About the Perp
The Perpetual National Championship is awarded to college football teams in a continuos series of boxing-style title matches. The title is contested every time the holder of the title takes the field. The first title was awarded to Rutgers in 1869 when they defeated Princeton 6-4 in the first college football game. Princeton retook the title seven days later, beating Rutgers 8-0.
The winner of the title match receives a yet-to-be designed belt called, affectionately, the Perp. We’ll get back to you when we actually have one, but what we have in mind is a big cowboy/boxing title belt with an infinity symbol and some serious bling.
The All-Time Perp is the team who won or defended the Perpetual National Championship the most times. To determine the All-Time Perp we gave 1 point to a team for winning of defending the title and 0 points for a tie.
Since Division I-A college football doesn’t currently have a playoff and relies on voters to determine a championship game, the Perpetual Nation Championship is the only national championship decided on the field.
The Origins of a Preposterous Idea
The PNC committee was organized in late 2008 because the world was desperate for a championship in which the teams involved actually decided the title. We used to have the following conversation with our wife every four years :
Us, “We don’t think gymnastics is a sport because the individuals don’t actually determine the outcome. The judges do.”
Wife, “The two teams who play in college football’s national championship are determined in a similar fashion.”
Beholden to two diabolically opposing forces (intellectual honesty and college football) we had to find a way to save our beloved sport from this trap.
We stumbled upon Paul Brown’s Unofficial Football World Championship site. Like all good ideas, his was conceived by Scottish Soccer Hooligans. We were also inspired by Gilmore Davidson’s Unofficial Football League Championship. He’s an Aussie following a misnamed sport on a island far from his home, but he does a great job. Having never met a stupid idea we didn’t steal, the Perp was born.
We solicited the help of friends Don Waterfield and Sweta Patel, who did an awesome job with technical things we cannot fathom.
Advantages of the Perp
1. It continues college football’s emphasis on the regular season since the title is contested every week the title holder plays. Fans can find out who the Perp is on a weekly basis. No need to wait until January.
2. It can coexist with the current, laughable, BCS system or any future playoff system.
3. There’s no need to poll coaches’ grad assistants (USA Today) or random people who only watch two or three games per week (Harris, legends etc.). The only other national championship recognized by the PNC committee is the one handed out by the Associated Press.
4. The lesser conferences get an automatic bid, every time one of the BCS schools has the cajones to schedule them.
Headlines
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