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

quote:

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No. Bama was rarely if ever the first choice of the Rose Bowl. In one of those years, the top 5 teams all declined Rose Bowl invites and bama ended up as the participant as the 6th choice after Tulane.

Fact is the Rose Bowl was never a "defacto" national championship game as the top teams in the country often did not want the travel, time and expense commitments required to go play in it and declined offers while bama was always willing to accept an offer after other better teams said no.

As for AU, AU has 5 legit claims:

1. 1913 - Recognized by 3 selectors when there were not many. This is an iffy one, but 6 of AU's 8 opponents had winning records and AU blew out everyone except LSU (7-0).
2. 1957
3. 1983 - This one is a no-brainer and AU was selected NC by 19 selectors, many more than any other team including Miami (12).
4. 2004
5. 2010

That is 5 legit claims for AU.

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1. There were 0 selectors in 1913.
3. Miami and Nebraska both got more selections. I have no idea where you got 19 from.
4. 0 selectors.

https://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/football_records/2013/FBS.pdf (starts on page 74)