NCAA Division II Football Championship
American college football tournament / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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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 playoff with eight teams. The tournament field has subsequently been expanded three times: to 16 teams in 1988, 24 teams in 2004, and 28 teams in 2016.
NCAA Division II Football Championship | |
---|---|
In operation | 1973–present |
Preceded by | Small-college polls (AP, UPI) |
Number of playoff teams | 28 |
Championship trophy | NCAA Division II National Championship Trophy |
Television partner(s) | ESPNU |
Most playoff appearances | Northwest Missouri State (24) |
Most playoff championships | Northwest Missouri State (6) |
Current champion | Harding (1) |
The National Championship game has been held in eight different cities. Former sites include 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).[1] Since 2018, the championship game has been played at the McKinney ISD Stadium and Community Event Center in McKinney, Texas.[2] Since 1994, the games have been broadcast on ESPN.
Prior to 1973, for what was then called the NCAA College Division, national champions were selected by polls conducted at the end of each regular season by two major wire services, the Associated Press (AP) and United Press International (UPI). In some years, the two polls named different number one teams.
From 1964 to 1972, postseason bowl games crowned four regional champions. NCAA Division II bowl games still exist, but only as postseason contests for teams not qualifying for the championship playoffs.