The Auburn Triple Crown

It's a Sunday, so this was just some fun rambling. I didn't want to take too much time and dig too deeply to write much, but it was a fun little exercise. Especially the little tidbit at the very end.

This was a really tough concept to build once I started thinking about it. Just what would the Auburn Triple Crown be? Are we talking across multiple sports? Just one sport? Would it be national championships in football, baseball, and basketball? That's something that's obviously never happened since Auburn has never won championships in basketball or baseball.

SEC Championships in each? The Tigers have won conference championships in each of those sports, but never all in the same season.

So, I decided to just go with football. It gets a little complicated, there. I can't just say "wins over rivals A, B, and C" since Auburn's schedules and rivalries have changed over the years and because it's happened often enough that it cheapens the accomplishment.

I finally settled on the following:

1) Undefeated against the major rivals

2) Conference Champions

3) National Champions (by any selector)

I went with any selector for the national championship portion because I believe (unlike our administration, apparently) there are more Auburn teams deserving of laying claim to a national championship than Auburn currently recognizes. Auburn was originally in the Southern Conference, so I couldn't just say SEC Champions.

With that in mind, I researched what Auburn football teams are worthy of the Auburn Triple Crown. It turns out to still be an obvious group of teams: 1913, 1957, 1983, and 2004, and 2010. Yes, the 2004 claim is a bit iffy with the championship selectors, but they still deserve it. 1914 almost made the list since they were retroactively given a title by one selector, but they tied UGA 0-0. 1958 is the same, but they tied Georgia Tech (a major rival at the time).

So, the Auburn Triple Crown can be said to have been won by five Auburn football teams. The 2013 Auburn team, had they defeated Florida State, would NOT have been added to the list. With the current Auburn scheduling, I consider LSU to be a major rival. Therefore, the LSU loss would have killed the chances.

If you want to know what teams have won the Big Trifecta of "revenue sports" in the NCAA, it's only happened one time. Last season Division III University of Wisconsin-Whitewater won the Division III championships in football, basketball, and baseball. No other school has that claim.

What would you consider to be the Auburn Triple Crown?