List of NCAA Division I FBS conference championship games

The following is a list of conference championship games in NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) football. With the Sun Belt Conference holding its first championship game in 2018, all 10 FBS conferences now have championship games.

Before the 2016 season, the NCAA required that a conference have a minimum of 12 teams before it could host a football championship game that did not count against the organization's current limit of 12 regular-season games. This prevented the Big 12 Conference and Sun Belt Conference from hosting championship games, as neither conference had the required number of teams.

The Big 12 previously held a championship game from 1996 to 2010, a period in which it had the required 12 members. The title game was discontinued when the league dropped to 10 members in 2011. Following changes in NCAA rules, it reinstated a championship game in 2017.

The 2017 Sun Belt football season, which saw Coastal Carolina join, though without bowl eligibility until 2018 (Coastal had joined the Sun Belt for other sports in 2016), was the first (and to date only) season in which the conference had 12 football members.[1] Due to the aforementioned change in NCAA rules, the Sun Belt became immediately eligible to hold a championship game, even though it had only 11 football members in 2016 and now has only 10 football members after the expulsion of Idaho and New Mexico State after the 2017 season. The conference announced that it would begin playing a championship game in 2018, though it did not immediately announce how it would determine the participants.[2] Ultimately, the Sun Belt announced its football league would split into two five-team divisions in 2018, with the division winners playing in a title game.[3]

daggerDenotes a CFP berth ^ Denotes a non-CFP NY6 berth

Rankings are pre-game and from the AP Poll.

ConferenceInaugural Year Most Recent Champion Most Recent Runner-up Most Recent Location
AAC Championship Game 2015 #12 UCF Knights (12–0)^ #16 Memphis Tigers (10–2) Spectrum Stadium - Orlando, FL
ACC Championship Game 2005 #1 Clemson Tigers (12–1)dagger #7 Miami Hurricanes (10–2)^ Bank of America Stadium - Charlotte, NC
Big Ten Championship Game 2011 #8 Ohio State Buckeyes (11–2)^ #3 Wisconsin Badgers (12–1)^ Lucas Oil Stadium - Indianapolis, IN
Big 12 Championship Game 1996[lower-alpha 1] #2 Oklahoma Sooners (12–1)dagger #10 TCU Horned Frogs (10–3) AT&T Stadium - Arlington, TX
Conference USA Championship Game 2005 Florida Atlantic Owls (10–3) North Texas Mean Green (9–4) FAU Stadium - Boca Raton, Florida
MAC Championship Game 1997 Toledo Rockets (11–2) Akron Zips (7–6) Ford Field - Detroit, MI
Mountain West Championship Game 2013 Boise State Broncos (10–3) #25 Fresno State Bulldogs (9–4) Albertsons Stadium - Boise, ID
Pac-12 Championship Game 2011 #11 USC Trojans (11–2)^ #14 Stanford Cardinal (9–4) Levi's Stadium - Santa Clara, CA
SEC Championship Game 1992 #6 Georgia Bulldogs (12–1)dagger #4 Auburn Tigers (10–3)^ Mercedes-Benz Stadium - Atlanta, GA
Sun Belt Championship Game 2018 Inaugural Game Inaugural Game TBD
  1. ↑ Discontinued after the 2010 edition; reinstated for 2017 and beyond.

References

  1. ↑ "Coastal Carolina to Join Sun Belt Conference" (Press release). Sun Belt Conference. September 1, 2015. Retrieved September 7, 2015.
  2. ↑ "Inaugural Sun Belt Football Championship to be played in 2018" (Press release). Sun Belt Conference. June 8, 2016. Retrieved September 16, 2016.
  3. ↑ "Sun Belt Concludes Spring Meeting as Upward Rise Well-Displayed" (Press release). Sun Belt Conference. May 23, 2017. Retrieved June 9, 2017.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.