The 1995 NAIA Division I football season was the 40th season of

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

sponsored by the NAIA, was the 26th season of play of the NAIA's top division for football. The season was played from August to November 1995 and culminated in the 1995 NAIA Champion Bowl playoffs and the 1995 NAIA Champion Bowl, played this year on December 2, 1995 at Doc Wadley Stadium in

Tahlequah, Oklahoma Tahlequah ( ; , ) is a city in Cherokee County, Oklahoma located at the foothills of the Ozark Mountains. It is part of the Green Country region of Oklahoma and was established as a capital of the 19th-century Cherokee Nation in 1839, as p ...

, on the campus of

Northeastern State University Northeastern State University (NSU) is a public university with its main campus in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. The university also has two other campuses in Muskogee and Broken Arrow as well as online. Northeastern is the oldest institution of hig ...

. The Central State Marauders defeated the in the Champion Bowl, 37–7, to win their third NAIA national title. It was the RiverHawks' second consecutive loss in the championship game and the Marauders' third title in six seasons.

Conference changes and new programs

Conference changes

* The

Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference The Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference (AIC) was an athletic conference in existence from 1927 or 1928 to 1995 affiliated with the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). The conference membership consisted entirely of college ...

disbanded before the start of the season. Three of its football members— Arkansas Tech, Arkansas–Monticello, and Southern Arkansas—departed for the

NCAA Division II NCAA Division II (D-II) is the intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environment ...

Gulf South Conference The Gulf South Conference (GSC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level, which operates in the Southeastern United States. History Originally known as the ...

. The other two, Harding and Ouachita Baptist, became NAIA Division I independents before joining the

Lone Star Conference The Lone Star Conference (LSC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level. Member institutions are located in the South Central states, with schools in Texas ...

in 1997. * This was the final season that the NAIA officially recognized a football champion from the Oklahoma Intercollegiate Conference. The OIC, the second incarnation of a football conference with the same name, completed its final season in 1996 before disbanding.

Conference changes and new programs

Conference changes

Conference standings

Conference champions

Postseason

See also

References