page_title: College football national championships in NCAA Division I FBS
section_title: National championship claims by school
hierarchical_section_title: College football national championships in NCAA Division I FBS / National championship claims by school
caption_attribution_description: English: Tennessee - Kentucky Game, 2010
context_page_description: A national championship in the highest level of college football in the United States, currently the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, 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 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".
  Due to the lack of an official NCAA title, determining the nation's top college football team has often engendered controversy. A championship team is independently declared by multiple individuals and organizations, often referred to as "selectors". These choices are not always unanimous. In 1969 even the President of the United States Richard Nixon declared a national champion by announcing, ahead of the season-ending game between No. 1 Texas and No. 2 Arkansas, that the winner of that game would receive a plaque from the President himself, commemorating that team as the year's national champion. Texas went on to win that game, 15–14.
context_section_description: The following is a table of known schools' claims on national championships at the highest level of play in college football. Several 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. In addition, because there is no one body overseeing national championships, no standardized requirements exist in order for a school to make a claim on a national championship, as any particular institution is free to make any declaration it deems to be fit. However, all known national championship claims are for seasons in which a national championship, or share of a championship, was believed to be awarded to that particular school by at least one independent third-party selector. 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. Not all championships awarded by third party selectors, nor those listed in the official NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision Records, are necessarily claimed by each school. Therefore, these claims represent how each individual school sees their own history on the subject of national championships.
  This table below includes only national championship claims originating from each particular school and therefore represents 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, 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.
  ᵃUSC's January 4, 2005 win over Oklahoma in the BCS Championship Game was vacated as mandated by the NCAA, its 2004 BCS National Championship vacated by the BCS, and its AFCA Coaches' Trophy returned. NCAA sanctions mandate that "any reference to the vacated results, including championships, shall be removed." USC still retains the 2004 Associated Press National Championship and has not abandoned its claim to a 2004 national championship.
  ᵇAuburn's 1913, 1983, and 1993 (Auburn was disqualified from post-season play in 1993 and did not play in a bowl game) championships are not recognized by the school.
  ᶜGeorgia's website has multiple pages which list national championships by sport and only callout two seasons for football (1942 and 1980). The Georgia football media guide contains a year-by-year results section in which five seasons (1927, 1942, 1946, 1968, 1980) have "National Champions#" headers paired with selector callouts, but also a "Championship History" page which pairs 1942 and 1980 into a "The Consensus National Champions" section and groups 1927, 1946, and 1968 together without description as national champions beyond identification of those specific selectors.
  ᵈNo major selectors chose Penn in 1907.
  ᵉNo major selectors chose Columbia in 1933. Columbia's media guide claims that the team was "referred to as national champions".
caption: Tennessee's national championship claims, as posted in their Neyland Stadium
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