Image: Torsten Bolten
With Billy Napier fired as head coach of Florida, the October 20th Cover 3 podcast discussed possible candidates for the position. Lane Kiffin was mentioned, and the question arose as to whether it would be easier to win a national championship at Ole Miss, Kiffin's current stop, or in Gainesville.
It got me wondering: had Ole Miss ever won a national championship? I suspected that if so, it was no more than one, and I wasn't 100% sure. Then I started thinking that, in this day and age, schools that have won multiple national championships before are most likely to win them again. I decided to check the evidence.
2025 is the 90th year of the Associated Press college football poll of sports journalists ranking college football teams. The United Press International poll of coaches came about in 1950, and the Coaches Poll has remained under different names since 1990. Other organizations (Football Writers Association of America, National Football Foundation) also have had polls.
From 1936 through 1997, the #1 team at the end of the season was long considered "the" national champion, or co-champion if the major polls differed. The advent of the BCS (a one-game playoff) in 1998, followed by the four-team playoffs (2014-2023) and 12-team playoffs (2024-), mostly eliminated the split championship, although in 2003, the AP and FWAA split with the BCS. Nevertheless, because of the splits, there have been 115 "national champions" in the 89 seasons since the AP poll began.
(Before 1936, there were no services or polls determining champions. Champions have been designated retroactively, but because the players weren't actually motivated by playing for a #1 ranking those years, I don't count such championships.)
Only 33 of the 136 current schools in the Football Bowl Subdivision have won the national championship, as determined by the polls or BCS/Playoffs. Here they are, listed in the order of their most recent year won, with their total number of championships in parentheses:
2024: Ohio State (9)
2023: Michigan (3)
2022: Georgia (3)
2020: Alabama (13)
2019: LSU (4)
2018: Clemson (3)
2013: Florida State (3)
2010: Auburn (2)
2008: Florida (3)
2005: Texas (4)
2004: USC (7)
2001: Miami (5)
2000: Oklahoma (7)
1999: Tennessee (2)
1997: Nebraska (5)
1991: Washington (1); Georgia Tech (1)
1990: Colorado (1)
1988: Notre Dame (9)
1986: Penn State (2)
1984: Brigham Young (1)
1976: Pitt (2)
1966: Michigan State (3)
1964: Arkansas (1)
1960: Minnesota (4); Ole Miss (1)
1959: Syracuse (1)
1958: Iowa (1)
1954: UCLA (1)
1953: Maryland (1)
1945: Army (2)
1939: Texas A&M (1)
1938: TCU (1)
Ole Miss has won one title, and that was 65 years ago. Florida has won three, all in the past 30 years. Ole Miss is the 24th-winningest program in major college football since 1936. Florida ranks 15th. However, in the expanded SEC, Ole Miss is 11th-winningest; Florida is seventh. In the number of national championships in the conference, Ole Miss is tied for ninth, and Florida is tied for fifth. Eight other SEC schools have won a national title since Ole Miss did.
Other schools have had lengthy waits between championships, such as Auburn (1957-2010), LSU (1958-2003), Tennessee (1951-1998), and Michigan (1948-1997). But they were frequent conference title contenders, and sometimes national title contenders. In contrast, going back 62 years, Ole Miss's two best seasons each had two losses.
Florida has been inconsistent, with four head coaches fired since Urban Meyer left after the 2010 season. But 2011-2024, Florida nonetheless has managed two 11-2 seasons to Ole Miss's one, and one more winning season overall.
An excellent coach is more likely to find greatness (national championships) at Florida than at Ole Miss. The fact that the times have changed will not make much of a difference; the advantages that helped Florida win championships before players were paid are the same advantages they have today.
That's not to say Lane Kiffin would win a national championship if he bolted for Florida, only to say any coach stands a better chance there.
MVP CHASE TOP 25
Ohio State 30
Indiana 29
Georgia Tech 24
Texas A8M 24
Alabama 22
Georgia 22
BYU 21
Oregon 21
Louisville 20
Miami 18
Virginia 18
Texash Tech 17
Ole Miss 16
Oklahoma 16
Navy 15
South Florida 15
North Texas 15
Cincinnati 15
Notre Dame 15
LSU 14
Missouri 13
Vanderbilt 13
Tulane 13
Houston 12
J. Madison 12
The numbers beside each team reflect the number of wins by opponents the team has beaten, with a deduction depending on the number of losses by the teams it lost to and the margin of defeat. (In this system, most teams would have a negative number.)
Playoff Eliminations
I've been crossing off nine teams every week from the College Football Playoffs. I have eliminated 72 so far. Here are this week's nine. We won't see these teams in December.
Arizona: 4-3; 1-3 in conference
Clemson: 3-4
Florida St: 3-4
Kentucky: 2-4;
Maryland 4-3; 1-3 in conference
Michigan State: 3-4
Old Dominion: 4-3, lost by 36 to James Madison
Rutgers 3-4
South Carolina: 3-4
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Contact James Leroy Wilson for writing, editing, research, and other work at jamesleroywilson-at-gmail.com. Visit JL Cells for my non-sports writing.
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