UW, Minnesota Share National Championship History

There's just one way to settle Saturday night's University of Washington-Minnesota football game -- winner take all.

These schools created an insufferable mess that's lasted 66 years now and was even further complicated last week with added ceremony elsewhere, and it's time for a resolution.

As 1960 football teams, a No. 1 Minnesota entry and the sixth-ranked Huskies squared off in the Rose Bowl on a gloriously sunny day on Monday, January 2, and Jim Owens' hard-nosed group led by quarterback and game MVP Bob Schloredt emerged with a 17-7 upset victory.

While it was a milestone moment for the UW -- a second consecutive Pasadena victory in 12 months -- the outcome settled nothing in the national rankings. In fact, it only served to create confusion that has increased rather than find any common ground.

Who's No. 1 from 1960?

Everybody.

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Minnesota will enter Husky Stadium this weekend promoting itself as the 1960 national champion because it finished the regular season 8-1 and atop the final Associated Press poll, with no further voting conducted following the bowl games.

So what if the Gophers lost 23-14 to Purdue during the season and to the UW by 10 at the Rose Bowl in two of their final three games?

They will inform you that crowning a national champion before the bowls were played was how it was done back then.

The Huskies beat Minnesota in the 1961Rose Bowl for one of their biggest wins. | Dan Raley

Yet when the Gophers check out their Saturday night football surroundings, they'll notice the UW has made the same claim after finishing 10-1 and advertises its 1960 national title with words painted and prominently displayed across the South Deck.

The Helms Athletic Foundation, which was Los Angeles based and no longer exists, declared the Huskies as the national champs 11 days following the game, which was good enough for UW school officials, who no longer work at the university, to pound those drums and make it a reality in 2007. A local reality.

The Minnesota-UW Rose Bowl was a hard-fought game, with the Huskies winning 17-7. | Dan Rale

"Prove to me they weren't," then UW athletic director Todd Turner argued back then.

The UW had a flag raised in the stadium and a trophy created to mark this championship desire.

That season, the Huskies were prevented from going unbeaten only by Navy's Greg Mathers kicking a 31-yard field goal with 14 seconds remaining in their showdown in Seattle to provide a 15-14 victory for the Midshipmen.

"All I know is we beat the hell out of teams," running back Don McKeta, now 91, said at a ceremony held 19 years ago during a UW-USC game to claim the title.

Ah, but this argument doesn't end there.

Not even close.

Just this past week, Missouri put in its claim for the 1960 national championship by bringing in a work crew hoisted into the stadium by a crane to fasten its own self-created commemorative title displayed high above the seats.

A ceremony was held this past Saturday at halftime of the Tigers' game with Troy to honor what is the school's only unbeaten team and further celebrate the 100th anniversary of the school's Memorial Stadium.

Missouri finished 10-1 after beating Navy 21-14 in the Orange Bowl, then had its lone loss -- 23-7 to Kansas -- reduced to a forfeit win because an ineligible player in Jayhawks running back Bert Coan was used and thus led the school to have an unbeaten football season in the record book.

The Tigers were ranked No. 1 before playing Kansas but finished No. 5 in the final poll.

The Missourians would be quick to remind people in the Northwest that the Huskies' only loss that season was to Navy in Seattle.

Yet there are even more who believe themselves to be the 1960 national champions.

Take Ole Miss, for instance.

Minnesota and the UW met in the 1961 Rose Bowl. | Dan Raley

The Rebels finished No. 2 in the final AP poll, and 10-0-1 overall, after beating Rice 14-6 in the Sugar Bowl. Their only blemish came from a 6-6 tie to LSU.

The Football Writers of America Association deemed this Mississippi team as the national champion and awarded it the Grantland Rice Trophy signifying as much.

We're not done yet.

Iowa likewise wants a piece of the 1960 national championship.

The Hawkeyes finished 8-1, losing only to Minnesota 27-10 in Minneapolis while serving as the No. 1 team in the AP poll at the time.

They were named the national title-holder by an outfit called Litkenhous, that provided the school with a plaque and went out of operation in 1984.

So the Huskies, Gophers, Tigers, Rebels and Hawkeyes all want a piece of the action.

Since people are randomly claiming things, the UW and Minnesota, each pegged for middle-of-the-pack Big Ten success this season, should simply declare on Saturday night they'll be playing for the 1960 national championship once and for all.

Anybody have a better idea?

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