Auburn football now claims nine national championships, 15 conference titles

AUBURN — It’s about time.

Auburn football, finally, will claim nine deserving and legitimate college football national championships, AuburnSports confirmed on Tuesday.

When reached for comment, athletic director John Cohen offered this explanation of the school’s decision.

“For too long, Auburn has chosen a humble approach to our program’s storied history – choosing to recognize only Associated Press National Championships. Starting this fall, we have made the decision to honor the accomplishments of our deserving student-athletes, coaches, and teams from Auburn’s proud history,” Cohen said. “Our visible National Championship recognitions now align with the well-established standard used by the NCAA’s official record book and our peers across the nation.”

Previously, there have been two AP national titles recognized inside Jordan-Hare Stadium (1957 and 2010) and three more national titles quietly noted in the football media guide (1913, 1983 and 1993).

Four more national titles will now be recognized.

Auburn’s official national titles will now be: 1910 (new), 1913, 1914 (new), 1957, 1958 (new), 1983, 1993, 2004 (new) and 2010.

1910: Maxwell Ratings (Loren Maxwell), College Football Rankings (Kyle Matschke)
1913: Billingsley MOV (Margin of Victory) and NCAA Football Record Book
1914: James Howell’s Power Ratings System
1957: AP and NCAA Football Record Book
1958: Montgomery Full Season Championship (David Montgomery)
1983: Billingsley, FACT, Football Research, Sagarin, NY Times and NCAA Football Record Book
1993: National Championship Foundation and NCAA Football Record Book
2004: Several, including Darryl Perry and GBE College Football Ratings
2010: AP, BCS and NCAA Football Record Book

For Auburn, this is a debate that goes back well over a decade. In 2014, then Auburn athletic director Jay Jacobs acknowledged the school was considering recognizing legitimate titles.

Jacobs said at the time, “it’s not about taking anything from anybody else. It’s not about saying you aren’t the champion and we are. It’s about appropriately recognizing those teams that were rewarded by a credible poll. They were a champion. So why shouldn’t we have a flag or banner in our stadium like other schools are doing?”

The school is also updating their conference title count to 15, reclaiming three titles from the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association era. New signage for updated national and conference titles will start going up inside and around the stadium on Tuesday.

In 1910, Auburn finished 6-1 (5-0 in SIAA) and outscored opponents 175-9. The Tigers were SIAA co-champions. In 1913, Auburn finished the season 8-0, were SIAA champions, and outscored opponents 224-13. And in 1914, the Tigers finished 8-0-1 (5-0-1 in SIAA) and outscored opponents 193-0.

In 1958, Auburn finished 9-0-1 and a perfect 6-0 in SEC play. LSU finished No. 1 at 11-0 and was widely regarded as national champions. The two sets of Tigers didn’t play each other. Iowa was also named a national champion that season by an outlet, finishing 8-1-1. Of note: Auburn’s defense led the SEC and the nation in yards per game allowed. The Tigers’ offense led the SEC in total yards per game.

In 1983, Auburn might have been the best team in the country, finishing 11-1. The Tigers beat five ranked teams, four of which were top 10. Texas went 11-1, with just three ranked wins, but did defeat Auburn. Nebraska went 12-1, but beat only one ranked team. Texas and Nebraska, ranked No. 1 and No. 2, lost their bowl games. Texas lost to No. 5 Georgia, while Nebraska lost to No. 5 Miami. Auburn defeated No. 8 Michigan in the Sugar Bowl.

The 1993 team finished as the only undefeated team in college football. NCAA probation prohibited the Tigers from playing on TV or playing in the postseason that year. The National Championship Foundation later named Auburn co-national champion.

The 2004 team went 13-0, won the SEC title and the Sugar Bowl. Because of a flawed BCS system, Auburn was left out of the national title game in place of USC and Oklahoma. USC was stripped of their title in 2011, leaving no official BCS champion. Auburn beat four top 10 opponents and five ranked opponents overall. Oklahoma beat one top 10 opponent and three ranked opponents in total. USC beat two top 10 opponents and three ranked opponents (although the OU win was later vacated).

In addition to the updated national title count, Auburn is adding back three conference titles. The league titles were previously recognized, but lost in the annals of history somewhere along the way. The program is adding back 1904, 1908 and 1910 as league titles when Auburn participated in the SIAA.

That will bring Auburn’s conference championship number to 15: 1904, 1908, 1910, 1913, 1914, 1919, 1932, 1957, 1983, 1987, 1988, 1989, 2004, 2010 and 2013.

The school will invite back and honor players from these championship teams during the upcoming season.