A new national champion

For the first time in JCGridiron history the College of San Mateo has won the JCGridiron Dirty 30 national championship. The Bulldogs captured the California Community College Athletic Association (CCCAA) state championship last Saturday before waiting around to see what would happen in the NJCAA title game on Wednesday night.

San Mateo made a mess of the California state title game, as everything went right for the Bulldogs. CSM ran up a 55-0 win against the previous No. 2 ranked Riverside City College on a rainy, windy day in San Mateo. The Bulldogs had over 300 yards rushing in the opening half as RCC had no answers for either the elements or the Bulldog rushing attack.

San Mateo began last week as the No. 3 team in the rankings and needed some help to move into the No. 1 spot. Following a win on Saturday the Bulldogs received that help on Wednesday when Iowa Western trampled over previously top-ranked Hutchinson College, 31-0, in the NJCAA championship game. Much like the CCCAA title game, the favored squad in the NJCAA title game looked completely out of sorts in getting blown out.

San Mateo is the second straight California program to win the title and the third in the past four years. Last season’s champion, City College of San Francisco (7-4), finished 30th in the rankings for 2022. In the 18 years of JCGridiron naming a national champion, there has been three split national championships (’07, ’13, ‘16). In total, NJCAA programs have been credited with 12 national championships and CCCAA schools have now had nine.

San Mateo started the season ranked No. 14 in the Preseason Dirty 30 Rankings in July and rose to No. 4 in October before a loss to Diablo Valley College in late October dropped them back down to No. 14. San Mateo then began the climb back to the top, finishing the season with wins over No. 30 San Francisco, No. 49 Modesto, No. 23 American River and No. 4 Riverside City. In total, the Bulldogs won 10 games against programs that appeared in the Dirty 30 Rankings during the course of the season.

The rest of the Dirty 30 Rankings follow. Just a reminder, the Dirty 30 Rankings do not include games against club teams, prep schools, non-CCCAA, non-NJCAA or non-HJCAC programs in its rankings.

Congrats CSM! You are the JCGridiron Dirty 30 National Champions for 2022.