College Football National Championships, 1869–2025

Alabama wins the College Football Playoff title in overtime over Georgia while 13-0 UCF, left out of the playoff, declares itself national champion on the strength of a Peach Bowl win over Auburn and a No. 1 Colley Matrix ranking.

College Football Playoff National Championship

Alabama26

vs

Georgia23

January 8, 2018 · Mercedes-Benz Stadium · Atlanta, GA

Full game detailsAlabama vs Georgia all-time series

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USC goes 13-0 and sweeps every selector, but the BCS strips the title in 2011 over the Reggie Bush ineligibility case while the AP lets its championship stand and undefeated Auburn presses its own claim.

Orange Bowl

USC55

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Oklahoma19

January 4, 2005 · Pro Player Stadium · Miami Gardens, FL

Full game detailsUSC vs Oklahoma all-time series

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LSU wins the BCS title game over Oklahoma while the AP writers and the FWAA crown USC, which the BCS formula left out of the Sugar Bowl despite its No. 1 human-poll ranking, the last split championship of the BCS era.

Sugar Bowl

Oklahoma14

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LSU21

January 4, 2004 · Caesars Superdome · New Orleans, LA

Oklahoma vs LSU all-time series

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Michigan takes the AP, FWAA, and NFF titles after a 12-0 Rose Bowl season while the coaches vault 13-0 Nebraska to No. 1 in the USA Today/ESPN poll in Tom Osborne's farewell game, the split that pushes the sport into the BCS the next season.

Florida State beat Nebraska in the Orange Bowl for the program's first national championship and was the consensus pick of every major selector.

Miami and Washington both finish 12-0 and split the season's honors: Miami takes the AP poll while Washington takes the USA Today/CNN coaches' poll, the FWAA, and the NFF; plain UPI makes no 1991 selection, and the joint UPI/NFF poll's Washington pick is carried by the NFF's MacArthur Bowl award.

Colorado takes the AP, FWAA, NFF, and USA Today/CNN titles while once-tied, never-beaten Georgia Tech edges Colorado by a single point in the UPI coaches poll, a split that helps birth the Bowl Coalition.

Miami beat Nebraska 31-30 in the Orange Bowl for the school's first national championship and was the consensus pick of every major selector, including its first MacArthur Bowl from the NFF.

Penn State beat Georgia in the Sugar Bowl for Joe Paterno's first title and was the consensus national champion across every major selector, including both the UPI and USA Today/CNN coaches' polls that ran side by side that season.

Clemson went 12-0, beat Nebraska in the Orange Bowl, and was the unanimous consensus national champion across every major selector.

Alabama beat No. 1 Penn State in the Sugar Bowl to take the AP, FWAA, and NFF titles, while USC (whose only loss was to Alabama) won the Rose Bowl and was voted No. 1 by UPI's coaches.

Oklahoma finished 11-0 and was voted No. 1 by AP despite being barred from television, bowls, and the coaches' poll for NCAA probation, while USC took the UPI, FWAA, and NFF titles.

Alabama and Notre Dame entered the Sugar Bowl both unbeaten and No. 1 in their respective final polls, but UPI voted before the bowl (naming Alabama) while AP, FWAA, and NFF voted after Notre Dame beat Alabama 24-23 in that game.

USC went 12-0 and was the unanimous consensus national champion of every major selector, with no rival claim from any selector.

Nebraska went 13-0, beat Alabama in the Orange Bowl, and swept every major selector for an undisputed repeat consensus title.

Texas and Ohio State shared the NFF's pre-bowl MacArthur Bowl and Texas alone held the pre-bowl UPI title, but both lost their New Year's Day bowls, handing unbeaten Nebraska the post-bowl AP and FWAA championships.

USC, anchored by its regular-season win over UCLA, swept every major selector for a clean consensus title.

Notre Dame swept AP, UPI, and FWAA after its famous 10-10 tie with Michigan State, but the National Football Foundation named both teams co-champions and shared the MacArthur Bowl.

Alabama beats Nebraska in the Orange Bowl to take the first post-bowl AP poll, Michigan State keeps the pre-bowl UPI and NFF titles, and the FWAA splits its Grantland Rice Trophy between the two, a genuine co-championship.

College football's most famous three-way split: Alabama's pre-bowl AP/UPI title survived its Orange Bowl loss, unbeaten Arkansas took the post-bowl FWAA vote, and late-charging Notre Dame earned the NFF's nod.

Texas went undefeated wire-to-wire and swept every major selector for a clean consensus title.

USC ran the table and swept every major selector for a clean consensus title.

Alabama sweeps AP, UPI, and NFF as national champion while the Football Writers Association of America names once-tied Ohio State instead.

Minnesota topped the final AP, UPI, and NFF polls taken before the bowl games, while the FWAA waited until after the bowls and named Ole Miss champion instead.

Syracuse went 11-0 and swept every major selector for an undisputed 1959 national championship.

LSU went 11-0 and swept the AP and UPI polls, but the FWAA gave its Grantland Rice Award to Iowa after the bowl season.

Auburn topped the final AP poll unbeaten and on probation, while Ohio State, after beating Oregon in the Rose Bowl, was named champion by the UPI coaches and the FWAA.

Oklahoma was the consensus 1956 national champion, sweeping the AP, UPI, and FWAA selections outright.

Oklahoma swept the AP, UPI, and FWAA selections for an undisputed 1955 national championship, sealed by an Orange Bowl win over Maryland.

Undefeated Ohio State takes the AP poll and undefeated UCLA takes the UPI coaches poll and the first-ever FWAA Grantland Rice Trophy, with a no-repeat rule keeping UCLA out of the Rose Bowl rematch.

Michigan State went 9-0 and topped both the final AP and UPI polls, while Georgia Tech's undefeated 12-0 season was recognized only by the International News Service poll.

Tennessee finished unbeaten in the regular season and topped the final AP and UPI polls, retaining both titles even after losing the Sugar Bowl to Maryland.

Oklahoma swept the final AP and UPI polls despite losing the Sugar Bowl to Kentucky, since both polls were taken before bowl games that season.

Notre Dame's AP title was decided in the official final poll before bowl season; Michigan's rival claim rests on an unofficial post-Rose Bowl straw poll that the AP itself said did not supersede its regular final rating.

Notre Dame won the AP's final poll after both it and Army finished unbeaten and tied 0-0 in their head-to-head meeting; Army's and Delaware's rival claims come from other selectors and a small-college schedule, respectively.

Army's AP title from 1945 stands unchanged; Oklahoma State's rival claim is a 2013 retroactive AFCA Coaches' Trophy award, not a contemporary selector pick and not an AP result.

Ohio State edged Georgia in the AP's final poll, released before bowl season; Georgia's rival claim comes from six other contemporary math systems that ranked the Bulldogs first instead.

Minnesota finishes 8-0 and takes the AP poll outright; Alabama's title is a retroactive claim built on the Houlgate System despite a 9-2 season and a No. 20 AP finish.

Minnesota's AP title is undisputed at the top selector; Stanford, Tennessee, and Boston College each hold rival claims from other, lower-tier systems rather than from AP itself.

Texas A&M's AP title stood on a final poll released before the bowls; USC's rival claim comes from a single contemporary math selector and wasn't adopted by the school itself until 2004.

TCU swept both the AP and a majority of contemporary math systems; Tennessee's rival claim rests only on the handful of minor systems that broke from that majority.

Pittsburgh took the AP crown on its unbeaten regular season; California's rival claim comes from the Dunkel, Helms, and Williamson systems after an unbeaten, Rose Bowl-winning season.

Minnesota won the inaugural AP poll despite an in-season loss; Pittsburgh's rival claim rests on contemporary math systems and a retroactive research-association pick, never the AP.

Minnesota again swept Helms, the National Championship Foundation, and the College Football Researchers Association; SMU's and TCU's rival claims rest on selectors we don't carry picks for, including a Williamson co-championship split between TCU and LSU.

Minnesota swept Helms, the National Championship Foundation, and the College Football Researchers Association under Bernie Bierman; Alabama's and Pittsburgh's rival claims rest on selectors we don't carry picks for.

USC again swept Helms, the National Championship Foundation, and the College Football Researchers Association; Michigan's rival claim rests on the Dickinson System and Sagarin, neither of which we carry picks for.

USC swept every major contemporary and retroactive selector, including Helms, the National Championship Foundation, and the College Football Researchers Association; Pittsburgh's rival claim rests solely on Parke Davis, a selector we don't carry picks for.

Notre Dame took Helms and the National Championship Foundation, while the College Football Researchers Association's retroactive pick went the other way to Alabama, splitting the three major retroactive selectors rather than doubling up on either team.

Notre Dame swept Helms, the National Championship Foundation, and the College Football Researchers Association; Pittsburgh's rival claim rests solely on contemporary sportswriter Parke Davis, a selector we don't carry picks for.

Georgia Tech swept Helms, the National Championship Foundation, and the College Football Researchers Association after its Rose Bowl win; USC's rival claim rests on the Dickinson System, a selector we don't carry picks for.

Illinois was the Helms and National Championship Foundation pick; Yale's only major-selector nod came retroactively from the College Football Researchers Association, not from Helms or the National Championship Foundation.

Alabama and Stanford played to a 7-7 Rose Bowl tie, and both the Helms Athletic Foundation and the National Championship Foundation named them co-champions; the College Football Researchers Association picked Alabama alone.

Illinois sweeps Helms and the CFRA for 1923, while the National Championship Foundation splits the title between Illinois and Michigan.

The National Championship Foundation names California and Princeton co-champions for 1922, while Helms credits Cornell alone and the CFRA backs Princeton alone.

Cornell (8-0) sweeps Helms and the National Championship Foundation for 1921, while California's claim rests on the CFRA's rating alone.

1919 splits three ways: the National Championship Foundation names Harvard, Notre Dame, and Texas A&M co-champions, the CFRA pairs Harvard with Illinois, and Helms credits Harvard alone.

Michigan and Pittsburgh split 1918: the National Championship Foundation names both co-champions, but Helms credits Pittsburgh alone.

Pittsburgh (8-0) is the unanimous major-selector champion for 1916; Army's claim rests solely on Parke Davis's separate retroactive count.

Cornell (9-0) is named by every major retroactive selector for 1915; Pittsburgh's claim rests solely on Parke Davis's separate count.

Army (9-0) is the clear major-selector champion for 1914; Illinois and Auburn's claims rest on lesser or absent selector support.

Harvard (9-0) sweeps the major retroactive selectors for 1913, while Auburn's unbeaten season draws only a secondary rating system's nod.

Harvard (8-0-1) and Pittsburgh (9-0) were both undefeated, and the National Championship Foundation named them co-champions, but the Helms Athletic Foundation picked Harvard alone; Auburn's own school claim rests on a separate, later Billingsley computer-poll run and is not an NCF/HAF pick.

Michigan (10-0) and Penn (12-0) both went unbeaten, and the National Championship Foundation named them co-champions, but the Helms Athletic Foundation picked Penn alone; Minnesota's own school claim stands separately and was never a National Championship Foundation or Helms pick.

Michigan (11-0-1) and Princeton (11-0) both went unbeaten, and the National Championship Foundation named them co-champions, but the Helms Athletic Foundation picked Princeton alone.