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NCAA Division II Football Championship
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)	ESPNU[1]
Most playoff appearances	North Alabama Northwest Missouri State (19)
Most playoff championships	Northwest Missouri State (6)
Current champion	Valdosta State University (4)

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).^[2] The 2018 game will be played at the McKinney ISD Stadium and Community Event Center in McKinney, Texas.^[3] 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

Year	UPI number one	AP number one
1958	Mississippi Southern	(no poll)
1959	Bowling Green	(no poll)
1960	Ohio
1961	Pittsburg State
1962	Southern Miss	Florida A&M
1963	Delaware	Northern Illinois
1964	Cal State Los Angeles	Wittenberg
1965	North Dakota State
1966	San Diego State
1967	San Diego State
1968	San Diego State	North Dakota State
1969	North Dakota State
1970	Arkansas State
1971	Delaware
1972	Delaware
1973	Tennessee State
1974	Louisiana Tech	Central Michigan

While the NCAA started Division II playoffs in 1973, AP and UPI still conducted their polls these years.

NCAA Division II champions

Since 1973, a post-season tournament has been held to determine the Division II Champion. The current format, in use since 2016, features 28 teams. The 28 teams are organized into 4 super-regions of 7 teams each, the top-seeded team in each super-region gets a bye during the first round. The champions of the four super-regions meet in the semi-final round, and the winners of the two semi-final games meet in a neutral-site championship game. Prior to the championship game itself, the game is held at the higher-seeded team's stadium. The championship game has been played at several sites through history, starting in 2018 it will be held at the McKinney Independent School District Stadium, a 12,000 seat facility that opened in August, 2018.

† Mississippi College's 1989 tournament participation, along with its championship, were vacated by the NCAA Committee on Infractions.

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:

Postseason bowls

Regional bowls

From 1964 to 1972, four regional bowl games were played in order to provide postseason action,^[4] 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:

Winners of regional bowls^[4]

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.

Map

Northwest Missouri State

North Dakota State

Grand Valley State

North Alabama

Valdosta State

Southwest Texas State

Troy
State

Pittsburg State

Northern Colorado

Minnesota–Duluth

Louisiana Tech

Central Michigan

Northern Michigan

Montana State

Lehigh

Eastern Illinois

Delaware

Cal Poly SLO

Mississippi College

Jacksonville State

Delta State

North Dakota

CSU–Pueblo

Schools with Division II championships
– 6 championships, – 5 championships, – 4 championships
– 3 championships, – 2 championships, – 1 championship
Italics indicate schools that have since moved to Division I

See also

National football championship trophy room at Bearcat Stadium at Northwest Missouri State University. The two trophies in the middle are for the team's 1998 and 1999 national championships. The four trophies on the left are for appearances in the 2005–2008 title games.

• 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

External links

• NCAA Division II Football Championship history