Factoid 400 - Bear Bryant’s 11-1, 1950 football team: why does Kentucky not claim this as a National Championship?

In 1950 Bear Bryant coached the Kentucky Wildcats to an 11-1 season. In the Sugar Bowl that season the Wildcats beat the number one ranked Oklahoma Sooners 13-7. The majority of the polls awarded Oklahoma the National Championship, but back then polls came out before the bowl games. The Sagarin Ratings awarded Kentucky the National Championship. Kentucky does not claim this as a National Championship.

The 1950 season saw three other schools also awarded the National Championship by various polls: Oklahoma Sooners (11-1); Princeton Tigers (9-0) and the Tennessee Volunteers (11-1). Each one of these teams has some merit in their claim to a National Championship: Oklahoma was undefeated when the majority of polls came out; Princeton was undefeated; and Tennessee beat Kentucky 7-0 toward the end of the season.

Quite frankly this season needed at least a four team playoff. Lacking a four team playoff, why shouldn’t Kentucky claim this as a National Championship? They beat Oklahoma at the end of the season in the Sugar Bowl, a team that had been picked by the AP and UPI to be the number one team in the country at the end of the regular season. (Most polls came out before the Bowl Games back then.)