NAIA Football National Championship

The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Football National Championship is decided by a post-season playoff system featuring the best NAIA college football teams in the United States. Under sponsorship of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, the championship game has been played annually since 1956.^[1] In 1970, NAIA football was divided into two divisions, Division I and Division II, with a championship game played in each division. In 1997, NAIA football was again consolidated into one division. The game is currently played at at Barron Stadium in Rome, Georgia. ^[2]

Champions by year

Over the years, the NAIA championship games were played under a variety of names:

• Aluminum Bowl (1956)
• Holiday Bowl (1957–1960, not to be confused with the NCAA Division I bowl of the same name)
• Camellia Bowl (1961–1963)
• Championship Bowl (1964–1976 and 1980–1996, Division I games only)
• Apple Bowl (1977, Division I game only)
• Palm Bowl (1978–1979, Division I games only)

Date	Champion	Score	Defeated	Site
December 22, 1956	Montana State St. Joseph's	0–01		Little Rock, Arkansas
December 21, 1957	Pittsburg State	27–26	Hillsdale	Saint Petersburg, Florida
December 20, 1958	Northeastern State	19–13	Arizona State College at Flagstaff	Saint Petersburg, Florida
December 19, 1959	Texas A&I	20–7	Lenoir-Rhyne	Saint Petersburg, Florida
December 10, 1960	Lenoir-Rhyne	15–14	Humboldt State	Saint Petersburg, Florida
December 9, 1961	Pittsburg State	12–7	Linfield	Sacramento, California
1962	Central State	28–13	Lenoir-Rhyne	Sacramento, California
December 14, 1963	St. John’s	33–27	Prairie View A&M	Sacramento, California
1964	Concordia-Moorhead Sam Houston State	7–71		Augusta, Georgia
December 11, 1965	St. John’s	33–0	Linfield	Augusta, Georgia
1966	Waynesburg	42–21	Wisconsin–Whitewater	Tulsa, Oklahoma
December 9, 1967	Fairmont State	28–21	Eastern Washington	Morgantown, West Virginia
December 14, 1968	Troy State	43–35	Texas A&I	Montgomery, Alabama
December 13, 1969	Texas A&I	32–7	Concordia-Moorhead	Kingsville, Texas
December 12, 1970–I	Texas A&I	48–7	Wofford	Greenville, South Carolina
1970–II	Westminster	21–16	Anderson	New Castle, Pennsylvania
December 11, 1971–I	Livingston	14–12	Arkansas Tech	Birmingham, Alabama
1971–II	California Lutheran	30–14	Westminster	Thousand Oaks, California
1972-I	East Texas State	21–18	Carson-Newman	Commerce, Texas
1972–II	Missouri Southern	21–14	Northwestern (IA)	Joplin, Missouri
December 8, 1973–I	Abilene Christian	42–14	Elon	Shreveport, Louisiana
1973–II	Northwestern (IA)	10–3	Glenville State	Huntington, West Virginia
December 14, 1974–I	Texas A&I	34–23	Henderson State	Kingsville, Texas
1974–II	Texas Lutheran	42–0	Missouri Valley	Seguin, Texas
December 13, 1975–I	Texas A&I	37–0	Salem	Kingsville, Texas
1975–II	Texas Lutheran	34–8	California Lutheran	Thousand Oaks, California
December 11, 1976–I	Texas A&I	26–0	Central Arkansas	Kingsville, Texas
1976–II	Westminster	20–13	Redlands	Redlands, California
1977-I	Abilene Christian	24–7	Southwestern Oklahoma	Seattle, Washington
1977–II	Westminster	17–9	California Lutheran	Thousand Oaks, California
December 16, 1978–I	Angelo State	34–14	Elon	McAllen, Texas
1978–II	Concordia-Moorhead	7–0	Findlay	Findlay, Ohio
December 15, 1979–I	Texas A&I	20–14	University of Central Oklahoma	McAllen, Texas
1979–II	Findlay	51–6	Northwestern (IA)	Findlay, Ohio
December 20, 1980–I	Elon	17–10	Northeastern State	Burlington, North Carolina
1980–II	Pacific Lutheran University	38–10	Wilmington	Tacoma, Washington
December 19, 1981–I	Elon	3–0	Pittsburg State	Burlington, North Carolina
1981–II	Austin College Concordia-Moorhead	24–241		Sherman, Texas
1982-I	University of Central Oklahoma (then known as Central State)	14–11	Mesa State	Edmond, Oklahoma
1982–II	Linfield	33–15	William Jewell	McMinnville, Oregon
December 17, 1983–I	Carson-Newman	36–28	Mesa State	Grand Junction, Colorado
1983–II	Northwestern (IA)	25–21	Pacific Lutheran	Tacoma, Washington
December 15, 1984–I	Carson-Newman Central Arkansas	19–191		Conway, Arkansas
1984–II	Linfield	33–22	Northwestern (IA)	McMinnville, Oregon
December 21, 1985–I	Hillsdale Central Arkansas	10–101		Conway, Arkansas
1985–II	University of Wisconsin–La Crosse	24–7	Pacific Lutheran	Tacoma, Washington
December 20, 1986–I	Carson-Newman	17–0	Cameron	Jefferson City, Tennessee
1986–II	Linfield	17–0	Baker	McMinnville, Oregon
December 19, 1987–I	Cameron	30–2	Carson-Newman	Lawton, Oklahoma
1987–II	Pacific Lutheran Vacant	2		Tacoma, Washington
December 17, 1988–I	Carson-Newman	56–21	Adams State	Jefferson City, Tennessee
1988–II	Westminster	21–14	Wisconsin–La Crosse	New Wilmington, Pennsylvania
December 16, 1989–I	Carson-Newman	34–20	Emporia State	Jefferson City, Tennessee
1989–II	Westminster	51–30	Wisconsin–La Crosse	Canton, Ohio
December 8, 1990–I	Central State (Ohio)	38–16	Mesa State	Grand Junction, Colorado
1990–II	Peru State	17–7	Westminster	Omaha, Nebraska
December 14, 1991–I	Central Arkansas	19–16	Central State(Ohio)	Wilberforce, Ohio
1991–II	Georgetown	28–20	Pacific Lutheran	Georgetown, Kentucky
December 12, 1992–I	Central State (Ohio)	19–16	Gardner-Webb	Boiling Springs, North Carolina
1992–II	Findlay	26–13	Linfield	Portland, Oregon
December 11, 1993–I	East Central	49–35	Glenville State	Ada, Oklahoma
1993–II	Pacific Lutheran	50–20	Westminster	Portland, Oregon
December 10, 1994–I	Northeastern State	13–12	Arkansas-Pine Bluff	Pine Bluff, Arkansas
1994–II	Westminster	27–7	Pacific Lutheran	Portland, Oregon
December 2, 1995–I	Central State (Ohio)	37–7	Northeastern State	Tahlequah, Oklahoma
1995–II	Central Washington Findlay	21–21 1		Tacoma, Washington
December 7, 1996–I	Southwestern Oklahoma	33–31	Montana Tech	Weatherford, Oklahoma
1996–II	Sioux Falls	47–25	Western Washington University	Savannah, Tennessee
1997	Findlay	14–7	Willamette	Savannah, Tennessee
1998	Azusa Pacific	17–14	Olivet Nazarene	Savannah, Tennessee
1999	Northwestern Oklahoma State	34–26	Georgetown	Savannah, Tennessee
2000	Georgetown	20–0	Northwestern Oklahoma State	Savannah, Tennessee
2001	Georgetown	49–27	Sioux Falls	Savannah, Tennessee
2002	Carroll	28–7	Georgetown	Savannah, Tennessee
2003	Carroll	41–28	Northwestern Oklahoma State	Savannah, Tennessee
2004	Carroll	15–13	Saint Francis (IN)	Savannah, Tennessee
2005	Carroll	27–10	Saint Francis (IN)	Savannah, Tennessee
2006	Sioux Falls	23–19	Saint Francis (IN)	Savannah, Tennessee
2007	Carroll	17–9	Sioux Falls	Savannah, Tennessee
2008	Sioux Falls	23–7	Carroll	Rome, Georgia
2009	Sioux Falls	25–22	Lindenwood	Rome, Georgia
2010	Carroll	10–7	Sioux Falls	Rome, Georgia

1 Game ended in a tie and teams are co champions.

2 Pacific Lutheran (WA) and the University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point played to a 16–16 tie in the championship game. Wisconsin–Stevens Point forfeited its entire 1987 schedule because of the use of an ineligible student-athlete. Pacific Lutheran is considered a co-champion with the other position vacated.

Championships by school

Team	Championships	Winning years
Texas A&I	7	1959, 1969, 1970, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1979
Carroll	6	2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2010
Westminster	6	1970, 1976, 1977, 1988, 1989, 1994
Carson-Newman	5	1983, 1984, 1986, 1988, 1989
Findlay	4	1979, 1992, 1995, 1997
Sioux Falls	4	1996, 2006, 2008, 2009
Central Arkansas	3	1984, 1985, 1991
Central State	3	1990, 1992, 1995
Concordia-Moorhead	3	1964, 1978, 1981
Georgetown	3	1991, 2000, 2001
Linfield	3	1982, 1984, 1986
Pacific Lutheran	3	1980, 1987, 1993
Abilene Christian	2	1973, 1977
Central State	2	1962, 1982
Elon	2	1980, 1981
Northeastern State	2	1958, 1994
Northwestern (IA)	2	1973, 1983
Pittsburg State	2	1957, 1961
St. John's	2	1963, 1965
Texas Lutheran	2	1974, 1975
Angelo State	1	1978
Austin	1	1981
Azusa Pacific	1	1998
California Lutheran	1	1971
Cameron	1	1987
Central Washington	1	1995
East Central	1	1993
East Texas State	1	1972
Fairmont State	1	1967
Hillsdale	1	1985
Lenoir-Rhyne	1	1960
Livingston	1	1971
Missouri Southern	1	1972
Montana State	1	1956
Northwestern Oklahoma	1	1999
Peru State	1	1990
Sam Houston State	1	1964
St. Joseph's	1	1956
Southwestern Oklahoma	1	1996
Waynesburg	1	1966
Wisconsin–La Crosse	1	1985
Vacated	1	1987

See also

• NAIA Football Player of the Year Award
• College football national championships in NCAA Division I FBS
• NCAA Division I Football Championship
• NCAA Division I FCS Consensus Mid-Major Football National Championship
• NCAA Division II National Football Championship
• NCAA Division III National Football Championship
• NJCAA National Football Championship

References

1. ^ NAIA Football Championship History. National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics. http://naia.cstv.com/auto_pdf/p_hotos/s_chools/naia/sports/m-footbl/auto_pdf/2006FBChampHistory. Retrieved 2008-04-07 
2. ^ "2008 NAIA Football Championship Series". http://naia.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/080906aaa.html. Retrieved 2008-04-07. 

External links

• NAIA football page