NCAA FOOTBALL
College Football Playoffs: CFP and BCS National Championship list of winners
Just nine years ago, the College Football Playoffs replaced the Bowl Championship Series in crowning the champions. We look at all of the winners.
Some of us are old enough to remember when the notion of a “national champion” was nothing more than media hyperbole. Before the invention of the Bowl Championship Series, there was no way of knowing who actually won, other than simply conducting a poll. That was a situation that clearly could not continue, and so the BCS was created in 1998 to address the issue by ranking teams through the season and pitting the top teams against each other.
How college football has changed
The system was refined even further in 2014 with the creation of the CFP, where a more traditional bracket system would see the top ranked team face number three and the second ranked team face number four in a semi-final before pitting the winners against each other.
During the BCS era, Alabama were the top dog, winning three times, with Florida State, Florida, and LSU all hot on their heels with two wins apiece. Here are all of the BCS results:
| YEAR | WINNER | SCORE | RUNNER-UP |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | Tennessee | 23–16 | Florida State |
| 1999 | Florida State | 46–29 | Virginia Tech |
| 2000 | Oklahoma | 13–2 | Florida State |
| 2001 | Miami (FL) | 37–14 | Nebraska |
| 2002 | Ohio State | 31–24 | Miami (FL) |
| 2003 | LSU | 21–14 | Oklahoma |
| 2004 | USC | 55–19 | Oklahoma |
| 2005 | Texas | 41–38 | USC |
| 2006 | Florida | 41–14 | Ohio State |
| 2007 | LSU | 38–24 | Ohio State |
| 2008 | Florida | 24–14 | Oklahoma |
| 2009 | Alabama | 37–21 | Texas |
| 2010 | Auburn | 22–19 | Oregon |
| 2011 | Alabama | 21–0 | LSU |
| 2012 | Alabama | 42–14 | Notre Dame |
| 2013 | Florida State | 34–31 | Auburn |
Since the CFP era, things have not changed much, with the Crimson Tide dominating again, with three wins, just one win ahead of Clemson. Top ranked Michigan will face number four Alabama in the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day as number two Washington and number three Texas will meet in the Sugar Bowl, with the two winners slugging it out in the final. Here are all of theCFP results:
| YEAR | WINNER | SCORE | RUNNER-UP |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014–15 | Ohio State | 42–20 | Oregon |
| 2015–16 | Alabama | 45–40 | Clemson |
| 2016–17 | Clemson | 35–31 | Alabama |
| 2017–18 | Alabama | 26–23 (OT) | Georgia |
| 2018–19 | Clemson | 44–16 | Alabama |
| 2019–20 | LSU | 42–25 | Clemson |
| 2020–21 | Alabama | 52–24 | Ohio State |
| 2021–22 | Georgia | 33–18 | Alabama |