Alabama's claim of 12 NCs
Check this out
http://blog.al.com/solomon/2010/01/got_12.html
1941 is especially hilarious. I know some of Michigan's NCs are disputed, but dang. This guy Wayne Atcheson just made stuff up.
January 7th, 2010 at 11:38 AM ^
Which year did Forrest Gump lead them to the National Championship?
January 7th, 2010 at 12:35 PM ^
Definite spit take post right there, an obvious risk when surfing in during lunch hour. Thanks for that.
January 7th, 2010 at 11:40 AM ^
Wow.
So according to their methods, if I can get my ranking system published in a newspaper, and can get one guy associated with the program to say that my team was the best in the country in a given year, then I can claim a national title?
Michigan has 147 National Championships!
January 7th, 2010 at 11:47 AM ^
Stuff like this makes college football the BEST.
Now--wasn't there some ersatz organization that named Michigan national champion in 1985?
And does UM recognize 1925 as a national championship season? I think we may be onto something here. So far, Michigan may be up to (not quite 147!!) 50 or so.
I've got some research to do.
January 7th, 2010 at 11:52 AM ^
michigan can claim then at least 16 national titles. similarly, this wikipedia article actually credits michigan with 22 total national titles (whether disputed or not)
**also, this is how state figures they have 6 nat'l titles rather than the 3 that are nationally recognized
January 7th, 2010 at 12:09 PM ^
Blowhard Valenti was crowing about MSU's six national titles vs. U-M's "half title" over the past 50 years a few months back.
January 7th, 2010 at 12:13 PM ^
I think I'm blessed that I've never heard his show. I've been very angry at Huge, so I would probably have ripped the radio out if I had to listen to this moron all the time. What an idiot.
January 7th, 2010 at 12:19 PM ^
I've been arguing with Sparties for years about calling UM's 1997 a "half NC" or "shared" national championship. I don't know why, but their 1965 seems to be "whole" even though they were just UPI national champs while Alabammy was AP. But again, Sparty is Sparty--what you gonna do?
I live in Nebraska--no one here walks around saying "Yay Huskers! HALF national champs in 1970 and 1997!"
January 7th, 2010 at 4:17 PM ^
And my reply to him would be:
How many National Championships and Big Ten Championships has MSU won from 1970-present, including the BCS era?
January 7th, 2010 at 1:29 PM ^
By his method we could lay claim to 25. In reality Alabama has a legitimate claim to only 7. Far fewer than our 25.
January 7th, 2010 at 11:53 AM ^
1973 is pretty hilarious, too. They LOST to undefeated Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl that season, but the final coaches poll came out before the bowl games, so they claim that as a national championship year.
Michigan has some disputed championships, but at least we were undefeated in all of them.
January 7th, 2010 at 11:56 AM ^
And then tell me how UPI could NOT have voted UM #1 in 1971? UM lost the Rose Bowl that year after going 11-0 during the regular season.
I'm claiming that one for my book. Just wait--when I'm finished, Alabama won't be able to hold our national championship jock.
January 7th, 2010 at 11:53 AM ^
phrase "retroactive" is involved it's bogus.
Frankly, nothing prior to the AP poll in 1936 should count.
January 7th, 2010 at 12:27 PM ^
Nothing prior to the 1936 AP poll should be considered.
...Unless your team outscores the opposition 550-0 and wins the first Rose Bowl Game.
January 7th, 2010 at 12:29 PM ^
captain of NC teams in 1932 and '33.
Seriously though, once the game evolves and rules are changed in the future, will we discard championships from '36 to then? If we ever get a playoff and thus a new, more singular way of determining a champion, will we discard all AP championships? The game looked different and the selection was different, but I think championships pre-AP should definitely count, my eternal love for Fielding Hurry-Up Yost notwithstanding.
January 7th, 2010 at 11:54 AM ^
What's a MNC without a little controversy?
I don't think many consider 1925 (The team Yost called "The Greatest Football Team I Ever Saw") among our championship seasons.
January 7th, 2010 at 11:58 AM ^
They claim one in the early 70's that was given by something called the National Football Foundation. Only not as blatant as Bama.
January 7th, 2010 at 12:02 PM ^
by that thinking is Boise State a National Champ this year?
January 7th, 2010 at 12:05 PM ^
...the 1978 "National Championship" awarded to Michigan State by college football historian Bob Kirlin. Nevermind that MSU went 8-3, did not go to a Bowl, and were ranked 12th by the AP.
January 7th, 2010 at 1:17 PM ^
They would have gone to the Rose Bowl in 1978 had they not been on probation. After a 1-3 start, they beat us and won out their Big Ten games to tie us in the standings and win the tie-breaker.
Admittedly, they had already lost to Rose Bowl-bound USC in that 1-3 start.
January 7th, 2010 at 12:07 PM ^
Have we confirmed that we don't also have some Houlgate National Championships?
January 7th, 2010 at 12:25 PM ^
Michigan claims 11: 1901, 1902, 1903, 1904, 1918, 1923, 1932, 1933, 1947, 1948, 1997. The team went undefeated in each of those years.
-We were undefeated and #1 in the AP for 1948 and 1997, so those are easy.
-We were undefeated in 1947 and finished #2 in the post-regular season AP poll (behind Notre Dame). However, this note appears on the Michigan website: "Michigan and Notre Dame had traded the top spot in the polls through much of the season. Notre Dame was No. 1 and Michigan No. 2 in the final regular season poll. In an unprecedented post-bowl games poll, the Associated Press named Michigan No. 1 on the strength of the Wolverines' decisive win over Southern California in the Rose Bowl. Notre Dame had been less dominant in its season ending win over the Trojans."
-There was no AP poll until 1936, so everything before that is disputed, though it's pretty obvious we were #1 in 1901 and 1902. In those two years, Michigan went 22-0 and outscored opponents 1194-12 (!).
January 7th, 2010 at 12:47 PM ^
I'm in the service so I get to fight with people from all over the college football country (good times). I found this web site for all my smack talking pro UM needs.
http://www.cfbdatawarehouse.com/
Sorry if this is well known.
January 7th, 2010 at 12:53 PM ^
This site comes in handy for combatting those who try to dismiss U-M's all-time win record because they claim it came against high school teams and such ... go to the page below to see what school has played the all-time toughest schedule: http://www.cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/rankings/all_time_team_sched_ranki…
January 7th, 2010 at 1:36 PM ^
wow. according to that table, 9 of the top 16 Strength of Schedule schools are Big 10 schools.
January 7th, 2010 at 2:39 PM ^
am in the Service and go to bat for UofM on a daily basis. Living in SEC territory is especially bad, though Big 12 fans spout off too
January 7th, 2010 at 12:58 PM ^
I'm not the only one. We need to go through the list and sched. all the teams that have a winning record aginst us. GO BLUE, Beat Army.
January 7th, 2010 at 1:41 PM ^
Well guys, I think all of these posts can be summed up in one way:
National titles in college football don't mean dick b/c there is no playoff system.
Think about it. Even in today's current system, fans of the national champion can go crazy on the day it happens, and then have bragging rights until next season, but after that who cares? Just the fans of the team.
January 7th, 2010 at 1:51 PM ^
When Michigan won the title in 1997 there was all of the debate with Nebraska. At the national championship rally in Crisler a few days after the Rose Bowl the players trotted out three trophies - one for the AP and two for random other national titles from other places you've never heard of. I remember one of the speakers saying "there are three trophies here and only one somewhere else - I think we know who the true national champion is."
Frankly I think one of the worst instances was when USC claimed that they won a national title when the AP voted them ahead of the BCS winner. Uhh...sorry - everyone agreed that the BCS determined the title even if you didn't like it.
January 9th, 2010 at 11:29 AM ^
That's why they withdrew their poll from the BCS ranking formula.
OU wasn't even a conference champ that year. And that anomaly enhanced UM's bowl matchup with USC, the only year we made Tressel sad.
January 7th, 2010 at 3:28 PM ^
Danny's Poll is a totally legit and widely accepted ranking system.
January 7th, 2010 at 3:52 PM ^
Awarding national championships before bowl games makes me laugh. I think there used to be a basketball equivalent. I remember seeing a picture of Johnny Orr (and I think Rickey Green - maybe Steve Grote) accepting the 1977 national championship trophy from AP or UPI - never mind Marquette winning that pesky tournament. (my google skills seems to be failing me, I can't find the photo)
January 9th, 2010 at 11:21 AM ^
on this exact topic here at Saurian Sagacity (Florida blog), part 4 in a six-part series RE MNC.