The Poling System was a mathematical rating system used to select college football national championship teams from 1924 to 1984. While there was no official method for naming a national championship in the sport during the system's existence, it is considered to have been a "National Champion Major Selector" by the National Collegiate Athletic Association

National Collegiate Athletic Association

The National Collegiate Athletic Association is a semi-voluntary association of 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States...

. The system was developed by Richard Poling, a native of Mansfield, Ohio

Mansfield, Ohio

Mansfield is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Richland County. The municipality is located in north-central Ohio in the western foothills of the Allegheny Plateau, approximately southwest of Cleveland and northeast of Columbus....

 who had played college football

College football

College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...

 at Ohio Wesleyan University

Ohio Wesleyan University

Ohio Wesleyan University is a private liberal arts college in Delaware, Ohio, United States. It was founded in 1842 by Methodist leaders and Central Ohio residents as a nonsectarian institution, and is a member of the Ohio Five — a consortium of Ohio liberal arts colleges...

. The Poling System named contemporary champions from 1935 to 1984 and retroactively named champions from 1924 to 1934. Its selections were published in the Football Review Supplement and several newspapers.