Tennessee football: Ranking all 17 Vols conference championship teams

17. 1969

9-2 (5-1)

No. 15 AP, No. 11 Coaches; Gator Bowl berth

There are five teams in Tennessee football history to win a conference title while losing a conference game. Three others have suffered a tie, meaning eight UT teams to win their conference had a blemish on their record within that conference.

But none of them suffered a 38-0 loss in that blemish. The 1969 Vols were looking like a national title team into November. Then the “Archie Who?” game came along, and Archie Manning lead the Ole Miss Rebels to a dominating defeat over Rocky Top when they were ranked No. 3 in the nation.

That was enough to move this team to last place among all conference title teams. Their loss was the most embarrassing. Also, other factors put this team in last place among all UT teams to win a conference title.

Sure, the names were there, including stars like Steve Kiner (responsible for opening his mouth before the Ole Miss debacle), Jack Reynolds, Chip Kell, Jackie Walker, Bobby Majors and Phillip Fulmer. But the results still keep this team down.

The only decent SEC team the Vols beat this year was the Auburn Tigers. To be fair, they did dominate in that game 45-19. But they didn’t beat any other team in the conference that had a winning record.

A final nail in the coffin for this team is the fact that they faced the Florida Gators in the Gator Bowl this year and lost that game. Technically, that wasn’t a conference game since it was a bowl game. But it was a loss to a conference team, so we somewhat have to count it as a blemish.

That means this UT team had more than one blemish and the worst loss of any conference title team on Rocky Top. This was still an elite program that would begin a downward slide after Doug Dickey left the next year. And you still celebrate SEC title teams. But there’s no doubt these Vols belong in last place among those champions.