The Alabama Crimson Tide have had a dream season and earned their 13th national title. Nothing can diminish the achievements and the consensus that Alabama was the best team in 2009.

The NCAA and SEC only recognizes Alabama's claim to 8 national titles, and the most dubious of the titles claimed by Alabama is the title in 1941. Eight title by NCAA recognized selecting organizations is still far more than most teams can dream of any time soon, and is a tribute to the long history of success in this historic program that first proved to the nation that the SEC could play ball with the historical powers of that day in the mid 1920's.

The thesis of this post is that Alabama fans claiming 13 national titles should be aware that by the measure they use Boise State in 2009 (and any team finishing undefeated in any year) should have a share of the claim to the national title.

Here is the story of how Alabama came to add national titles to their media guide in the mid 1980's, an unfortunate pattern that was far from unique to Tuscaloosa.

How Alabama got 12 symbolizes the never-ending story of college football: Obscure ranking systems, confusion on how to declare a champion, and constant debate.

Here is another link (source likely an Auburn fan) that examines each of Alabama's national title claims, prior to this year. Of the first five titles currently claimed only 1934 was claimed in 1982. 1924,1925, 1930 and 1941 were added retroactively by selectors applying more recent ranking formulas on past years decades removed from the seasons. 1930 is the only year where a contemporaneous ranking gave Alabama a share of the title, a tie with Notre Dame who has won every other system outright that year.

You can see why people ridicule Bama fans when they talk about 12 NCs. The early ones were awarded by individuals years after the games were played. These weren’t consensus polls but NCs awarded by people that had their own formula for determining champions. Some NCs were given before bowl games that Bama lost. Using Alabama logic, Auburn could claim four national championships. But when Bammers brag they like to say they have twelve and Auburn has one. How silly. The NCAA recognizes 6 NCs for Bama and there are only two NCs that Bama has unanimously. You can’t find an Auburn site claiming four national championships but there are plenty Bama sites claiming twelve.

By far, the most dubious of these claims is 1941. Mississippi St. Bulldogs, who does not claim this year (or any other year), has a much better claim to the 1941 title. Let's examine the claim Mississippi St. could make for the 1941 national title.

In 1940 Mississippi St. had their second undefeated season in school history and capped this off with a win in the Orange Bowl and a #9 ranking. In 1941 they stormed through the SEC undefeated, won the SEC championship game and lost a single game to a Duquesne who finished ranked #8 in the final AP Poll.  Mississippi St. finished the season ranked #16 in the final AP Poll. Mississippi St. beat Alabama 14-0 in Tuscaloosa in 1941. Alabama would also be shut out by Vanderbilt that year and finished 9-2 and ranked #20.

Alabama, with a lower ranking, worse record, no conference championship and a head to head shutout loss with Mississippi St. claims the title while Mississippi St. does not? Minnesota won the AP poll and almost every other selector, with Alabama having a single selector and #4 Texas receiving two selectors votes.

That's right. The Texas Longhorns have more right to claim to the 1941 title than Alabama. Undefeated #8 Duquesne has much more claim to the title with a win over a team that shutout Alabama. One could think of Duquesne as the Boise State of 1941.

So, if we are going to water down the right to claim national championships that those who claim 13 for Alabama insist upon, one should at least recognize the right of any undefeated team to claim a share of the title. This includes Boise St. in 2006 and Utah in 2004.

This includes the Auburn Tigers in 2004, whose title claims you love to ignore.

This includes Utah Utes in 2008, who staked their claim on the backs of your team.

This includes the Boise St. Broncos in 2009, who right to a title claim is a stain on your only BCS title.

By the measures you (The University of Alabama Athletic Department) have selected to use, Utah and Boise St. have more claims to national titles this decade than Alabama.

One day someone might dream up a system that allows all such claims to be settle on the field. I'll count your title claims as a vote for a 20 team playoff, your AP ranking in your 1941 title claim.