re: Alabama fans - Question about the 1973 Sugar Bowl

Let me give you the basic skinny. I know you won't read it because you're a troll and have no interest in the truth, but for those fans who do want to know why Alabama's national title claims went from 6 to 11 in 1984, here is the skinny:

Recruiting.

Alabama was a national brand competing for top flight recruits with other national brands. Those brands being teams like Michigan, USC, Notre Dame, and Ohio State. Sometime in the early-80s, teams began to count national championships awarded to them retroactively from seasons in the pre-poll era. I believe Notre Dame pioneered this. It was all in the name of making their program look juicier to potential recruits.

Alabama, Michigan, Notre Dame, and USC were among many schools that counted championship seasons in the pre-poll era as legitimate national championships.

Michigan was one of the biggest abusers of this recruiting technique. Realizing they only had one national championship season to brag about from the poll era, the Wolverine SID went back to the early years of the 20th century to wrangle in some national championships. They claimed 1901, 1902, 1903, as well as 1904. And then topped it off with 1923, 1932, 1933, and 1947.

Did anyone in the SID office care that 7 of their 9 newly minted national championships came from the pre-WWII era? No. All they cared about was the sign that hung on the banner below the school name: 10-time NCAA National Champions. That, combined with their record number of wins and Big Ten titles, made the school look good to attend for some big time athletes.

And this goes for Alabama as well. Though why we chose 1941 as a national championship season instead of 1945 I have no idea.