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Tennessee football: Ranking all 17 Vols conference championship teams

By Caleb Calhoun

6 Dec 1997: Peerless Price #37 of Tennessee runs into the endzone for a touchdown during the Volunteers 30-29 win over Auburn in the SEC Championship at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Georgia.
6 Dec 1997: Peerless Price #37 of Tennessee runs into the endzone for a touchdown during the Volunteers 30-29 win over Auburn in the SEC Championship at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Georgia. /
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Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images /

10. 1967

9-2 (6-0)

National Champions; No. 2 AP and Coaches; Orange Bowl berth

Despite technically being declared national champions by one of the outlets recognized by the NCAA, this Tennessee football team is only ranked No. 10 on this list among SEC Champions. Let’s call it what it is. That national title is not deserved.

Nonetheless, this team is the culmination of what Doug Dickey began building when he arrived on Rocky Top in 1964 and modernized the Vols with the Power T logo, running through the T and establishing the T-formation. Many of the stars from the 1969 team were on this one, including Jack Reynolds and Steve Kiner.

The Vols also had Jim Weatherford, Charles Rosenfelder, Richmond Flowers, Albert Dorsey and Bob Johnson balling for them. Then they had Dewey Warren entering his senior year at quarterback and, at the time, shattering all passing records.

So they were loaded with talent. Unfortunately for them, a close loss to the UCLA Bruins on the road to open the season is what would keep them from probably winning a unanimous national title.

Still, the Vols rebounded and won every regular season game after that. They went 6-0 in the SEC, and that included beating the second and fourth best teams in the conference, the Auburn Tigers and Alabama Crimson Tide.

That’s quality enough to be top 10, even as they lost a heartbreaking Orange Bowl to the Oklahoma Sooners 26-24. The pollsters thought so as well and had UT finish the regular season ranked No. 2 with Litkenhous declaring them to be national champions.

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