The history of college football’s national champions is fascinating, unique and controversial — like so many other aspects of the sport.
Because of the many ways in which the sport has crowned its national champion since its inception in 1869, the number of titles each program has isn’t universally agreed upon. And between the College Football Playoff, polling and ranking systems, there have been plenty of updates to the title format.
For years, the champion was subjectively determined with discrepancies over which teams have the right to claim certain seasons — sometimes there were more than two champions — and that means there’s no definitive list of champions. (Even as recently as 2017, undefeated UCF declared itself the national champion, despite Alabama beating Georgia in the title game.) Starting in 1936, the AP Poll determined the national champion, along with a variety of others. Eventually, we had the BCS from 1998 to 2013, and since 2014, there’s been a four-team playoff.
LSU and Clemson will play for the 2019-20 national championship January 13 at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN.
Here are the top-10 teams with the most college football national championships, according to the NCAA’s list of officially recognized winners (even though the governing body doesn’t crown the champs).
10. Minnesota, 6
Championship seasons: 1934, 1935, 1936, 1940, 1941, 1960
Three straight and back-to-back solo national championship years is pretty impressive for the Golden Gophers, who seem to be on the rise after beating Auburn in the Outback Bowl on Wednesday. Maybe they’re headed for their first title in six decades one of these years.
9. Oklahoma, 7
Championship seasons: 1950, 1955, 1956, 1974, 1975, 1985, 2000
Although the Sooners have made the College Football Playoff in four of the last five seasons, they haven’t won a playoff game yet (and were blown out by LSU in the first semifinal game this year).
T-8. Harvard, 8
Championship seasons: 1875, 1890, 1898, 1899, 1910, 1912, 1913, 1919
Despite being in the top 10, Harvard has the longest national championship drought on this list and would need to do a number of things — including joining the FBS solo or with the Ivy League — to break that winless streak.
T-8. Ohio State, 8
Championship seasons: 1942, 1954, 1957, 1961, 1968, 1970, 2002, 2014
The Buckeyes looked like they had a real shot to break this tie with Harvard and move up into another tie with a national championship this year. But they lost to Clemson in the second College Football Playoff semifinal in a controversial game with a heartbreaking ending.
T-6. Michigan, 9
Championship seasons: 1901, 1902, 1903, 1904, 1918, 1923, 1933, 1948, 1997
Five of the Wolverines’ championships were more than 100 years ago, but their most recent one was shared with Nebraska the year before the start of the BCS.
T-6. USC, 9
Championship seasons: 1931, 1932, 1962, 1967, 1972, 1974, 1978, 2003, 2004
The Trojans are credited with a national title in 2003 because they finished at the top of the AP Poll that year, while Nick Saban and LSU won the BCS national championship game. Although they won the BCS championship game the following year, they were forced to vacate it — but the AP Poll still recognizes them as that season’s champs.
4. Notre Dame, 13
Championship seasons: 1919, 1924, 1929, 1930, 1943, 1946, 1947, 1949, 1964, 1966, 1973, 1977, 1988
Behind Alabama with 12, Notre Dame has the second most national championships in the poll era with nine, but it’s been more than three decades since the Fighting Irish were on top. They lost to Alabama in the 2012-13 national championship game.
T-2. Princeton, 15
Championship seasons: 1869, 1870, 1872, 1873, 1878, 1879, 1880, 1885, 1889, 1893, 1896, 1903, 1906, 1911, 1922
The Tigers won four national championships in four of the first five seasons — they tied with Rutgers in 1869 as the only two teams and there was no winner selected in 1871 — but they haven’t won one in almost a century.
T-No. 2 Alabama, 15
Championship seasons: 1925, 1926, 1930, 1961, 1964, 1965, 1973, 1978, 1979, 1992, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2017
The Crimson Tide claim 17 titles, but the NCAA only recognizes 15 of them, excluding the 1934 and 1941 seasons when Minnesota was named the winner both years.
1. Yale, 18
Championship seasons: 1874, 1876, 1877, 1880, 1881, 1882, 1883, 1884, 1886, 1887, 1888, 1891, 1892, 1894, 1900, 1907, 1909, 1927
Though clearly an impressive resume in the 19th century, the last time Yale won a national title prohibition was still in effect.
See the NCAA’s full list of national champions by year.
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