The 1920 college football season had no clear-cut champion, with the Official NCAA Division I Football Records Book listing California, Georgia, Harvard, Notre Dame, and Princeton as national champions. Only California and Princeton claim national championships for the 1920 season. Andy Smith's Pacific Coast Conference champion California "Wonder Team" was the first national champion from the Pacific Coast. Princeton and Harvard were undefeated and with one tie to each other. Notre Dame was led by its first Walter Camp All-American, George Gipp, who died before the year was over.

Andrew Latham Smith was an American football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at the University of Pennsylvania (1909–1912), Purdue University (1913–1915), and the University of California, Berkeley (1916–1925), compiling a career college football record of 116–32–13. As head coach of the California Golden Bears football program, Smith guided his "Wonder Teams" to a record of 74–16–7, captured five Pacific Coast Conference titles, and three national championships. Smith was the winningest football coach in school history until he was surpassed by Jeff Tedford in 2011. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1951.