To start off, in 1941 only one poll mattered, the AP Poll. The team that was named national champion by the AP Poll in 1941 was the national champion. Anybody or any organization that claims otherwise is simply wrong. In 1941, Minnesota was named national champions by the AP Poll. Therefore, Minnesota was the national champion in 1941, period!! The AP Poll ranked Alabama #20, and for good reason, they lost two games. Four different teams, including Minnesota, went undefeated in 1941. Fifteen teams ranked above Alabama in the AP Poll in 1941 had a better record than Alabama. In 1941 the AP Poll did not conduct a top 25 as they do today, they only did the top 20. So, Alabama barely even got ranked by the only poll that mattered in 1941, and yet they claim to be national champions. Why, you ask? Because the Houlgate System, a mathematical ratings system, named them national champions. Created by one man with a single theory and a single mathematical system, supposedly was a higher authority than a poll conducted by a national survey of sports writers and broadcasters. Ignore the fact that the only poll that mattered named Minnesota national champions and ranked Alabama #20, ignore the fact that fifteen ranked teams finished with a better record than Alabama, ignore the fact that there were four undefeated teams and Alabama had lost two games, ignore the fact that Minnesota was riding a 17 game winning streak and was the defending national champion from 1940 as well ..... we have a mathematical system that names Alabama national champions. That's enough for me, I'm convinced. Aren't you?
Let's go deeper into this claim by the University of Alabama. Let's just pretend for a moment that all of these minor selectors actually matter, which of course they don't. Forget about that for a moment, let's take a trip to Fantasyland. First, we must clear our minds of the hogwash the entire college football world was under the presumption of in 1941 that the AP Poll was the only poll that mattered. I understand logic and common sense makes this difficult, but just for a moment, do it. So now we live in a world where the AP Poll is just another poll and all of these minor selectors that nobody has ever heard of carry just as much weight. Taking all selectors into account, there are 40 organizations that named a national champion for the 1941 season. 32 of which named Minnesota national champions, 4 named Texas, 1 named Duke, 1 named Duquesne, 1 named Georgia and 1 named Alabama. Using the University of Alabama's logic, there were SIX national champions in 1941. Of the 40 selectors, only 1 of them named Alabama national champions, and yet the school proclaims 1941 as a national championship season. Since we are in Fantasyland however, let's examine one other thing. The Houlgate System. The system the University of Alabama held in such high regard in 1941, so high that it feels that being named by this system was enough to outweigh the opinions of 39 other organizations, including the only one that really mattered, the AP Poll. Even though I've already outlined in a previous post how no national championships claimed before 1936 count, we are in Fantasyland, remember? If the Houlgate System was enough to outweigh 39 other selectors in 1941, then how on Earth does Alabama claim the 1926 and 1930 national championships? After all, the Houlgate System did not name Alabama national champions in 1926 and 1930. The Houlgate System named Navy national champions in 1926 and Notre Dame national champions in 1930 (Notre Dame, oddly enough, refuses to recognize 1930 as a national championship season). Are we to believe that a single mathematical theory was right on the money in 1941, but the same theory got it wrong in 1926 and 1930? I think there is a word in the English language that describes that, it's called "hypocritical". For the record, Yale and Princeton lead Alabama in Houlgate System national championships, 7-3.
It is a disgrace that the University of Alabama claims the 1941 national championship, and it is a prime example of what lengths the school will go to so they can claim to have the most national championships in college football history. It would be one thing if it were just claimed on a Wikipedia page or by Alabama fans, but the claim of winning the 1941 national championship is on the University of Alabama's official website. Shame on them!!
