The NCAA Division II National Football Championship began in 1973. Prior to 1973, four regional bowl games were played in order to provide postseason action for what was then called the NCAA College Division.

The Division II championship game is played annually at Braly Municipal Stadium on the campus of the University of North Alabama in Florence, Alabama.

Since 1998 the games have been broadcast on ESPN.

Previous champions

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Year	Champion	Defeated	Score
1973	Louisiana Tech	Western Kentucky	34-0
1974	Central Michigan	Delaware	54-14
1975	Northern Michigan	Western Kentucky	16-14
1976	Montana State	Akron	24-13
1977	Lehigh	Jacksonville State	33-0
1978	Eastern Illinois	Delaware	10-9
1979	Delaware	Youngstown State	38-21
1980	Cal Poly	Eastern Illinois	21-13
1981	Southwest Texas State	North Dakota State	42-13
1982	Southwest Texas State	UC Davis	34-9
1983	North Dakota State	Central State	41-21
1984	Troy State	North Dakota State	18-17
1985	North Dakota State	North Alabama	35-7
1986	North Dakota State	South Dakota	27-7
1987	Troy State	Portland State	31-17
1988	North Dakota State	Portland State	35-21
1989	Mississippi College†	Jacksonville State	3-0
1990	North Dakota State	Indiana-Pennsylvania	51-11
1991	Pittsburg State	Jacksonville State	23-6
1992	Jacksonville State	Pittsburg State	17-13
1993	North Alabama	Indiana-Pennsylvania	41-34
1994	North Alabama	Texas A&M-Kingsville	16-10
1995	North Alabama	Pittsburg State	27-7
1996	Northern Colorado	Carson-Newman	23-14
1997	Northern Colorado	New Haven	51-0
1998	Northwest Missouri State	Carson-Newman	24-6
1999	Northwest Missouri State	Carson-Newman	58-52
2000	Delta State	Bloomsburg	63-34
2001	North Dakota	Grand Valley State	17-14
2002	Grand Valley State	Valdosta State	31-24
2003	Grand Valley State	North Dakota	10-3
2004	Valdosta State	Pittsburg State	36-31
2005	Grand Valley State	Northwest Missouri State	21-17

† Mississippi College's tournament participation, along with its championship, were vacated by the NCAA Committee on Infractions.

Teams that haved "moved up"

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Most of the participants in early national championship games have moved into Division I, the main catalyst for their moves being the creation of Division I-AA in 1978. The following Division II title game participants later moved to Division I:

• Division I-A
  • Akron (runner-up 1976)
  • Central Michigan (champion 1974)
  • Louisiana Tech (champion 1973)
  • Troy (champion 1984, 1987 as Troy State)

• Division I-AA
  • Cal Poly (champion 1980)
  • Delaware (champion 1979; runner-up 1974, 1978)
  • Eastern Illinois (champion 1978; runner-up 1980)
  • Jacksonville State (champion 1992; runner-up 1977, 1989, 1991)
  • Lehigh (champion 1977)
  • Montana State (champion 1976)
  • North Dakota State (champion 1983, 1985, 1986, 1988, 1990; runner-up 1981, 1984)
  • Northern Colorado (champion 1996, 1997)
  • Portland State (runner-up 1987, 1988)
  • Texas State (champion 1981, 1982 as Southwest Texas State)
  • UC Davis (runner-up 1982)
  • Western Kentucky (runner-up 1973, 1975)
  • Youngstown State (runner-up 1979)

See also

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• NCAA Division I-A national football champions
• NCAA Division I-AA national football championship
• NCAA Division I-AA Consensus Mid-Major Football National Championship
• NCAA Division III national football championship
• List of college bowl games

External links

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• D2football.com
• NCAA football page

NCAA Championships | American football competitions | College football | Sports in Alabama