10 schools with best chance to be next first-time CFB national champion

January 27, 2026

By Paul Myerberg, USA TODAY: Beating Miami in the College Football Playoff championship made Indiana the Bowl Subdivision’s first first-time national champion since Florida in 1996.

Since the start of college football’s modern era in 1936, only 31 programs have now won at least one officially recognized national title by finishing atop either the final US LBM Coaches Poll or Associated Press poll.

While Brigham Young was part of the defunct Western Athletic Conference when it won the title in 1984, every champ of the modern era is currently a member of a Power Four league.

That leaves 37 Power Four programs without this piece of hardware. The Hoosiers’ rapid turnaround has every one of these teams thinking: Why not us?

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10 schools with best chance to be next first-time college football national champion

Indiana became the first school in almost 30 years to become a first-time winner of a college football national championship. Who will be next?

USA TODAY

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