Tennessee football: 10 seasons Vols could claim national championships
![KNOXVILLE, TN - OCTOBER 5: The Tennessee Volunteers mascot Smokey runs through the end zone after a score against the Georgia Bulldogs at Neyland Stadium on October 5, 2013 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by Scott Cunningham/Getty Images) KNOXVILLE, TN - OCTOBER 5: The Tennessee Volunteers mascot Smokey runs through the end zone after a score against the Georgia Bulldogs at Neyland Stadium on October 5, 2013 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by Scott Cunningham/Getty Images)](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/shape/cover/sport/531cbf74e87a8e2f30e36ddd8a3c9d0f62b09e50629153887b73531339e9421d.jpg)
5. 1927 Tennessee Volunteers
8-0-1 (5-0-1 SoCon)
Tennessee football’s least convincing year for a national title during the early Robert Neyland run was 1928. The year before, though, Neyland’s second year at the helm, they should definitely claim one. And they have a much stronger case.
In 1927, the Vols won a share of the Southern Conference Championship with the Georgia Tech Golden Tornadoes by going 8-0-1 overall and 5-0-1 in the conference. Their only blemish was a tie against the 8-1-2 Vanderbilt Commodores. But that’s nothing to be ashamed of.
Meanwhile, Georgia Tech did lose a game on the year. And the Georgia Bulldogs, who actually had a loss as well to Georgia Tech specifically, managed to be one of four teams to claim a share of the national title. That comes even though they were in the same conference as the Vols and GT and didn’t go undefeated.
In addition to the Dawgs, the 7-1 Yale Bulldogs were able to claim a share of the title. Both of those teams had a loss, which the Vols didn’t. The other two teams to claim a share were the Illinois Fighting Illini and the Texas A&M Aggies, both teams who, like the Vols, had a tie as their only blemish.
So this year, there were four national champions in college football. All of them had either a loss or a tie as their only blemish. One of them was from the Southern Conference. But a team from the Southern Conference with a tie as their only blemish doesn’t get to get in on the action?
No. That’s not fair. The Vols should immediately go back and claim a national title here. They would have no reason to apologize for it either.