The peculiarities of the competition system, the large number of colleges playing football and the lack of a playoff system in the style of the "March Madness" in basketball, has generated considerable controversy on how to appoint a NCAA Football National Champion every season. Determining that had to be done through polls or surveys made up by individuals, publications and organizations. Obviously, the end result were hardly unanimous, and so there have been multiple disputes.
The most prestigious of the polls is the one held by the Associated Press (AP). Born in 1934, but becoming yearly since 1936, it is a survey among 65 renowned sports journalists. Each voter provides his own "Top 25" and gives 25 points to the first team, 24 to the second and so on ending with the 25th team receiveing one point.
The Dickinson System is a mathematical formula created by Frank G. Dickinson, a professor at the University of Illinois. The first system was largely accepted around the country as the way to determine the National Champion from 1924 to 1940. The determination by consensus of the national champions from previous years had been done retroactively and through different institutions: the National Championship Foundation, the College Football Researchers Association and the Helms Athletic Foundation. These were the years when teams like Yale, Harvard and Princeton dominated the Ivy League.
The AP poll has existed in the late part of the twentieth century among other journalists' surveys, such as the Football Writers Association of America poll, but its main counterpoint has been the call Coaches Poll, created in 1950; a survey similar to the AP, but featuring between 63 coaches from Division IA and FBS. The Coaches Poll has traditionally included the name of its publisher who over the years has changed from the United Press to United Press International and USA Today, who does it today. Every poll, apart from establishing a weekly ranking with "Top 25", helps determining the final ranking and National Champion. Some years the choice for a champion was unanimous, but in others there have been two or even three co-champions. The teams that have dominated in this period have been Notre Dame, Alabama, Michigan, USC, Oklahoma and Ohio State. As mentioned in the previous paragraph, the Bowls, which initially were kept away from determining the National Champion, became involved in the process when the polls began to determine it, after they were held. The AP did in 1965; the Coaches Poll in 1974.
The controversy over determining the National Champion has been one of the infamous "traditions" of college football. However, the most important conferences and Major Bowls entered into negotiations to establish a system that could determine a universally recognized champion. The process of creation of the BCS (Bowl Championship Series), which is the system that provides (since 1998) the current determination of an "Official" national champion, has already been detailed in the previous section of this article. The BCS champion is recognized (almost) with unanimity, but the selection system is not immune to criticism. Many voices are calling for a playoff system, but so far no changes are expected in the coming years.
