Sacred Heart Pioneers (2001)

Did you know Sacred Heart football won a national championship in 2001? Well, before you check the NCAA record book for confirmation, there's a catch.

Before the NCAA expanded the I-AA/FCS tournament field from 16 to 20 (and today, 24) teams, several conferences, including the Pioneers' Northeast Conference, did not receive automatic bids to the postseason, a policy that also affected the Pioneer League and the old Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. The Sports Network (which I think still conducts FCS media polls) created a media poll for these mid-major have-nots and presented a trophy from 2001-07 for the top-ranked team at the end of the season. And the school got to call itself a "national champion." (Maybe they should have just called it Division I-AAA and had their own tourney, but I digress.) 

The 2001 Sacred Heart Pioneers.

 

A 2001 Sacred Heart schedule. The photo was likely taken in 2000.

Under second-year coach Jim Fleming (who's engineered quite the turnaround at Rhode Island lately), Sacred Heart stormed through the regular season undefeated, allowing fewer than 10 points six times. The Pioneers were passed over for an NCAA I-AA tourney bid, but they did earn a trip to Pittsburgh to face MAAC champ Duquesne in the Eastern College Athletic Conference Bowl. SHU dispatched Duquesne 31-15 for the championship, and after the season, Sacred Heart claimed the Sports Network Cup in the final poll, beating out Dayton by 10 points.  

Sacred Heart players show off their ECAC Bowl
trophy after defeating Duquesne.

Thankfully, we don't have this silliness anymore, and the low/no scholarship schools now have a chance to show their mettle in the FCS tourney. Sacred Heart has made four FCS tourneys, and while the Pioneers have yet to win a playoff game, they've put up a fight the last two seasons against pretty damn good Delaware and Holy Cross teams.

As for the uniforms, Sacred Heart's helmets mimic Ohio State (hey, might as well imitate a winner, right?), while the jerseys have a bit of an Oklahoma look, with "PIONEERS" on the front at home and "SACRED HEART" on the road. I'm not 100% on the color of the NEC patch. Strange how so much stuff from the last 20 years has become lost media.