How and why Missouri is claiming a college football title 66 years later

How and why Missouri is claiming a college football title 66 years later. Skip to main content Skip to navigation How and why Missouri is claiming a college football title 66 years laterMissouri Tigers6hEli LedermanThompson: LSU-Ole Miss, Lane Kiffin and an old fight made newOle Miss Rebels2hWright ThompsonHow ChatGPT and Lane Kiffin could have gotten LSU kicked out of the SECLSU Tigers1dMark SchlabachLSU upgrades QB Leavitt to questionable for showdown with Ole MissLSU Tigers16hAlex ScarboroughDC Belichick resigns as UNC investigation finds disregard for conductNorth Carolina Tar Heels1dDavid HaleSarkisian: Mishandled ESPN interview, knows Manning owns his mistakeTexas Longhorns23hIndiana D-lineman Daley, Wyatt out while waiting for judge's rulingIndiana Hoosiers49mJake TrotterNorthwestern rewards Braun with three-year extensionNorthwestern Wildcats1dAdam RittenbergTexas co-DC Nansen charged with DWI, Sarkisian saysTexas Longhorns23hJake TrotterSources: Baylor QB Lagway doubtful to play against La.

What happened

In 2016, the Football Writers Association of America awarded the 1945 championship to Oklahoma State (then Oklahoma A&M); UCF famously claimed a title a year later when the undefeated Knights were left out of the College Football Playoff. Before 74 senators voted Tuesday to begin consideration of the Protect College Sports Act, the upper house of the legislative branch first dipped its toes into one of college football's most pervasive traditions: the retroactively "claimed" national title. Not long after Georgia won its first national championship in 1980, coach Vince Dooley learned that the College Football Hall of Fame also listed a Bulldogs national title in 1942.

Nonetheless, the recognition raises some worthwhile questions: How do we measure a college football national title? How coaches returning to their former stomping grounds have faredLSU Tigers3hBill ConnellyConnelly: 29 games to keep your weekend spicy, led by — of course — LSU-Ole MissOle Miss Rebels6hBill ConnellyWeek 3 preview: A revenge game in Oxford, Florida State's bleak future and moreOle Miss Rebels1dDavid HaleCollege football best bets: From UNC to Alabama, the plays to know for Week 3North Carolina Tar Heels1dPamela Maldonado and Mark ZinnoCollege football recruiting: The most impactful player for each top-40 recruiting classTexas A&M Aggies1dCraig Haubert and Billy TuckerTrajectory of 2027 NFL draft QB prospects flips fast2dPete ThamelplayChase Daniel critiques Mizzou's highs and lows vs.

Kansas (2:05)Eli LedermanSep 18, 2026, 06:00 AM ETCloseEli Lederman covers college football and recruiting for ESPN. com. Eric Schmitt, R-MO, 51, is a college football fan.

The wider picture

Elected in 2023, the former Missouri attorney general has taken an interest in college athletics during his first term in the U. Senate, educating himself on media rights and NIL, forging relationships with Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz and athletic director Laird Veatch and, this spring, co-sponsoring the bipartisan Protect College Sports Act alongside Sens. 833, a resolution recognizing Missouri's 1960 football team and its claim to the 1960 national championship. For their part, Missouri officials emphasize the distinction between recognizing the 1960 Tigers as champions and the more formal title claims other programs have previously made.

And what does it mean to the handful of former players still living to be crowned champions so many years later? "TIGERS COACH DAN Devine didn't care where Missouri sat in the Associated Press, Football Writers Association of America or any other national poll. "As Missouri stayed unbeaten and climbed the polls that fall, Crawford and his teammates weren't fixated on a national title. Meanwhile, an eligibility saga very much befitting modern-day college football was preparing to unravel in Kansas.

What has been reported

Three weeks later, the Jayhawks lawyered up when the Big Eight ruled Coan ineligible and stripped the Jayhawks of their final two wins and the conference title. "At this time, none of the polls awarded their championship after the bowl games," Denis Crawford, historian for the College Football Hall of Fame said. "PERHAPS THE BEAUTY of a college football national championship, at least in the pre-playoff era, is in the eye of the beholder? "Crawford and Wainwright will be among the small group of former players on-hand for Saturday's ceremony, only days after Schmitt's latest college football related business on the senate floor.

Beyond the defeat itself, neither Crawford or Wainwright is still harboring feelings of injustice surrounding the loss to Coan and the Jayhawks 66 years ago this fall, nor have they been sitting waiting for the national title recognition for the past six-and-a-half decades. Dan Devine Jr. recalled that his father still had regrets about how he prepared his team and coached against Kansas, even years later. Nearly sixty-six years later, he's still holding out hope for the rings, too.

American college football games were being played abroad long before the NFL headed overseas, in countries as diverse as Cuba, Japan and Tanzania.

What happens next

But this Saturday the UK will host just its second college football game, and it will be a far bigger event than the first at Crystal Palace in 1988. Figure caption, Why is American college football coming to the UK? He and a business partner both played college football, with the latter then working with the NFL in London. And while chatting over a few beers, they asked themselves why no-one had taken college football back to England, especially since Wembley's first NFL game in 2007.

After mulling the idea over for a few years, they decided to do it themselves and managed to book a date at English football's national stadium. Published1 day agoWhat makes college football different? Image source, University of KansasImage caption, The Kansas Jayhawks marching band usually plays in front of 32,000 fans at their home stadiumVirtually all NFL players come via the US college system, and in many parts of America, college football is more popular than the NFL.

The report has been compiled by The Daily Waves using information reported across espn.com, bbc.co.uk, theguardian.com. Details are presented according to the information available at the time of publication and may change as authorities, organisers or other relevant parties provide updates.