The NCAA’s current division format has turned 50, and beyond the thousands of games that have been played at the Division II level since its formation, there have been — shocker! — some very good teams with very good players that have risen up the ranks in that time span.

Some college football powerhouses that we know today in the Division I ranks got their start in Division II, after all.

FloFootball will be diving headfirst into coverage all season long at the D-II level, streaming multiple elite leagues and teams throughout the fall as college football finally gets back going for the 2023 season later this month.

But if you’re new to D-II — or just need a refresher about which schools have shined bright in the past — it’s good to know the historical heavy hitters and “blue bloods” of the division that will be named to watch as the months go along.

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After five decades of Division II football played, here’s a peek back into the time capsule breaking down some of the greatest teams to ever lace them up at the D-II level:

Who was the first NCAA Division II Football national champion?

Back in 1973 — the first season following the NCAA’s switch into its three-division system which we know today — it was Louisiana Tech, a year after winning the Grantland Rice Bowl over Tennessee Tech to capture the NCAA Mideast College Championship (where there were four official regional champions at season’s end along with media-poll national champions), which took home the inaugural D-II national championship. 

Tech stood tall at the end of a playoff run that included three wins over now-D-I teams in Western Illinois, Boise State, and finally Western Kentucky via a 34-0 rout in front of over 12,000 people at Hughes Stadium in Sacramento, California. 

The Bulldogs now play in Division I themselves, having been a member of Conference USA since 2013. 

Who is the most recent NCAA Division II Football national champion?

The reigning and defending D-II football champion is Michigan-based Ferris State of the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, which took down Colorado School of Mines by a 41-14 scoreline in last season’s national title game in McKinney, Texas. 

It was the Bulldogs’ second straight national title as they seek under coach Tony Annese to become the first D-II team to three-peat since North Alabama from 1993-95, and FSU will be favored to do so as it is ranked No. 1 with all 29 first-place votes in the preseason D-II American Football Coaches Association poll. 

The Bulldogs will start their bid for three straight when they host Mercyhurst in their season opener at 8 p.m. on Aug. 31.

What program has won the most NCAA Division II Football national championships?

Northwest Missouri State is the most successful D-II football program in the playoff era, having won six national titles (1998, 1999, 2009, 2013, 2015 and 2016) will the first three coming under the direction of field namesake Mel Tjeersdma and the latter three under now-Central Oklahoma coach Adam Dorrel. 

The Bearcats are still a top-tier D-II program, but other powers in the division are quickly on their tails trying to catch up. Grand Valley State, D-II’s team of the 2000s with a four national championship dynasty from 2002-06, is ranked No. 3 in the AFCA preseason poll but also stuck in the same league as near equally-powerful hated rival Ferris State, while Valdosta State also has four titles won in 2004, 2007, 2012 and 2018 with always high expectations in the brutal Gulf South Conference.

Which national title-winning schools have gone on to move to Division I?

To answer this question properly — more than you may think. Nearly half (24) of all the D-II football championships awarded since its first iteration in 1973 have been won by schools now playing in Division I at either the Football Bowl Subdivision or Football Championship Subdivision levels, including numerous mainstays and elite-level programs (especially in the FCS). 

Of the programs that fit into this category, North Dakota State won the most national titles in D-II with five from 1983-90, just a couple of decades before the Bison began their dynasty at the FCS level with an incredible nine national championships there between 2011-21.

The following schools that have both won a D-II national championship and currently play at the FBS/FCS level are:

1. Louisiana Tech (1973, now FBS)
2. Central Michigan (1974, FBS)
3. Montana State (1976, FCS)
4. Lehigh (1977, FCS)
5. Eastern Illinois (1978, FCS)
6. Delaware (1979, FCS)
7. Cal Poly (1980, FCS)
8. Texas State (1981 and 1982, FBS)
9. North Dakota State (1983, 1985, 1986, 1988 and 1990, FCS)
10. Troy (1984 and 1987, FBS)
11. Jacksonville State (1992, FBS)
12. North Alabama (1993, 1994 and 1995, FCS)
13. Northern Colorado (1996 and 1997, FCS)
14. North Dakota (2001, FCS)
15. Texas A&M-Commerce (2017, FCS)

Which NCAA Division II Football title-winning teams are considered the best of all time?

There are numerous choices of amazing D-II teams that have stood out over the years, but you’d be hard-pressed to find a more dominant dynasty to date than the GVSU teams of the mid-2000s. After being led to the mountaintop twice by Brian Kelly — the same Brian Kelly who now coaches LSU — in 2002 and 2003, the Lakers got even better later in the decade when they only embarked on the greatest win streak in D-II football history. 

Under now-Miami (Ohio) coach Chuck Martin, GVSU won 40 consecutive games from 2005-07 with two-time Gene Upshaw Award winner Mike McFadden patrolling the defensive line and D2football.com’s Player of the Decade in the 2000s, Cullen Finnerty, calling the shots at quarterback in a juggernaut of a Lakers squad. 

But the Northwest Missouri State teams that helped the school come so close to matching the Lakers’ winning streak from 2015-17 with 38 consecutive wins of its own has claims to being among the best D-II teams ever, too, especially the 2015 and 2016 teams that went 15-0 with national titles each season. Future NFL players Brandon Dixon and Matt Longacre were integral parts of those squads in a strong decade for D-II football as a whole, but also one defined by the dominance of the Bearcats for a several-season stretch.