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Tennessee football: 1967 Vols pulling an Alabama by claiming undeserved national title

By Caleb Calhoun

KNOXVILLE, TN - SEPTEMBER 09: Tennessee Volunteers fans cheer during the first half of the game against the Indiana State Sycamores at Neyland Stadium on September 9, 2017 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
KNOXVILLE, TN - SEPTEMBER 09: Tennessee Volunteers fans cheer during the first half of the game against the Indiana State Sycamores at Neyland Stadium on September 9, 2017 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images) /
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The 1967 Tennessee football team claims a national championship. But that is so undeserved that it’s an Alabama Crimson Tide move.

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By this point, you’ve probably noticed that Tennessee football’s 1967 9-2 SEC Championship team is receiving a lot of recognition this year. Why shouldn’t they? It’s the 50th anniversary of that team, and they won the SEC title with Dewey Warren at quarterback and Doug Dickey as head coach.

A 6-0 SEC record included great wins over the Alabama Crimson Tide, Auburn Tigers and even the LSU Tigers.

But the school is taking it too far. In a total Alabama move, they have found one poll that ranked them No. 1 at the end of the season, the Litkenhous Poll. Yes, you read that right.

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The Knoxville News Sentinel last month even referred to them as winners of the Litkenhous National Championship.

Just last week, UTSports referred to them celebrating their 50th anniversary as the 1967 national champion Vols.

But the Vols finished No. 2 in the two polls that mattered, the UPI Poll and the AP Poll. And they had no selling point to claim a national title.

I’m okay with claiming unofficial national titles if the polls robbed you. The Auburn Tigers have every right to claim it in 2004.

But Tennessee football in 1967 is stretching. The Vols lost their season-opener to the UCLA Bruins. They only beat one ranked team, Alabama, on the year en route to finishing the regular season 9-1.

And the USC Trojans, meanwhile, also finished 9-1 while actually beating UCLA. They beat three Top 5 teams overall in the regular season. And their only loss was 3-0 on the road to the Oregon State Beavers.

Simply put, USC was clearly the best team in the country that year and deserved the national title.

But if you needed any added emphasis, let’s go to the bowl game. Tennessee lost theirs to the Oklahoma Sooners. USC, meanwhile, beat a fourth Top 5 team, the Indiana Hoosiers, 14-3 to finish 10-1.

So yes, the Trojans are the clear national champions from that year.

Tennessee football fans take pride in not acting like Alabama and making up excuses to claim national titles. Finding one illegitimate poll to do it is ridiculous.

That’s what the Tide did in 1941 despite a 9-2 record and No. 20 final ranking. It’s also what Kentucky does in claiming its 1950 national championship.

Simply put, if you’re going to claim an unofficial national title, you need to have a good selling point for it.

Next: Tennessee-South Carolina: 10 keys to the game

The 1967 Vols finished 9-2, beat one ranked team on the year, and had no case to make to be above the USC Trojans. So crowning them national champions because of one fluke poll is ridiculous.

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