Steve Spurrier reacts to Auburn claiming new national championships

Steve Spurrier doesn’t blame Auburn for going back and claiming multiple additional national titles in a recent move. The Tigers added four national titles from the years 1910, 1914, 1958 and 2004.

That is in addition to two Associated Press-awarded national championships in 1957 and 2010, along with three more in 1913, 1983 and 1993 that Auburn has long claimed in their media guides. It gives the school nine total titles, seven of which have been retroactively claimed.

Spurrier addressed the topic on a recent episode of Another Dooley Noted Podcast. The former Florida and South Carolina coach said he gets it, especially for one season in particular.

“They went back and claimed seven national championships and one of them I can sort of understand,” Spurrier explained. “Auburn went undefeated in, what was that year? (Tommy) Tuberville was there. 2004, something like that. …Yeah, just claim it.”

USC officially won the national championship from the 2004 season, though it was later vacated by the NCAA. The Trojans defeated Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl for the BCS national championship and are still recognized by the Associated Press as the champions from that year.

Both USC and Oklahoma were undefeated entering that contest, but they weren’t the only team with an unblemished record. Auburn finished 12-0 and won the SEC Championship, while Boise State and Utah also went unbeaten in the regular season.

But only two teams could compete for the official championship and Auburn along with the Broncos and Utes were left out by the BCS ranking system. The Tigers went on to defeat Virginia Tech in the Sugar Bowl and finished 13-0 overall. Utah also went undefeated after beating Pittsburgh in the Fiesta Bowl, but Boise State lost its bowl game.

Now Auburn is claiming that it was deserving of the national title from that season. Similarly, the Tigers went undefeated in five of the seven seasons that they have gone back to retroactively claim. The only two they didn’t were in 1910 (6-1) and 1983 (11-1). That type of logic Spurrier can get behind.

“They went way back, but they were undefeated,” he said.

Auburn certainly isn’t the first team to go back and claim a national championship. UCF famously claimed a title for the 2017 season in which it went undefeated but did not make the College Football Playoff. Ironically, the Knights beat Auburn in the Peach Bowl that season.

So while it might not seem like a lot to those outside of the program, it can be meaningful to fans who felt their team was robbed of a chance in those seasons. Certainly Auburn feels that way about 2004 and other years and Steve Spuerrior doesn’t blame them for it.