Bragging Rites: College Football's Disputed Titles

by Keith Gåddie

Overview

Who is the best team in College Football? Sports fans  have argued this question for decades. Over 40 times in the last 90 years more than one team has claimed to be national champion, and for a quarter century the effort to create a definitive playoff has only further  fueled controversy. This book looks at the history and evolution of the selections of college football champions. It looks at every controversial split title – 43 of them – and lays out evidence to let the fans decide.  This combination of history, logic, statistical analysis and nearly 140 illustrations incorporate the author’s  fandom to create an entertaining look into “the greatest bar argument” in the United States. Along the way, it crafts a rich descriptive history of the players, coaches and innovators who created college football.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780875659107
Publisher:	TCU Press
Publication date:	05/24/2025
Pages:	274
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.00(d)

About the Author

Keith Gåddie is Hoffman Chair in the American Ideal and professor at TCU. Author of over 20 books, he is a graduate of FSU  and a ‘Double-Dawg’ graduate of University of Georgia. He wrote this book under the careful supervision of his English bulldog Winston.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments xi

Best Practices for Claiming a National Football Title xiii

Introduction 1

1. The Ultimate Sports Bar Argument 5

2. Picking National Champions:

Creating the Era of Bowls and Polls 21

The Committee of One: Parke Davis Champions 21

The Beginnings of Science: Algorithms and Polls 25

Consensus Major Selectors 27

Other Champions: The Contemporary Selectors 37

Post Hoc Ergo Hoc Fuit 43

The Unclaimed 45

So Does It Matter Which Algorithm You Use? 47

In Fans We Trust 48

3. Split Consensus Major Selector Champions 50

1952: Michigan State or Georgia Tech? 50

1954: Ohio State or UCLA? 54

1957: Auburn or Ohio State? 57

1965: Alabama or Michigan State? 61

1966: Notre Dame or Michigan State? 65

1970: Nebraska or Texas or Ohio State? 67

1973: Notre Dame or Alabama? 71

1974: Oklahoma or USC? 75

1978: Alabama or USC? 78

1990: Colorado or Georgia Tech? 81

1991: Miami or Washington? 85

1997: Michigan or Nebraska? 88

2003: USC or LSU? 91

4. Four Notable Dissents by the Football

Writers Association of America 93

1958: LSU or Iowa? 94

1960: Ole Miss or Iowa or Washington or Minnesota

(or Missouri)? 96

1961: Ohio State or Alabama? 101

1964: Arkansas or Alabama? 104

Consequences for the Polls 108

5. The Dissenting Title Claims 110

1936: Minnesota or Pitt? 110

1937: Pitt or Cal? 113

1938: TCU or Tennessee? 116

1939: Texas A&M or Cornell or USC or Tennessee? 120

1940: Stanford or Minnesota or Tennessee or Boston College? 125

1941: Minnesota or Alabama? 130

1942: Ohio State or Georgia? 132

1945: Army or Oklahoma A&M? 135

1946: Notre Dame or Army (or Georgia)? 138

1947: Michigan or Notre Dame? 140

1950: Oklahoma or Kentucky or Tennessee or Princeton? 142

1951: Michigan State or Illinois or Tennessee? 146

1955: Oklahoma or Michigan State? 149

1956: Oklahoma or Iowa? 151

1959: Ole Miss or Syracuse? 152

1962: Ole Miss or USC? 155

1967: Tennessee or USC? 156

1981: Clemson or SMU? 159

1982: Penn State or SMU? 163

2017: Alabama or UCF? 166

6. BCS: A Fix as Good as the Problem 168

1998: Tennessee vs. Florida State 172

2000: Oklahoma vs. Florida State 175

2001: Miami vs. Nebraska 177

2003: Oklahoma vs. LSU vs. USC vs. the Formula 179

2004: USC vs. Oklahoma 181

2006: Ohio State vs. Florida 183

2007: Ohio State vs. LSU (vs. Can Anyone Win This Thing?) 186

2008: Oklahoma vs. Florida (vs. Texas Says It Was Settled on the Field) 187

2010: Auburn vs. Oregon 189

2011: LSU vs. Alabama Redux vs. Oklahoma State 190

2012: Notre Dame vs. Alabama (vs. When Probation Roars) 192

7. The CFP: Fighting Over Pecking Order 194

2014–2020: Disagreements in the CFP 194

Change Arrives 198

2023: The Last Ride and the Last Controversy of the Final Four 199

The 2024 College Football Playoff 205

Appendix A: Claiming Championships: One Fan’s Take 211

Appendix B: Consensus Major Selector Champions by Season 213

Appendix C: A Note on Power Ratings 217

Notes 223

Index 243