Grantland Rice Trophy

Grantland Rice Trophy
The 2007 LSU Tigers Grantland Rice National Championship trophy.
Awarded for	The collegiate American football team adjudged to be national champion
Presented by	Football Writers Association of America (FWAA)
Country	United States
First awarded	1954
Currently held by	Alabama Crimson Tide
Official website	http://www.sportswriters.net/fwaa/awards/rice/index.html

The Grantland Rice Trophy is an annual award presented in the United States since 1954 to the college football team adjudged by the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) to be "national champion". Named for the legendary sportswriter, Grantland Rice, the trophy was the first national championship award to be presented after the college football bowl games. Through 1991, voting was undertaken by the membership of the FWAA, but has been conducted amongst a panel of four or five selected writers since 1992—by a positional voting system through 1994 and, thereafter, 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 is awarded the trophy. The trophy itself consists 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On August 26, 2010, the FWAA announced that the 2004 award presented to the USC Trojans has been rescinded, the first time in the award's history that a winner has vacated the honor. The FWAA declined to name a replacement for that year's award.

Winners

Year	Team	Conference	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	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	Southern California	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	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

FWAA Polls

The FWAA Poll began in 2002, with the final poll's number one team awarded the Grantland Rice Award. From 2002 to 2006, the FWAA conducted a preseason poll before issuing a weekly poll after a six week hiatus at the beginning of the season. Since 2007, the FWAA has conducted only a preseason and a final poll.

The chart below shows the FWAA's top teams for each week.

Year	Date	Team
2002	Preseason	Oklahoma
	Sept. 30	Miami
	Oct. 7	Miami
	Oct. 14	Miami
	Oct. 21	Miami
	Oct. 28	Miami
	Nov. 4	Oklahoma
	Nov. 11	Miami
	Nov. 18	Miami
	Nov. 25	Miami
	Dec. 2	Miami
	Final	Ohio State
2003	Preseason	Oklahoma
	Oct. 13	Oklahoma
	Oct. 20	Oklahoma
	Oct. 27	Oklahoma
	Nov. 3	Oklahoma
	Nov. 10	Oklahoma
	Nov. 17	Oklahoma
	Oct. 24	Oklahoma
	Dec. 12	Southern Cal
	Final	Southern Cal
2004	Preseason	Southern Cal
	Oct. 11	Oklahoma, Southern Cal (tie)
	Oct. 18	Southern Cal
	Oct. 25	Southern Cal
	Nov. 1	Southern Cal
	Nov. 8	Southern Cal
	Nov. 15	Southern Cal
	Nov. 22	Southern Cal
	Nov. 29	Southern Cal
	Dec. 6	Southern Cal
	Final	Southern Cal
2005	Preseason	Southern Cal
	Oct. 10	Southern Cal
	Oct. 17	Southern Cal
	Oct. 24	Southern Cal
	Oct. 31	Southern Cal
	Nov. 7	Southern Cal
	Nov. 14	Southern Cal
	Nov. 21	Southern Cal
	Nov. 28	Southern Cal
	Dec. 5	Southern Cal
	Final	Texas
2006	Preseason	Ohio State
	Oct. 17	Ohio State
	Oct. 24	Ohio State
	Oct. 31	Ohio State
	Nov. 7	Ohio State
	Nov. 14	Ohio State
	Nov. 21	Ohio State
	Nov. 28	Ohio State
	Final	Florida
2007	Preseason	Southern Cal
	Final	LSU
2008	Preseason	Southern Cal
	Final	Florida
2009	Preseason	Florida
	Final	Alabama
2010	Preseason	Alabama
	Final	Auburn
2011	Preseason	Oklahoma
	Final	Alabama

See also

• AP Poll
• Coaches Poll
• Bowl Championship Series
• Mythical National Championship
• NCAA Division I-A national football championship
• Dickinson System
• Harris Interactive College Football Poll

External links

• Official site
• Voting archive