The National Championship Foundation (NCF) was established by Mike Riter of Hudson, New York. The NCF retroactively selected [ citation needed ] college football national champions for each year from 1869 to 1979, [1] and its selections are among the historic national champions recognized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in its Football Bowl Subdivision record book. [2] [3]
The following list identifies the college football national champions as selected by the National Championship Foundation. [4]
A mythical national championship is national championship recognition that is not explicitly competitive. This phrase has often been invoked in reference to American college football, because the NCAA does not sponsor a playoff-style tournament or recognize official national champions for the Football Bowl Subdivision. The relevant recognition before 1998 came from various entities, including coach polls and media ballots, which each voted to recognize their own national champions, and is similar to the newspaper decision used in early boxing matches. The contrary term would be an undisputed national championship.
The Cornell Big Red football team represents Cornell University in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) college football competition as a member of the Ivy League. It is one of the oldest and most storied football programs in the nation. The team has attained five national championships and has had seven players inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.
The 1994 Penn State Nittany Lions football team represented the Pennsylvania State University in the 1994 NCAA Division I-A football season. The team was coached by Joe Paterno and played its home games in Beaver Stadium in University Park, Pennsylvania.
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 unofficially referred to as a "mythical national championship".
The Princeton Tigers football program represents Princeton University and competes at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) level as a member of the Ivy League. Princeton's football program—along with the football program at nearby Rutgers University—began in 1869 with a contest that is often regarded as the beginnings of American football.
The 1966 Michigan State Spartans football team represented Michigan State University in the 1966 Big Ten Conference football season. Michigan State lodged a 9–0–1 record, with a season-concluding tie against Notre Dame in the "game of the century", considered among the greatest games in college football history.
The 1990 Colorado Buffaloes football team represented the University of Colorado Boulder as a member of the Big Eight Conference during the 1990 NCAA Division I-A football season. The Buffaloes offense scored 338 points while the defense allowed 160 points. Led by head coach Bill McCartney, Colorado defeated Notre Dame 10–9 in the 1991 Orange Bowl to conclude the season.
The 1984 Washington Huskies football team was an American football team that represented the University of Washington during the 1984 NCAA Division I-A football season. In its tenth season under head coach Don James, the team compiled an 11–1 record, was ranked a close second in the two major polls, and outscored its opponents 352 to 145.
The 1922 Cornell Big Red football team was an American football team that represented Cornell University as an independent during the 1922 college football season. In its third season under head coach Gil Dobie, Cornell compiled an 8–0 record, shut out five of nine opponents, and outscored all opponents by a total of 339 to 27. The 1922 season was part of 26-game winning streak that began in October 1921 and ended in October 1924 and included national championship claims for 1921, 1922, and 1923.
The 1896 Princeton Tigers football team was an American football team that represented Princeton University as an independent during the 1896 college football season. The team finished with a 10–0–1 record, shut out 10 of 12 opponents, and outscored all opponents by a total of 266 to 5. Franklin Morse was the head coach, and Garrett Cochran was the team captain.
The 1903 Princeton Tigers football team was an American football team that represented Princeton University as an independent during the 1903 college football season. In their first season under head coach Art Hillebrand, the Tigers compiled a perfect 11–0 record, shut out 10 of 11 opponents, and outscored all opponents by a total of 259 to 6. John DeWitt was the team captain.
The 1906 Yale Bulldogs football team was an American football team that represented Yale University as an independent during the 1906 college football season. The team compiled a 9–0–1 record, shut out nine of ten opponents, and outscored all opponents by a total of 144 to 7. Four Yale players were selected as consensus All-Americans, and the team was retroactively selected by multiple selectors as the national champion for 1906.
The Billingsley Report is a college football rating system developed in the late 1960s to determine a national champion. Billingsley has actively rated college football teams on a current basis since 1970. Beginning in 1999, Billingsley's ratings were included as one of seven mathematical formulas included in the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) rankings.
The Houlgate System, also known as the Deke Houlgate collegiate football rating system, was a mathematical rating system for determining annual college football national championships. The ratings, which rated teams according to the strength of their opponents, were created by Carroll Everard "Deke" Houlgate, Sr., a sports publicist and statistician. Houlgate used his system to select national champions on a current basis from 1927 to 1958. He also applied his ratings methodology retroactively to select national champions for each year from 1885 to 1926. His selections were published in newspapers in the 1930s and 1940s.
Berryman QPRS, also known as the Berryman Quality Point Rating System is a mathematical rating system developed by Clyde P. Berryman to rate sports teams and competitors. The Berryman QPRS system considers strength of schedule, win–loss record, points scored, and points allowed. Berryman applied his QPRS system to select college football national champions on a current basis from 1990 to 2011. He also applied the QPRS system retroactively to select national champions for each year from 1920 to 1989. The Berryman QPRS is one of the rating systems used to select historic national champions that is recognized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in its Football Bowl Subdivision record book.
The College Football Researchers Association (CFRA) was founded in 1982 by Anthony Cusher of Reeder, North Dakota, and Robert Kirlin of Spokane, Washington. The CFRA took a vote of its members from 1982 to 1992 to select an annual college football national champion. Members were asked to rank the top 10 teams, and a point system was used to determine a national champion based on the members' votes. The CFRA also conducted a retroactive poll to determine historical national champions for each year from 1919 to 1981. The CFRA is listed by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) as one of 40 former and current selectors of college football national champions, and the CFRA selections are included in the NCAA's Football Bowl Subdivision record book.
The 1905 Western Conference football season was the tenth season of college football played by the member schools of the Western Conference and was a part of the 1905 college football season.
They retroactively selected national championships by member vote for every season through 1980, then named national champions every year thereafter through the year 2000. … More bothersome is the fact that for the 1901-1910 seasons, the NCF is easily the worst selector listed in the NCAA Records Book. They frequently select teams that have no business sharing the title, while dismissing truly powerful teams (such as Harvard 1901) completely. Their research for this time appears to be very shoddy, and probably in fact nonexistent. Conclusion: Not considered an authoritative selector.