College football has been a staple in the hearts and minds of the United States since its inception. In recent years, the crowing of a national champion has also closely followed or preceded the inauguration of a new president. As Donald Trump prepares to officially become the 47th, Here’s a list of each national champion during each presidential term from the beginning of the game.
Ulysses S. Grant (1869-1877)
- Princeton Tigers (1869-73)
- Yale Bulldogs (1874, 1876)
- Harvard Crimson (1875)
Rutherford B. Hayes (1877-1881)
- Yale (1877, 1880)
- Princeton (1878-79)
James Garfield (1881)
James Garfield died without a national champion being crowned within his short presidential term.
Chester Arthur (1881-1885)
- Yale (1881-84)
Grover Cleveland (1885-89)
- Princeton (1885)
- Yale (1886-88)
Benjamin Harrison (1889-1893)
- Princeton (1889)
- Harvard (1890)
- Yale (1891-92)
Grover Cleveland (1893-1897)
- Princeton (1893)
- Yale (1894)
- Penn Quakers (1895)
- Princeton and Lafayette Leopards (1896)
William Mckinley (1897-1901)
- Penn (1897)
- Harvard (1898-99)
- Yale (1900)
Theodore Roosevelt (1901-1909)
- Michigan Wolverines (1901-02)
- Princeton and Michigan (1903)
- Penn and Michigan (1904)
- Chicago Maroons (1905)
- Princeton (1906)
- Yale (1907)
- LSU Tigers and Penn (1908)
William Howard Taft (1909-1913)
- Yale (1909)
- Harvard and Pittsburgh Panthers (1910)
- Princeton and Penn State (1911)
- Harvard and Penn State (1912)
Woodrow Wilson (1913-1921)
- Harvard (1913)
- Army Black Knights (1914)
- Cornell Bears (1915)
- Pitt (1916)
- Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (1917)
- Pitt and Michigan (1918)
- Harvard, Texas A&M Aggies, Notre Dame Fighting Irish (1919)
- California Golden Bears (1920)
Warren Harding (1921-1923)
- Cornell (1921)
- Cornell, Princeton, California (1922)
Warren Harding died on Aug. 2, 1923, without serving a full presidential term.
Calvin Coolidge (1923-1929)
- Illinois Fighting Illini and Michigan (1923)
- Notre Dame (1924)
- Alabama Crimson Tide (1925)
- Alabama and Stanford Cardinal (1926)
- Illinois (1927)
- Georgia Tech (1928)
Herbert Hoover (1929-1933)
- Notre Dame (1929-30)
- USC Trojans (1931-32)
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Franklin Roosevelt (1933-1945)
- Michigan (1933)
- Minnesota Golden Gophers (1934-36)
- Pitt (1937)
- TCU Horned Frogs (1938)
- Texas A&M (1939)
- Minnesota (1940-41)
- Ohio State Buckeyes (1942)
- Notre Dame (1943)
- Army (1944)
Franklin D. Roosevelt died on Aug. 12, 1945, shortly after winning reelection for a historic third term.
Harry Truman (1945-1953)
- Army (1945)
- Notre Dame (1946-47)
- Michigan (1948)
- Notre Dame (1949)
- Oklahoma Sooners (1950)
- Tennessee Volunteers (1951)
- Michigan State Spartans (1952)
Dwight D. Eisenhower (1953-1961)
- Maryland Terrapins (1953)
- UCLA Bruins and Ohio State (1954)
- Oklahoma (1955-56)
- Ohio State and Auburn Tigers (1957)
- LSU and Iowa Hawkeyes (1958)
- Syracuse Orange (1959)
- Ole Miss Rebels and Minnesota (1960)
John F. Kennedy (1961-1963)
- Alabama and Ohio State (1961)
- USC (1962)
John F. Kennedy was assassinated during his first term as the president, meaning there were only two national champions during his presidential term.
Lyndon B. Johnson (1963-1969)
- Texas Longhorns (1963)
- Alabama, Arkansas Razorbacks, Notre Dame (1964)
- Michigan State and Alabama (1965)
- Michigan State and Notre Dame (1966)
- USC (1967)
- Ohio State (1968)
Richard Nixon (1969-1974)
- Texas (1969)
- Nebraska Cornhuskers, Texas, Ohio State (1970)
- Nebraska (1971)
- USC (1972)
- Notre Dame and Alabama (1973)
Richard Nixon resigned near the start of the 1974 college football season.
Gerald Ford (1974-1977)
- USC and Oklahoma (1974)
- Oklahoma (1975)
- Pitt (1976)
Jimmy Carter (1977-1981)
- Notre Dame (1977)
- Alabama and USC (1978)
- Alabama (1979)
- Georgia Bulldogs (1980)
Ronald Reagan (1981-1989)
- Clemson Tigers (1981)
- Penn State (1982)
- Miami Hurricanes (1983)
- BYU Cougars (1984)
- Oklahoma (1985)
- Penn State (1986)
- Miami (FL) (1987)
- Notre Dame (1988)
George H.W. Bush (1989-1993)
- Miami (FL) (1989)
- Colorado Buffaloes and Georgia Tech (1990)
- Washington Huskies and Miami (FL) (1991)
- Alabama (1992)
Bill Clinton (1993-2001)
- Florida State Seminoles (1993)
- Nebraska (1994-95)
- Florida (1996)
- Michigan and Nebraska (1997)
- Tennessee (1998)
- Florida State (1999)
- Oklahoma (2000)
George W. Bush (2001-2009)
- Miami (FL) (2001)
- Ohio State (2002)
- LSU and USC (2003)
- USC (2004)
- Texas (2005)
- Florida (2006)
- LSU (2007)
- Florida (2008)
Barack Obama (2009-2017)
- Alabama (2009)
- Auburn (2010)
- Alabama (2011-12)
- Florida State (2013)
- Ohio State (2014)
- Alabama (2015)
- Clemson (2016)
Donald Trump (2017-2021)
- Alabama (2017)
- Clemson (2018)
- LSU (2019)
- Alabama (2020)
Joe Biden (2021-2025)
- Georgia (2021)
- Georgia (2022)
- Michigan (2023)
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