NCAA Division II football championship

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.

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). Since 2018, the championship game has been played at the McKinney ISD Stadium and Community Event Center in McKinney, Texas. 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.

Small-college wire service national champions
Polls to rank "small college" football teams were conducted by the Associated Press (AP) and United Press International (UPI) during, and at the end of, each regular season. The AP polled a panel of writers, while UPI polled a panel of coaches. When UPI began its poll in 1958, it explained that the poll would cover college football programs not considered "major" by the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA), with the small schools (then numbering 519) belonging to the NCAA, the NAIA, both, or neither. The AP began its poll in 1960.

National champions per wire service polls † While the NCAA started Division II playoffs in 1973, AP and UPI still conducted their polls during the 1973 and 1974 seasons.

NCAA Division II champions


Since 1973, a post-season tournament has been held to determine the Division II Champion. The current format, in use since 2016, features 28 teams. They are organized into 4 super-regions of 7 teams each, with the top-seeded team in each super-region getting a bye during the first round. Prior to the championship game, all contests are hosted by the higher-seeded team. the semi-final games are held at the home stadiums of the two highest-seeded remaining teams. Since 2018, the championship game has been played at the McKinney Independent School District Stadium, a 12,000 seat facility that opened in August 2018.

† Mississippi College's 1989 tournament participation, along with its championship, were vacated by the NCAA Committee on Infractions.

Championship game appearances
Programs that no longer compete in Division II are indicated in italics with a pink background.

Of the programs that no longer compete in D-II, Akron, Central Michigan, Jacksonville State, Louisiana Tech, Texas State, Troy and Western Kentucky currently compete in Division I FBS. All others compete in Division I FCS.

Teams that moved to Division I
Most of the participants in early national championship games have moved into Division I, the main catalyst for their moves being the creation of Division I-AA, now the Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), in 1978. The following Division II title game participants later moved to Division I:


 * Division I FBS (formerly I-A)
 * Akron (1976 runner-up)
 * Central Michigan (1974 champion)
 * Jacksonville State (1992 champion; 1977, 1989, and 1991 runner-up)
 * Louisiana Tech (1973 champion)
 * Texas State (champion 1981, 1982 as Southwest Texas State)
 * Troy (1984 and 1987 champion as Troy State)
 * Western Kentucky (1973 and 1975 runner-up)


 * Division I FCS (formerly I-AA)
 * Cal Poly (1980 champion)
 * Delaware (1979 champion; 1974 and 1978 runner-up; moving to FBS in 2025)
 * Eastern Illinois (1978 champion; 1980 runner-up)
 * Lehigh (champion 1977)
 * Montana State (champion 1976)
 * North Alabama (champion 1993, 1994, and 1995; runner-up 1985 and 2016)
 * North Dakota (champion 2001, runner-up 2003)
 * North Dakota State (champion 1965, 1968, 1969, 1983, 1985, 1986, 1988, and 1990; runner-up 1981 and 1984)
 * Northern Colorado (champion 1996 and 1997)
 * Portland State (runner-up 1987 and 1988)
 * South Dakota (runner-up 1986)
 * Texas A&M–Commerce (champion 2017)
 * UC Davis (runner-up 1982)
 * Youngstown State (runner-up 1979)

Regional bowls
From 1964 to 1972, four regional bowl games were played in order to provide postseason action, however these games took place after the AP and UPI polls were completed, therefore these games did not factor in selecting a national champion for the College Division. The bowl games were:

Winners of regional bowls

Playoff bowls
From 1973 to 1977, some of the tournament games were also known by bowl names;
 * In 1973, one of the first-round games was the final playing of the Boardwalk Bowl.
 * From 1973 through 1975, the two semifinal games were the Grantland Rice Bowl and the Pioneer Bowl, while the final game was the Camellia Bowl.
 * In 1976 and 1977, the two semifinal games were the Grantland Rice Bowl and the Knute Rockne Bowl, while the final game was the Pioneer Bowl.