Alabama Football: In 1941 the Tide lost to Vandy but claimed a Championship

Even with Alabama football sometimes there is too much of a good thing.

Here is a novel idea. Alabama football should play for National Championship No. 17 during the 2020 season! There is no typo in the preceding sentence. The Alabama Crimson Tide should rescind its claim to a 1941 National Championship and try to win No. 17 legitimately.

I have made this argument before and other Alabama football historians agree. The most influential of the Crimson Tide historians is Kirk McNair. McNair worked in the Sports Information Department for the Crimson Tide, going back to 1970. He later started ‘Bama Magazine, which became part of the Scout network. When 247Sports absorbed Scout, McNair stayed on. He knows most, if not all of the history of claimed Alabama football national titles.

Claimed titles before the Poll-era and even before the BCS and CFB Playoff, can be legitimate. The Crimson Tide’s 1941 claimed title is not. McNair agrees, as he recently stated on the BamaOnLine message board.

In the 1980’s it was decided Alabama football should claim a 1941 title. Wayne Atchison is the man most credited or blamed for the 1941 title. His research led to the Tide claiming championships for the 1925, 1926, 1930, 1934 and 1941 seasons. Atchison was spot on for the first four seasons. But he got 1941 wrong.

The 1941 Alabama Crimson Tide reached its highest ranking at No. 7, in late November. The Tide had two regular-season games left, with a chance to finish 10-1, counting a bowl win. Prior to playing Vanderbilt in the regular season’s next-to-last game, the Crimson Tide lost to Mississippi State 14-0 in early October.

There was another shutout in the Vandy game and the Tide was on the wrong side of it, losing 7-0. Mississippi State would finish with a strong 8-1-1 record and ranked No. 16 in the final AP Poll. The Bulldogs’ lone loss was 16-0 at Duquesne.

The Commodores were 8-2 on the season, with 20 and 19-point losses to Tulane and Tennessee, respectively. Ranked at No. 17 by the AP, going into the Tennessee game, the Dores finished unranked.

The Tide’s 29-21 over Texas A&M was a good win. The Aggies were 9-2 on the season and finished ranked No. 9 in the AP Poll. The Crimson Tide’s 9-2 final record included just two wins over ranked teams; Tulane at No. 14 and the Aggies. Those two wins don’t come close to erasing the losses to Mississippi State and Vanderbilt.

At the end, only the Houlgate Systems designated the Crimson Tide as the National Champion. The Deke Houlgate system was not a poll. It was a mathematical system not acknowledged by the NCAA as a ‘Major Selector’ of National Champions.

Minnesota was the consensus 1941 National Champion. The 8-0, 1941 Gophers were the last of Bernie Bierman’s five great, Minnesota teams. They were the legitimate 1941 National Champions.

Game results in this post were provided by the wonderfully detailed SportsReference – College Football site.

The other problem with claiming 1941 is credibility. It springboards claims other Crimson Tide national titles are not legitimate. The best course of action is, before the start of the 2020 season,  rescind the claim of 17 Alabama football National Championships. Then, go out and win a No. 17 again.