On National Championships

This is probably of little interest outside of the State of Alabama, but it certainly is newsworthy here.  I had seen this item sometime in the past, but it was useful to find it repeated in www.al.com/forums/tigers today.

350162. I knew you guys would miss me

by FEARtheTOES, 12/10/06 6:18 ET

I just wanted to clear up a few misconceptions about Alabama's claim to 12 national championships based on fact rather than bias. Credit is given where credit is due.

To clear up confusion, the word retroactive means they went back in time to award the championship.

'TWELVE' national championships is fraudulent, nothing but pure bunk ginned up by the SID Department. Here's a rundown:

1925 National Championship- Alabama claims they share this one with Dartmouth. Who awarded the NC? Houlgate and Helms. Houlgate started his system in 1927. So Bama won their 1925 NC using a formula that didn't exist until 1927? Helms Athletic Foundation started in 1941. Another incredible retroactive NC.

The Associated Press Poll has been active since 1936. The AP took their final poll prior to bowl games from 1936 - 1964 and in 1966 and 1967. They took their final poll after the bowl games in 1965 and from 1968 - Current.

1926 National Championship- Alabama claims they share this one with 3 other teams with equal or better records! Once again it is the Helms Athletic Foundation in 1941 that awards it!

1930 National Championship- The Davis poll says that Bama tied Notre Dame for NC this year. This was the only one to award it to Bama. Notre Dame was named NC in 6 polls! Parke Davis is another retroactive system! He (an individual, not an organization) did his in 1933!

1934 National Championship- Alabama says they share this with two other teams. The awarders are Dunkel, Williamson, and Football Thesaurus. Dunkel was an individual who came up with his own system. Williamson was a geologist who came up with his own system. Football Thesaurus first appeared in 1946!

1941 National Championship- This is a complete joke. The AP ranked Alabama 20th in the nation with 14 teams with better records in the top 20. Once again it is the Football Thesaurus that retroactively awards it. Alabama finished 3rd in the SEC that year. Mississippi State won the SEC title..yet Bama claims a National title!

1961 National Championship- Finally a legitimate NC. .

1964 National Championship- While the AP did award the NC to Bama (10-1-0), Arkansas had the better record, 11-0. Alabama played Texas in their bowl and LOST. The AP final poll was before the bowl.

1965 National Championship- The AP gave this to Bama. That year there were three teams with better records than Bama. Bama 9-1-1, Michigan St 10-1-0, Arkansas 10-1-0, Nebraska 10-1-0.

1973 National Championship- AP puts Bama 4th after their bowl game loss. Bama claims a NC from the UPI poll that was taken before they met Notre Dame in the bowl game and lost. There were 3 teams with better records than Bama that year. The embarrassment of naming Alabama number one caused the UPI to name champions after bowl games. Yet Bammer has no shame in claiming it of course.

1978 National Championship- AP gives this to Alabama(11-1-0) even though USC (12-1-0) had the better record Guess who Alabama lost to that year? USC!!!!!!!!!. UPI gave the NC to USC.

1979 National Championship- Their second legitimate NC. Their first Unanimous NC.

1992 National Championship- Their third legitimate NC. Their second Unanimous NC.

You can see why people ridicule Bama fans when they talk about 12 NCs. The early ones were awarded by individuals years after the games were played. These weren't consensus polls but NCs awarded by people that had their own formula for determining champions. Some NCs were given before bowl games that Bama lost. Using Alabama logic, Auburn could claim four national championships. But when Bammers brag they like to say they have twelve and Auburn has one. How silly. The NCAA recognizes 6 NCs for Bama and there are only two NCs that Bama has unanimously. You can't find an Auburn site claiming four national championships but there are plenty Bama sites claiming twelve.Debunking the Alabama National Championship myths.

At the same time, Auburn could claim at 5 national titles using the Bammer methods.

1913- Auburn went 8-0 and claimed the NC in the Billingsley Poll.

1957-AP national Champions.

1983-Auburn went 11-1, played the nation's toughest schedule, and won the national title in The New York Times, Sagarin, Billingsley, Rothman and College Football Researchers Association

1993-Auburn went 11-0 and won the national title by the National Championship Foundation .

2004- Auburn became only the second team in SEC history to go 13-0. Auburn even beat SEC East champion Tennessee twice. Auburn was awarded the national title by the first People's National Championship Poll, Golf Digest, and The Eufaula Times.

AUBURN only claims the 1957 national title. HOWEVER..IF Alabama can claim some of the ones that they claim, we have ever right to claim the ones above.

Bama...legends in their own minds!

References:

http://www.ncaa.org/champadmin/ia_football_past_champs.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wik

Comments

[Pig Slop]

The Hogs never get credit for the National Championship in 1964, but they did win the Grantland Rice award and trophy for the National Championship that year. So, it's official and I hope everyone understands that Arkansas does have one National Championship season.

[Pig Slop]

Forgot to mention that this was a great blog! Very, very interesting and informative!!

[alabama commando]

Did you look at the NCAA website at all? It lists 17 different years that Alabama was named NC by some organization or another. They don't claim all of them as you try to claim. What a crock of @#$%

[paulwesterdawg]

There was no Golf Digest national championship for Auburn. It was a photoshop joke that went around after Tuberville told the AP that he'd take ANY National Title even one from Golf Digest.

Your argument is otherwise very, very valid. Georgia Tech is the same as Bama with their 6 national titles. Of which only 1 or 2 have any real legitimacy at all.

But your discredit yourself with the People's National Championship which was awarded by a lone idiot with a web site, and the Eufala times + the Golf Digest thing which never happened.

[teach]

I'm not the original author, but I thought it good enough to reprint as a post.

I would be more than happy to post dissenting views with facts.

[jeremy king]

Since you are such an expert on national championships,why dont you go back to those"bogus"seasons that you claim alabama didnt legitimately win a trophy,tell us who the real national champions were for that same year,then apply the same criteria to those other teams,and it will automatically rule out any team as champions.im sure you will be able to"appoint"your own champions for each of those seasons.who should have won the title in 1966?is alabama's 1946 season any less legitimate than auburn's 2004 undefeated run?auburn and tennessee fans need to let go of this tired arguement.maybe by focusing on your own teams,a respectful legacy may eventually develope.

[max]

i hate you, you just like to crock shit out the side of your neck. roll tide, and we have 6 nc's under bear bryant alone. and in 1966 we should have been nc's because we went completely undefeated. so fuck you. roll tide shoot down the war eagle and skin aubie.

[Matt]

Who should have won the 1925 title? Alabama was 10-0 and won the Rose Bowl.

What about 1926? Alabama and Stanford were both undefeated, and then tied in the Rose Bowl. A split title isn't valid there?

In 1930 Alabama went undefreated and won the Rose Bowl. They had the exact same record as Notre Dame and Notre Dame didn't play in a bowl game at all.

In 1934, Alabama went undefeated and beat Stanford in the Rose Bowl again.

I'll grant that '41 is bogus. You don't dispute '61. '64 was an AP title. In '65 there was no undefeated contender. Alabama does share this one with Mich. St., but the Spartans lost their bowl game.

In '66 Alabama got utterly hosed. They were the two time defending national champions and went undefeated. This makes up for '41.

Alabama probably shouldn't have won in '73, but the next 3 were all legit.

By my count that's 11 national championships.

As far as Auburn goes, I'll give you 1913 if you don't count years where the school was on probation ('57 and '93).

So I guess you're right, it's not 12 to 1, it's 11 to 1. Congratulations.

[Panette]

This is just the usual things you hear from a usual aubie fan. So funny that I am sending this to all my Bama friends. :)

[kristen]

Haha. Are you serious? Did you really do all this just to prove that? When in reality, you need to be worried about Auburns 1, National Championship.

[aubie]

that's right we're the
eufala times
national champions

war damn eagle

[RollTide75]

I check out thos sites you talk about and actually the ncaa doesn't rewards national champioships and list everybody that gives out one so if bama was as bad as you say they where they'd claimed 17 but i agree the 41 one we didn't win that one we was 3rd in the sec, the wikipedia site you listed gives bama 11 not counting the 41 championship and not are fault that the AP keep naming national champs before bowls. so say what you want any way slice wether u say we have 6 or we say we have 12 or somewhere in between still have more then auburn wether you claim 1 or 5 don't matter

[Not-Impressed]

Wow, you really spent a bit of time making an argument. Too bad I didn't read it because it sounds like a jealous tirade. Let’s just say that we should rewrite history for you... How many titles should be removed? It is still more than Auburn. So, I don’t think that it is a smart argument that you should make. Have fun and keep holding your breath. Maybe you should also investigate to see if performance enhancing drugs were actually developed back then and used by Alabama back in the day. Maybe you would have a more believable argument? I bet Auburn fans might enjoy it. Before you do that, check the National Enquirer because they might have some good stories on that. You are wrong on one more thing, it is a "Crimson State"!