Are we now claiming more National Championships in football?

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If I am AU admin, I am claiming 6

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Auburn claims six national championships; should it claim more?
ByPhillip Marshall May 19, 12:54 AM

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.

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