11-0, won the Sugar Bowl; named champion by AP and a majority of the era's selectors, including the Berryman, Billingsley, Boand, Dunkel, Houlgate, Litkenhous, Poling, Sagarin, and Williamson systems.
TCU’s 1938 schedule1938 National Champion: And Who Else Claims It
MULTIPLEDISPUTEDTCU swept both the AP and a majority of contemporary math systems; Tennessee's rival claim rests only on the handful of minor systems that broke from that majority.
The case for each side
Claimed by the program: no recognized selector picked them
10-0 in the regular season, then shut out unbeaten Oklahoma 17-0 in the Orange Bowl; claims a share via minor systems that placed the Volunteers first, not via AP.
Tennessee’s 1938 scheduleNo national title game was played after the 1938 season: before 1998 there was no mechanism to play one, which is why so many of these seasons were settled by vote instead.