The advent of the College Football Playoff at long last gives some uniformity to the awarding of national championships. With the exception of the 2003, the Bowl Championship Series mostly resolved the problem of the AP and Coaches polls recognizing different national champions, which had been a problem ever since the two poll began existing alongside each other in 1950. Prior to the introduction of the AP Poll in 1931, the world of claimed and unclaimed national championships was like the Wild West. For that reason, championships from 1935 and earlier have been excluded. If we were just going by claimed national championships, though, Princeton (28) and Yale (27) would be the runaway leaders.

College football championships by school

Alabama (10): 1961, 1964, 1965 (AP), 1973 (Coaches), 1978 (AP), 1979, 1992, 2009, 2011, 2012

Notre Dame (8): 1943, 1946, 1947, 1949, 1966, 1973 (AP), 1977, 1988

Oklahoma (7): 1950, 1955, 1956, 1974 (AP), 1975, 1985, 2000

USC (7): 1962, 1967, 1972, 1974 (Coaches), 1978 (Coaches), 2003 (AP), 2004 (AP)

Ohio State (6): 1942, 1954 (AP), 1957 (Coaches), 1968, 2002, 2014

Miami (5): 1983, 1987, 1989, 1991 (AP), 2001

Nebraska (5): 1970 (AP), 1971, 1994, 1995, 1997 (Coaches)

Minnesota (4): 1936, 1940, 1941, 1960

Texas (4): 1963, 1969, 1970 (Coaches), 2005

Florida State (3): 1993, 1999, 2013

Florida (3): 1996, 2006, 2008

LSU (3): 1958, 2003 (Coaches), 2007

Army (2): 1944, 1945

Auburn (2): 1957 (AP), 2010

Michigan (2): 1948, 1997 (AP)

Michigan State (2): 1952, 1965 (Coaches)

Penn State (2): 1982, 1986

Pittsburgh (2): 1937, 1976

Tennessee (2): 1951, 1998

BYU (1): 1984

Clemson (1): 1981

Colorado (1): 1990 (AP)

Georgia (1): 1980

Georgia Tech (1): 1990 (Coaches)

Maryland (1): 1953

Syracuse (1): 1959

TCU (1): 1938

Texas A&M (1): 1939

UCLA (1): 1954 (Coaches)

Washington (1): 1991 (Coaches)