National Championships

The University of Alabama is home to EIGHTEEN national championships in football, the most of any school in the Southeastern Conference and among the most in the country. Alabama most recently won the national title in 2020 under Coach Nick Saban.

The Other Five

In addition to the 18 “recognized” national championships owned by Alabama, the Official NCAA Football Records Book recognizes Alabama as producing national champions in 1945, 1962, 1966, 1975 and 1977. In 1945, the 10-0 Tide was recognized as champions with Army by the National Championship Foundation. The 1962 Crimson Tide, 10-1, was chosen by Billingsley and Sagarin, while the 1966 team, 11-0, was selected by Berryman. The 11-1 Tide team in 1975, along with Ohio State, was selected by Matthews. In 1977, Football Research picked Alabama, 11-1, and Notre Dame as co-national champions.

The Rating Systems

Associated Press — 1936-current. Poll of sportswriters and broadcasters.

Davis — 1889-1935; chosen by Park H. Davis, a Princeton player in 1889 and a coach at Wisconsin, Amherst and Lafayette, and first published in the 1934 Spalding’s Football Guide.

Dickinson System — 1924-40. Chosen by University of Illinois economics professor Frank G. Dickinson; based on system awarding various point totals for wins over teams with winning or non-winning records.

Dunkel — 1929-current. A power index rating system devised by Dick Dunkel and syndicated to newspapers around the country.

Football Writers Association of America — 1954-current. Chosen by committee
representing membership.

Helms — 1889-current. Originally founded as Helms Athletic Foundation and changed in the early 1970s to Citizen Savings Athletic Foundation before current name adopted in 1981.

Football Annual — 1924-41. A highly popular magazine published by William F. Boand. Actual name of publication was Illustrated Football Annual.

Litkenhous — 1934-current. A difference by score method syndicated by Fred Litkenhous and his brother Edward.
National Football Foundation and Hall of Fame — 1959-current. Chosen annually by committee representing membership.

Football Thesaurus — 1927-58. A system devised by Duke Houlgate and published until 1958.
United Press International — 1950-1990. Poll of college coaches.

Williamson System — 1932-63; system of syndicated power ratings by Paul Williamson, a geologist and member of the Sugar Bowl Committee.

Sporting News — 1975-current. A highly popular sports weekly tabloid.

New York Times Computer — 1979-current. Picked by input into Times computer.

USA Today/CNN — 1982-current. Picked by panel of coaches selected by this newspaper.