Interesting National Championship Trivia

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AppleCornCy

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In the era of polls, Michigan has the same number of national championships as Michigan State. Both have one outright title and one shared. You could make a really strong argument that Michigan is a has-been, as their national championship in 1997 is their only title since 1948. That’s one title, 24 years ago, in the last 73 years.

Penn State and Pittsburgh each have two national championships.

Georgia and Georgia Tech each have one national title, and Tech’s is more recent. Colorado also has one national title, winning the AP title the year Georgia Tech won the Coaches title (1990).

When the Big 12 was formed in 1996, its schools had more national championships combined (15) than any other league. Call it the first super conference. The Big Ten was the closest with 14, the SEC had 11, Notre Dame had 8, the Big East and Pac-10 each had 7, and the ACC had 4. Just the Big 8 schools had 11 titles amongst themselves, the same number as the SEC.

Somehow the SEC has won 11 of the last 15 national championships. They have as many national titles in the last 15 years as they had prior to 1996.
 
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jdoggivjc

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In the era of polls, Michigan has the same number of national championships as Michigan State. Both have one outright title and one shared. You could make a really strong argument that Michigan is a has-been, as their national championship in 1997 is their only title since 1948. That’s one title, 24 years ago, in the last 73

Been saying for years that Michigan is a has-been. Their fans like to talk about how they’re still relevant, yet it’s been decades since they’ve competed for even a conference championship. If Ohio St is the Alabama of the North, Michigan is Texas - 5-star talent; 0-star culture. And I’ll tell you this: if Harbaugh can’t get it done there, nobody can under that culture (which cannot be changed just by bringing in a new coach/AD - just like Texas, boosters with $$$ are what controls that program).
 

CYTUTT

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In the era of polls, Michigan has the same number of national championships as Michigan State. Both have one outright title and one shared. You could make a really strong argument that Michigan is a has-been, as their national championship in 1997 is their only title since 1948. That’s one title, 24 years ago, in the last 73 years.

Penn State and Pittsburgh each have two national championships.

Georgia and Georgia Tech each have one national title, and Tech’s is more recent. Colorado also has one national title, winning the AP title the year Georgia Tech won the Coaches title (1990).

When the Big 12 was formed in 1996, its schools had more national championships combined (15) than any other league. Call it the first super conference. The Big Ten was the closest with 14, the SEC had 11, Notre Dame had 8, the Big East and Pac-10 each had 7, and the ACC had 4. Just the Big 8 schools had 11 titles amongst themselves, the same number as the SEC.

Somehow the SEC has won 11 of the last 15 national championships. They have as many national titles in the last 15 years as they had prior to 1996.
I think this just shows the bias of the powers who crown champions. The east coast writers are a powerful force in determining champions - especially before the playoff format. The SEC teams are good in their own right, but a lot of this is somewhat scripted to provide a specific outcome.
 
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BryceC

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Michigan still has the most wins of any program, so they've been consistently great (at least until the Carr era was over). Texas is #4.

But yes, they are very similar to Texas.

Craziest thing to me is that they are 1-15 against OSU in the last 16 games. If anybody remembers the 15 game streak against Iowa it seemed like an eternity. It was basically my entire childhood. I know they got one in there, but that's a generation of fans that have basically seen their team just get dominated by their main rival.

I've said this before also but the Big House is easily the most overrated stadium I've ever been to. Completely crappy place to watch a game.
 

usedcarguy

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While history provides a benefit to a program, if we're going to be honest, at this point in time we've seen as many if not more blue bloods fall than remain relevant.

This brings up two very important points. One, there is a diminishing return on money poured into CFB programs. Look at UT. For years they've had more money than they can spend. How much more attractive to a recruit is a gold shower head or diamond studded lockers? I say this because they already have everything else. EVERYTHING. So what do they do? Build standalone facilities for non-revenue sports like volleyball and funnel the rest back to the university. How exactly does that make their football program better? It doesn't.

The other is that coaching far above all else remains the most important factor. That's how schools with far smaller budgets have climbed their ways into upper echelon. Cincy, TCU, and now ISU are prime examples. Great coaches consistently win at a high level, good and average coaches do not, regardless of budget.

Bama won't be Bama forever, and neither will Ohio State, Georgia, LSU, etc. Many of you who are old enough to remember when Ohio State was firing coaches (after Woody Hays) and Alabama was competing for Independence Bowl wins. Nothing lasts forever.

They'll always be able to throw the most money at coaches, but they still have to be able to figure out the difference between good and great. Most can't, which is why we have the current Michigans, kNebraskas, etc.
 

AppleCornCy

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Here’s another one:

Nick Saban has seven national championships, one with LSU and six with Alabama. USC also has seven all time, as does Oklahoma. Alabama had seven before Saban arrived (13 now). The only program in college football with more is Notre Dame with eight.