National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) football champions

verifiedCite
While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions.
Select Citation Style
Feedback
Corrections? Updates? Omissions? Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login).
Thank you for your feedback

Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.

Print
verifiedCite
While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions.
Select Citation Style

National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) football champions, winners of the annual four-team College Football Playoff (CFP) competition held after each National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS; formerly Division I-A) college football season. The CFP field consists of the top four teams in the country as determined by a 13-member selection committee composed of former college administrators and football coaches. The teams are seeded 1–4 and are matched against each other in national semifinal games that are hosted by a rotation of six prestigious bowl games (Rose, Sugar, Cotton, Orange, Peach, and Fiesta) and are played on or around New Year’s Day. The winners of each semifinal then play in the CFP National Championship Game, which is held at one of a number of home stadiums of National Football League teams, usually located in the southern United States. Below is a list of CFP and other consensus Division I-A national champions since 1924.

College football national champions*
season champion
*National champion determined by various polls until the introduction of the BCS system in 1998; BCS system replaced with the College Football Playoff system in 2014–15.
**Southern California won the BCS championship but had its title stripped in 2011 because of rules violations committed during the 2004 and 2005 seasons.
1924 Notre Dame
1925 Dartmouth
1926 Stanford
1927 Illinois
1928 Southern California
1929 Notre Dame
1930 Notre Dame
1931 Southern California
1932 Michigan
1933 Michigan
1934 Minnesota
1935 Southern Methodist
1936 Minnesota
1937 Pittsburgh
1938 Texas Christian
1939 Texas A&M
1940 Minnesota
1941 Minnesota
1942 Ohio State
1943 Notre Dame
1944 Army
1945 Army
1946 Notre Dame
1947 Notre Dame
1948 Michigan
1949 Notre Dame
1950 Oklahoma
1951 Tennessee
1952 Michigan State
1953 Maryland
1954 Ohio State (AP), UCLA (UP)
1955 Oklahoma
1956 Oklahoma
1957 Auburn (AP), Ohio State (UP)
1958 Louisiana State
1959 Syracuse
1960 Minnesota
1961 Alabama
1962 Southern California
1963 Texas
1964 Alabama
1965 Alabama (AP), Michigan State (UPI)
1966 Notre Dame
1967 Southern California
1968 Ohio State
1969 Texas
1970 Nebraska (AP), Texas (UPI)
1971 Nebraska
1972 Southern California
1973 Notre Dame (AP), Alabama (UPI)
1974 Oklahoma (AP), Southern California (UPI)
1975 Oklahoma
1976 Pittsburgh
1977 Notre Dame
1978 Alabama (AP), Southern California (UPI)
1979 Alabama
1980 Georgia
1981 Clemson
1982 Penn State
1983 Miami (Fla.)
1984 Brigham Young
1985 Oklahoma
1986 Penn State
1987 Miami (Fla.)
1988 Notre Dame
1989 Miami (Fla.)
1990 Colorado (AP), Georgia Tech (UPI)
1991 Miami (Fla.; AP), Washington (UPI)
1992 Alabama
1993–94 Florida State
1994–95 Nebraska
1995–96 Nebraska
1996–97 Florida
1997–98 Michigan (AP), Nebraska (USA Today/ESPN)
1998–99 Tennessee
1999–2000 Florida State
2000–01 Oklahoma
2001–02 Miami (Fla.)
2002–03 Ohio State
2003–04 Louisiana State (BCS), Southern California (AP)
2004–05 vacated**
2005–06 Texas
2006–07 Florida
2007–08 Louisiana State
2008–09 Florida
2009–10 Alabama
2010–11 Auburn
2011–12 Alabama
2012–13 Alabama
2013–14 Florida State
2014–15 Ohio State
2015–16 Alabama
2016–17 Clemson
2017–18 Alabama
2018–19 Clemson
2019–20 Louisiana State
2020–21 Alabama
2021–22 Georgia
2022–23 Georgia
2023–24 Michigan
The Editors of Encyclopaedia BritannicaThis article was most recently revised and updated by Adam Augustyn.