In 1941, Alabama went 9-2 with shutout losses to Mississippi State and Vanderbilt and finished behind four other Southeastern Conference teams in the final AP poll. Yet, while the major human polls declared unbeaten Minnesota the champion for the second straight year, a formula known as the Houlgate System spit out the Crimson Tide as No. 1.

For one school official four decades later, that was enough. Former Alabama sports information director Wayne Atcheson decided in the 1980s that the 1941 team and four other pre-Bear Bryant era squads should be formally recognized as champions, raising the Crimson Tide’s title count from six to 11.

“I made the change because coach Bryant had these 25 years and six national championships and they were emphasized so much,” Atcheson later told the Birmingham News. “It was on all the stationery. And when I got there, it was a matter of seeing there were five others [before Bryant] and we should put them all together. ... I tried to make Alabama football look the best it could look and just make it as great as it could possibly be.

"I was a competitor myself with the other schools, and what they bragged about and boasted about. I wanted people to know the best about my school."

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