Kentucky, Florida face off for Perpetual National Championship

This will be Florida's 30th title game, which they've won 14 times. Kentucky has a played for the title 15 times.

September 21, 2009: The University of Kentucky will play for the "Grandaddy of All National Championships," the Perpetual National Championship (PNC), September 26th when the Wildcats face off against current title holder, the University of Florida. The Gators took the title from Oklahoma in the 2009 BCS game and have successfully defended it this year against Charleston Southern University, Troy University and the University of Tennessee. This will be Florida's first defense outside Gainesville in 2009. The matchup is the 1,362nd PNC title game. The Gators have played in 28 of those title games and have won or defended the title 14 times. The last time Florida held the title was in 2007, when after winning and defending the title five consecutive times, the Gators lost to Auburn 20-17 on a last minute field goal by Auburn's Wes Byrum. This is the first title game for Troy.

Kentucky has a long history with the PNC, Having first played for the title in 1924. They have played in 15 title games without a win. They last played for the title in 1987 when they lost it to LSU 34-9.

What is the Perpetual National Championship?

The Perpetual National Championship is awarded to college football teams in a continuous series of boxing-style title matches. The title is contested every time the holder of the title takes the field. The first title was won by Rutgers in 1869 when they defeated Princeton 6-5 in the first college football game. Princeton won the title back seven days later, beating Rutgers 8-0. The winner of the tittle match wins an award affectionately referred to as The Perp. The All-Time Perp is the team who won or defended the Perpetual National Championship the most times. To determine the All-tIme Perp, teams were given one point for winning or defending the title and zero 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 National Championship is the only national championship decided on the field.

The Perpetual National Championship has several advantages over the current mythical national championship determined by the Bowl Championship Series.

• It continues college football's emphasis on the regular season because the title is contested every time the title-holder takes the field.

• It can co-exist with the current BCS system or any future playoff and will often have a different champion than other national championships.

• It doesn't rely on biased votes from coaches and assistants, like those of the USA Today coaches poll, or uninformed parties like the Harris Poll.

• The lesser conferences and independent teams get to play for the title anytime a larger school has the courage to schedule them.