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1979 College Football National Championship

1979 Alabama-LSU football game

Alas, I've only written one National Championship article in the last 6 years. Just been too busy! I would still like to write full articles about each season like I have for 1901-1969, but for now, what I am going to do instead is write partial articles that do nothing more than explain my reasoning for my Mythical National Championship selections. Full profiles of the teams and their seasons will have to wait until I have time to write those up.

Here is how all of the organizations listed in the NCAA Records Book see the 1979 mythical national championship (omitting selections made by a single magazine or by math/computer ratings, which are not generally accepted as MNCs):

12-0 Alabama: AP Poll, UPI Poll (coaches), Football Writers Association of America, National Football Foundation, Helms, National Championship Foundation
11-0-1 Southern Cal: CFB Researchers

Lookie there, the College Football Researchers Association is wrong again, and for the 3rd time in 4 years, they are the only organization going against an otherwise unanimous choice. This one is more inexplicable than the others, and the CFRA doesn't even share the title with the only legit MNC team.

There is very little to say here, so I'm not going to bother with showing the teams' schedules or comparing them in any real detail. Frankly, I'm wondering if it's worth addressing these incredibly stupid CFRA MNC selections at all.

11-0-1 Southern Cal played 3 rated opponents (fixed AP poll), and they were tied by unranked 5-5-1 Stanford at home. Alabama played 4 rated opponents and won every game. Even in the original, unfixed AP poll, USC played 2 ranked opponents and Alabama played 3. Alabama posted 2 close wins (touchdown or less), USC 3.

The CFRA was absolutely inept.


National Champions
1979 Fixed AP Poll
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