Alabama Has Trophy Razorbacks Claim Title to Winning

Fans have heard Hogs won national championship with four votes for so long they believe that actually counts

Author:
Andy Hodges
Updated:
Sep 2, 2022 12:19 PM EDT
Original:
Sep 2, 2022

In this story:

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Arkansas and Central Florida football have something in common and it has nothing to do with Gus Malzahn.

Both programs claim a national title and the trophy sits in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

Younger fans are probably just confused beyond belief right now. They have always accepted the propaganda for nearly six decades that the Razorbacks won it all in 1964.

The Hogs probably should have. But they didn't.

Frank Broyles in 1964 — Arkansas Razorbacks coach Frank Broyles roaming the sidelines in 1964.

In fairness to the argument, UCF just said they won it in 2017, held a parade and everything. They didn't even make the College Football Playoff, much less win a title.

The Hogs' claim in 1964 has about as much legitimacy, but just a tiny bit more even though the CFP didn't come around for about 50 years later.

Blame it on the system in place then.

The only national championships that mattered in those days was the Associated Press (media) and United Press International (coaches). Both awarded their championships before the bowl games.

That's how the Crimson Tide ended up with the trophy and Paul "Bear" Bryant wasn't giving it back.

To be completely accurate Notre Dame also won a national championship in 1964. They were the national champion by the National Football Foundation.

The Irish don't even claim that in their records other than a footnote you really have to search deep to get. No records to exist if more than five people voted in that one.

There are a bunch of websites that exist now that were a half-step above some guy sitting in his parents' basement eating Cheetos, drinking beer and making a list of who SHOULD be No. 1.

The Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) didn't fall into that category. It is a group of folks who write somewhere, could pay dues and they formed their own club decades ago.

That's the one in dispute. They had voted before the bowl games, too, and awarded the title to Alabama. Everybody did that before the bowl games, which were considered a reward and had no bearing on the title back then.

Debating whether that was right or wrong is pointless. It changed the next year.

And, of course, Alabama took advantage of the change to win another national championship. The Hogs would have won that one, too, if they had beaten LSU in the Cotton Bowl (they lost, 14-7).

The Hogs couldn't claim that one. After Texas linebacker Tommy Nobis stopped Joe Namath on the goal-line late to give the Longhorns a win in the Orange Bowl, a hastily-arranged committee from the FWAA got on the phone.

Five people voted in the straw poll. Four voted Arkansas as the national champion (the other picked Texas).

That's kinda like having an elected official chosen by his cabinet, but Frank Broyles created a campaign that has continued to this day.

There is a picture of Broyles with the trophy, but if there is a second one somewhere in Fayetteville that's news. When I wanted to get a photo of the trophy in 1978 the word I got was a laugh and told to go to Tuscaloosa.