Claiming national championships is generally not an argument that Alabama and Notre Dame fans want to have because we have a few that really aren’t as solid as we think. So if anyone wants to claim something from pre 2006 I don’t have really that much of an issue… Auburn’s 1983 claim is one that I think Auburn got screwed on because of prisoner of the moment polling. 2004 I think is iffy but I get it.
But good god the 1993 one is just stupid. For 1 you have a legitimate nc in fsu and 2 you were on probation. I don’t see any Ohio st fan claiming 2012 because they were undefeated and everyone knew they would have killed Notre Dame if they were given the opportunity. So what makes auburn try to pull this one.
I agree with the overall point except for two things. First, as already noted, they bombarded newspaper letter sections and TV stations with whining complaints about "we got hosed" in 1983 and 2004. Neither Alabama nor Notre Dame ever did anything like that only to reverse course. But the second thing is that for years - literal decades - it was AUBURN fans who insisted "national championships don't really exist, there ain't no such thing, go look at the fact the NCAA doesn't recognize FOOTBALL championships".......and then they pull something like this.
Their argument here was every bit as cultic - reciting the same words in the same tone - to insist these things didn't really exist: "until there's a playoff system, there's no national champion," "the AP poll is just a popular voting contest", "nobody including Alabama can win a national championship because they don't actually exist," - right next to their other favorite about "attended the school they support." And bear in mind it's been Auburn fans who have bombarded the internet with blogs "evaluating" Alabama's national title claims and disparaging half of them as "illegitimate."
THAT is my issue with it.
Alabama and Notre Dame (and we can add Ole Miss suddenly posting BCS trophies for their so-called titles in the Vaught era) DID NOT do all of those things.
The long ago titles, well, who cares, and in all honesty I'd say virtually any national champion prior to probably 1968 (AP) and 1974 (UPI) is specious because as I demonstrated years ago, there were no controls in place to prevent AP writers who had votes from sitting out an entire season and then voting in the final poll, which is how Auburn won their 1957 title.
But the fact is there were bowl games in 1983, Auburn and Miami won, the voters chose Miami, and Auburn fans cried like babies, legitimately. Now they're telling us none of that every happened - and in those cases there are plenty of people alive who know exactly what happened.
In 1993, Auburn played two teams with a winning record and none on the road and now wants to claim a national title after avoiding any kinds of challenges - SECCG, bowl game, etc.
In 2004, we can argue the merits of whether Auburn should have played in the title game, but the fact is we have a recognized champion who DID, and it wasn't Auburn.
