Sen. Tom Whatley, a 1994 graduate of Auburn University, today introduced a resolution urging his alma mater to claim nine, instead of just two, national football championships. There were objections.
“You’ve got to win them on the field,” responded Sen. Trip Pittman, a 1982 graduate of the University of Alabama, whose football team won its first on-the-field national championship in 1961, and five off-the-field national championship in the mid-1980s. “I have a problem with this resolution.”
Despite Pittman’s ironic protest, the Montgomery Advertiser’s Bryan Lyman reported that the resolution has gone to the Rules Committee. No idea exactly what that means, but it sounds serious.
The possibility of Auburn claiming additional national championships has been a hot topic on the Plains since the 2012 publication of “Auburn’s Unclaimed National Championships,” which argues that Auburn could easily claim the 1910, 1913, 1914, 1958, 1983, 1993, and 2004 national championships. Because. Because. Because. Because.
The book got some attention. The attention turned into a movement of sorts. The Auburn Athletic Department considered the movement to the point of forming some sort of committee to study the matter. Hopes were raised. Hopes were dashed.
Lost in all the hurrays and hisses was, and I guess still is, this fact: Auburn has technically been “acknowledging” four of those national championships for years (shhhh).
In 1983, Pat Dye said his Auburn team won the national championship, and promised to put a ring on it, something Tommy Tuberville actually did in 2004.
Related: Bama fan legislator Bert Bank introduced bill to abolish Auburn University in 1973.
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More on Auburn’s unclaimed national championships:
* Pat Dye claimed the national title for Auburn in 1983, said his team would wear New York Times national championship rings
* Bret Eddins on 2004 USC: ‘We would have killed them.’
* Players from 2004 Auburn team say they beat Cam and Co. by 1 point
* Georgia company was selling actual manure for fans to send to AP and UPI voters who didn’t rank the Tigers No. 1 for 1983
* Bama wins its first national championship four years after Auburn won its first national championship
* Terry Bowden tells TWER Auburn has right to claim 1993 national championship
* Auburn fan tells the AP to kiss his grits
* ‘My national championship for Auburn in 1913 is a very valid national championship,’ Richard Billingsley tells TWER
* Rational Champions
* Auburn media guides have been ‘acknowledging’ national championships for 1913, 1983, 1993, 2004 teams for years
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