Mythical national championship

A mythical national championship (sometimes abbreviated MNC) is a colloquial term used to describe a champion in a sport in which a championship is determined without the use of a playoff or tournament of some kind. It is most commonly used when referring to the Football Bowl Subdivision of collegiate American football because for decades, polls of coaches and/or sportswriters determined the champion, while the current system awards the title by means of an often controversial two-team playoff. However, the term can also be used to describe champions in other sports.

College football

"Mythical national champion" is a colloquial term for a championship won by a NCAA Division-I football team, especially for titles won before the current Bowl Championship Series began in 1998. Prior to that, championships were awarded by polls in which coaches and/or sportwriters voted, most notably the AP Poll, the UPI Poll, the USA Today poll, and various other polls. This system led to seasons in which two or even more teams could claim to have won a national championship.

The term "mythical" has been used to describe college football national championships for some time, including prior to 1940.^[1] Regarding the national championship in college football, Bo Schembechler, a former football coach at Michigan, was quoted as saying:

You play to win the Big Ten championship, and if you win it and go to the Rose Bowl and win it, then you've had a great season. If they choose to vote you number one, then you're the national champion. But a national champion is a mythical national champion, and I think you guys ought to know that. It's mythical. ^[2]

The current Bowl Championship Series system is an attempt to eliminate uncertainty by ranking college teams and inviting the top two squads at the end of the regular season to play in a bowl game to determine the champion. These teams are determined by the BCS ranking formula, which itself uses a combination of human voter polls and computer rankings. Currently, the Harris Interactive College Football Poll and the Coaches Poll are the major human-driven contributors to the poll. The Coaches Poll is under contract to name the champion of the BCS National Championship Game as its national champion.

Controversies

The process of selecting the two best teams for the BCS game has resulted in controversy almost every season of its existence. Recent examples include:

• After the 2000 season, when undefeated Oklahoma was paired with one-loss Florida State for the BCS Championship. Their loss had come against another one-loss team, AP#2 Miami, who in turn had their single defeat coming at the hands of one-loss Washington.
• After the 2001 season, when AP#4 Nebraska was chosen by the BCS as Miami's national title opponent despite not having even played in the Big 12 championship game. They were awarded a spot against AP#1 Miami over AP#2 Oregon and AP#3 Colorado who had beaten Nebraska in their previous game.
• After the 2003 season, when Southern California was not picked to play in the BCS title game despite being ranked #1 in both human (non-computer) polls. While LSU beat Oklahoma in the BCS title game and was declared the BCS champions, USC was the AP poll's pick as national champs.
• After the 2004 season, when Auburn went undefeated yet was not chosen to play in the title game. (USC beat Oklahoma in the BCS title game.) The Utah Utes and Boise State Broncos went undefeated as well, and were not chosen to play in the national championship. Auburn beat Virginia Tech 16–13 in the Sugar Bowl and the Utes beat Pittsburgh 35–7 in the Fiesta Bowl, while Boise State was left out of the BCS entirely and ended up losing the Liberty Bowl to Louisville.
• After the 2006 season, when one-loss Michigan and Florida squads both had claims to be in the BCS Championship Game against undefeated Ohio State. Michigan had lost to Ohio State 42–39 in the final game of the regular season. Florida was chosen to be in the Championship Game. However, Boise State went 12–0 in the regular season and was not chosen to play in the title game. Boise State did play in the Fiesta Bowl and defeated Oklahoma 43–42, going 13–0.
• After the 2007 season, the season ended with no teams from a BCS conference still undefeated. The situation left many squads feeling as if they had a legitimate claim to a spot in the BCS Championship Game. Hawaii of the Western Athletic Conference was undefeated, but was ranked #10 in the BCS standings due to weak slate of opponents ^[3]. The Virginia Tech Hokies were ranked #1 by the computers but were #5 in the human polls, at least partially due to a 48-7 loss to LSU in September^[4]. That LSU team defeated 1-loss Ohio State in the BCS title game, thus becoming the first BCS football champion with two losses. Kansas ended the season as the only 1-loss team from a BCS conference after defeating Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl.
• After the 2008 season, when the Utah Utes and Boise State Broncos went undefeated in the regular season while Florida and Oklahoma, each with one loss, were chosen to play in the BCS Championship Game. Utah went on to beat Alabama in the Sugar Bowl to finish the season as the only undefeated team and were voted #2 in the final polls behind Florida, who defeated Oklahoma for the BCS championship. Boise State lost to TCU in the Poinsettia Bowl. Also in 2008, Texas beat Oklahoma in the regular season, and finished with one loss (as did several other BCS conference teams, such as USC, Penn State, and Texas Tech), but was not chosen to play for the title.
• After the 2009 season, when the Alabama Crimson Tide, Texas Longhorns, Cincinnati Bearcats, TCU Horned Frogs, and Boise State Broncos all finished the season undefeated, with Alabama and Texas being chosen for the national title game. TCU and Boise State were chosen to play in the Fiesta Bowl, marking the first time a BCS bowl other than the national championship game would feature two undefeated teams, yet drawing criticism as it prevented either "BCS buster" from beating a top team from one of the BCS conferences.

The AP, whose poll was officially part of the BCS until 2004, withdrew the poll from the BCS system after controversies about the rankings. The AP still ranks teams, although its results now have no direct influence on the BCS formula.

College basketball

The national championship of collegiate basketball that is officially recognized by the main governing body for collegiate athletics in the United States, the NCAA, has been awarded to the champion of an annual national post-season tournament run by the NCAA since 1939. Prior to advent of national post-season college basketball tournaments beginning with the NAIA national men's basketball championship in 1937, the National Invitational Tournament (NIT) in 1938 and the NCAA Tournament in 1939, various third-party organizations awarded college basketball national championships in a manner similar to the selection of national champions for college football described above. The most notable of the pre-tournament era selections, and the only ones listed in the Official NCAA Men's Basketball Records Book, are those from the Helms Athletic Foundation.^[5] However, only the champions of its own post-season tournament are counted towards official NCAA National Championship totals.^[6]

The Helms Athletic Foundation named a college basketball national champion from 1901 to 1982, with its selections from 1901-1941 being awarded retroactively. The Helms Champion, for the years in which a national post-season tournament was played, matched the winner of the 1938 NIT and the winners for all years of the NCAA Tournament except for 1939, 1940, 1944 and 1954.^[7] However, despite these discrepancies, as well as the arguable notion that the NIT was equivalently regarded to, or more prestigious than, the NCAA Tournament during some of its early years,^[8] the NCAA Tournament champions are the officially and popularly recognized college basketball national champions for those seasons, and those champions are not considered to be disputed nor "mythical".

Schools that officially claim pre-NCAA Tournament basketball championships

Various schools officially claim or recognize national championships selected by the Helms Athletic Foundation. However, some schools claim pre-tournament era national championships awarded from different selectors resulting in seasons that have multiple schools claiming championships. For instance, LSU officially claims the 1935 championship awarded to them by winning the American Legion Bowl National Championship game against Pittsburgh.^[9] In addition, Butler University, who won the AAU's collegiate tournament, and a 26-0 North Carolina team who was named Helms Athletic Foundation National Champion, both claim national titles for 1924.

The following table is a partial list of schools that officially claim a national championship from the pre-NCAA Tournament era of college basketball. See also Helms Athletic Foundation Basketball National Champions. Not all schools officially recognize third-party national championships that they were selected for.

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

High school football

Because high school football in the United States is mostly a state-centered sport involving thousands of schools, it would be almost impossible to have a national championship playoff. Nearly all states crown several champions in different classifications, which are not uniform from state to state, based upon school enrollments. Some publications and internet sites release nationwide rankings based on polls or mathematical formulas which take into account various factors like average margin of victory and strength of schedule. Schools that finish atop these rankings, particularly the USA Today poll, often claim to be national champions.

National Football League

In the earliest days of the National Football League, the NFL championship was determined by a formula and by the votes of the NFL owners. In two instances, 1921 and 1925, this led to disputed titles. In 1932, two teams tied atop the standings led to a one-game playoff for the championship, which was made permanent the next year. There has been some sort of NFL playoff ever since, and as the league grew, so too did the tournament, which eventually took form as the single-elimination tournament it is today.

References