Image: Wikicommons by Thecoiner
About This Quiz
We love to watch the seasons change: Winter transforming into crisp spring days, spring giving way to summer’s heat, summer melting into college football season. Wait ... you didn’t know college football was one of the four seasons? Shame on you. OK, we’re kidding, it’s actually autumn, but college football gets us all in our fall feels for other reasons. The pageantry, the rivalries, the tailgates – they’re all part of the main course that leads to dessert: Bowl season and the march to the championship.
While some schools have been greedy the past few years, racking up national championships like Thanksgiving sides, others have taken a bit of a backseat. But, don’t sleep on them: There are lots of schools out there with trophy cases full of national championship hardware. The Crimson Tide has a dozen, but the Fighting Irish aren’t far behind. One Ivy League school boasts 28! And, a school in the “Peace Garden State” is the most decorated among FCS contenders.
The question is: Just how championship-crazed are you? Could you identify the team based on the number of titles it has? From one championship to nearly 30, we’ve curated a quiz that celebrates the best of the sport. We need you to tell us the titleholders, It’s time to take the field!
Tennessee
Oklahoma
USC
Notre Dame
The Fighting Irish of Notre Dame have 11 titles that are recognized as official by the NCAA. Rockne led them to three titles; Frank Leahy, four; Parseghian, two; Dan Devine, one; and Lou Holtz, one.
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Marines
Coast Guard
Army
The United States Military Academy doesn’t just excel on the battlefield, but the football field as well. It holds three recognized national championship titles – 1944, 1945 and 1946 – when it was particularly dominant.
Air Force
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South Carolina
Georgia
Florida
The football program at the University of Florida has brought three championship trophies to the Swamp, its home field, including one under the direction of Steve Spurrier and two under the guidance of Urban Meyer.
Florida State
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Kansas
WVU
Texas
Oklahoma
The Oklahoma Sooners are considered the most decorated program in the Big 12 thanks, in part, to its seven Associated Press national championships from 1950 to 2000.
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Georgia
The University of Georgia Bulldogs have two NCAA-acknowledged national championships to their name, including a 1942 title and matching votes from both the Coaches’ and AP Polls in 1980.
Mississippi State
Wake Forest
North Carolina
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WVU
Oklahoma State
Clemson
USC
The University of Southern California has 11 nationally recognized college championships, the most recent of which came in 2004 when Pete Carroll was coach of the football program. The other titles came in 1928, 1931, 1932, 1939, 1962, 1967, 1972, 1974, 1978 and 2003.
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Nebraska
Nebraska earned three of its five national championship titles in near back-to-back-to-back fashion in 1994, 1995 and 1997 under then Coach Tom Osborne. Its remaining titles came in 1970 and 1971.
Kansas State
Baylor
Illinois
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Boise State
Wisconsin
Utah
Penn State
Penn State earned two national championships in the 1980s, under the direction of legendary football coach Joe Paterno. Both titles were considered consensus national championships.
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Vanderbilt
Arkansas
Auburn
Auburn University’s most recent NCAA championship win came in 2010 when a quarterback named Cam Newton led them to the promised land. Auburn’s other consensus national title came in 1957 with a 10-0 record.
Missouri
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Cincinnati
Pitt
Maryland
The University of Maryland Terrapins have two, albeit aged, national trophies in their trophy case. The first came in 1951 and the second two years later. Both were achieved under the coaching leadership of Jim Tatum.
Virginia Tech
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Baylor
Buffalo
Texas
The University of Texas Longhorns (Hook ‘em, Horns!) has collected four national championship trophies since it started playing NCAA football in 1893. The last came in 2005 under the direction of Mack Brown.
Texas A&M
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Alabama
It’s easy to see why so many college football programs covet what the University of Alabama has been able to do. There's a debate about how many titles they've won, with some saying up to 17 national championships; this is due to the confusion before the BCS was established.
Auburn
LSU
Florida
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Ohio State
Michigan
The University of Michigan claims 11 national titles, dating back as far as 1901. Two of the school’s championships came after the Associated Press started its poll, including one title in 1948 and another in 1997 (that time with Lloyd Carr).
Michigan State
Illinois
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Georgia
Texas A&M
Ole Miss
LSU
The Tigers of Louisiana State University (better known to college football fans as LSU) have earned three national titles, including championships in 1958, 2003 and 2007. Fans of the program often celebrate by saying, “Geaux Tigers!,” a play on the school’s French Cajun roots. The school has a strong chance to add another title in 2020.
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Oregon
Michigan State
The Michigan State Spartans football team was dominant in the 1950s and 60s, earning or sharing in six national championship titles during that time, the first in 1951 and the last in 1966.
Ohio
South Florida
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Virginia Tech
Florida State
Though Florida State only claims three of its eight selected NCAA titles, the school actually has been voted the best in college football eight times. Its championships span a period of time from 1980 to 2013.
Florida
Clemson
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Colorado
The University of Colorado Buffaloes earned a national championship title in 1990, bringing a trophy home to its hometown of Boulder, Colorado. The title that year was actually split between Colorado and Georgia Tech.
Colorado State
Wyoming
UNLV
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Missouri
Vanderbilt
Arkansas
Tennessee
The University of Tennessee has been selected for six national championships and claims each and every one. Four of its six titles were earned under Coach Robert Neyland, for whom the stadium is now named.
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Duke
North Carolina
USC
Miami
The University of Miami, or “The U” as it is affectionately known by its athletes and fans, has garnered six AP national championships, including victories in 1983, 1987, 1989, 1991 and 2001.
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Arkansas
Georgia Tech
Georgia Tech was selected as the national champion multiple times before the College Football Playoff system was created. The school claims titles from 1917, 1928, 1952 and 1990.
Georgia
Old Miss
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Texas A&M
Dallas
Oklahoma State
Oklahoma State’s football program has one of the newest – and oldest – national championships to its name. Awarded retroactively in 2006, the title was given to the 1945 team by the American Football Coaches Association.
Kansas
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Washington State
Nebraska
Memphis
Texas A&M
The Texas A&M Aggies, home to the official “12th man,” has welcomed three national titles to its campus in College Station, Texas. Fun fact: The program lent its “12th man” nickname to the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks in a five-year, $140,000 deal.
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Ohio State
Ohio State University’s eight national championships span a period of time from 1942 and Coach Paul Brown to 2014 and Coach Urban Meyer. Will the team add another in 2020? Stay tuned ...
N.C. State
Georgia
Arkansas
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Kansas
Minnesota
The Minnesota Golden Gophers, members of the Big 10 conference, collected seven national titles between 1904 and 1960. The Gophers were led to back-to-back championships in 1940 and 1941 by its lone Heisman Trophy winner, Bruce Smith.
Michigan State
Iowa
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Washington
The University of Washington Huskies claims NCAA-recognized national championships from the 1960 and 1991 seasons. The last one came as a result of a Rose Bowl win over the University of Michigan.
Washington State
Oregon
Cal
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UNLV
Utah
BYU
In 1984, the Brigham Young University Cougars went undefeated, winning the Holiday Bowl. The school was selected as the national champion for the season, the only undefeated school at the end of the year.
San Diego State
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Auburn
LSU
Clemson
Clemson earned only one national title prior to 2016, a championship that came at the end of an undefeated season in 1981. Since 2016, the Tigers have earned two national championships in the modern playoff era.
Missouri
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North Dakota State
The North Dakota State Bison have seven FCS championships through 2018, winning the title every year from 2011 to 2018, with the exception of 2016. Prior to 2011, the school claimed eight additional trophies.
South Dakota State
Buffalo
Colorado
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Notre Dame
UCLA
The University of California, Los Angeles, better known as UCLA, has never won a national championship outright. Rather, it shared a part of a title in 1954 with Ohio State. UCLA was No. 1 in the Coaches’ Poll, while OSU was No. 1 in the AP Poll.
USC
San Diego State University
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UCF
North Carolina
Syracuse
Syracuse won its first and only national championship in football in 1959, thanks to a 23-14 victory in the Cotton Bowl over the University of Texas. You probably think “basketball” when you hear this school’s name, but don’t rule out its football team either!
Pitt
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Iowa State
TCU
The TCU (or Texas Christian University) Horned Frogs have jumped on two national championships, both in the 1930s. Heisman winner Davey O’Brien, for whom a college football trophy is now named, played for the Frogs.
WVU
Penn State
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Pitt
The University of Pittsburgh, according to NCAA records, has championships (as selected by major outlets) in 11 different seasons, though the school itself only claims nine of those. The school’s most recent championship came in 1981.
Penn State
Villanova
St. John’s
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Georgia Southern
Florida A&M
The Florida A&M Rattlers won its only national championship game in 1978, the same year that the then-named NCAA I-AA division hosted a title game. They have a whopping 37 conference titles to their name, too.
Marshall
Appalachian State
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UCF
Boise State
Georgia Southern
The Georgia Southern Eagles soared to six national championship titles at the FCS level, before moving to FBS in 2014. The team’s last championship title came in 2000, a 27-25 win over Montana.
Montana
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Harvard
Yale
Princeton
The Princeton Tigers might have been the Alabama of the 1800s and early 1900s, racking up 27 titles between 1869 and 1935. The 28th national championship came in 1950.
Brown
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