The history of college football national championship games – NBC Los Angeles

A new college football champion will be crowned on Monday.

The Michigan Wolverines and Washington Huskies will square off in the 2024 College Football Playoff National Championship at NRG Stadium in Houston. Both teams will look to cap off undefeated seasons after winning thrilling CFP semifinals.

No. 1 Michigan came from behind to win an overtime thriller against No. 4 Alabama in the Rose Bowl. No. 2 Washington then fended off No. 3 Texas in an exhilarating Sugar Bowl to set up the championship matchup. 

While both schools are making their debut in the CFP National Championship, Michigan brings much more championship experience into the 2024 title game. The Wolverines have nine national championships in their history with the last one coming in 1997, when they were co-champions with Nebraska. The Huskies have only been named consensus champions, earning the title with Miami in 1991.

As indicated by split championships, the sport went through several systems to determine a top team before landing on its current College Football Playoff format. More change is on the way, too, with the Michigan-Washington matchup serving as the end of an era for the CFP.

Ahead of Monday’s showdown, here’s a look back at recent national title winners and the system in place for their championships:

Bowl Coalition and Bowl Alliance champions by year

From 1968 (the year the AP poll began crowning its champion after bowl games) to 1992, the No. 1 and No. 2 teams entering bowl season only matched up in a bowl game six times.

After Consensus National Champions were announced for the 1990 and 1991 seasons, the Bowl Coalition went into place beginning with the 1992 season. The coalition was formed through an agreement between conferences and bowl games to set up a national championship game between the top two teams each season. After three seasons, the coalition was reconfigured and became the Bowl Alliance, which lasted for three seasons, as well.

There was a major flaw in the Bowl Coalition and Bowl Alliance being used to crown a national champion: the Big Ten and Pac-10 were not involved since both conferences were contractually obligated to play in the Rose Bowl. The Tournament of Roses Association did not allow either conference champion to play in a title game, even if one of them was ranked No. 1 or No. 2.

Here are the championship game results from the years under the Bowl Coalition and Bowl Alliance:

• 1993 Sugar Bowl: No. 2 Alabama 34, No. 1 Miami 13
• 1994 Orange Bowl: No. 1 Florida State 18, No. 2 Nebraska 16
• 1995 Orange Bowl: No. 1 Nebraska 24, No. 3 Miami 17
• 1996 Fiesta Bowl: No. 1 Nebraska 62, No. 2 Florida 24
• 1997 Sugar Bowl: No. 3 Florida 52, No. 1 Florida State 20
• 1998 Orange Bowl: No. 2 Nebraska 42, No. 3 Tennessee 17

Even with the Bowl Coalition in place, it still did not lead to a consensus champion. For the 1997 season, Nebraska was named the national champion via the Coaches’ Poll…