Head coach Robert Neyland fielded his third team at Tennessee after returning from active duty in the United States Army.
The 1938 Tennessee Volunteers won the school's first national championship and are regarded as one of the greatest teams in SEC and NCAA history.
[citation needed] The team was named national champion by NCAA-designated major selectors of Berryman, Billingsley, Boand, Dunkel, College Football Researchers Association, Houlgate, Litkenhous, Poling, Sagarin, Sagarin (ELO-Chess)[1] In 1938, The Vols went 10–0 in the regular season and then shut out fellow unbeaten Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl, 17–0, snapping the Sooners' 14-game win streak and beginning a long winning streak for Neyland.
Tennessee won three consecutive conference titles before Neyland left for military service in World War II in 1941.
In between all the penalties, Bob Foxx and Babe Wood scored touchdowns and team co-captain Bowden Wyatt, later Vol head coach, kicked a field goal and ran in an extra point.