13 National Championships

LCN

FB | REC Moderator
Sep 29, 2005
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The bottom line to discussions such as this one is that Alabama has been screwed out of more titles than 99% of other D1 programs have ever even sniffed . Jealousy lies at the root of their lack of understanding .
 

selmaborntidefan

TideFans Legend
Mar 31, 2000
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FWIW: I was watching our 1999 game against Houston the other day and as it came on Jeff Pilot sports (ugh!), we had the first Dave and it was the first game for the second idiot named Dave. Also on the sidelines was Greg Bowser, former LSU player.

Throughout that game they were making reference to Alabama's "12 national championships." In fact, Bowser did a half-time salute to the 1992 team and said it was our "12th national championship."

So what gives?
 

grlindsey08

3rd Team
Dec 4, 2010
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Jasper, AL
we can claim 13 because when we won the title years we lost the bowl game, that was part of the system. the bowl game was viewed as an exhibition game. Notre Dame, for example, would only go to a bowl game if it was against a higher ranked team. otherwise they would decline the invitation. Since the bowl game was not viewed as part of the season, i think it's ok. The whole 8 thing comes from ESPN only credits us with 8 (because we only have 8 AP ncs), and many Auburn fans misquote that (what they do best) and say that the NCAA only credits us with 8, when we all know that the NCAA credits us with 17 or 18.
 

TideMan09

Hall of Fame
Jan 17, 2009
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I love Charles Barkley's reply to this question......"Well, they got the trophies from 13 championships!"
And Charles would be spot on..Charles better watch out..He may end up with a "Yella Fella" 2x4 upside the head or kicked out of the "Family"..For saying the truth about Bama the Barners don't wanna hear..
 

BamaMoon

Hall of Fame
Apr 1, 2004
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The bottom line to discussions such as this one is that Alabama has been screwed out of more titles than 99% of other D1 programs have ever even sniffed . Jealousy lies at the root of their lack of understanding .
This x 1000!
 

XenScott

Registration on Hold - Until further notice
Oct 13, 2011
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Alabama
The only one I ever take issue with is the 1941. All the others were awarded "fair and square" as they say.
I've done a lot of research on this topic in general, and the 1941 team in particular.

Minnesota was awarded the AP regular season national championship.
However, there were legitimate nationally-recognized newspapers and magazines that awarded titles after the bowl games (even in those days).

Because of Pearl Harbor the SEC Champion, Miss State, was unable to compete in the post-season. In fact, they may have disbanded.

Bama and UGA were 2 of 8 teams picked to play in the Big 4 bowl games (Orange, Sugar, Cotton & Rose). The Rose Bowl had been moved from Pasadena to the Duke campus in NC because of fears of a Japanese attack.

Bama played an exceptionally good (and pass-happy) Texas A&M team and soundly whacked them. In fact, Bama was up 29-7 late in the 4thQ when Frank Thomas put in the 2nd & 3rd strings that allowed Texas A&M to score in garbage time.

Football Thesaurus ranked us # 1 following that win.

There are some who claim that the UA Athletic Department intended to choose the 1945 Rose Bowl Champions as one of the "Past-5" titles, but I'm not sure that's correct.

In any event, it's a longer story than this, but compelling if you're into this kind of history.

And yes, FWIW, the NCAA has finally recognized "official" national championships at the FBS level.
That was not the case until this year.
Through 2010, they simply cited NC selectors and who they selected.

So ... we have 18 or 17 or 13 or 11 or 8, depending how you want to look at the data.

I doubt the UA Athletic Department will change their official stance of 13 titles.
To do so would have a weird ripple effect:
Do you "erase" 1941 from Frank Thomas' statue??
Recall all the "Got 13?" T-shirts??
Take down the 1941 flag from BDS??

CFB is a strange game.
Maybe that's why I like it.

~XS