Ranking Alabama’s National Championships in football
By John Buhler
1964
The 1964 Alabama Crimson Tide went 10-1 under Paul “Bear” Bryant. Joe Namath was the starting quarterback and Alabama was a perfect 10-0, already named the National Champions by the AP Poll and the Coaches’ Poll before their bowl game against the Texas Longhorns.
Alabama lost to the Longhorns in the 1965 Orange Bowl, 21-17, and that essentially forced the AP to rethink when they would announce the National Champions the next year, waiting until after the completion of the bowl games before announcing the 1965 National Champions, that ironically went to Alabama.
Namath was the most outstanding player of the 1965 Orange Bowl despite the loss to Texas. He obviously went on to a Pro Football Hall of Fame career most notably with the New York Jets, helping revolutionize the vertical passing game in the NFL.
It makes sense for Alabama to claim this national title as both the AP Poll and the Coaches’ Poll crowned the team before the bowl season. At the time, those were the two most widely respected polls in the country. Today, they still carry tremendous weight.
However both the AP and the Coaches’ Polls counted their metaphorical chickens before they hatched in naming Alabama national champions before even playing their bowl game. It would be like both polls calling Clemson the 2015 National Champion before they played a game in the College Football Playoff.
It’s not like Alabama or any school in that situation would rescind a National Title bestowed upon them by esteemed national media sources. Alabama was a great team in 1964, but Bear Bryant’s second national title was earned largely by collective goofs of the AP and Coaches’ Polls. One can’t lose a bowl game and still claim a national championship in good spirit. That is unless it was claimed before the final game of the season.
Next: 12. 1973