Billingsley Report


The Billingsley Report is a college football rating system developed in the late 1960s to determine a national champion. Billingsley has actively rated college football teams on a current basis since 1970. Beginning in 1999, Billingsley's ratings were included as one of seven mathematical formulas included in the Bowl Championship Series rankings.
Unlike the other mathematical formulas included in the BCS rankings, the Billingsley Report was not prepared by a trained mathematician or statistician. Instead, the Billingsley Report is prepared by Richard Billingsley, a lifelong college football fan in Hugo, Oklahoma. Billingsley attended Texas Bible College, became a minister and later a consultant in the country music business. He began preparing his own weekly college football ratings as a hobby.
Billingsley has also applied his ratings methodology retroactively to select national champions for each year from 1869 to 1870 and from 1872 to 1969. Since 1996, the "Billingsley Report" has been one of the selectors of historic national champions recognized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association in its Football Bowl Subdivision record book.
The NCAA describes Billingsley's methodology as follows: " The main feature of his system is the inclusion of a unique rule for head-to-head competition, with the overall system consisting of a balanced approach to wins, losses, strength of schedule, and home-field advantage. A slight weight is given to most recent performance. The Billingsley formula does not use margin of victory, however, the Billingsley MOV formula does include margin of victory in the calculations."
Richard Billingsley is also the owner of the College Football Research Center.

Billingsley Report national champions

The following list identifies the college football national champions as selected by the Billingsley Report. Billingsley uses an alternate methodology which includes margin of victory in the calculations. Where the latter methodology results in a different champion, the alternate national champion is listed with the notation "Billingsley MOV".
SeasonChampion
1869Princeton
1870Princeton
1871No champion selected
1872Princeton
1873Princeton
1874Princeton
1875Princeton
1876Yale
1877Princeton
1878Princeton
1879Princeton
1880Yale
1881Princeton
1882Yale
1883Yale
1884Princeton
1885Princeton
1886Princeton
1887Yale
1888Yale
1889Princeton
1890Harvard
1891Yale
1892Yale
1893Princeton
1894Yale
1895Penn
1896Princeton
1897Penn
1898Harvard
1899Princeton
1900Yale
1901Harvard
1902Michigan
1903Princeton
1904Minnesota
1905Chicago
1906Yale
1907Yale
1908Harvard
1909Yale
1910Harvard
1911Minnesota
Princeton
1912Harvard
1913Chicago
Auburn
1914Illinois
Texas
1915Minnesota
Oklahoma
1916Georgia Tech
Pittsburgh
1917Pittsburgh
1918Michigan
1919Illinois
Texas A&M
1920Notre Dame
1921Iowa
California
1922Iowa
California
1923Michigan
1924Notre Dame
1925Alabama
1926Alabama
1927Illinois
1928Georgia Tech
1929Notre Dame
1930Notre Dame
1931USC
1932USC
1933Michigan
1934Minnesota
1935Minnesota
1936Minnesota
1937Pittsburgh
1938Tennessee
1939Texas A&M
1940Stanford
1941Minnesota
1942Georgia
1943Notre Dame
1944Army
1945Ohio State
Army
1946Army
1947Michigan
1948Michigan
1949Notre Dame
1950Tennessee
1951Michigan State
1952Georgia Tech
1953Notre Dame
1954Ohio State
1955Oklahoma
1956Oklahoma
1957Auburn
1958LSU
1959Syracuse
1960Ole Miss
1961Alabama
1962Ole Miss
1963Texas
1964Arkansas
1965Michigan State
1966Notre Dame
1967USC
1968Ohio State
1969Texas
1970Nebraska
1971Nebraska
1972USC
1973Notre Dame
1974Oklahoma
1975Oklahoma
1976Pittsburgh
USC
1977Notre Dame
1978USC
1979Alabama
1980Georgia
1981Clemson
1982Penn State
1983Auburn
1984BYU
1985Oklahoma
1986Penn State
1987Miami
1988Notre Dame
1989Miami
1990Colorado
1991Miami
1992Alabama
1993Florida State
1994Nebraska
1995Nebraska
1996Florida
1997Michigan
Nebraska
1998Tennessee
1999Florida State
2000Oklahoma
2001Miami
2002Ohio State
2003LSU
2004USC
2005Texas
2006Florida
2007LSU
2008Florida
2009Alabama
2010Auburn
2011Alabama
2012Alabama
2013Florida State
2014Ohio State