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Auburn Claims Six National Titles


autigeremt

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Auburn claims six national championships; should it claim more?

ByPHILLIP MARSHALL 

The debate might never end. The question might never be answered. How many football national championships should Auburn claim?

Two championships  – 1957 and 2010 – are beyond dispute. Auburn was No. 1 in the Associated Press poll in 1957 and won the BCS Championship Game in 2010.  But what about others? What about 2004, 1993, 1983, 1932, 1914, 1913 and 1910?

Auburn’s teams from those seasons were or have been recognized in some rankings as national champions. Five Auburn seasons – 2010, 1993, 1983, 1957 and 1913 – are listed among the national champions in the NCAA Record Book. Auburn, in its media guide, claims those team, plus the 2004 team, as national champions.

There was a time when none of this was really a subject of debate. Most programs claimed only widely recognized national champions – the wire service polls and sometimes the Football Writers Association poll. That changed in the early 1980s when Alabama sports information director Wayne Atcheson, with the stroke of a pen, changed the way national championships are viewed.

Before that time, with great pride, Alabama claimed six national championships. Atcheson believed it could claim six more. And he made it happen. It wasn’t anything devious, and even will he didn’t expect what it did. Overnight, Alabama went from six national championships to 11. It was a marketing masterpiece.

The problem fans at other schools – particularly at Auburn – have is that they have as much and, in some cases more, claims for national championship than some of those Alabama teams. But those claims don’t seem to stick.

 

Auburn's 1983 team has strong claim

No team has a better and more emotional claim than the 1983 Auburn team. Auburn went 11-1, winning  its last 10 games against the nation’s toughest schedule. Going into New Year’s Day 1984, Nebraska was unbeaten and ranked No. 1. Texas, which had given Auburn’s its only loss, was unbeaten and ranked No. 2. Auburn was 10-1 and ranked No.3. Georgia was 10-1 and No. 4 and Miami was 10-1 No. 5. Auburn had won the SEC championship in Pat Dye’s third season as head coach.

To win the national championship, Auburn needed an unlikely chain of events, and that’s what it got. Georgia knocked off Texas in the Cotton Bowl. Miami beat Nebraska in the Orange Bowl and Auburn beat Michigan in the Sugar Bowl. Miami jumped from No. 5 to No. 1. Auburn stayed at No. 3, behind Miami and Nebraska. Auburn was No. 1 in the New York Times computer poll and numerous other lesser-known rankings.

Former Auburn athletics director Jay Jacobs, who was a starting offensive on that 1983 team, went through a tortuous process in 2014. He appointed a committee to decide which national championships Auburn could claim.

In the end, without fanfare, the decision was quietly made to include six of them in the media guide.

Jacobs, like every player and coach from the 1983 team, fiercely believes it not only should have been but was the national champion.

“Coach Dye came in and more people were leaving than coming,” said Jacobs, now an associate athletics director at Florida. “He said he wanted to put a bottom in this program. He certainly did that. That’s why we have a chance to win SEC and national championships.”

 

BCS, playoff change the narrative

Times have changed now. The BCS Championship Game was born in 1998. Other than in one season, the BCS champion was the consensus national champion. USC was No. 1 in the Associated Press poll in 2003 and claims a national championship. LSU won the BCS championship.

With the advent of the College Football Playoff, controversy went away or moved to who gets into the playoff instead of who should be national champion. Though the Associated Press poll is still a separate entity, it is highly unlikely a team other than the playoff winner will be crowned national champion.

Following is a look at Auburn teams that have or could claim national championships:

 

1910: 6-1, Coach Mike Donahue

Led by head coach Mike Donahue, who made Auburn a power from 1904-1922, the Tigers went 6-1 and outscored opponents 176-9. They beat Mississippi State 9-0, beat Howard College 17-0, beat Clemson 17-0, lost at Texas 9-0, beat Georgia Tech 16-0, Tulane 33-0 and Georgia 26-0.

 

1913: 8-0, Coach Mike Donahue

The Tigers gave up just 13 points and won the Southern Intercollegiate Conference championship.  They beat Mercer 53-0, Florida 55-0, Mississippi State 34-0, Clemson 20-0, LSU 7-0, Georgia Tech 20-0, Vanderbilt 13-6 and Georgia -21-7. Auburn claims national championship.

 

1914: 8-0-1, Coach Mike Donahue

The Tigers went 8-0-1 and shut out all nine opponents, settling for a 0-0 tie against Georgia. They won their second consecutive SIAA championship. They beat Marion 39-0, Florida 20-0, Clemson 28-0, North Alabama A.C. 60-0, Mississippi State 19-0, Georgia Tech 14-0, Vanderbilt 6-0, tied Georgia 0-0 and beat Carlisle Indians 7-0.

 

1932: 9-0-1, Coach Chet Wynn

From out of nowhere, the Tigers of 1932 won their first nine games and won the Southern Conference championship. They missed a perfect season when they settled for a 20-20 tie with South Carolina in the final game of the regular season.. They beat Birmingham-Southern 61-0, Erskine 77-0, Duke 18-7, Georgia Tech 6-0, Tulane 19-7, Ole Miss 14-7, Howard College 25-0, Florida 21-6 and 14-7 before the tie in Birmingham against South Carolina.

 

 

1983: 11-1, Coach Pat Dye

After a 20-7 loss to Texas in the second game of the season, the Tigers won 10 straight. They won the first of four SEC championships under Dye. They beat Southern Mississippi 24-3, lost to Texas 20-7, beat Tennessee 37-14, Florida State 27-24, Kentucky 49-21, Georgia Tech 31-13, Mississippi State 28-13, Florida 28-21, Maryland 35-23, Georgia 13-7, Alabama 23-20 and Michigan 9-7 (Sugar Bowl). New York Times national champion.

 

1993: 11-0, Coach Terry Bowden

Bowden became the first coach to go 11-0 in his first season in Division I-A. The Tigers were the nation’s only unbeaten team but were on NCAA probation and ineligible for the SEC Championship Game or a bowl game. They finished No. 4 in the AP poll. They beat Ole Miss 16-12, Samford 35-7, LSU 34-10, Southern Mississippi 35-24, Vanderbilt 14-10, Mississippi State 31-17, Florida 38-35, Arkansas 31-21, New Mexico State 55-14, Georgia 42-28 and Alabama 22-14. Auburn claims national championship.

 

2004; 13-0, Coach Tommy Tuberville

The 2004 Tigers might have been the strongest of these teams, going 13-0 for the first time in program history. But USC and Oklahoma also had perfect regular seasons and played in the BCS Championship Game. Auburn finished ranked No. 2 after USC blew out Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl. They beat Louisiana-Monroe 31-0, Mississippi State 43-14, LSU 10-9, The Citadel 33-3, Tennessee 34-10, Louisiana Tech 52-7, Arkansas 38-20, Kentucky 42-10, Ole Miss 35-14, Georgia 24-6, Alabama 21-13, Tennessee 38-28 (SECCG), Virginia Tech 16-13 (Sugar Bowl). Auburn claims national championship.

 

2010: 14-0, Coach Gene Chizik

22COMMENTS

Cam Newton and the Tigers went 14-0 for the first time in program history, blew out South Carolina in the SEC Championship and beat Oregon to win the BCS national championship in Chizik's second season as head coach. They beat Arkansas State 52-26, Mississippi State 17-14, Clemson 27-24 in overtime, South Carolina 35-27, Louisiana-Monroe 52-3, Kentucky 37-34, Arkansas 65-43, LSU 24-17, Ole Miss 51-31, Chattanooga 62-24, Georgia 49-31, Alabama 28-27, South Carolina 56-17 (SECCG), Oregon 22-19 (BCSCG). BCS national champions, consensus national champions.

 

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It's what we should have done awhile ago. Love or hate it... it helps with the brand, recruiting, and respect. Claiming 2 is just silly when we have legitimate claims to others. 

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I don’t know how to quantify the Mike Donahue teams of the early 1900s.  1993 team could have beaten anyone that year.  2004, 83 teams fall about in the same boat for me.  If Auburn had put on a better showing in the Sugar Bowl those years you could bark louder.  I don’t necessarily think Miami deserved it’s championship either but Auburn could have helped itself with a better showing.  

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2004 is beyond dispute.  We should have claimed that one the second USC had to forfeit all their games.

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I guess it matters to some and perhaps, as Zeek said, has recruiting value but it honestly makes no difference to me since, unlike Div. 1-AA, there was no playoffs and all Nat'l Champs were based on subjective voting by various polls.  

Does anyone really pay attention, in 2020, that USC had to vacate their NC?  Outside of Auburn fans for a couple years, I'm really not sure anybody even remembers now, much less cares.  Betcha USC fans still claim it, matter of fact, since nobody officially announced Auburn as the "replacement" champ.

Win the SEC and I'm good.  That's on the field.  The rest is just (really exciting) gravy.

Just $.02 worth of my meandering....

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12 minutes ago, AUsince72 said:

I guess it matters to some and perhaps, as Zeek said, has recruiting value but it honestly makes no difference to me since, unlike Div. 1-AA, there was no playoffs and all Nat'l Champs were based on subjective voting by various polls.  

Does anyone really pay attention, in 2020, that USC had to vacate their NC?  Outside of Auburn fans for a couple years, I'm really not sure anybody even remembers now, much less cares.  Betcha USC fans still claim it, matter of fact, since nobody officially announced Auburn as the "replacement" champ.

Win the SEC and I'm good.  That's on the field.  The rest is just (really exciting) gravy.

Just $.02 worth of my meandering....

All good points.

And since it doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things... screw it. Claim 'em. :hellyeah:

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Of Michigan's 11 claimed, 5 were before 1920 and 10 before 1950. Doesn't hurt to claim them those early years for Auburn, especially considering how dominant those teams were. 

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1 hour ago, Win4AU said:

I don’t know how to quantify the Mike Donahue teams of the early 1900s.  1993 team could have beaten anyone that year.  2004, 83 teams fall about in the same boat for me.  If Auburn had put on a better showing in the Sugar Bowl those years you could bark louder.  I don’t necessarily think Miami deserved it’s championship either but Auburn could have helped itself with a better showing.  

The 83' Team doesn't need to bark any louder than posting the schedule of that season. Auburn was by far the best team in America. Miami wasn't even close. 

My bias doesn't even have to be that large in this case. ;) LOL 

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9 minutes ago, autigeremt said:

The 83' Team doesn't need to bark any louder than posting the schedule of that season. Auburn was by far the best team in America. Miami wasn't even close. 

My bias doesn't even have to be that large in this case. ;) LOL 

I agree.

Unfortunately, I believe the "kicker" was the fact they couldn't get it into the end zone against Michigan and (as I stated above regarding subjective polling) the Mia-Neb game was just sexier.

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1 minute ago, AUsince72 said:

I agree.

Unfortunately, I believe the "kicker" was the fact they couldn't get it into the end zone against Michigan and (as I stated above regarding subjective polling) the Mia-Neb game was just sexier.

If the players hadn't been hung over what would have been???? They partied like rock stars the night before and still won the game. 

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Just now, autigeremt said:

If the players hadn't been hung over what would have been???? They partied like rock stars the night before and still won the game. 

See?  THAT'S even MORE impressive!

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2 hours ago, Cardin Drake said:

2004 is beyond dispute.  We should have claimed that one the second USC had to forfeit all their games.

This is especially true when the mediots powers-that-be that decide these things just up & decided not to award a NC at all that year(!)  Pure cowardice.  

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1 hour ago, autigeremt said:

The 83' Team doesn't need to bark any louder than posting the schedule of that season. Auburn was by far the best team in America. Miami wasn't even close. 

My bias doesn't even have to be that large in this case. ;) LOL 

Amen to that.  They played 9 teams that played in bowls (back before you had 560 bowls a year) and 5 teams that were ranked in the top 10 when they played them.  Even that Bama team they played was a few plays away from being a top 5 team.  
 

They got penalized for not blowing Michigan out, but if you look back at it that was a really solid Michigan team that had lost two close games on the road against ranked opponents.  Beating Michigan and Bo Schembechler in those days was a big win no matter what the score was.


 

 

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2 isn't enough. 6 isn't enough. Auburn should claim these National Championships. 1900, 1904, 1910, 1913, 1914, 1919, 1932, 1957, 1958, 1983, 1993, 2004, 2010.

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3 hours ago, McLoofus said:

Exactly why we got jobbed again in '04. 

Remember them using the stupid justification of 1 or 2 had to lose to get jumped. Every week OU's secondary was getting shredded. I remember us going to the second stringers in the 2nd quarter of the Kentucky game and OU was still throwing for TD's in the final minute against Kansas. Both games had the same score almost (like 45-10 or something).

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8 minutes ago, Texan4Auburn said:

Remember them using the stupid justification of 1 or 2 had to lose to get jumped. Every week OU's secondary was getting shredded. I remember us going to the second stringers in the 2nd quarter of the Kentucky game and OU was still throwing for TD's in the final minute against Kansas. Both games had the same score almost (like 45-10 or something).

Yes sir. That secondary also got worked in back to back games by such juggernauts as Oklahoma State and Iowa State IIRC. 

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2 hours ago, auburn4ever said:

2 isn't enough. 6 isn't enough. Auburn should claim these National Championships. 1900, 1904, 1910, 1913, 1914, 1919, 1932, 1957, 1958, 1983, 1993, 2004, 2010.

Sounds good. I nominate you to be in charge of hanging banners and retroactive trophies. 

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I think we should claim some and not others. Anything before the poll era is extremely suspect to me. It was proto-football back then, you only played the teams close to you because you physically couldn't get to other parts of the country in a timely manner.  There was no apparatus for crowning a champion until years later. We should claim '83 and '04 in addition to '57 and '10. Those years are above reproach. The others are either before polls, there was a better claimant, or we were in trouble. 

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20 minutes ago, WalkingCarpet said:

I think we should claim some and not others. Anything before the poll era is extremely suspect to me. It was proto-football back then, you only played the teams close to you because you physically couldn't get to other parts of the country in a timely manner.  There was no apparatus for crowning a champion until years later. We should claim '83 and '04 in addition to '57 and '10. Those years are above reproach. The others are either before polls, there was a better claimant, or we were in trouble. 

Everyone was afraid to travel by train to play Auburn after what we did to Ga. Tech. :laugh:

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Then put the damn years in the stadium that we are officially recognized as National Champions.  Only having 57 and 2010 under the category of National Champions inside the stadium is sending a message that you do not claim in fact 6 national championships........

 

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8 minutes ago, GwillMac6 said:

Then put the damn years in the stadium that we are officially recognized as National Champions.  Only having 57 and 2010 under the category of National Champions inside the stadium is sending a message that you do not claim in fact 6 national championships........

 

 

AgreeableIllustriousBarasingha-size_restricted.gif

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