1936 Duke - Finished 9–1 and 7–0 in the SoCon. The claimed national champions were Minnesota at 7-1, Pitt finished 8-1-1, and an unclaimed one by LSU at 9-1-1. Duke’s only loss was a 15-13 loss at Tennessee (6-2-2). The Vols finished ranked 17th and lost to North Carolina. Duke then beat UNC 27-7 towards the end of the season. Duke debuted in the 1st ever AP Poll at #2, lost to the Vols, dropped to 13th at 5-1, won the rest of their games, and only moved up to 11th. Major rankings (both contemporary and retroactive) have varyingly identified either Minnesota, Pittsburgh, LSU, or Duke as the 1936 national champion.

1941 Duke - Finished 9-1 and 5-0 in the SoCon. The claimed national champions were Minnesota at 8–0, Alabama at 9–2 (this one is controversial, of course), and an unclaimed one by Texas at 8–1–1. This was a really weird year for CFB, as Duke was 9-0 before the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941. The Rose Bowl had to be moved due to the attack on Pearl Harbor and the American entry into World War II. Where did this Rose Bowl get moved to? To Duke’s home stadium. That’s right, the Rose Bowl was played at Duke. Essentially a home game for the Blue Devils. Their opponent was the 6-2 Oregon State Beavers. The Beavs had to take a train 5 days across the country for this one, and the game took place just 25 days after Pearl Harbor. Duke was a 4-1 odds favorite. Oregon State hung on late for a 20-16 victory after Duke forced a safety halfway through the 4th quarter.

Mizzou 1960 - They finished 11–0******* and 7–0 in the Big 8. Actually, they were 10-1 and had a 23-7 loss to #11 Kansas. HOWEVA… Kansas used an ineligible player, Bert Coan, in the game, and the win was officially awarded to Missouri by the Big Eight Conference on December 8. So instead of being 10-1, the Big 8 made them 11-0 and conference champions. HOWEVAAAAA AGAIN…. Kansas' conference victories against Colorado and Missouri were forfeited by Big Eight sanctions, though both are recognized as Kansas victories by Kansas and the NCAA. So we got a dispute on what their actual record was this year. They lost, but the Big 8 said Kansas was cheating, but the NCAA did not make them forfeit wins??? Ok, now the record of Mizzou is cleared up (not really); the claimed national champions in 1960 were Minnesota at 8-2 with a loss in the Rose Bowl to Washington, Ole Miss at 10-0-1, Iowa at 8-1, and Washington at 10-1. So maybe one loss is still good enough to claim this championship?

Mizzou 2007 - They finished 12–2 and 7–1 in the Big 12. Their only two losses were to Oklahoma twice. LSU won the BCS Championship over Ohio State. This year was an absolute chaos year. Mizzou did crush Arkansas in a bowl game 38-7, who beat National Champion LSU in triple overtime. I just can’t make a case here for national champion Mizzou here. Yeah, one selector picked Mizzou, but it’s tough with two losses to the same team.

2008 Utah - Utah finished 13-0 and 8–0 in the Mountain West. Utah jumped out to a 21-0 lead and handled a 12-1 Alabama team in a Sugar Bowl upset, 31-17. The BCS National Champion was Florida, who finished 13-1. Utah started the year unranked and slowly climbed into the Top 10 throughout the season. They finished the regular season at 7th and in the AP were bumped up to #2 at the end of the year. Florida’s only loss was to Ole Miss by 1, and that led to the famous Tim Tebow speech. Utah was the nation's only undefeated team this year. This championship was in the Anderson & Hester mathematical system for ranking collegiate American football teams based on performance. The system was created in 1992 by Jeff Anderson and Chris Hester, roommates at the University of Washington. Utah claim this championship determined by Washington Huskies roommates! Anderson & Hester is one of over 40 systems listed by the NCAA as major selectors of college football national champions. AND THEY WERE ROOMMATES!

1915 Wazzu - The Cougs finished 7–0 and went 4–0 in the Northwest Conference. They won their only Rose Bowl by defeating Brown 14-0. The claimed national champions were Cornell at 9-0 and Pitt at 8-0. This unclaimed national championship is quite a unique one. There was not a selector that named Wazzu the national champion like all the others we have previously discussed. This national championship declaration actually came from the government of the state of Washington. In 2014, Washington State Senate Resolution 8715 recognized the 1915 Washington State football team as the national champion. The actual state government made a resolution to declare Wazzu the national champions for 1915. However, the school still doesn’t officially claim it! Here is the bill that declares them national champions! Also, Rose Bowl referee Walter Eckersall, who also officiated a Cornell game that season, was quoted as saying, "Washington is the equal of Cornell. There is not a better football team in the country.”

1921 Washington & Jefferson - The Presidents finished 10–0–1, and their lone tie came against Cal in the Rose Bowl, 0–0. They shut out seven of eleven opponents and outscored all opponents by a total of 222 to 33. During the regular season, they defeated Pitt, Detroit, and Syracuse. Their 7–0 victory over rival Pitt was celebrated with a day of canceled classes and a bonfire with inspirational speeches in front of the Washington County Courthouse. Nothing like a big win over Pitt to inspire speeches??? Like we said for the 1921 Vandy claim, the 1921 college football season had no clear-cut champion, with the Official NCAA Division I Football Records Book listing the California Golden Bears, Cornell Big Red, Iowa Hawkeyes, Lafayette Leopards, Washington & Jefferson Presidents, and Vanderbilt Commodores as champions. Only California, Cornell, Iowa, and Lafayette claim national championships for the 1921 season. We told Vandy to claim it…  So guess what we will tell you to do, Washington and Jefferson!