Football
The Missouri Tigers have spent over a decade trying to grab their first SEC football championship. Now, they have found a national title in an unexpected place: their own distant past. On August 28, Mizzou Athletics officially claimed the 1960 national championship, a title earned 66 years ago, back when the program was playing in the old Big Eight Conference under legendary head coach Dan Devine.
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The sudden move did not start on the football field. It started in Washington, D.C. On August 6, U.S. Senator Eric Schmitt pushed a resolution through the Senate floor to honor the 1960 squad. That political spotlight gave Missouri athletic directors the green light to dig through the record books and make the championship official just weeks later.
“We appreciate Sen. Schmitt and the U.S. Senate for recognizing the accomplishments of our 1960 football team and for bringing renewed attention to a remarkable group of Tigers,” Mizzou Director of Athletics Laird Veatch said, according to the MU Tigers official website. “The 1960 team has an important place in Mizzou history, and after reviewing the historical record, we believe it is appropriate to honor that team as national champions.”
The story behind that 1960 season reads like a movie script. Mizzou marched to a Big Eight title and grabbed the No. 1 spot in the country before losing its final regular-season game 23-7 to its bitter rivals, the Kansas Jayhawks.
But that loss did not stand. Kansas was later forced to forfeit the game for using an ineligible player, restoring Missouri’s clean sheet. The Tigers then capped off an 11-0 run by beating Heisman winner Joe Bellino and Navy in the Orange Bowl, marking the only undefeated season in Mizzou history.
How can a team claim a trophy six decades later? Back in 1960, college football had no playoff system or single championship game. Instead, mathematically calculated polling systems rated teams after the season. Missouri is using the NCAA-recognized “Polling System,” a mathematical formula from that era that ranked the Tigers No. 1, to justify putting a national championship banner in their stadium today.
For Senator Schmitt and the Mizzou faithful, the delayed recognition is sweet revenge. As Schmitt put it when celebrating the Senate resolution, the players who wore the Black and Gold earned their place in history six decades ago, their record remains unblemished, and most importantly for Tigers fans, “Kansas still lost.”
Mizzou will unveil the title banner on September 19, 2026, during halftime of their home game against Troy at Memorial Stadium. Wearing 1960 throwback uniforms to open their renovated $250 million end zone project, the Tigers are using the stadium’s 100th anniversary to finally lock their legacy into place.
In the ultra-competitive SEC, national championship banners are the ultimate currency. Powerhouses like Alabama, Georgia, and LSU constantly flex their trophy cases to recruit top talent. By laying claim to the 1960 Big Eight championship, Missouri finally brings its own national title to the SEC table, giving the program a historic counterweight in college football’s toughest conference.
Whether Missouri’s newly claimed title holds the same weight as the multiple championships won by SEC programs like Alabama, Georgia, and LSU is another debate. But the Tigers officially call themselves national champions.
Football Missouri joins four other schools with a claim to the 1960 title
Ole Miss, Iowa, Minnesota, and Washington also claim the national title from that season, with each claim tied to a different selector or poll.
“Ole Miss went 10-0-1 with a Sugar Bowl victory and the No. 2 spot in the final poll; Iowa 8-1 and finished the season No. 3 in the poll; Minnesota 8-2 with a Rose Bowl loss and the No. 1 spot in the final poll; and Washington 10-1 with a Rose Bowl win and No. 6 spot in the final poll,” Killian Wright of Sports Illustrated wrote.
Out of this group, Ole Miss and Missouri share another distinction, as 1960 is the only national championship either program claims. Ole Miss finished 10-0-1 while Missouri went 11-0, with the Tigers’ record including a forfeit win over Kansas. That made Missouri the only team among the five with a perfect record on paper, capped by a bowl victory.
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