Ranking Tennessee football’s 10 years after coach’s first bowl game

1. 1939: 10-1 (6-0)

SEC Championship; Rose Bowl; No. 2 AP

Coming off Robert Neyland’s first bowl game

If not for the bowl game, this would be easily considered the greatest team in Tennessee football history. Robert Neyland was in the height of his years coaching the Vols, right at the peak of his second stint.

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In 1938, Neyland took the Vols to national prominence. They went 11-0, won their first SEC Championship, won their first national championship and made their first bowl game, beating the Oklahoma Sooners 17-0 in the Orange Bowl. This year, they had almost everybody from that team back, most notably Bob Suffridge, George Cafego, Abe Shires, Ed Molinski and Bob Foxx.

The result was a legendary season. UT pulled off the amazing accomplishment of going undefeated, untied and unscored on the entire year. Yes, they shut out every opponent and went 10-0, winning their second straight SEC Championship. At the time of their 7-0 win over the Auburn Tigers in December, they were on a 23-game winning streak.

UT also was on a 15-game streak of shutting out opponents. However, they didn’t win a national title, as they finished No. 2 in all major rankings to the Texas A&M Aggies. Neyland’s team then saw everything come crashing down in the Rose Bowl, as they lost 14-0 to the USC Trojans. However, Cafego was hurt that game, and it cost Rocky Top dearly.

With a healthy Cafego, Tennessee football likely wins that game and goes on a 34-game winning streak through the 1940 season. Even without that, though, winning the SEC and going undefeated for the second of three straight regular seasons makes this easily the best season coming off a coach’s first bowl appearance on Rocky Top.