Grantland Rice Trophy
CountryUnited States
Presented byFootball Writers Association of America (FWAA)
History
First award1954
Final award2013
Most recentFlorida State
WebsiteFWAA Awards

The Grantland Rice Trophy was an annual award presented in the United States from 1954 to 2013 to the college football team recognized by the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) as the national champions.

Named for the legendary sportswriter Grantland Rice, the trophy was presented annually after the college football bowl games. A committee of five writers from different areas was appointed each season to select a champion by secret ballot.[1] Voting was conducted initially by a positional voting system but after 1994 by a single-team vote. Beginning in 2002, the FWAA also began issuing a national poll to go along with the Grantland Rice Trophy. The top team in the final poll was awarded the trophy. The trophy itself consisted of a bronze football atop a four-sided pedestal.

On August 26, 2010, the FWAA announced that the 2004 award presented to the USC Trojans had been rescinded, the first time in the award's history that a winner has vacated the honor.[2] The FWAA declined to name a replacement for that year's award.

With the advent of the College Football Playoff (CFP) for the 2014 season, the FWAA quietly retired the Grantland Rice Trophy, joining with the National Football Foundation (NFF) to instead publish the FWAA-NFF Grantland Rice Super 16 Poll during the regular season, with the CFP champion automatically receiving the NFF's MacArthur Bowl Trophy.[3][4]

Winners

Season Team[5] Conference Head Coach Record
1954 UCLA Pacific Coast Henry Russell Sanders 9–0
1955 Oklahoma Big 7 Bud Wilkinson 11–0
1956 Oklahoma Big 7 Bud Wilkinson 10–0
1957 Ohio State Big Ten Woody Hayes 9–1
1958[6] Iowa Big Ten Forest Evashevski 8–1–1
1959 Syracuse Independent Ben Schwartzwalder 11–0
1960 Ole Miss SEC Johnny Vaught 10–0–1
1961 Ohio State Big Ten Woody Hayes 8–0–1
1962 USC AAWU John McKay 11–0
1963 Texas Southwest Darrell Royal 11–0
1964 Arkansas Southwest Frank Broyles 11–0
1965 Alabama
Michigan State (joint)		 SEC
Big Ten		 Bear Bryant
Duffy Daugherty		 9–1–1
10–1
1966 Notre Dame Independent Ara Parseghian 9–0–1
1967 USC AAWU John McKay 10–1
1968 Ohio State Big Ten Woody Hayes 10–0
1969 Texas Southwest Darrell Royal 11–0
1970 Nebraska Big 8 Bob Devaney 11–0–1
1971 Nebraska Big 8 Bob Devaney 13–0
1972 USC Pac-8 John McKay 12–0
1973 Notre Dame Independent Ara Parseghian 11–0
1974 USC Pac-8 John McKay 10–1–1
1975 Oklahoma Big 8 Barry Switzer 11–1
1976 Pittsburgh Independent Johnny Majors 12–0
1977 Notre Dame Independent Dan Devine 11–1
1978 Alabama SEC Bear Bryant 11–1
1979 Alabama SEC Bear Bryant 12–0
1980 Georgia SEC Vince Dooley 12–0
1981 Clemson ACC Danny Ford 12–0
1982 Penn State Independent Joe Paterno 11–1
1983 Miami (FL) Independent Howard Schnellenberger 11–1
1984 BYU WAC LaVell Edwards 13–0
1985 Oklahoma Big 8 Barry Switzer 11–1
1986[7] Penn State Independent Joe Paterno 12–0
1987 Miami (FL) Independent Jimmy Johnson 12–0
1988 Notre Dame Independent Lou Holtz 12–0
1989 Miami (FL) Independent Dennis Erickson 11–1
1990 Colorado Big 8 Bill McCartney 11–1–1
1991 Washington Pac-10 Don James 12–0
1992 Alabama SEC Gene Stallings 13–0
1993 Florida State ACC Bobby Bowden 12–1
1994 Nebraska Big 8 Tom Osborne 13–0
1995 Nebraska Big 8 Tom Osborne 12–0
1996 Florida SEC Steve Spurrier 12–1
1997 Michigan Big Ten Lloyd Carr 12–0
1998 Tennessee SEC Phillip Fulmer 13–0
1999 Florida State ACC Bobby Bowden 12–0
2000 Oklahoma Big 12 Bob Stoops 13–0
2001 Miami (FL) Big East Larry Coker 12–0
2002 Ohio State Big Ten Jim Tressel 14–0
2003 USC Pac-10 Pete Carroll 12–1
2004 USC (vacated) Pac-10 Pete Carroll 13–0
2005 Texas Big 12 Mack Brown 13–0
2006 Florida SEC Urban Meyer 13–1
2007 LSU SEC Les Miles 12–2
2008 Florida SEC Urban Meyer 13–1
2009 Alabama SEC Nick Saban 14–0
2010 Auburn SEC Gene Chizik 14–0
2011 Alabama SEC Nick Saban 12–1
2012 Alabama SEC Nick Saban 13–1
2013 Florida State ACC Jimbo Fisher 14–0

By school

School Number Seasons
Alabama 7 1965, 1978, 1979, 1992, 2009, 2011, 2012
Oklahoma 5 1955, 1956, 1975, 1985, 2000
USC 5 1962, 1967, 1972, 1974, 2003
Miami (FL) 4 1983, 1987, 1989, 2001
Nebraska 5 1970, 1971, 1994, 1995, 1997
Notre Dame 4 1966, 1973, 1977, 1988
Ohio State 4 1957, 1961, 1968, 2002
Florida 3 1996, 2006, 2008
Florida State 3 1993, 1999, 2013
Texas 3 1963, 1969, 2005
Penn State 2 1982, 1986
Auburn 1 2010
Arkansas 1 1964
BYU 1 1984
Clemson 1 1981
Colorado 1 1990
Georgia 1 1980
Iowa 1 1958
LSU 1 2007
Michigan 1 1997
Michigan State 1 1965
Ole Miss 1 1960
Pittsburgh 1 1976
Syracuse 1 1959
Tennessee 1 1998
UCLA 1 1954
Washington 1 1991

See also

References

  1. ^ Jenkins, Dan (September 11, 1967). Laguerre, André (ed.). "This Year The Fight Will Be In The Open". Sports Illustrated. Vol. 27, no. 11. Chicago. pp. 28–34. Retrieved February 8, 2016. [T]he Football Writers Association of America set about naming the national champion in 1954, also after the bowl games. Feeling that a mere vote by the 1,200 members would not be fair because one section might be overloaded, a committee of five supposedly unprejudiced writers from different areas is appointed each season, and they decide by secret ballot.
  2. ^ ESPN.com news services (August 26, 2010). "USC loses Grantland Rice Trophy". ESPNLA.com. Retrieved February 13, 2015.
  3. ^ National Football Foundation (January 13, 2015). "Ohio State Recognized as 2014 NFF MacArthur Bowl Recipient". National Football Foundation. Retrieved February 13, 2015.
  4. ^ Bohls, Kirk (March 4, 2014). "President's Column: Introducing the FWAA-NFF Grantland Rice Super 16 Poll". The Fifth Down: The online newsletter of the FWAA. Football Writers Association of America. Archived from the original on October 26, 2014. Retrieved October 26, 2014. The FWAA will not give out a trophy to the national champion moving forward, but with this poll we may have some influence on just which team is holding the ultimate trophy on the night of Jan. 12.
  5. ^ "Grantland Rice National Championship Trophy". Football Writers Association of America. 2014. Archived from the original on January 19, 2022. Retrieved January 7, 2014.
  6. ^ Written at New York. "Football Writers Name Iowa No. 1". The Tribune. Scrantno, Pennsylvania. United Press International. January 5, 1959. Retrieved November 1, 2022.
  7. ^ Grantland Rice Award — Penn State University — 1986 (Trophy). Penn State All-Sports Museum: Football Writers Association of America. February 1, 2023. National Collegiate Football Champions — Selected by the Football Writers Association of America

External links

College Football National Championship trophies
Category