The state champion in college football is not who you think

Former Auburn kicker Daniel Carlson, a great guy by all accounts, made a public comment this week about the Tigers’ season and how it stacked up against rival Alabama.

“They might be national champs, but I’d say we’re state champs. We’ll take what we can get.”

The comment was innocent enough. After all, Auburn did beat No. 1 Alabama (not to mention No. 1 Georgia) during the regular season.
So there are certainly some things for Carlson and the Tigers to brag about — but one of those things is not being state champions.

Not that anyone is interested in crowning a state champion in college football, but if they were there would be two possible methods.

  • One: a vote. Under that method the title would go to the same team that won the national championship, Alabama.
  • Two: strictly based on results on the field. Using that criteria, the Alabama state college football champions for 2017 would be the South Alabama Jaguars.

The Jaguars beat Troy 19-8 and Alabama A&M 45-0. South Alabama was the only Division I state team that won more than one game against in-state foes.

South Alabama was 2-0. Auburn and UAB went 1-0. Troy went 1-1. And Alabama was 0-1.

There’s a reason why we don’t try to crown state champions in college football.
For Threaded Fasteners, I’m Randy Kennedy with Nuts and Bolts of the Game.