Mythical National Championship
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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 NCAA Division-I college football, since there is no playoff in that sport. However, it can also be used to describe champions in other sports as well.
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[edit] 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 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.
Bo Schembechler, a former football coach at Michigan who coached during this period, once said:
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. [1]
The current Bowl Championship Series system is an attempt to fix these perceived problems 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.
However, the selection of the two best teams has resulted in controversy during seasons in which more than two squads feel worthy of a berth in the title game. Recent examples include:
- 2001, 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.
- 2002, 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.
- 2004, when Southern California did not play in the BCS title game but was declared the champions of the AP poll. ( Louisiana State beat Oklahoma in the official title game.)
- 2005, when Auburn went undefeated yet was not chosen to play in the title game. (USC beat Oklahoma in the BCS title game.)
- 2007, when one-loss Michigan and Florida squads both had claims to be in the title game against undefeated Ohio State. (Florida was chosen and beat OSU for the BCS title.)
- 2008, when the season ended with no teams from a major conference still undefeated and many squads felt they had a legitimate claim to a spot in the BCS Championship Game. (LSU defeated Ohio State in the title game, thus becoming the first BCS football champion with two loses.)
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.
[edit] College basketball
Prior to 1939 the NCAA did not sanction a post-season tournament to determine a national champion. Some schools claim basketball national championships based on polls from this era, the most notable being the Helms Athletic Foundation, which named its own champion from 1901 to 1982 (1901-1935 were retroactively awarded). For example, Kansas claims 2 national championships from this era, 1922 and 1923. The University of North Carolina claims the 1924 championship and Purdue claims the 1932 championship. LSU officially claims the 1935 championship awarded to them by winning the American Legion Bowl National Championship game against Pittsburgh.
These early titles are not recognized by the NCAA and are not counted toward the all time NCAA Championship totals, and some schools choose not to claim them as official championships. Basketball prior to the age of the NCAA was primarily a regional sport, and the best basketball at the time was typically played in the Midwest, since the sport grew out of Lawrence, Kansas, James Naismith's residence from 1898 to 1939.
Butler University, who played won the AAU's collegiate tournament, claims the 1924 championship along with North Carolina's 26-0 squad. While UNC posted an undefeated record, they did not play any team from outside of the South during that season. The following year, they scheduled some teams from outside their region and were soundly defeated. They had, however, lost several key players to graduation from the previous year's squad, including consensus All-American Jack Cobb.
[edit] Schools that officially claim pre-NCAA Tournament basketball championships
The following table lists schools that officially claim a national championship from the pre-NCAA Tournament era of college basketball. The table below is incomplete and needs more data.
| Year | School | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 1922 | Kansas | Helms Athletic Foundation |
| 1923 | Kansas | Helms Athletic Foundation |
| 1924 | North Carolina Butler |
Helms Athletic Foundation AAU |
| 1932 | Purdue | Helms Athletic Foundation |
| 1935 | LSU | American Legion |
[edit] 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 play-off. 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, are sometimes considered to be the Mythical National Champions.
[edit] 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.
[edit] References
[edit] See also
- NCAA Division I-A national football championship
- BCS National Championship Game
- Automatic bids to non-BCS bowls
- Dickinson System
- AP Poll
- Coaches Poll
- Grantland Rice Award
- Harris Interactive College Football Poll
- Black college football national championship
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