Co-Champs Will Get Their Fair Share

A dozen years later, outside a broadcast booth this fall, the old friends met.

Ed Cunningham, the center for the 1991 Washington Huskies.

Gino Torretta, the quarterback for the 1991 Miami Hurricanes.

Their teams had been co-national champions then, and it had been an outrage, a taint on both trophies, something to be debated the rest of their lives.

Yet a dozen years later, the strangest thing happened.

Neither man even mentioned it.

Said Cunningham, “You’d think we would talk about it, especially this year, but we didn’t. It was like, we both knew we were champions, and it never came up.”

Said Torretta: “Bottom line is, I’ve got my ring, he’s got his ring, what’s the big deal?”

The words are in sharp contrast to last week’s bluster and belly-aching, but they are words of experience, words that should be heard.

Hey, USC? And, you, the winner of tonight’s Sugar Bowl between Oklahoma and LSU?

Take your trophies, stick up your fingers, act like you are national champions alone.

Because soon enough, in the hearts of your fans and minds of your neighbors, you will be.

“In a couple of years, nobody is going to remember that there was a co-championship,” said Pat Haden, the quarterback on USC’s co-national championship team in 1974. “Until the last couple of weeks, not once has anyone ever even asked me about the split trophy. I tell people that I won two national championships, because we did, and I’m never corrected.”

Since the formation of a second poll in 1950, there have been 10 split national championships involving 15 different teams.

Yet not one hyphen anywhere.

The word “co-champion” appears on no trophies, no banners and rarely even in the newspapers.

“Do you think that right now, Pete Carroll is trying to design a ring with the word ‘co’ in there? Trying to make space for that hyphen?” asked Cunningham. “I don’t think so.”

If several members from those co-championship teams are to be believed, this year’s controversy will disappear faster than Michigan’s pass blocking.

The great debate will become small talk.

The chest puffing will become quiet shrugging.

The asterisk will never show.

Turns out, college football’s system has been so flawed for so many years, those flaws have become part of the scenery. A co-championship in this sport is no different than hairy linoleum at a barber shop or greasy handshakes at the Jiffy Lube.

Startling at first, you finally get used to it, and eventually forget it’s even there.

Did you know that UCLA’s only national championship, in 1954, was a shared championship? Didn’t think so.

The Bruins shared it with Ohio State, where folks also have forgotten.

Jim Brown, an All-American guard on that Bruin team, remembers meeting a prospective buyer for his home after the man had seen his title plaque.

“The man walks out of my house and says, ‘You weren’t national champions in 1954!’ ” Brown said. “The man’s father had been the Ohio State barber, and he knew all about the football program, and he thought they had been the only champions that year.”

Brown was forced to explain the co-championship, which explains everything.

“Your grandkids aren’t going to know anything other than you were a national champion,” Brown said. “So about all this other stuff, who cares?”

Did you know that half of Bear Bryant’s six national championships at Alabama were split titles? Good luck finding that in any museum.

All the hyperbole spilled by this newspaper after the Trojans’ Rose Bowl victory -- present company included -- failed to mention that each of their previous two championships were also split.

Here we are, complaining that nobody will ever forget a co-championship travesty while seemingly forgetting a couple of them ourselves.

“When members of this team are older and have children, they’re going to look back at themselves as national champions, with no ‘Yeah, but ... ,’ ” said Paul McDonald, quarterback of the Trojans’ split champions in 1978. “That’s what our team does.”

The initial shock of sharing the title will be a little more difficult for the Trojans this year because, for the first time since the BCS’ inception six years ago, a national title team will not receive the giant crystal football.

“To young kids today, that’s the national championship trophy, that’s the possession that means the most to them,” said Haden.

So when it’s handed to either LSU or Oklahoma tonight, Pete Carroll’s team will understandably cringe.

At which point, they should listen to the guys from Washington, who returned three years ago for a 10th anniversary national championship celebration that did not include one mention of the word, “Miami.”

“We got the ring, we got the recognition,” said Don James, the former Husky coach.

And then, at halftime against Michigan, they got the love, walking on to the field to a roar that sparked the current team to an eventual victory.

“We may have gotten only half the championship,” said Cunningham. “But we didn’t share any of the cheers.”

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Bill Plaschke can be reached at bill.plaschke@latimes.com. To read previous columns by Plaschke, go to Latimes.com/plaschke.

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Two for One

The Helms Athletic Foundation began awarding a mythical national championship in 1889. The Associated Press poll began in 1936, the UPI in 1950. Since 1950 -- the first opportunity for a split champion -- there have been 10 split championships:

*--* 1954 AP: Ohio State UPI: UCLA 1957 AP: Auburn UPI: Ohio State 1965 AP: Alabama UPI: Michigan State 1970 AP: Nebraska UPI: Texas 1973 AP: Notre Dame UPI: Alabama 1974 AP: Oklahoma UPI: USC 1978 AP: Alabama UPI: USC 1990 AP: Colorado UPI: Georgia Tech 1991 AP: Miami Coaches: Washington 1997 AP: Michigan Coaches: Nebraska

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