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Back in the day, before the College Football Playoff and the Bowl Championship Series, the college football national championship was awarded to the team ranked number one in various polls like the UPI/Coaches Poll and the AP Writers Poll. Those teams were what was then called “mythical national champions.”
And it kind of sucked.
In 1954, the writers selected Ohio State and the coaches chose UCLA as the national champion.
In 1968, 1969 and 1973, Penn State went undefeated and didn’t even have a chance to play for a national championship.
In 1990, Colorado and Georgia Tech were each named national champions by the polls.
The same thing happened again in 1991 when Miami and Washington were both ranked number one in the polls.
It also happened in 1954, 1957, 1965, 1970, 1973, 1974, 1978, 1997, and again in 2003 when LSU and USC were each named national champions by the polls.
Nowadays, the national champion is decided on the field. The polls now, really mean nothing. Which is probably for the best when considering this week’s AP Top 25 ballots.
In case you missed it, 11th ranked Texas defeated third ranked Alabama in Saturday 34 to 24 in Alabama.
Most college football fans, of course, did not miss it.
One voter in the AP Top 25 poll, however, Chuck Landon from the Charleston Gazette-Mail, appears to have not gotten the memo.
Because Landon inexplicably ranked Alabama sixth and Texas ninth – after the Longhorns beat the Crimson Tide.
All #APTop25 ballots, week 3. pic.twitter.com/kzSDoDaxpQ
— RedditCFB (@RedditCFB) September 11, 2023
But… how?!
Chuck Landon has bama ahead of Texas lmfao
— Jose Alvarado’s Headband (@JosesHeadband) September 11, 2023
“How can someone rank Alabama higher than Texas when Texas just beat them in Bama? Those are the kind of voters that need replaced. Just ridiculous,” read another comment.
Hey @Chuckonsports I don’t know if you know this but there was a game between your #7 and #10 teams last week
— Jake Fitch (@jake_fitch12) September 11, 2023
“This dude take the day off or something? He put Bama ahead of Texas?” another fan asked.
@Chuckonsports I have a few questions. Question 1: Did you actually watch any games on Saturday?
— Kyle (@_the_kyle) September 11, 2023
Luckily, as previously mentioned, the AP Top 25 poll means nothing these days.
But, just in case you really want to know how it shook out after this weekend’s games, Georgia is still number one (55 first place votes), Michigan is second (2), followed by Florida State (3), Texas (2) and USC.
Ironically, the Pac-12 has the most teams in the Top 25 with seven teams.