Since the SEC was founded in 1933, Tennessee football has won 13 conference championships. The Vols have played for the SEC title five times since the league expanded into two divisions, winning the championship game twice.
So there are numerous seasons in which the Vols captured the SEC title or the SEC East. And in many of them, they required a decent bit of help to get there. In fact, there are many years in which a number of games had to unfold exactly right for UT to win the conference or division.
There are five seasons in which Tennessee football won the SEC with a loss, and in all five they needed help elsewhere to win it.