SWC75
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North Dakota State did what Alabama could not do: win a third straight national championship. Coach Craig Bohl said that before they’d won any of the three, the 2013 team was the one he pointed to as the year they might win it all, when he felt his team would be a at its peak. Then they won the 2011 and 2012 FCS titles. In 2011 they won four playoff games by a total of 102-27. In 2012 it was 104-33. This year it was 173-42: four straight blow-outs: 38-7 overt Furman, 48-14 over Coastal Carolina and 35-7 over Towson in the championship game.
But it should be noted that Towson didn’t get pushed around. They outgained the Bison 373-345 and had more first downs, 21-16. This game was won on opportunism. The score was tied 7-7 midway through the second quarter when Colten Heagle blocked a field goal and Kyle Emanuel returned it 59 yards to set up a 5 yard run by Ryan Smith. On the Tiger’s following possession, Bison cornerback CJ Smith picked off a pass and returned it 32 yards to set up a 12 yard scoring toss from Brock Jensen to Zach Vraa to make it 21-7 at halftime. Jensen capped off an 88 yard 4th quarter drive with a 9 yard run. Then a short punt from the Tigers’ end zone set up the Bison on the Towson 31 early in the fourth. Sam Ojuri went over from the 1 seven plays later to push it to the 35-7 final.
24 seniors will graduate in the spring and Bohl will move on to see what he can accomplish at Wyoming. It will be interesting if he can build teams as strong as the ones he’s created in Fargo. North Dakota State now has 11 national championships, the same as Mount Union. Three of them were poll championships back in the 60’s before there was a tournament. Five were Division titles from 1983-90. Then there are these three FCS titles.
Appalachian State is the only other team to win three straight FCS titles, (2005-2007: the latter team was the one that beat Michigan). North Alabama is the only team to win three straight Division 2 titles, (1993-95). In Division 3, Mount Union has twice won three straight titles, (1996-98 and 2000-02). Wisconsin-Whitewater won three straight from 2009-11. But back in the 80’s Augustana of Illinois topped both of them with four straight titles from 1983-86. In the NAIA, Texas A&I, (now Texas A&M Kingsville) won three straight Division 1 titles from 1974-76 but Carroll (Montana) topped that with four straight titles from 2002-05. Topping them all is Central State of Ohio, who was voted Black College National Champions five years in a row from 1986-1990.
Nobody has ever won three championships in a row in Division 1, as measured by the writer’s poll, the coach’s poll and the BCS. But of course those services don’t identify champions prior to 1936. Minnesota is generally regarded as unofficial national champions by most historians and systems for 1934 and 1935 and they won the first writer’s poll in 1936. There are other teams recognized for three or more years running prior to the introduction of the forward pass in 1906 but that was an era dominated by the Ivy League and Princeton, Yale or Harvard won most of the “national titles” in that period. Also, to me, American football didn’t become the sport it currently is until the forward pass was legalized. Army came the closest to three straight titles in the era of the polls,. Winning it outright in 1944-45 and thing Notre Dame 0-0 in 1946 in a year when both teams won all their other games. The Irish were voted #1 and Army #2 but I’ve always though t that should have been a shared title. Oklahoma won all their games from 1954-56 but were ranked behind Ohio State and UCLA in 1954.
But it should be noted that Towson didn’t get pushed around. They outgained the Bison 373-345 and had more first downs, 21-16. This game was won on opportunism. The score was tied 7-7 midway through the second quarter when Colten Heagle blocked a field goal and Kyle Emanuel returned it 59 yards to set up a 5 yard run by Ryan Smith. On the Tiger’s following possession, Bison cornerback CJ Smith picked off a pass and returned it 32 yards to set up a 12 yard scoring toss from Brock Jensen to Zach Vraa to make it 21-7 at halftime. Jensen capped off an 88 yard 4th quarter drive with a 9 yard run. Then a short punt from the Tigers’ end zone set up the Bison on the Towson 31 early in the fourth. Sam Ojuri went over from the 1 seven plays later to push it to the 35-7 final.
24 seniors will graduate in the spring and Bohl will move on to see what he can accomplish at Wyoming. It will be interesting if he can build teams as strong as the ones he’s created in Fargo. North Dakota State now has 11 national championships, the same as Mount Union. Three of them were poll championships back in the 60’s before there was a tournament. Five were Division titles from 1983-90. Then there are these three FCS titles.
Appalachian State is the only other team to win three straight FCS titles, (2005-2007: the latter team was the one that beat Michigan). North Alabama is the only team to win three straight Division 2 titles, (1993-95). In Division 3, Mount Union has twice won three straight titles, (1996-98 and 2000-02). Wisconsin-Whitewater won three straight from 2009-11. But back in the 80’s Augustana of Illinois topped both of them with four straight titles from 1983-86. In the NAIA, Texas A&I, (now Texas A&M Kingsville) won three straight Division 1 titles from 1974-76 but Carroll (Montana) topped that with four straight titles from 2002-05. Topping them all is Central State of Ohio, who was voted Black College National Champions five years in a row from 1986-1990.
Nobody has ever won three championships in a row in Division 1, as measured by the writer’s poll, the coach’s poll and the BCS. But of course those services don’t identify champions prior to 1936. Minnesota is generally regarded as unofficial national champions by most historians and systems for 1934 and 1935 and they won the first writer’s poll in 1936. There are other teams recognized for three or more years running prior to the introduction of the forward pass in 1906 but that was an era dominated by the Ivy League and Princeton, Yale or Harvard won most of the “national titles” in that period. Also, to me, American football didn’t become the sport it currently is until the forward pass was legalized. Army came the closest to three straight titles in the era of the polls,. Winning it outright in 1944-45 and thing Notre Dame 0-0 in 1946 in a year when both teams won all their other games. The Irish were voted #1 and Army #2 but I’ve always though t that should have been a shared title. Oklahoma won all their games from 1954-56 but were ranked behind Ohio State and UCLA in 1954.
