Every college football team heads into the season hoping to win a national championship, and while only one school can walk away with a title, winning a conference championship is a sign you had a pretty successful season in the grand scheme of things. However, there are some programs that have never been able to check that box.
These are the FBS teams that have never won a conference championship
I recently took a look at the college football teams that have managed to rack up the most conference championships over the decades, and I figured I might as well examine the opposite end of the spectrum.
For the purpose of this list, I’m going to exclude the teams that have made the leap to the FBS in the past five years.
That means I won’t be giving Delaware, Missouri State, Jacksonville State, Kennesaw State, Sam Houston, or James Madison a dedicated entry even though they technically fall under this particular umbrella (JMU will have the chance to get its first against Troy, and either Jacksonville State and Kennesaw State will end up with their first title in the Conference USA championship game).
Charlotte
We’re kicking things off with Charlotte, which recently wrapped up its 11th season as an FBS team with a dismal 1-11 showing.
The 49ers were initially members of the Sun Belt before heading to the AAC in 2023, but they’ve never come close to winning a title in either conference; the 7-6 record the team posted in 2019 is the only time they’ve surpassed the .500 mark since leaving the FCS behind.
Georgia State
Georgia State is the first of a few teams here that upgraded to the FBS in the first half of the 2010s and are still in search of their first conference championship.
The Panthers made their grand debut in 2012 during their one and only season as a member of the Colonial Athletic Association before linking up with the Sun Belt in 2013.
They’ve had a bit more success than Charlotte (they made it to a bowl in five of the seven seasons where Shawn Elliott served as head coach), but the team hasn’t won a conference title or appeared in the championship game since it was played for the first time in 2018.
Navy
Navy’s football team has a history stretching back to 1879, but the Midshipmen were independent before joining the AAC in 2015.
That marked the first year the conference used a head-to-head showdown to crown a champion, and Navy punched its ticket to that showdown for the first and only time in 2016. Unfortunately, they fell to Temple in a lopsided 34-10 contest.
Notre Dame
It’s pretty hard for Notre Dame to win a conference championship when you consider the Fighting Irish have famously clung to their independence for over 135 years. They may currently be affiliated with the ACC, but they are not an official member and are subsequently ineligible to compete in its championship game.
Feel free to yell at me for including them, but they technically fit the bit.
Old Dominion
Old Dominion has been a Conference USA member since joining the FBS in 2014, and the Monarchs had their best season to date in 2016 by going 10-3 with a 7-1 record in conference play.
That was good enough to tie with Western Kentucky in the East Division, but the Hilltoppers won the tiebreaker that gave them the right to earn a 58-44 victory over Louisiana Tech in the conference championship.
It’s been largely downhill since then for an Old Dominion team that joined the Sun Belt in 2022. They did finish in second place in their division with a 6-2 record this season, but James Madison earned the right to face off against Troy for the conference title.
South Alabama
We’ve got yet another Sun Belt member courtesy of South Alabama, which has been a member of the conference since heading to the FBS level in 2012.
It took the Jaguars more than a decade to finish a season over .500 before going 10-3 (and 7-1 in conference play) in 2023. They tied with Troy at the top of the West Division that season, but the Trojans benefitted from the tiebreaker en route to dispatching Appalachian State to the tune of 49-23 in the conference championship.
USF
No team on this list has been eligible for a conference championship win longer than USF, which has been an FBS member since 2001.
The Bulls competed in Conference USA for two years before heading to the Big East and have stuck with the AAC since it was formed in 2013. The 2016 season is easily the high mark for the program, as USF went 11-2 and 7-1 in conference play under Willie Taggart.
They tied for first in the East Division, but were boxed out of the championship game by the aforementioned Temple team that dispatched Navy.
The post The 7 College Football Teams That Have Never Won A Conference Championship appeared first on BroBible.
The 7 College Football Teams That Have Never Won A Conference Championship
Pinoy Human Rights
0 Comments