Published November 22, 2011 - 1:55pm
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Last week I was listening to Men in Blazers, a terrific podcast from Grantland for any of you interested in that other football. During the Pod, the hosts were discussing England’s victory of Spain in an international friendly, and one asked, since Spain is the defending World Champion, if England were the Unofficial World Champion. The other host replied no it didn’t, and referred to this site, which keeps track of the Unofficial Football World Championship. It turns out, Japan was the first team to defeat Spain after the 2010 World Cup, and since then, North Korea has defeated Japan, making those lovable members of the Axis of Evil the current Unofficial World Champions.
You can probably already see where this is going. Why doesn’t college football have an Unofficial National Champion? Well as of today, it does – UnofficialNationalChamps.com is your one stop shop for more information than you ever wanted to know about made up championships.
The site is still a work in progress, but I hope you’ll take a few minutes to browse around. We have named Unofficial National Champions back to 1951, but so far the season-by-season archives only go back to 1997. Even so, there have been some interesting findings.
- In 1999, LSU became, best we can tell, the only team to win the Unofficial National Championship with a losing record.
- In 1998, there were two Unofficial National Championships up for grabs, and Texas A&M lost them both in consecutive losses to end the season.
- In 1997, Louisiana Tech’s upset of Alabama propelled the Bulldogs to their only Unofficial National Championship.
Speaking of the Tide, they, along with USC, lead the nation with 6 Unofficial National Championships each.
In case you were wondering, Virginia Tech is the current Unofficial National Champion, after defeating Georgia Tech, who defeated Clemson, who defeated Auburn. So while the rest of the college football world is focused on the SEC West, their unofficial eyes should be looking to the Commonwealth of Virginia, where the Hokies and Cavaliers face off on Saturday.
*Just like in the real world, the SEC has 5 straight Unofficial National Championships, if you count Missouri, which I do, because why not. And while a sixth straight BCS title looks inevitable, a sixth straight unofficial title will require a bowl matchup with the winner of Virginia – Virginia Tech, though I’m not sure that’s even a possibility.
What do you think about this Unofficial National Champion?
Unofficial National Champions
All-Time Unofficial National Champions. Actual National Champion(s) in parentheses
2010 – Auburn (Auburn)
2009 – Alabama (Alabama)
2008 – Florida (Florida)
2007 – Missouri (LSU)
2006 – Florida (Florida)
2005 – Penn State (Texas)
2004 – Auburn & Wyoming (Vacated)
2003 – USC (LSU)
2002 – Ohio State (Ohio State)
2001 – Oregon (Miami)
2000 – Miami (Oklahoma)
1999 – LSU (Florida State)
1998 – Texas & Ohio State (Tennessee)
1997 – Louisiana Tech (Nebraska & Michigan)
We need to get it back in the SEC this year. I don’t like seeing somebody like Virginia Tech holding the Unofficial National Champion belt!
This title belt make Kentucky’s win over South Carolina last year much more important. For a week, UK held the title of Unofficial National Champion! Go Cats!
When I rushed the field last year after Kentucky’s upset over South Carolina, I wish I knew at the time that we had just taken the Unofficial National Championship Title Belt!
While irrelevant, it’s still fun to follow. This kind of logic was legitimate in middle school lunch debates.