re: Teams Claiming More National Championships Than They Should (Updated OP)

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pre wire service nattys are always a bit ambiguous, but bama has 4 undefeated teams that went to the rose bowl. they put southern football on the map, not sure why they count 1941 (dumbest natty to be claimed in the history of nattys) but bama with 14 nattys is legit as it gets. they have 10 modern poll era wire service national titles (ap, coaches)

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Agree, although with the caveat that the Rose Bowl was not considered the "championship game" as Alabama fans will claim.

In fact, multiple publications from around the country named "national champions" and there were clear regional biases at play. It was common for four, five, even six teams to be declared champs.

Alabama did put together the first true run of really good Southern football teams in the 1920s, but there were predecessors.

Namely, Vanderbilt was the first Southern program to even be worthy of consideration by the Northeastern powers. Meanwhile, teams like LSU and Auburn had their share of regional success, and each can point to a year when they "should" be the national champs (this may or may not be true).

But it John Heisman's 1917 Georgia Tech team that was the first Southern champ that really had the backing of the rest of the country. They were the first great Southern football team, and they put Southern football on the map.