All 4 College Football Playoff Teams Have Men’s & Women’s Swimming & Diving Programs
Although there are only a handful of swim meets this week, as most teams have looked back on their winter training, college football is in the quagmire of 43 college football games: matchups generally competitive between teams with the best records at the top level of NCAA Division I football.
The 2023 College Football Playoff National Championship will take place on Monday, January 9.
This includes the three games that make up the College Football Playoffs – the National Championship in the Football Bowl Subdivision of College Football (although this is not an official NCAA Championship event).
One reader, coach Greg Temple, noticed something interesting about Saturday night’s semifinals: For the second straight season, all four college football playoff teams are sponsoring the men’s swimming and diving programs. and feminine.
In the first seven seasons of the CFP, there has never been a year where all participating schools sponsored varsity swimming and diving programs (let alone both men’s and women’s programs). Top football schools like Clemson, Oklahoma and Oregon disrupted these patterns in the early years of CFP.
College Football Playoffs/History of Swimming
A few interesting things stand out here. The first is that none of the 59 schools that only sponsor a women’s swimming program have ever qualified for the college football playoffs.
Overall, a higher than average number of CFP teams (24/36) sponsor men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams. With such a small sample size, as well as a link between the teams carrying out the call for proposals over several years, it is difficult to draw general conclusions.
But it makes sense, in a way, that schools with strong Olympic sports programs, including swimming and diving, do well in soccer. Maintaining Olympic sports programs, rather than cutting departments to a minimum to comply with NCAA and Title IX regulations, involves financial health that can also drive success in major sports like football and basketball. .
Sometimes it is the result of quality management by the athletic department; sometimes it is the result of many activities by a few wealthy donors or many activities by large groups of students.
Every team on this list has sponsored men’s and women’s swim programs at one time or another. Oklahoma dropped swimming in 1985, blaming, in part, lost revenue from just five home football games during a streak in the 1980s.
Oregon’s swim team (along with gymnastics) was eliminated by Bill Byrne a year later in 1986, who blamed an NCAA “big college” requirement to add athletics programs indoor for men and women and golf for women. Byrne then worked as an AD in Nebraska and Texas A&M, schools that offer swimming and diving programs.
Washington cut its swimming and diving programs in 2009 (after threatening to cut them in 2000), and Clemson dropped swimming in 2011 and its women’s diving program in 2017.
Team 1 Team 2 Team 3 Team 4 2014-2015 Alabama (M&W) Oregon (No Swim) Florida State (M&W) Ohio State (M&W) 2015-2016 Clemson (No Swim) Alabama (M&W) Michigan State (M&W, since cut ) Oklahoma (Swim steps) 2016-2017 Alabama (M&W) Clemson (Swim steps) Ohio State (M&W) Washington (Swim steps) 2017-2018 Clemson (Swim steps) Oklahoma (Swim steps) Georgia (M&W) Alabama (M&W) 2018- 2019 Alabama (H&F) Clemson (Swim Pitch) Notre Dame (M&F) Oklahoma (Swim Pitch) 2019-2020 LSU (M&F) Ohio State (M&F) Clemson (Swim Pitch) Oklahoma (Swim Pitch) swim) 2020-21 Alabama (M&F) Clemson (No swim) Ohio State (M&W) Notre Dame (M&W) 2021-2022 Alabama (M&W) Michigan (M&W) Georgia (M&W) Cincinnati (M&W) 2022-2023 Georgia (M&W) Michigan (M&W) TCU (M&W) Ohio State (H&F) 2022-2023 Bowling and Swimming/Diving
The FBS bowl system as a whole is also fairly representative of swimming sponsorship. 3o out of 82 participating teams, or approximately 36.6%, sponsor men’s swimming. This is compared to 37.4% of Division I athletic schools (based on official 2020-2021 NCAA sports sponsorship data).
FBS bowling teams do slightly better in women’s swimming: 64.6% of them sponsor a women’s swimming program, compared to only 54.3% of the total for NCAA Division I institutions.
Bowl Team #1 Men’s Swimming? Women’s swimming? Team #2 Men’s Swimming Orange Bowl Tennessee Yes Yes Clemson No No Sugar Bowl Alabama Yes Yes Kansas State No No Fiesta Bowl (Semi-Final) TCU Yes Yes Michigan Yes Yes Peach Bowl Georgia Yes Yes Ohio State Yes Yes Cotton Bowl Classic Tulane No Yes USC Yes Yes Rose Bowl Penn State Yes Yes Utah Yes Yes Bahamas Bowl UAB No No Miami (OH) Yes Yes Cure Bowl Troy No No UTSA No No Fenway Bowl Louisville Yes Lyes Cincinnati Yes Yes Las Vegas Bowl Oregon State No No Florida Yes Yes LA Bowl Fresno State No Yes Washington State No Yes Lending Tree Bowl Southern Miss No No Rice No Yes New Mexico Bowl BYU Yes Yes SMU Yes Yes Frisco Bowl Boise State No No North Texas No Yes Myrtle Beach Bowl Marshall No Yes UConn No Yes Famous Idaho Potato Bowl Eastern Michigan No Yes San Jose State No Yes Boca Raton Bowl Toledo No Yes Liberty No Yes New Orleans Bowl Western Kentucky No No South Alabama No No Armed Forces Bowl Air Force Yes Yes Baylor No No Independence Bowl Houston No Yes Louisiana No No Gasparilla Bowl Wake Forest No No Missouri Yes Yes Hawaii Bowl Middle Tennessee State No No San Diego State No Yes Quick Lane Bowl New Mexico State No Yes Bowling Green No Yes Camellia Bowl Buffalo No Yes Georgia Southern No Yes First Responder Bowl Memphis No No Utah State No No Birmingham Bowl East Carolina No Yes Coastal Carolina No No Guaranteed Rate Bowl Wisconsin Yes Yes Oklahoma State No No Military Bowl Duke Yes Yes UCF No No Liberty Bowl Arkansas No Yes Kansas No Yes Holiday Bowl Oregon State No No North Carolina Yes Yes Texas Bowl Texas Tech No No Ole Miss No No Pinstripe Bowl Minnesota Yes Yes Syracuse No No Cheez It Bowl Florida State Yes Yes Oklahoma No No Alamo Bowl Washington No No Texas Yes Yes Duke’s Mayo Bowl Maryland No No NC State Yes Yes Sun Bowl Pitt Yes Yes UCLA No Yes Gator Bowl Notre Dame Yes Yes South Carolina Yes Yes Arizona Bowl Ohio No Yes Wyoming Yes Yes Music City Bowl Illinoi s No Yes Mississippi State No No Citrus Bowl Purdue Yes Yes LSU Yes Yes