NCAA Division II Football Championship
NCAA Division II Football Championship | |
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Logo used for the 2005 NCAA Division II National Championship Game | |
In operation | 1973–present |
Preceded by | Small college polls |
Number of playoff teams | 28 |
Championship trophy | NCAA Division II National Championship Trophy |
Television partner(s) | ESPN2 |
Most playoff appearances |
North Alabama Northwest Missouri State (19) |
Most playoff championships | Northwest Missouri State (6) |
Current champion | Texas A&M–Commerce (1) |
The NCAA Division II Football Championship is an American college football tournament played annually to determine a champion at the NCAA Division II level. It was first held in 1973, as a single-elimination tournament with eight teams. The tournament field has subsequently been expanded three times; in 1988 it became 16 teams, in 2004 it became 24 teams, and in 2016 it became 28 teams.
The National Championship game has been held in seven different cities; Sacramento, California (1973–1975), Wichita Falls, Texas (1976–1977), Longview, Texas (1978), Albuquerque, New Mexico (1979–1980), McAllen, Texas (1981–1985), Florence, Alabama (1986–2013), and Kansas City, Kansas (2014–2017).[1] The 2018 game will be played at the McKinney ISD Stadium and Community Event Center in McKinney, Texas.[2] Since 1994, the games have been broadcast on ESPN.
Prior to 1973, for what was then called the "NCAA College Division," champions were selected by polls conducted at the end of each regular season by two major wire services; in some years the two polls named different number one teams.
NCAA College Division wire service national champions
Polls were conducted by the Associated Press (AP) and United Press International (UPI) at the end of each regular season. The AP would poll a panel of writers, while UPI would poll a panel of coaches.
National champions by polling
NCAA Division II champions
† Mississippi College's 1989 tournament participation, along with its championship, were vacated by the NCAA Committee on Infractions.
State
Teams that moved to Division I
Most of the participants in early national championship games have moved into Division I, the main catalyst for their moves being the creation of Division I-AA, now the Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), in 1978. The following Division II title game participants later moved to Division I:
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Postseason bowls
Regional bowls
From 1964 to 1972, four regional bowl games were played in order to provide postseason action,[3] however these games took place after the AP and UPI polls were completed, therefore these games did not factor in selecting a national champion for the College Division. The bowl games were:
Region | 1964 | 1965 | 1966 | 1967 | 1968 | 1969 | 1970 | 1971 | 1972 |
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East | Tangerine Bowl | Boardwalk Bowl | |||||||
Orlando, Florida | Atlantic City, New Jersey | ||||||||
Mideast | Grantland Rice Bowl | ||||||||
Murfreesboro, Tennessee | Baton Rouge, Louisiana | ||||||||
Midwest | Pecan Bowl | Pioneer Bowl | |||||||
Abilene, Texas | Arlington, Texas | Wichita Falls, Texas | |||||||
West | Camellia Bowl | ||||||||
Sacramento, California |
Winners of regional bowls[3]
Year | West | Midwest | Mideast | East |
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1964 | Montana State | State College (IA) | Middle Tennessee State | East Carolina |
1965 | Cal State Los Angeles | North Dakota State | Ball State / Tennessee State (tie) | East Carolina |
1966 | San Diego State | North Dakota | Tennessee State | Morgan State |
1967 | San Diego State | Texas-Arlington | Eastern Kentucky | Tennessee-Martin |
1968 | Humboldt State | North Dakota State | Louisiana Tech | Delaware |
1969 | North Dakota State | Arkansas State | East Tennessee State | Delaware |
1970 | North Dakota State | Arkansas State | Tennessee State | Delaware |
1971 | Boise State | Louisiana Tech | Tennessee State | Delaware |
1972 | North Dakota | Tennessee State | Louisiana Tech | Massachusetts |
Playoff bowls
From 1973 to 1977, some of the tournament games were also known by bowl names;
- In 1973, one of the first-round games was the final playing of the Boardwalk Bowl.
- From 1973 through 1975, the two semifinal games were the Grantland Rice Bowl and the Pioneer Bowl, while the final game was the Camellia Bowl.
- In 1976 and 1977, the two semifinal games were the Grantland Rice Bowl and the Knute Rockne Bowl, while the final game was the Pioneer Bowl.
See also
- College football national championships in NCAA Division I FBS
- NCAA Division I Football Championship
- NCAA Division I FCS Consensus Mid-Major Football National Championship
- NCAA Division III Football Championship
- NAIA National Football Championship
- NJCAA National Football Championship
- List of college bowl games
References
- ↑ "Kansas City to host 14 NCAA championships". Sporting Kansas City.
- ↑ "NCAA seeks new D2 football title game host because Sporting KC will renovate field". KansasCity.com. Kansas City Star. Retrieved 6 September 2018.
- 1 2 3 "Division II All-Time Championship Results Bracket" (PDF). NCAA. NCAA.org. p. 2. Retrieved March 3, 2014.
- ↑ "Cal Poly-SLO, Martin wreck Eastern Illinois". The Pantagraph. Bloomington, Illinois. AP. December 14, 1980. Retrieved February 26, 2017 – via newspapers.com.
- ↑ http://www.espn.com/college-football/game?gameId=400928521