re: 1908 National Championship...Why doesn't LSU officially claim this?

I don't have any problem acknowledging that Alabama has a stronger and older winning tradition than LSU. I also don't really have a problem with Alabama claiming most of the National Titles that they do. However, I have a problem with three of them:

1941: Not SEC Champion, #20 in AP, not national champ in any serious contemporary ranking.

1973: Played Notre Dame and lost in Sugar Bowl matchup of #1 vs #2. Since UPI posted national champions before the bowl, they can claim a wire service did rank them there, but it's pretty embarrassing. They would never let us get away with claiming 2011 under the same circumstances.

1978: Played Southern Cal in the regular season and lost pretty handily. Now it is true that Southern Cal lost later in the season, but in every rational tiebreaker, head-to-head is the first tiebreaker.

If a contemporary service put LSU as #1 in 1908, then we would have an argument, under the same circumstances that Bama claims 1925. Such a ranking simply doesn't exist.

I am just hoping they don't get to claim 16 after this season.

GEAUX TIGERS