Looks like the pokes finally have their first National Championship in football.

http://www.okstate.com/news/2016/10/13/football-afca-recognizes-oklahoma-state-as-1945-national-champion.aspx


By virtue of this announcement from the AFCA, Oklahoma State now becomes first school to be recognized as national champions by a national organization or body in both football and men's basketball in the same academic year. Coach Henry Iba's hoops squad won the second of its back-to-back NCAA titles that same season.

Pete, can you change the title? I accidentally typed 46 instead of 45.

To me, football national championships only count if they were considered national championships at the time they happened. OU, by this standard, could claim 16 titles, I think. But OU does not count titles like this. Schools like Alabama and USC do claim them though and I've always criticized that. Anyway, this isn't a dig on OSU at all, but it's obviously silly for an organization to hand out titles 70 years later..

To me, football national championships only count if they were considered national championships at the time they happened. OU, by this standard, could claim 16 titles, I think. But OU does not count titles like this. Schools like Alabama and USC do claim them though and I've always criticized that. Anyway, this isn't a dig on OSU at all, but it's obviously silly for an organization to hand out titles 70 years later..

In fairness it's not as if anyone were deemed champion in those years. I certainly never heard OSU crowing about this when I was there. Good season, but no one ever insinuated they were national champs.

In fairness it's not as if anyone were deemed champion in those years. I certainly never heard OSU crowing about this when I was there. Good season, but no one ever insinuated they were national champs.

Totally agree. OSU had nothing to do with the decision. And, honestly, I'd put it up if I was them. Why not do it? I just don't like when Alabama claims they have 15 titles. It gets silly.

Totally agree. OSU had nothing to do with the decision. And, honestly, I'd put it up if I was them. Why not do it? I just don't like when Alabama claims they have 15 titles. It gets silly.

Now they most certainly claimed the ties in the Big 8 as championships. Which I totally thought was hokey. But hey, when that's all you've got...

Totally agree. OSU had nothing to do with the decision. And, honestly, I'd put it up if I was them. Why not do it? I just don't like when Alabama claims they have 15 titles. It gets silly.

Are you sure about that? it appears schools "lobbied" to be awarded championships. Will be interesting to see if lobbying included a donation to the organization that is based out of waco?

i am sure the hard hitting journalists at the DOK will do a freedom of information act request to see the emails and correspondence between OSU and the organization.

Now they most certainly claimed the ties in the Big 8 as championships. Which I totally thought was hokey. But hey, when that's all you've got...

Are you talking about two teams that tied for the Big 8 title both claiming a league championship? If there's no title game (which there wasn't), why wouldn't that not count? OU tied for the 2012 Big 12 with Kansas State (whom they lost to) and both schools claim a title. And, OU should claim it.

Are you talking about two teams that tied for the Big 8 title both claiming a league championship? If there's no title game (which there wasn't), why wouldn't that not count? OU tied for the 2012 Big 12 with Kansas State (whom they lost to) and both schools claim a title. And, OU should claim it.

I know, OSU fans get it. Prior to the success of the last 5 or 10 season, it was just the perfect description of the program, where the only Big 8 football title we had was actually a tie.

My funny anecdotal OSU football story:

When Woods and that team went to the Houston bowl, my (then future) wife and I decided that we better go because we might never get to go to an OSU bowl game as long as we were in school. We had just come off a 4 win season (including an improbable upset of OU to close it out). Little did I know. I also didn't predict the landscape of the bowl season changing as dramatically as it has (adding so many games/expanded season making it easier to qualify/etc).

Are you talking about two teams that tied for the Big 8 title both claiming a league championship? If there's no title game (which there wasn't), why wouldn't that not count? OU tied for the 2012 Big 12 with Kansas State (whom they lost to) and both schools claim a title. And, OU should claim it.

In the words of bob stoops if you lost head to head you shouldn't claim a conference championship with that team.

Said that in 2011 had ou beaten osu.
Loses head to head to kstate in 2012 claims a conference championship.

College football is a silly sport in lots of ways and if you want to get a on moral high horse (doesn't matter which school) it'll be pretty easy to knock you off.

I don't remember Stoops saying that, but you just play by the rules. By the rules that existed, OU was the 2012 Big 12 co-champ. I have no problem with it. But, when you're Texas A&M who claims a Big 12 championship for tying for the South title, they made up a title that was not by the rules (OU won the South tie breaker and then won the Big 12 title game).

I had the honor to meet Bob Fenimore and my Uncle played on the team with him in 1945. Sad that both had passed before the championship was awarded.
OSU is the only school to hold two national championships in the same year. (FB & BB)

OSU is the only school to hold two national championships in the same year. (FB & BB)

Um this statement is all kinds of wrong...
florida actually accomplished that feat back in like 2006 or 2007.

Florida won the championships the year they played not lobbied some random group 71 years later. Don't let the facts get in the way of this great accomplishment.
Anyone know how much osu paid to be crowned yet?

Haters gonna hate. Proud of my state and the resolve its people have shown throughout the years.

Haters gonna hate. Proud of my state and the resolve its people have shown throughout the years.

It's okcretro on an OSU thread. He's obsessed. Don't bother. He probably hides OSU jerseys under his socks with his lube.

I figure their are two groups that care strongly about this: folks who played in this game and still live, and a select group of loser obsessed OU fans. The rest of us see this as a "hmm, this is interesting" sort of thing. Not gonna hang any championship banners and at most it's an astrix. But I'll give the boys their due.

I don't remember Stoops saying that, but you just play by the rules. By the rules that existed, OU was the 2012 Big 12 co-champ. I have no problem with it. But, when you're Texas A&M who claims a Big 12 championship for tying for the South title, they made up a title that was not by the rules (OU won the South tie breaker and then won the Big 12 title game).
Well he said it and then did the opposite.

I have no problem with ou claiming it either. The point was everyone in CFB loves in glass houses, careful throwing rocks.

I figure their are two groups that care strongly about this: folks who played in this game and still live, and a select group of loser obsessed OU fans. The rest of us see this as a "hmm, this is interesting" sort of thing. Not gonna hang any championship banners and at most it's an astrix. But I'll give the boys their due.

You absolutely hang a banner. You earned it and it can help recruiting. Several osu recruits were fired up and retweeting it today.

To be clear OSU is now the first (not only) to have won titles in both football and men's basketball in the same academic year. I feat that is worth noting.

If for no other reason, this is awesome because it shed's light on Lookabaugh. How often do you hear his name mentioned. Born in Watonga, lettered in three sports at OSU (football, baseball & basektball). I didn't know this but he coached right after college at Jet High School (now Timberlake). That is near my neck of the woods when I was young and pretty cool. He later coached at Captial Hill.

It is amazing how different college football is now. I looked at the schedule from 45. They played Arkansa, Denver, SMU, Utah, TCU, Tulsa, Texas Tech & OU. Only 2 games were played at Lewis Field that season.

W 19-14 Arkansas (Razorback Stadium)
W 31-07 Denver (DU Stadium)
W 26-12 SMU (Taft Stadium, OKC) - Doak Walker was on this team
W 46-06 Utah (Ute Stadium)
W 25-12 TCU (Amon G. Carter Stadium)
W 12-06 #19 Tulsa (Lewis Field)
W 46-06 Texas Tech (Lewis Field)
W 47-00 OU (Memorial Stadium)

W 33-13 #7 Saint Mary's (Tulane Stadium - Sugar Bowl)

Obviously the football landscape was slightly different back then and wasn't routed through Alabama. And before Wilkinson, OU was fairly mediocre. Teams like SMU, TCU and Saint Mary's were considered power houses. Even Tulsa was a load during that stretch. There only regular season losses that year were to OSU (Nat'l Champ) and Indiana (Big 10 Champ).

That was what I missed Eric. "First" but first as in 1945. Bet a lot of readers tripped on that line. Thanks for the clarification.

Well he said it and then did the opposite.

I have no problem with ou claiming it either. The point was everyone in CFB loves in glass houses, careful throwing rocks.

Source? I believe you, but I just don't remember him saying that.

Obviously the football landscape was slightly different back then and wasn't routed through Alabama.

Is this true? Alabama was 10-0 that season and finished at AP #2... The SEC was largely the same conference then. 4 teams in the top 25.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1945_Alabama_Crimson_Tide_football_team

#2 Alabama
#14 Tennessee
#15 LSU
#18 Georgia
Ole Miss
Georgia Tech
Mississippi State
Auburn
Vanderbilt
Florida
Tulane
Kentucky

I think the big difference is the service academies were actually competitive then.

Now this is pretty cool to see...

13173

It will be interesting to see how this "group" decided on Oklahoma A&M as the National Champions. What was the criteria used, etc? Most hardcore college football fans consider the 1945 Army team as one of the greatest teams of all time. They went 9-0 in beating 5 teams that would wind up ranked in the top ten at seasons end. Five teams on their schedule they shut out. Their average margin of victory was 47-5. They were named consensus National Champions. So, realistically how do you argue with that? Now, with that said, if I were OSU/A&M, I would hang a banner. Other schools do it. I think Tenn claims something like 19 naty championships, Bama claims 16, Pitt claims like 9 or 10. I believe technically OU could claim like 17 or so. In the "old days" schools would claim championships based on local newspaper rankings, various civic group rankings, etc. So, OSU/A&M should take it, claim it, say thank you, put up a banner to honor that 1945 team.

It will be interesting to see how this "group" decided on Oklahoma A&M as the National Champions. What was the criteria used, etc? Most hardcore college football fans consider the 1945 Army team as one of the greatest teams of all time. They went 9-0 in beating 5 teams that would wind up ranked in the top ten at seasons end. Five teams on their schedule they shut out. Their average margin of victory was 47-5. They were named consensus National Champions. So, realistically how do you argue with that? Now, with that said, if I were OSU/A&M, I would hang a banner. Other schools do it. I think Tenn claims something like 19 naty championships, Bama claims 16, Pitt claims like 9 or 10. I believe technically OU could claim like 17 or so. In the "old days" schools would claim championships based on local newspaper rankings, various civic group rankings, etc. So, OSU/A&M should take it, claim it, say thank you, put up a banner to honor that 1945 team.
Was there a "consensus" national champion before the advent of the Coaches Poll? Before then, there was only the AP (which Army did win that year). I always thought consensus titles were when the AP and Coaches selected the same team (or, there was an official recognized process outside of polling, like the BCS and Playoff). I know the only titles OU claims were either AP or Coaches until the advent of the BCS.

Are you sure about that? it appears schools "lobbied" to be awarded championships. Will be interesting to see if lobbying included a donation to the organization that is based out of waco?

i am sure the hard hitting journalists at the DOK will do a freedom of information act request to see the emails and correspondence between OSU and the organization.

I have been told that this was a fundraiser for AFCA. I don't know if that's true or not but if it is then it would appear to be a buy yourself a title type of deal.


At the request of multiple schools, the AFCA established a panel of national championship coaches to retroactively select Coaches' Trophy winners from 1922 (when the AFCA was founded) up to 1949 (the year before the Coaches' Poll was first published). That panel of coaches took information submitted by schools who felt they were worthy of consideration and used that data in the research and selection process
So some schools that had never won an NC lobbied this group to award some retro NCs and then the schools had to make their case for being awarded the NC for said year.

Army was awarded the AP national title that year and should be the only champion. In 1945 Army defeated 5 ranked teams and Hitler. 4 of the 5 teams were top 10. They beat #9 Michigan 28-7, #2 Notre Dame 48-0, #6 Penn 61-0, #2 Navy 32-13, and #19 Duke 48-13. I guess Bama could make a claim to the title (they always do), but their resume just doesn't stack up to Army's.

The Missouri Valley wasn't even considered a major conference in 1945. All the major schools from that conference split off in 1928 and became the Big 6. Oklahoma A&M stayed with the smaller schools in the Missouri Valley.

Honestly, why do you even give a ****? It doesn't affect you in any way so just move on. They awarded it. OSU received a crystal ball. That's it.

Honestly, why do you even give a ****? It doesn't affect you in any way so just move on. They awarded it. OSU received a crystal ball. That's it.

I could ask you the same question. Why does it matter to you? Why did you start this thread? It doesn't affect you in any way.

I just think it's humorous that osu fans are puffing their chest out about this. I will just move on, but it's kind of annoying all these colleges claiming and creating fake awards and trophies. It devalues the real thing.

I'm sure OSU will put up a big sign at the entrance to the boat house district crowing about this "championship."

They've already made a shirt

http://i.imgur.com/OJDGT0X.jpg

If you can't read the fine print, it says 0 National Champs.

I care because I graduated from there and it is cool that our team got recognized for having a good team. It has no relevance to you in any way but of course, you have to give your two cents. I posted it because there are other OSU fans here who may have been interested. Very simple to understand.

And if anyone is interested in why I have a deep passionate hate for the majority of OU fans, it's because of dickheads like that. I've had to deal with this crap my entire life. Remember, OU fans really don't care about OSU. Just ask them.

I'll just reference my post on page one about someone with an OSU jersey hidden in their sock drawer. ;)

Any championships claimed prior to the advent of the AP poll in 1936 are bogus, but schools claim them. Any championships claimed after the advent of the AP poll by teams that did not finish #1 in the AP poll are also bogus. Coaches Poll national champtionships are legit from when that poll started in 1950. My ratoinale is really simple: if it was considered a national championship at the time than it's a national championship. If not, then it's not.

Having said all that, a lot of schools like Alabama and USC claim bogus titles. I've always liked that OU only claims 7 titles that are legit by those standards because OU could claim 16. As I've said before, OSU is probably smart to claim it. I've held this view about Alabama's titles long before this came up.

I agree with the comments that OSU fans/alums should feel great that a reasonably credible group thinks their team was as good as any in the country in '45. That's something worth being happy about, and if they wanted to hang a banner over it, whatever. If Alabama and others do it, it's hard to argue against at least letting the Pokes celebrate it. More power to them.

That said, I will also agree with Dan; I like that OU only uses they system of counting championships that were recognized by the universally-accepted contemporary standards. I think that it is completely bogus that Alabama (and others) use(s) the method of counting every year in which SOMEBODY said they were the best. I along with most Sooner fans/alums I've talked to on this topic (for years) agree that it is especially shady the way Alabama counts from one poll one year and ignores it the next when they weren't voted champs in that one, but instead use a different one (that they ignored in previous years) to claim a title. Alabama of all schools should be above using shady math to convince people they have a great tradition. On that topic my views are based on having this discussion with other OU fans for years (regarding Alabama, et al) and are unrelated to this development surrounding OSU '45 season.

Congrats Pokes; whether you hang a banner or buy a T-shirt not, it's obvious that '45 was indeed a great season for OSU.

Wow! How weird that several OU fans are all of a sudden very knowledgeable about the college football landscape of 1945. Sounds like some time was spent googling 1945 NCAA football and perhaps many sooner fans are taking his more seriously than OSU fans. It's ironic that those fans are usually the same ones who claim they don't ever worry about OSU.

And if anyone is interested in why I have a deep passionate hate for the majority of OU fans, it's because of dickheads like that. I've had to deal with this crap my entire life. Remember, OU fans really don't care about OSU. Just ask them.

AP, I'm just bustin' your chops. Do I think it's silly to claim it? Yeah. But I'm really just having fun with you for the most part. I'm not really taking it that seriously,

Any championships claimed prior to the advent of the AP poll in 1936 are bogus, but schools claim them. Any championships claimed after the advent of the AP poll by teams that did not finish #1 in the AP poll are also bogus. Coaches Poll national champtionships are legit from when that poll started in 1950. My ratoinale is really simple: if it was considered a national championship at the time than it's a national championship. If not, then it's not.

Having said all that, a lot of schools like Alabama and USC claim bogus titles. I've always liked that OU only claims 7 titles that are legit by those standards because OU could claim 16. As I've said before, OSU is probably smart to claim it. I've held this view about Alabama's titles long before this came up.
Agree

I've always thought it was dumb that Bama claimed so many retroactively awarded championships. They have enough real championships that they shouldn't have to stoop to that. And aTm suddenly gained a couple of championships upon joining the SEC. It's just silly that any team does this and I've felt that way long before this happened.

Oklahomans care because the Oklahoma state legislature gives several million dollars in tax payer money a year to osu for athletics to keep them a float. So I think people have the right to know where the tax payer money is going. If it's for buying old championships from 71 years back the tax payer had a right to know.

Wow! How weird that several OU fans are all of a sudden very knowledgeable about the college football landscape of 1945. Sounds like some time was spent googling 1945 NCAA football and perhaps many sooner fans are taking his more seriously than OSU fans. It's ironic that those fans are usually the same ones who claim they don't ever worry about OSU.
Google my ass. I have more knowledge of college football history in my little finger than you have in your clouded little brain. Make sure your mommy gives you your meds tomorrow.

I didn't have to google Bob Fenimore or the 1945 OSU team to know they were very good because I'm a college football fan and I live in Oklahoma.

I also don't have to google Doc Blanchard or Earl Blaik or the 1945 Army team to know they 1. won a Heisman 2. made it to the HOF and 3. were not only undefeated but beat - no, DOMINATED - something like 4 or 5 top ten teams including a couple of number 2s, beat most everyone they played by 40 or 50 points including a bunch of shutouts, were awarded the AP national championship and are widely considered one of the greatest teams of all time.

I didn't bring it up because I thought this was a cool thing for OSU and I didn't want to rain on anyone's parade, but hey, as long as we're getting snarky...

And as long as we're talking Google it might be worth it for some OSU fans to fire it up and check out Army. It's a shame that the mighty fighting Aggies from that season didn't get to play that Army team so we could all be sure who was better. Surely would have been a hell of a game. Or, maybe a 50-0 shutout.

Oklahomans care because the Oklahoma state legislature gives several million dollars in tax payer money a year to osu for athletics to keep them a float. So I think people have the right to know where the tax payer money is going. If it's for buying old championships from 71 years back the tax payer had a right to know.

Don't forget to wash that Jersey when you're done with it. And put it back by the lube.

nm - You know what? If you are an OU fan and you stand by these allegations of bribery and corruption? Against the same org that awarded OU how many trophies? That tells me all I need to know about you. You might as well be defending Donald Trumps sexual assaults.

nm

I could ask you the same question. Why does it matter to you? Why did you start this thread? It doesn't affect you in any way.

I just think it's humorous that osu fans are puffing their chest out about this. I will just move on, but it's kind of annoying all these colleges claiming and creating fake awards and trophies. It devalues the real thing.

I'm sure OSU will put up a big sign at the entrance to the boat house district crowing about this "championship."

They've already made a shirt

http://i.imgur.com/OJDGT0X.jpg

If you can't read the fine print, it says 0 National Champs.

Everyone that I have heard are not 'puffing out their chests about it'. They are having fun with it. And baiting OU fans with it.