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There was no coordinated effort to get Bowden his NC. That's not to say that coaches and sportswriters didn't enjoy seeing him get his title. But that would have been very transparent given the fact that voting was individual instead of a group getting together to come up with a consensus.

The truth is there was a widespread disdain for having a power school with their own TV network. No one did that back then. There were still rules in place with the CFA deal that limited the number of times a school could appear on TV. The vast majority of those with the power to determine a nat'l champion felt ND would have a huge advantage in revenue and recruiting. It was easy to see from some of the ballots that were submitted that that opinion manifested itself in a negative bias to voting ND as national champion during that time.