patenteer

16 is the number from the school's Media Guide. The school didn't take any official position on the count until after Bryant's era. Story was that the media guide wanted to show a history going back further than Bryant. The '41 claim is by far the weakest.

I'm not sure where the count of 11 would come from. The AP final poll (which started in '36) has selected Alabama 10 times. The AFCA, which dates back to '50, has selected Alabama 9 times.

Early on, AP and AFCA were both before bowl games, and neither goes back as far as the twenties and early thirties, when Alabama claims championships for some years culminating in Rose Bowl appearances.

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We (A&M) folks realize that; but we haven't trumpeted it daily, like some other fan bases have about their guys.
Truly--Sumlin is a couple of scores from the national championship game.
And he's being rated as ninth.

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Yeah, but he is also only one score away from having 3 conference losses last year. Saban was in the BCSNCG and Richt missed it by one play in the SECCG. Muschamp and Miles were both closer to the SECCG than Sumlin, and Spurrier was just a close.

Sumlin has done a fine job while he has had Manziel, and may continue to do well, but in the SEC these days being a couple of scores from the BCSNCG is little more than average.

We stayed in Vegas, rented a convertible, and drove in to Pasedena and back for the game. It made for a long day (about 24 hours from leaving until we got back), but it was awesome.

Entering the Rose Bowl for a game like this you can suddenly see exactly why all of these contests are called called bowl games. Most of the stadium and the field are below the ground entrance level, and instead of rising in decks all the seats surround the field in one massive, hollowed out bowl shape.