College Football National Championships In NCAA Division I FBS
A college football national championship in the highest level of collegiate play in the United States, currently the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), is a designation awarded annually by various third-party organizations to their selection(s) of the best college football team(s). Division I FBS (formerly Division I-A) football is the only NCAA sport in which a yearly champion is not determined by an NCAA sanctioned championship event.
Because the championship team is not determined by a NCAA championship or tournament event, it is sometimes unofficially referred to as a "mythical national championship". Since the NCAA, the sport's governing body, does not determine or declare a national champion in this field, determination of such has often engendered controversy. A championship team is independently declared by various individuals and organizations, often referred to as "selectors". These choices are sometimes at odds with each other. While the NCAA has never officially endorsed an annual championship team, it has documented the choices of several selectors in the official NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision Records. In addition, various third party analysts have independently published their own lists of what they have determined to be the most legitimate selections for each season. These are also often at odds with each other as well as individual school's claims on national championships, which, for any particular season, may or may not correlate to the selections published elsewhere.
Currently, two widely recognized national champions selectors are the Associated Press, which conducts a poll of football sportswriters, and the USA Today Coaches' Poll, a poll of American Football Coaches Association active coaches that is contractually obligated to name the winner of the Bowl Championship Series championship game as its national champion.
Read more about College Football National Championships In NCAA Division I FBS: History, National Championships in The Official NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision Records, National Championship Claims By School, College Football Data Warehouse Recognized National Champions, Poll Era (1936–present), BCS Championships
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