All for Tennessee
Fansided

Tennessee footballs previous 7-0 starts hint SEC title is guaranteed

By Caleb Calhoun

4 Jan 1999: the Tennesse Volunteers celebrate during the Fiesta Bowl Game against the Florida State Seminoles at the Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona. Tennessee defeated Florida State 23-16. Mandatory Credit: Jed Jacobsohn /Allsport
4 Jan 1999: the Tennesse Volunteers celebrate during the Fiesta Bowl Game against the Florida State Seminoles at the Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona. Tennessee defeated Florida State 23-16. Mandatory Credit: Jed Jacobsohn /Allsport /
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Johnny Majors when playing for Tennessee in the 1950’s.636645714660868598 000000
Johnny Majors when playing for Tennessee in the 1950’s.636645714660868598 000000 /

13. 1956: 10-1 (6-0)

SEC Champion; No. 2 AP and Coaches; Sugar Bowl

The last great year of the single-wing era in Tennessee football history was also the first extremely controversial Heisman loss for the Vols. Over four decades before Peyton Manning lost out to Charles Woodson, Johnny Majors, Rocky Top’s favorite son, lost the Heisman to Paul Hornung despite his team, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, going 2-8.

Majors was part of a resurgent group led by Bowden Wyatt, a Robert Neyland protege, who took over for Harvey Robinson the year before. Buddy Cruze and Bill Johnson were part of this crew. After a 6-3-1 inaugural year, Wyatt had his team in place to tear through the SEC, and that’s exactly what they did his second season.

UT won every game in the regular season. The win to get them to 7-0 was as thrilling at the time as the win over Alabama that got them to 6-0 this past year. It was the game to decide the SEC Champion, as the Vols, ranked No. 3, beat the No. 2 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets 6-0 on the road.

Despite that 10-0 season, Tennessee football finished second to the Oklahoma Sooners in all polls voting for the national championship. That made sense, though, as OU was in the midst of a 47-game winning streak, which is still the longest in history, and it was 40 by the end of this year. Losing 13-7 to the Baylor Bears in the Sugar Bowl also hurt the Vols.

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