David Pollack reacts to Auburn claiming more national titles: ‘Nobody cares about that’

Prior to the start of the 2025 college football season, Auburn athletic director John Cohen confirmed plans for the football program to formally recognize seven additional national championships alongside its previously AP-awarded national titles from 1957 and 2010. In the blink of an eye, the Tigers went from a two-time national champion to a nine-time one.

While most Auburn fans celebrated the move, comparing it favorably to cross-state rival Alabama‘s 18 national titles, college football fans at large effectively rolled their collective eyes, including former ESPN analyst and Georgia alum David Pollack.

“I always find it interesting, like some people just go nuclear and blow things up. Like, nobody cares about that. Nobody cares about any of those teams. Nobody cares about claiming anything back in that day,” Pollack said on Thursday’s episode of his See Ball Get Ball podcast. “Now, listen, when UCF did it (in 2017), everybody was pissed. That was a different animal. They did it fresh off the season. Like, this is (from) so long ago, you can’t even name names on the teams back in the day they’re trying to claim national championships on. So I don’t care.”

For years, the Tigers have proudly claimed Associated Press-awarded national championships in 1957 and 2010, along with three more in 1913, 1983 and 1993 that have long been acknowledged in the program’s media guide. Now, Auburn’s personal record books will also recognize four more national titles from 1910, 1914, 1958 and 2004 to give the football program nine total national championships.

“For too long, Auburn has chosen a humble approach to our program’s storied history – choosing to recognize only Associated Press National Championships. Starting this fall, we have made the decision to honor the accomplishments of our deserving student-athletes, coaches, and teams from Auburn’s proud history,” Cohen told AuburnSports. “Our visible National Championship recognitions now align with the well-established standard used by the NCAA’s official record book and our peers across the nation.”

Auburn’s 2004 team famously went a perfect 13-0, won the SEC championship and its Sugar Bowl game against No. 9 Virginia Tech (16-13) under former head coach Tommy Tuberville to finish No. 3 in the final AP poll. That same season, No. 1-ranked USC was named the BCS National Champion with a 55-19 win over No. 2 Oklahoma in a national title game that was later vacated due to NCAA violations by the Trojans. Utah also went undefeated in 2004, winning the Fiesta Bowl that season.

USC was forced to vacate its 2004 BCS National Championship as well as all wins from the 2005 season stemming from a NCAA investigation into impermissible benefits for both the Trojans football and men’s basketball programs that involved star running back Reggie Bush. Despite having the BCS title stripped away, the AP still recognized USC as its 2004 national champion. Bush also had his 2005 Heisman Trophy stripped away but it has since been reinstated by the Heisman Trust.

The Tigers were also recognized as national champions in 1910 (6-1, 5-0 SIAA) and 1914 (8-0-1, 4-0-1 SIAA) when it dominated the opposition, outscoring opponents by a combined score of 175-9 — losing 9-0 at Texas that season — and 193-0 in 1914 under then-coach Mike Donahue.