code. |archive-date=August 14, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220814091306/https://www.nytimes.com/1974/01/17/archives/sports-news-briefs-upi-poll-to-include-bowl-results-quartet-shoots.html |url-status=live }}{{cite web | url=http://www.afca.com/article/article.php?id=USAPOLL_INTRO | title=Amway Coaches Poll | publisher=American Football Coaches Association | access-date=May 5, 2015 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150524155621/http://afca.com/article/article.php?id=USAPOLL_INTRO | archive-date=May 24, 2015 | df=mdy-all }}

Following the decline of UPI in the 1980s, the AFCA ended their 42-year relationship with the wire service in 1991.{{cite news |date=June 3, 1991 |title='USA Today' gets UPI coaches' poll |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/107545917/usa-today-gets-upi-coaches-poll/ |work=Austin American-Statesman |publication-place=Austin |place=Dallas |agency=Associated Press |page=D2 |access-date=August 13, 2022 |quote=The college football coaches poll, carried by United Press International since 1950, will now be distributed by USA Today. |archive-date=August 14, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220814005745/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/107545917/usa-today-gets-upi-coaches-poll/ |url-status=live }}{{cite news |date=June 4, 1991 |title=UPI to Exclude Coaches' Votes From National Football Poll |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-06-04-sp-273-story.html |work=Los Angeles Times |agency=United Press International |access-date=August 13, 2022 |quote="After more than six months' discussion, UPI and AFCA have ended the joint polling effort which began in 1950," said Milt Capps, senior vice president for UPI, a wire service agency. For more than 40 years, UPI sportswriters gathered votes from coaches each week, tallied the results and reported them. But UPI's rankings now will be determined by the votes of the sportswriters independent of the AFCA, which will produce its own, separate coaches rankings. |archive-date=August 14, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220814034935/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-06-04-sp-273-story.html |url-status=live }} The Coaches Poll continued, with new sponsorship and distribution partners, as the USA Today/CNN poll (1991–1996), USA Today/ESPN poll (1997–2004) and USA Today poll (2005–present).

The Bowl Championship Series included the Coaches Poll as a major factor in its ranking formula.{{cite news|title=FBS coaches' poll will continue every week despite BCS going away|agency=Associated Press|date=January 13, 2013|access-date=May 5, 2015|url=https://www.ncaa.com/news/football/article/2014-01-13/fbs-coaches-poll-will-continue-every-week-despite-bcs-going-away|archive-date=November 29, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141129140213/http://www.ncaa.com/news/football/article/2014-01-13/fbs-coaches-poll-will-continue-every-week-despite-bcs-going-away|url-status=live}} In return, voting AFCA members were contractually obligated to award their Coaches Poll national championship selections to the winner of the BCS National Championship Game. Lacking its own dedicated trophy, the BCS champion was awarded The Coaches' Trophy on the field immediately following the game.

The following table contains the national championships that have been recognized by the final AP or Coaches Poll. Originally both the AP and Coaches poll champions were crowned after the regular season, but since 1968 and 1974 respectively, both polls crown their champions after the bowl games are completed (with the exception of the 1965 season). The BCS champion was automatically awarded the Coaches Poll championship. Of the current 120+ Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS, formerly Division I-A) schools, only 30 have won at least a share of a national title by the AP or Coaches poll. Of these 30 teams, only 20 teams have won multiple titles. Of the 20 teams, only 7 have won five or more national titles: Alabama, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, USC, Miami (FL), Nebraska, and Ohio State. The years listed in the table below indicate a national championship selection by the AP or Coaches Poll. The selections are noted with (AP) or (Coaches) when a national champion selection differed between the two polls for that particular season, which has occurred in twelve different seasons (including 2004, for which the coaches selection was rescinded) since the polls first came to coexist in 1950.

† USC's 2004 BCS National Championship was vacated by the BCS and their AFCA Coaches' Trophy was returned.

The AP Poll and Coaches Poll have picked different final national poll leaders at the end of 11 different seasons since their first concurrent polls in 1950.{{cite news |last=Dubow |first=Josh |agency=Associated Press |date=January 3, 2004 |title=Split national championships nothing new to college football — 11 times since 1950 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/120183290/split-national-championships-nothing/ |work=The Modesto Bee |access-date=March 4, 2023 |quote=List of the 11 split national titles since 1950: 1954, 1957, 1965, 1970, 1973, 1974, 1978, 1990, 1991, 1997, 2003 |archive-date=March 4, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230304223858/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/120183290/split-national-championships-nothing/ |url-status=live }} This situation is referred to as a "split" national championship.{{cite news |last=Shapiro |first=Leonard |date=January 3, 1992 |title=Miami, Washington Earn Split Decision for No. 1 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/sports/1992/01/03/miami-washington-earn-split-decision-for-no-1/87a97d8b-fcef-403d-87bf-3e46f91a3bb4/ |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=August 15, 2022 |quote=The triumphant Miami and Washington teams exulted on separate coasts yesterday, each celebrating the outcome of at least one major poll that proclaimed it the national college football champion for 1991. |archive-date=April 5, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220405172617/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/sports/1992/01/03/miami-washington-earn-split-decision-for-no-1/87a97d8b-fcef-403d-87bf-3e46f91a3bb4/ |url-status=live }}

File:1917 Atlanta Constitution Chance to Name Grid Champ.jpg proposing a 1917 national championship game between Georgia Tech and Pittsburgh.{{cite news |last=Jemison |first=Dick |author-link=Dick Jemison |date=October 31, 1917 |title=Chance to Name Grid Champ — Why Not Decide Football Title of America Nov. 24? |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-atlanta-constitution-1917-proposed-n/128213863/ |work=The Atlanta Constitution |access-date=October 19, 2024 |quote=The game would be patronized by a packed house, regardless of what city it is staged in, played up as the championship game of the season and for the benefit of some worthy cause}}{{cite magazine |last=Fuchs |first=Jeremy |date=January 4, 2018 |title=College Football Playoff Controversy Is 100 Years Old—Just Ask Georgia Tech |url=https://www.si.com/college/2018/01/04/georgia-tech-1917-disputed-national-championships |magazine=Sports Illustrated |access-date=October 19, 2024 |quote=In 1917, after Pitt beat Penn 14–6 in October, the march toward a quasi–national championship game began. In a column in The Atlanta Constitution, Dick Jemison first proposed the idea. The notion caught on. Frank Menke in the Pittsburgh Press wrote... |archive-date=August 17, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220817153332/https://www.si.com/college/2018/01/04/georgia-tech-1917-disputed-national-championships |url-status=live }}]]

College football fans and administrators have long sought to match the No. 1 vs. No. 2 teams in an end-of-season national championship game to determine an undisputed national champion on the gridiron.{{cite news |last=Fachet |first=Robert |date=January 24, 1992 |title=Bowl Deal Set with Coalition |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/sports/1992/01/24/bowl-deal-set-with-coalition/b1c32c81-f10d-49b9-a604-65cb6bc003a0/ |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=August 10, 2022 |quote=...under an agreement hammered out yesterday by the College Football Bowl Coalition that also provides enhanced opportunity for a national championship game.}}{{cite news |last=Bondurant |first=Bill |date=November 11, 1970 |title=Color Notre Dame, Nebraska Orange, If... |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/fort-lauderdale-news-1970-orange-bowl-na/163279799/ |work=Fort Lauderdale News |quote='It's our stated purpose to match the two highest ranked teams possible,' [Orange Bowl team selection committee chairman Jack] Baldwin said. 'Naturally, we'd like the national championship game if we could get it.'}}

Throughout most of the 20th century, a number of challenges made it impossible to ordinarily schedule the two top teams for a single post-season title fight:

• Some schools, most notably Notre Dame, declined to play in bowl games for many years.{{cite magazine |last=Jenkins |first=Dan |author-link=Dan Jenkins |date=December 22, 1969 |title=Knute Rockne Would Have Agreed, Ara |magazine=Sports Illustrated |location=Chicago |volume=31 |number=26 |pages=26–31 |url=https://vault.si.com/vault/1969/12/22/knute-would-have-agreed-ara |access-date=February 27, 2023 |archive-date=February 27, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230227090227/https://vault.si.com/vault/1969/12/22/knute-would-have-agreed-ara |url-status=live }}
• Conference tie-ins prevented certain conference champions from ever meeting in a post-season bowl game.
• "No repeat" rules prevented teams from playing in their conference's bowl two seasons in a row.{{cite news |agency=United Press |date=November 30, 1954 |title=Leahy Says Bruins Should Play Bucks in Rose Bowl for National Championship |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/119805296/leahy-says-bruins-should-play-bucks-in/ |work=Los Angeles Evening Citizen News |place=Chicago |publication-place=Los Angeles |access-date=February 26, 2023 |quote=The clause prohibits a team from playing in the [Rose Bowl] more than once in two years |archive-date=February 27, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230227073843/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/119805296/leahy-says-bruins-should-play-bucks-in/ |url-status=live }}
• At-large bowl game invitations were extended in mid-November, locking in teams with subsequent late-season losses.{{cite news |last=Lee |first=Victor |date=November 18, 1990 |title=Notre Dame's loss is Orange Bowl's loss |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/119803888/notre-dames-loss-is-orange-bowls-loss/ |work=The Palm Beach Post |place=Miami |publication-place=West Palm Beach, Florida |access-date=February 26, 2023 |quote="This is a classic example of the Orange Bowl extending the invitation too early when they could have had the national championship game. The Orange Bowl has done this two years in a row." |archive-date=February 27, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230227080532/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/119803888/notre-dames-loss-is-orange-bowls-loss/ |url-status=live }}

Through luck and fortuitous scheduling, a "national championship game" was occasionally able to settle the matter on the field, as described in some contemporaneous reports.{{cite news |last1=Barbati |first1=Carl |last2=Cannizzaro |first2=Mark |date=January 3, 1988 |title=Should there be college Super Bowl? |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/111956213/should-there-be-college-super-bowl/ |work=The Courier–News |publication-place=Bridgewater, New Jersey |access-date=October 24, 2022 |quote=Only luck ensures one of the many current bowl games gets the No. 1 and No. 2 teams to play each other. |archive-date=October 25, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221025034152/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/111956213/should-there-be-college-super-bowl/ |url-status=live }} Despite the promotional billing, in several instances there were plausible scenarios for a third team to be selected as national champion by the major selectors, depending on outcomes of other games.

{{Incomplete list|date=October 2024}}

{{main|Bowl Coalition}}

Following back-to-back years of split AP and Coaches Poll national champions in 1990, between Colorado (AP) and Georgia Tech (Coaches), and 1991, between Miami (FL) (AP) and Washington (Coaches), the Bowl Coalition was formed in 1992 to increase the probability of a No. 1 vs. No. 2 national championship game matchup in one of the Coalition's participating bowls.

The Coalition's rules retained traditional bowl game conference tie-ins but provided some flexibility for scheduling a No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup between two teams selected from among the champions of the ACC, Big East, Big Eight, SEC, and SWC conferences, or independent Notre Dame, in the Cotton Bowl, Fiesta Bowl, Orange Bowl, or Sugar Bowl.

The Big Ten and Pac-10 conferences were notably not members of the Bowl Coalition, with their champions retaining their traditional and contractual matchup in the Rose Bowl. Likewise, mid-major teams had no route to the Bowl Coalition National Championship Game.

{{main|Bowl Alliance}}

In 1995 the Bowl Alliance replaced the Bowl Coalition.{{cite news |last=Murray |first=Ken |date=September 1, 1995 |title='ALLIANCE' AIMS HIGH No. 1 vs. 2 is goal of new bowl setup, but Rose is prickly |url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-1995-09-01-1995244105-story.html |work=The Baltimore Sun |access-date=August 11, 2022 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210702130900/https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-1995-09-01-1995244105-story.html |archive-date=July 2, 2021 |quote=Briefly, the Bowl Coalition has been replaced by the Bowl Alliance, which will spread five conference champions (ACC, Big East, Big Eight, Southeastern, Southwest) plus Notre Dame around three different bowls. The championship game between the Nos. 1 and 2 alliance teams will be rotated among the Fiesta (this year), Sugar (1996) and Orange (1997) bowls. Unlike the coalition, the alliance has eliminated conference tie-ins to its respective bowls.}} Going further than the Coalition, the Alliance guaranteed a postseason matchup of the top two teams within its same five conference champions plus Notre Dame. Beginning in 1996, the Big 12 champion joined the Alliance in place of the champions of the disbanded Big Eight and Southwest conferences.

Unlike the Coalition, the Alliance eliminated traditional conference tie-ins to its associated bowls. The Bowl Alliance national championship game would be rotated amongst the Fiesta Bowl, Sugar Bowl, and Orange Bowl, with the Cotton Bowl dropped from the slate. The Bowl Alliance also awarded its own trophy to the winner of its national championship game.{{cite AV media |date=January 2, 1998 |title=1998 Orange Bowl |type=Television production |location=Miami Orange Bowl |publisher=CBS |quote="Also here, commissioner of the Big-12 conference, Steve Hatchell to present the Alliance trophy."}}

The Rose Bowl remained independent of the Alliance, leaving open the possibility of a national title going to the Big Ten or Pac-10 Rose Bowl champion rather than one of the two top teams in the Alliance. This occurred in 1997, when No. 1 Michigan won the Rose Bowl and retained their top ranking in the AP Poll. Lacking the nation's No. 1 team, the Orange Bowl was branded as the "Alliance National Championship". Winner Nebraska split the polls when they passed AP champion Michigan in the final Coaches Poll (a result denied by the Coaches Poll to Penn State three years earlier in the same situation).

{{main|Bowl Championship Series}}

{{see also|BCS National Championship Game}}

The Bowl Championship Series (BCS), starting in 1998, finally succeeded in bringing the Big Ten and Pac-10 conferences together with the former Coalition and Alliance members for a combined national championship game.

Following the regular season, the BCS paired its No. 1 and No. 2 ranked teams to play for the title in the BCS National Championship Game. This designation initially rotated in order between four BCS Bowls: the Fiesta Bowl, Sugar Bowl, Orange Bowl, and Rose Bowl. For the 2006 season onward the BCS National Championship Game became its own separate contest, played one week later at the site of the bowl in the same rotation.

The original BCS formula incorporated the AP Poll and Coaches Poll along with an average of various computer rankings.{{cite web |last=Billingsley |first=Richard |title=The road to the BCS has been a long one |url=https://assets.espn.go.com/ncf/s/historybcs.html |website=ESPN College Football |access-date=May 7, 2015 |date=October 21, 2001 |archive-date=September 12, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150912151248/http://assets.espn.go.com/ncf/s/historybcs.html |url-status=live}} The formula underwent many adjustments over the years, including a large overhaul following the 2004 season in which the AP Poll was replaced with the Harris Interactive College Football Poll.{{Cite web |last=Wieberg |first=Steve |date=July 12, 2005 |title=New Harris poll to replace AP in BCS formula |url=http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/2005-07-11-bcs-formula_x.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006114732/http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/2005-07-11-bcs-formula_x.htm |archive-date=October 6, 2014 |access-date=May 5, 2015 |website=USA Today Sports}}

The winners of the BCS National Championship Game were crowned the Coaches Poll national champions and were awarded the Coaches' Trophy on the field following the game. They were also awarded the MacArthur Bowl by the National Football Foundation.

;Notes

{{sup|1}} USC's victory in the 2005 Orange Bowl and corresponding 2004–05 BCS National Championship was vacated by the BCS.{{cite press release |url=http://www.bcsfootball.org/news/story?id=6632189 |title=BCS Group vacates USC 2004–05 national championship following NCAA denial of appeal |publisher=Bowl Championship Series |date=June 6, 2011 |access-date=March 6, 2023 |archive-date=June 9, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110609205357/http://www.bcsfootball.org/news/story?id=6632189 |url-status=dead}}{{cite web |url=http://content.usatoday.com/communities/campusrivalry/post/2011/06/usc-bcs-national-championship-stripped/1 |title=BCS strips Southern California of 2004 national championship |date=June 6, 2011 |work=USA Today |access-date=March 6, 2023 |archive-date=June 9, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110609034936/http://content.usatoday.com/communities/campusrivalry/post/2011/06/usc-bcs-national-championship-stripped/1 |url-status=dead}}

{{main|College Football Playoff}}

{{see also|College Football Playoff National Championship}}

The College Football Playoff (CFP) was designed as a replacement for the BCS. While the NCAA still does not officially sanction the event, organizers sought to bring a playoff system similar to all other levels of NCAA football to the Football Bowl Subdivision.

The College Football Playoff relies on a 13-member selection committee to select twelve teams to play in a four-round single-elimination playoff bracket, with automatic bids to the playoff given to the five highest ranked conference champions and the four highest of those teams each receiving a first round bye.{{Cite web |date=2022-12-01 |title=Rose Bowl OK's new deal for 12-team CFP in '24 |url=https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/35152132/rose-bowl-agrees-amended-deal-paving-way-early-cfp-expansion |access-date=2025-01-21 |website=ESPN.com |language=en}} The winner of the final game is awarded the College Football Playoff National Championship Trophy.{{cite web |title=College Football Playoff Unveils National Championship Trophy |publisher=College Football Playoff |date=July 14, 2014 |access-date=December 7, 2014 |url=http://www.collegefootballplayoff.com/press-releases/college-football-playoff-unveils-national-championship-trophy |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150906145418/http://www.collegefootballplayoff.com/press-releases/college-football-playoff-unveils-national-championship-trophy |archive-date=September 6, 2015 |quote=Handcrafted piece of art to serve as new, iconic symbol of postseason college football}}

File:Tennessee Stadium, 2010.jpg's national championship claims, as posted in their Neyland Stadium]]

The following tables list schools' known national championship claims at the highest level of play in college football. Some of these schools no longer compete at the highest level, which is currently NCAA Division I FBS, but nonetheless maintain claims to titles from when they did compete at the highest level.

Because there is no one governing or official body that regulates, recognizes, or awards national championships in college football, and because many independent selectors of championships exist, many of the claims by the schools listed below are shared, contradict each other, or are controversial.{{cite news |last=Tracy |first=Marc |date=January 3, 2018 |title=Central Florida Claims a National Title. Want to Fight About It? |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/03/sports/central-florida-claims-a-national-title-want-to-fight-about-it.html |work=The New York Times |url-access=subscription |access-date=July 30, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180104172418/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/03/sports/central-florida-claims-a-national-title-want-to-fight-about-it.html |archive-date=January 4, 2018 |url-status=live |quote=By Wednesday, Wikipedia—perhaps the only factual authority still widely accepted in 2018—identified Central Florida’s claimed national title. Got a problem with that?}}

{{Blockquote |text="There is no official standard because there is no official national champion. It all depends on the standard the school wishes to utilize. The national champion is in the eye of the beholder." |author=Kent Stephens, historian, College Football Hall of Fame{{cite news |last=Coyne |first=Tom |agency=Associated Press |date=December 30, 2012 |title=National titles: Who decides? Mostly, the schools |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/112356462/national-titles-who-decides-mostly/ |work=Hattiesburg American |place=South Bend, Indiana |publication-place=Hattiesburg, Mississippi |access-date=November 1, 2022 |quote=No wonder "mythical" is the word that often precedes national title. "There is no official standard because there is no official national champion," said Kent Stephens, historian at the College Football Hall of Fame in South Bend. "It all depends on the standard the school wishes to utilize. The national champion is in the eye of the beholder." |archive-date=November 1, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221101202335/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/112356462/national-titles-who-decides-mostly/ |url-status=live }}}}

The majority of these claims, but not all, are based on championships awarded from selectors listed as "major" in the official NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision Records publication. Not all championships awarded by third party selectors, nor all those listed in the NCAA records book, are necessarily claimed by each school.{{refn|group=n3|name=noclaims|The following schools either make no apparent statement or claim regarding national championships, or clearly state no claims on a national championship, despite the listing of a national championship for that school in the official NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision Records: Arizona State, Colgate, Duke, Missouri, Purdue, Utah,{{cite press release |date=January 9, 2009 |title=Utes Finish No. 2 in AP Rankings |url=https://utahutes.com/news/2009/1/9/Utes_Finish_No_2_in_AP_Rankings |location=Salt Lake City |publisher=University of Utah |access-date=August 8, 2022 |quote=On Not Finishing No. 1 – "While there is certainly some disappointment about not finishing No. 1, we prefer to look on the positive side." |archive-date=August 9, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220809000803/https://utahutes.com/news/2009/1/9/Utes_Finish_No_2_in_AP_Rankings |url-status=live }} Vanderbilt,{{cite news |last=Traughber |first=Bill |date=September 2, 2015 |title=Making the case for Vanderbilt as two-time football national champions |url=https://vucommodores.com/making-the-case-for-vanderbilt-as-two-time-football-national-champions/ |work=Commodore History Corner Archive |publisher=Vanderbilt University |access-date=August 25, 2024 |quote=Rod Williamson, Vanderbilt’s Director of Athletic Communications: 'All this said, it seems to us that to suddenly declare, as others would view it, that we have won two national championships when we had not recognized them before would be anticlimactic, after the fact. Personally, I’d like to take a middle-of-the-road approach where we let history write itself, but we come up short of modifying our record book.' |archive-date=August 25, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240825174652/https://vucommodores.com/making-the-case-for-vanderbilt-as-two-time-football-national-champions/ |url-status=live }} and Washington & Jefferson.}} Therefore, these claims represent how each individual school sees their own history on the subject of national championships.

The tables below include only national championship claims originating from each particular school and therefore represent 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, on a prominent stadium sign, 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 Football Bowl Subdivision Records, it is not considered to be claimed by that institution.