1971 National Champion: And Who Else Claims It

MULTIPLEDISPUTED

Nebraska went 13-0, beat Alabama in the Orange Bowl, and swept every major selector for an undisputed repeat consensus title.

The case for each side

Nebraska

13-0

Recognized byAPConsensusFWAARecognizedNFFRecognizedUPIConsensus· claimed by the program

13-0, beat Oklahoma in the regular-season "Game of the Century" and Alabama in the Orange Bowl; consensus AP/UPI/FWAA/NFF national champion, its second straight.

Nebraska’s 1971 schedule

Delaware

11-1

Claimed by the program: no recognized selector picked them

School claim at the small-college/FCS level; not in contention for the major-selector national title that year.

Delaware’s 1971 schedule

No national title game was played after the 1971 season: before 1998 there was no mechanism to play one, which is why so many of these seasons were settled by vote instead.