Finally, Ole Miss gets its 1960 title back… and last year’s national title… and every national title in between

Ole Miss has never won an outright national championship, splitting the honors with Minnesota in 1960, when the Rebels were ranked No. 1 by the Football Writers Association of America and the Golden Gophers were tabbed as the top squad by The Associated Press.

The thing about the AP poll in those days is that the final edition came out before the bowl games, and Minnesota lost the 1961 Rose Bowl to Washington.

But if you imagine that the 1960 national championship has been defended every week since then, Ole Miss has it back, all by itself, thanks to Saturday night’s 29-19 win over Texas A&M.

Start with Ole Miss’ own claim. They’ve been able to get it back before under this WWE 24-7 belt scenario — the title Rob Gronkowski has won and a Cirque du Soleil performer currently holds. This is not a new idea: for a while now, Benjamin Hatch has tracked the idea of a belt being battled for from the very first college football game in 1869, and now Ole Miss owns that belt, too.

Here’s how it’s gone for Ole Miss, by the dates of said belt changing hands, with home teams in caps.

• 11/4/61: LSU 10, Ole Miss 6
• 11/3/62: Ole Miss 15, LSU 7
• 1/1/64: Alabama 12, Ole Miss 7 (Sugar Bowl)

At this point, Ole Miss’ claim to the 1960 title unifies with part of Minnesota’s claim. After the Rose Bowl loss to Washington, the Gophers still went into 1961 as defending national champs, you could argue.

Well…

• 9/30/61: Missouri 6, MINNESOTA 0
• 11/4/61: COLORADO 7, Missouri 6
• 11/11/61: Utah 21, COLORADO 12
• 11/18/61: Utah State 17, UTAH 6

That’s right, historic football power Utah State. Let’s continue…

• 12/9/61: Baylor 24, Utah State 9 (in New York, for some reason)
• 9/22/62: HOUSTON 19, Baylor 0
• 10/6/62: Ole Miss 40, Houston 7 (at Jackson)
• 1/1/64: Alabama 12, Ole Miss 7 (Sugar Bowl)

That’s the same 1964 Sugar Bowl from before. Now that we’ve had that unification…

• 1/1/65: Texas 21, Alabama 17 (Orange Bowl)
• 10/16/65: ARKANSAS 27, Texas 24

This would be defending national champion Arkansas, so add the 1964 “belt” to this mix…

• 1/1/66: LSU 14, Arkansas 7 (Cotton Bowl)
• 9/24/66: RICE 17, LSU 15
• 10/1/66: TENNESSEE 23, Rice 3
• 10/8/66: GEORGIA TECH 6, Tennessee 3
• 11/26/66: GEORGIA 23, Georgia Tech 14
• 10/14/67: Ole Miss 29, Georgia 20 (at Jackson)

Hey, Ole Miss has it again. Wonder how that works out…

• 11/18/67: Tennessee 20, Ole Miss 7 (at Memphis)
• 1/1/68: Oklahoma 26, Tennessee 24 (Orange Bowl)

We’ve now picked up the 1964 and 1965 Alabama “belts” amid the spoils…

• 9/21/68: NOTRE DAME 45, Oklahoma 21
• 9/28/68: Purdue 37, NOTRE DAME 22
• 10/12/68: OHIO STATE 13, Purdue 0

Add Ohio State’s 1968 title to the hardware…

• 11/22/69: MICHIGAN 24, Ohio State 12
• 1/1/70: USC 10, Michigan 3 (Rose Bowl)
• 10/10/70: STANFORD 24, USC 14
• 11/14/70: AIR FORCE 31, Stanford 14
• 11/21/70: Colorado 49, AIR FORCE 19
• 12/12/70: Tulane 17, Colorado 3 (at Memphis)
• 9/18/71: GEORGIA 17, Tulane 7
• 11/13/71: Auburn 35, GEORGIA 20
• 11/27/71: Alabama 31, Auburn 7 (at Birmingham)
• 1/1/72: Nebraska 38, Alabama 6 (Orange Bowl)

That’s a national title winner for Nebraska, which was undefeated in 1971 after winning the 1970 title as well…

• 9/9/72: UCLA 20, Nebraska 17
• 9/23/72: Michigan 26, at UCLA 9
• 11/25/72: OHIO STATE 14, Michigan 11
• 1/1/73: USC 42, Ohio State 17 (Rose Bowl)

Another national title, about to be followed by another…

10/27/73: NOTRE DAME 23, USC 14

You see how often these things can merge…

• 9/28/74: Purdue 31, NOTRE DAME 20
• 10/5/74: DUKE 16, Purdue 14
• 10/19/74: CLEMSON 17, Duke 13
• 10/26/74: TENNESSEE 29, Clemson 28
• 9/20/75: UCLA 34, Tennessee 28
• 10/4/75: Ohio State 41, UCLA 20
• 1/1/76: UCLA 23, Ohio State 10 (Rose Bowl)
• 11/20/76: USC 24, UCLA 14 (at Rose Bowl)
• 10/8/77: Alabama 21, USC 20
• 9/23/78: USC 24, ALABAMA 14

Put another belt on the rack, because USC won out for the 1978 championship — the UPI one, anyway…

• 11/15/80: Washington 20, USC 10
• 1/1/81: Michigan 23, Washington 6 (Rose Bowl)
• 9/12/81: WISCONSIN 21, Michigan 14
• 9/19/81: UCLA 31, WISCONSIN 13
• 9/26/81: IOWA 20, UCLA 7
• 10/24/81: Minnesota 12, IOWA 10
• 10/31/81: Michigan 34, MINNESOTA 13
• 11/12/81: Ohio State 14, MICHIGAN 9
• 9/25/82: Stanford 23, OHIO STATE 20
• 10/9/82: ARIZONA STATE 21, Stanford 17
• 11/13/82: Washington 17, ARIZONA STATE 13
• 11/20/82: WASHINGTON STATE 24, Washington 20
• 9/10/83: MICHIGAN 20, Washington State 17
• 9/17/83: WASHINGTON 25, Michigan 24
• 9/24/83: LSU 40, Washington 14
• 10/1/83: Florida 31, LSU 17
• 10/29/83: AUBURN 28, Florida 21
• 8/27/84: Miami 20, Auburn 18 (at East Rutherford, N.J.)

Miami was holding the 1983 championship at that point, but not for long…

• 9/8/84: MICHIGAN 22, Miami 14
• 9/15/84: Washington 20, MICHIGAN 11
• 11/10/84: USC 16, Washington 7
• 11/17/84: UCLA 29, USC 10 (at Rose Bowl)
• 9/28/85: WASHINGTON 21, UCLA 14

UCLA was fresh off of taking BYU’s 1984 belt…

• 10/19/85: Oregon State 21, WASHINGTON 20
• 11/2/85: Arizona 27, OREGON STATE 6
• 11/9/85: UCLA 24, ARIZONA 19
• 11/23/85: USC 17, UCLA 13 (at L.A. Coliseum)
• 12/28/85: Alabama 24, USC 3 (at Honolulu)
• 10/25/86: Penn State 23, ALABAMA 3

Penn State won that year’s title, but again had a short defense…

• 9/12/87: Alabama 24, PENN STATE 13
• 9/19/87: Florida 23, Alabama 14 (at Birmingham)
• 10/3/87: LSU 13, Florida 10
• 11/7/87: Alabama 22, LSU 10
• 11/14/87: NOTRE DAME 37, Alabama 6
• 11/21/87: PENN STATE 21, Notre Dame 20
• 1/1/88: Clemson 35, Penn State 10 (Citrus Bowl)
• 9/17/88: Florida State 24, CLEMSON 21
• 9/2/89: Southern Miss 30, Florida State 26 (at Jacksonville)
• 9/9/89: Mississippi State 26, SOUTHERN MISS 23
• 9/23/89: GEORGIA 23, Mississippi State 6
• 9/30/89: South Carolina 24, GEORGIA 20
• 10/28/89: N.C. State 20, SOUTH CAROLINA 10
• 11/4/89: Virginia 20, N.C. STATE 9
• 1/1/90: Illinois 31, Virginia 21 (Citrus Bowl)
• 9/8/90: ARIZONA 28, Illinois 16
• 9/29/90: California 30, ARIZONA 25
• 10/27/90: WASHINGTON 46, California 7

Here the 1989 Miami belt is absorbed…

• 11/10/90: UCLA 25, WASHINGTON 22
• 11/17/90: USC 45, UCLA 42 (at Rose Bowl)
• 11/24/90: NOTRE DAME 10, USC 6
• 1/1/91: Colorado 10, Notre Dame 9 (Orange Bowl)

Hey, it’s that random time Colorado and Georgia Tech shared a national title…

• 9/14/91: Baylor 16, COLORADO 14
• 10/12/91: Rice 20, BAYLOR 17
• 10/19/91: TCU 39, RICE 28
• 10/26/91: BAYLOR 26, TCU 9
• 11/16/91: Texas Tech 31, BAYLOR 24
• 9/3/92: Oklahoma 34, TEXAS TECH 9
• 10/3/92: WASHINGTON 17, USC 10

Washington was still holding the 1991 coaches poll title here…

• 11/7/92: ARIZONA 16, Washington 3
• 11/14/92: USC 14, Arizona 7
• 11/21/92: UCLA 38, USC 27 (at Rose Bowl)
• 9/4/93: California 27, UCLA 25
• 10/9/93: Washington 24, CALIFORNIA 23
• 10/16/93: UCLA 39, Washington 25
• 11/13/93: Arizona State 9, UCLA 3
• 11/26/93: Arizona 34, ARIZONA STATE 20
• 10/8/94: Colorado State 21, ARIZONA 16
• 10/22/94: Utah 45, COLORADO STATE 31
• 11/5/94: NEW MEXICO 23, Utah 21
• 11/12/94: WYOMING 38, New Mexico 28
• 9/9/95: AIR FORCE 34, Wyoming 10
• 9/16/95: Colorado State 27, AIR FORCE 20
• 9/30/95: BYU 28, COLORADO STATE 21
• 10/14/95: ARIZONA STATE 29, BYU 21
• 11/24/95: Arizona 31, ARIZONA STATE 28
• 9/7/96: IOWA 21, Arizona 20
• 9/21/96: TULSA 27, Iowa 20
• 10/19/96: BYU 55, TULSA 30
• 9/6/97: Washington 42, BYU 30
• 9/20/97: Nebraska 27, WASHINGTON 14

Nebraska won out, adding another coaches poll belt to this chain that originated with 1960 Ole Miss…

• 10/10/98: TEXAS A&M 28, Nebraska 21
• 11/17/98: TEXAS 26, Texas A&M 24
• 8/28/99: N.C. State 23, TEXAS 20
• 9/18/99: FLORIDA STATE 42, N.C. State 11
• 10/7/00: MIAMI 27, Florida State 24

Miami won its remaining games in 2000, but Oklahoma was the BCS champion. Hey, we’re in the BCS era now, and Miami was undefeated and won the 2001 title…

• 1/1/03: Ohio State 31, Miami 24 (BCS title game, Tempe)

That was easy, add 2002 Ohio State…

• 10/11/03: WISCONSIN 17, Ohio State 10
• 10/18/03: Purdue 26, WISCONSIN 23
• 10/25/03: MICHIGAN 31, Purdue 3
• 1/1/04: USC 28, Michigan 14 (Rose Bowl)

That win put USC atop the AP poll, and they won and eventually vacated the 2004 BCS title, but not the 2004 belt, now part of all this…

• 1/4/06: Texas 41, USC 38 (Rose Bowl)

Maybe the best game ever is now part of this…

• 9/9/06: Ohio State 24, TEXAS 7
• 1/8/07: Florida 41, Ohio State 14 (BCS title game, Glendale)

That’s one championship for Florida…

• 9/29/07: Auburn 20, FLORIDA 17
• 10/20/07: LSU 30, Auburn 24
• 11/23/07: Arkansas 50, LSU 48
• 1/1/08: Missouri 38, Arkansas 7 (Cotton Bowl)
• 10/11/08: Oklahoma State 28, MISSOURI 23
• 10/25/08: TEXAS 28, Oklahoma State 24
• 11/1/08: TEXAS TECH 39, Texas 33
• 11/22/08: OKLAHOMA 65, Texas Tech 21
• 1/8/09: Florida 24, Oklahoma 14 (BCS title game, Miami)

And another championship for Florida…

• 12/6/09: Alabama 32, Florida 13 (at Atlanta)

Add an Alabama title after that…

• 10/9/10: SOUTH CAROLINA 35, Alabama 21
• 10/16/10: KENTUCKY 31, South Carolina 28
• 10/23/10: Georgia 44, KENTUCKY 31
• 10/30/10: Florida 34, Georgia 31 (at Jacksonville)
• 11/13/10: South Carolina 36, FLORIDA 14
• 12/4/10: Auburn 56, South Carolina 17 (at Atlanta)

Another SEC title game followed by a natty…

• 9/17/11: CLEMSON 38, Auburn 24
• 10/29/11: GEORGIA TECH 31, Clemson 17
• 11/10/11: Virginia Tech 37, GEORGIA TECH 26
• 12/3/11: Clemson 38, Virginia Tech 10 (at Charlotte)
• 1/4/12: West Virginia 70, Clemson 33 (Orange Bowl)
• 10/13/12: TEXAS TECH 49, West Virginia 14
• 10/27/12: KANSAS STATE 55, Texas Tech 24
• 11/17/12: BAYLOR 52, Kansas State 24
• 11/23/13: OKLAHOMA STATE 49, Baylor 17
• 12/7/13: Oklahoma 33, OKLAHOMA STATE 24
• 10/4/14: TCU 37, Oklahoma 33
• 10/11/14: BAYLOR 61, TCU 58
• 10/18/14: WEST VIRGINIA 41, Baylor 27
• 11/1/14: TCU 31, WEST VIRGINIA 30
• 11/7/15: OKLAHOMA STATE 49, TCU 29
• 11/21/15: Baylor 45, OKLAHOMA STATE 35
• 11/27/15: TCU 28, Baylor 21
• 9/10/16: Arkansas 41, TCU 38
• 9/24/16: Texas A&M 45, Arkansas 24 (at Arlington)
• 10/22/16: ALABAMA 33, Texas A&M 14
• 1/9/17: CLEMSON 35, Alabama 31 (CFP title game at Tampa)

Into the CFP era, you’d think it might get easier because it’s been Clemson and Alabama all the time, but not really…

• 10/13/17: SYRACUSE 27, Clemson 24
• 10/21/17: MIAMI 27, Syracuse 19
• 11/24/17: PITTSBURGH 24, Miami 14
• 9/8/18: Penn State 51, PITTSBURGH 6
• 9/29/18: Ohio State 27, PENN STATE 26
• 10/20/18: PURDUE 49, Ohio State 20
• 10/27/18: MICHIGAN STATE 23, Purdue 13
• 12/28/19: Clemson 29, Ohio State 23 (CFP semifinal at Glendale)
• 1/13/20: LSU 42, Clemson 25 (CFP title game at New Orleans)

Okay, it hasn’t just been Clemson and Alabama all the time…

• 9/26/20: Mississippi State 44, LSU 34
• 10/3/20: Arkansas 21, MISSISSIPPI STATE 14
• 10/10/20: AUBURN 30, Arkansas 28
• 10/17/20: SOUTH CAROLINA 30, Auburn 22
• 10/24/20: LSU 52, South Carolina 42
• 10/31/20: AUBURN 42, LSU 11
• 11/28/20: ALABAMA 42, Auburn 13

Last year was weird, but did end with Alabama as an undefeated champion…

• 10/9/21: TEXAS A&M 41, Alabama 38

And that brings us to last night, when for the first time since 1967, Ole Miss got its belt back…

• 11/13/21: OLE MISS 29, Texas A&M 19

But wait! There’s still the matter of the Minnesota loss in the 1961 Rose Bowl, giving Washington a claim to that belt…

• 9/23/61: Purdue 13, WASHINGTON 6
• 10/7/61: Notre Dame 22, PURDUE 20
• 10/21/61: MICHIGAN STATE 17, Notre Dame 7
• 11/4/61: MINNESOTA 13, Michigan State 0
• 11/25/61: Wisconsin 23, MINNESOTA 21
• 10/27/62: OHIO STATE 14, Wisconsin 7
• 11/3/62: IOWA 28, Ohio State 14
• 11/10/62: MINNESOTA 10, Iowa 0
• 11/24/62: WISCONSIN 14, Minnesota 9
• 1/1/63: USC 42, Wisconsin 37 (Rose Bowl)

That’s USC’s 1962 title capper…

• 9/28/63: Oklahoma 17, USC 12
• 10/12/63: Texas 28, Oklahoma 7 (at Dallas)

Texas won out and won that title…

• 10/17/64: Arkansas 14, TEXAS 13

The Razorbacks wouldn’t lose again until the 1966 Cotton Bowl, seen above.

At the moment, in fact, every version and every claim to the national title, if defended weekly like a wrestling belt, merges and finds its way to last night, dating back to at least 1950 Oklahoma, which like 1960 Minnesota, lost its bowl game. The Sooners lost the Sugar Bowl to Kentucky, which lost the next season to Texas, which lost to Arkansas, which lost to San Francisco, which went undefeated and then disbanded its football program. After returning to the gridiron, the Dons dropped the belt to Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, which then lost to Occidental, which lost to Redlands, and just when that belt might have been lost forever, Redlands lost to Hawaii, which lost to New Mexico, which lost to UTEP, which lost to Wyoming, which lost to Army, which lost to eventual 1966 undefeated champion Notre Dame.

The reason it’s “at least” is that after winning the 1949 title, Notre Dame passed its belt on to Purdue in October 1950, and then it went on to Miami, Clemson, Pacific, Boston University, Temple, Bucknell, Colgate, Holy Cross, and then Quantico Marines.

If anyone has any information about when Quantico Marines’ first loss after beating Holy Cross in 1952 was, please get in touch. Deadspin contacted the Virginia base, but they did not have that history at hand.

Either way, Ole Miss on Saturday night went from having zero national championships to owning the last seven decades’ worth, all at once. And that means if the Rebels beat Vanderbilt next week, the true champion of college football dating back to the Truman administration will come down to the Egg Bowl.