I’ve been an Alabama Crimson Tide football fan for almost 50 years, beginning with the Johnny Musso era & the year they trounced Auburn 31-7 & then got trounced by Nebraska 38-6. There’s a lot of talk about the number of claimed national championships that Alabama has, and it’s difficult to truly name a champion in any year without a playoff or head-to-head match-up of the 2 consensus best teams.  When that doesn’t happen, you get controversy. It also happens when certain polls in the past have declared a champion before the bowl games were played. I’m not talking about before there were bowl games at all; I mean, there were bowl games scheduled to be played, but the polls in questions named a champion before they were played, as though the bowl games didn’t mean anything. This isn’t a very ancient phenomenon — this actually happened in 1973 when Alabama was declared the champion by UPI, then got beat by Notre Dame in the bowl game.

Being a fan of anything doesn’t give you the right or obligation to ignore known facts or adhere to unproven claims that can’t be verified scientifically — that would only be the case if you were their lawyer, political adviser/chairman, or selling a used car or house, which are all professions where you’re expected to lie.  I see this Chauvinistic trait too many times in all aspects of different subjects, like religion, music, politics, sports, you name it. Many people also choose to believe that their opinion is the fact even when there is no solid objective evidence to support it.

So how many championships does Alabama actually have? The school claims 18.  I say it’s 14, and here’s my proof:

1925: Alabama went 9-0 & defeated Washington 20-19. This is #1

1926; Alabama went 9-0 & played an undefeated Stanford & tied. That year, they would rightfully be a co-champion. Some idiots think little Lafayette College in PA was the national champion or co-champion also with their 9-0 record, but they played teams like Muhlenberg College, Lehigh & Rutgers. That makes them akin to the FCS teams we have now like North Dakota State. Some people claim Navy should be co-champion, and unlike now, Army & Navy were powerhouse teams & the Army/Navy game was like the Iron Bowl and as competitive & important as the National Championship game is now. Because Navy went 9-0-1 with the tie against Army, the best they could be is a co-champion, so it doesn’t stop Alabama from being a co-champion. This is #2

1930: Alabama went undefeated & beat Washington State 24-0 in the Rose Bowl. Alabama only allowed 2 touchdown ALL SEASON & had 8 SHUTOUTS. Notre Dame also went undefeated and beat USC 27-0 to end the season & didn’t play a bowl game. Wash St was undefeated in the regular season & beat USC 7-6. Both Alabama & ND played tough schedules, but you’d either have to call them co-champions or give it to Alabama based on the evidence, so this is #3.

1934: Alabama had 5 shutouts & 3 games where they gave up only 6 points each & they ended 10-0 winning the Rose Bowl vs Stanford 29-13, which played a fairly-weak schedule, but did beat USC & UCLA handily and was 9-0-1. Minnesota (yes, they could play football at one time) had a fairly-weak schedule (remember my North Dakota State reference earlier? They beat them in the season opener) and played no bowl game. Minnesota beat Pitt, who had beaten Notre Dame & Navy & USC, so at the very least, Alabama is a co-champion. This is #4.

1941: Alabama lost 2 games & the SEC was won by Vanderbilt — yes, Vandy could play football at one time. Calling Alabama any kind of champion in 1941 is ridiculous and only 1 poll did that’s not around anymore for good reason.  Alabama should delete this claimed championship first.

1961: Alabama went 11-0 & beat Arkansas in the Sugar Bowl. You might think this team had Joe Namath at QB, but Broadway Joe didn’t arrive until 1962 (along with another fella name Mal Moore at QB, the future Alabama AD) — this year, the QB was Pat Trammell.  Joe Namath never quarterbacked a true national championship team at Alabama in my opinion.  Ohio St had a tie in their opening game against TCU, though they did beat preseason #1 Iowa.  There is no way Alabama could be anything but the undisputed #1 this year, but the little-known upstart FWAA poll gave it to Ohio St while Alabama was named #1 by virtually every other wire service including AP & UPI (which published the Coaches’ Poll, then became published by USA Today & as of 2014 is sponsored by Amway — that sounds like a joke if you ask me; The Amway Coaches Poll — like the Sears Chicago Cubs).  Note that Rutgers went undefeated, but nobody took that seriously — it was like Boise State going undefeated in 2009 by playing nobody with any decent power ranking. So this is #5, and #1 for Bear Bryant at Alabama (#2 overall for him as he won 1 at Kentucky earlier).

1964: Alabama went undefeated in the regular season & lost to Texas in their bowl game. Arkansas (who wasn’t an SEC team at the time) went undefeated & won their bowl game against an unbeaten Nebraska, and Arkansas also beat Texas in the regular season. There’s no way Alabama can be #1 this year by any measurement & this is the 2nd one they should delete.

1965: Joe Namath graduated to play for the NY Jets, so Steve Sloan took the helm & they went 9-1-1. This is normally not the record of a national champion & they were ranked #4, but #1 Michigan State & #2 Arkansas both lost their bowl games, and since this was the 1st year that the AP poll named their champion AFTER the bowl games, #4 Alabama beat #3 Nebraska & was declared the champion despite having lost 18-17 to Georgia in the opener & tied Tennessee 7-7 (the overtime tiebreaker rule didn’t start until 1996). Seeing as how the only team who was a winner at the end was Alabama, they would at least have to be co-champions this year. This was #6, and #2 for Bear Bryant.

1973: This is a total joke. Alabama & Notre Dame were both undefeated & ranked #1 & #2. Notre Dame beats Alabama in the Sugar Bowl, but UPI ranked Alabama #1? That was because this was the last year that UPI held their poll BEFORE the bowl game. Of course, AP ranked Notre Dame #1 rightfully. In no way can anyone claim this as a national championship, and for a university like Alabama to do so is completely ludicrous & academically disingenuous.  This is the 3rd one they should delete.

1978: I don’t get this one either. Alabama lost to USC at home in their 3rd game (Legion Field — close enough), but beat #1 undefeated Penn St in the bowl game, so AP awards the Alabama #1 ranking. The problem with this is that USC was ranked #2 since they lost an upset game to Arizona State, but the Coaches Poll put USC #1, and Penn St didn’t have a tough schedule. There is no way Alabama should be #1 when the only other team with a powerful schedule tied their record & BEAT them heads up.  This is the 4th one they should delete.

1979: No argument here — Alabama went 12-0, nobody else did. This is #7, and the 3rd & last championship for Bear Bryant at Alabama.  He doesn’t have 6; he has 3 legitimate championships (in my opinion) at Alabama + 1 at Kentucky = 4 total legit championships.

1992: No argument here either — Alabama went 13-0, beat undefeated Miami, nobody else was undefeated. This is #8.  One of the greatest plays in the history of football happened in this game & it didn’t count as it was canceled out by a penalty.  Alabama CB Willie Gaston was beaten by Miami WR Lamar Thomas & it looked to be an 89-yd TD in the making, but DB George Teague caught up with Thomas & stripped the ball from him at about the 15-yd line & held onto it & was tackled at 10 after coming back upfield from the end zone.  However, Alabama was called for offside & the play was nullified, but if he hadn’t done that & Miami instead scored, Miami would have declined the penalty, so he stopped the comeback & took all the wind from Miami’s sails & may have saved the game.  Teague also had a 31-yard interception return TD just a minute earlier.

2009, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2017 & 2020: The CFP (and the BCS format in some of those years) settled this, and there was little controversy in any year during the BCS crap & none concerning Alabama. These are #9 thru #14, and all 6 under Nick Saban, who is the true winningest National Championship coach in Alabama history.

So it’s actually 14 championships in reality, not 18 as Alabama claims. That’s plenty for anybody to shut up about.

Now let’s discuss this bit of Alabama blas-FEE-me — Bear Bryant only has 3 national championships at Alabama by my count, plus 1 at Kentucky by my count, a total of 4, and Nick Saban has 6 at Bama + 1 at LSU in 2003 = 7 total.  Nick Saban hasn’t won as many games as Bear Bryant did, but Tiger Woods didn’t win as many majors as Jack Nicklaus & he’s still best golf player ever (notice I didn’t say “best golfer” — there’s a difference, and it’s about character both on & off the course).  Nick Saban is the greatest college football coach ever, bar none, and the game win total isn’t everything — that’s just longevity, and in today’s coaching climate, I don’t expect any coach will get to coach for 38 years in the FBS or want to do it with today’s pay like Bryant did.