More perception than reality

"Rutgers would be left out of the final game in Glendale, Ariz., because it's Rutgers, and because the system is based more on perception than reality, and because the past is every bit as important as the present."

There's a reason only a few teams have ever won a national championship.

According the College Football Data Warehouse, this list is comprised of 44 teams total and those numbers include the championships allocated by about three dozen or so "selectors" over the years; the problem is that exalted list includes five Ivy League teams and the University of Chicago. Only 23 current NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision teams have ever won more than 1, and that list includes Army (1914 and 1944-1946) Cal (1920-1922 and 1937), Maryland (1951, 1953).

Rutgers is, not surprisingly, not on the list.

Princeton, on the other hand, has won 24 national championships, the first in 1869 (although Rutgers beat Princeton 6-4 that year) and the last in 1935.