Tennessee Volunteers Football Wiki, Championships, Records, and More
Tennessee Volunteers Football: The University of Tennessee is represented by its football team, the Tennessee Volunteers. They have been to bowl games 52 times and won 28 of them. They have won four Sugar Bowls, three Cotton Bowls, an Orange Bowl, a Peach Bowl, and a Fiesta Bowl, among others. In their history, they have won 16 conference titles and six national titles, including two from the AP Poll and the Coaches Poll in 1951 and 1998.
The Vols play at Neyland Stadium on the campus of the university in Knoxville. Tennessee has won 464 games there, which is more than any other college football team has won at its current home field. Also, with 102,455 seats, Neyland is the fifth largest stadium in the country and the second largest in the Southeastern Conference.
Championships
National Championships
Year | Coach | Selectors | Record | Bowl | Opponent | Result | Final AP | Final Coaches |
1938 | Robert Neyland | Berryman, Billingsley, Boand, Dunkel, College Football Researchers Association, Houlgate, Litkenhous, Poling, Sagarin, Sagarin (ELO-Chess) | 11–0 | Orange | Oklahoma | W 17–0 | No. 2 | – |
1940 | Dunkel, Williamson | 10–1 | Sugar | Boston College | L 13–19 | No. 4 | – | |
1950 | Billingsley, DeVold, Dunkel, Football Research, National Championship Foundation, Sagarin (ELO-Chess) | 11–1 | Cotton | Texas | W 20–14 | No. 4 | No. 3 | |
1951 | Associated Press, Litkenhous, United Press International (coaches), Williamson | 10–1 | Sugar | Maryland | L 13–28 | No. 1 | No. 1 | |
1967 | Doug Dickey | Litkenhous | 9–2 | Orange | Oklahoma | L 24–26 | No. 2 | No. 2 |
1998 | Phillip Fulmer | Associated Press, BCS, FW, National Football Foundation, USA Today | 13–0 | Fiesta (BCS National Championship Game) | Florida State | W 23–16 | No. 1 | No. 1 |
Conference Championships
Year | Conference | Coach | Overall record | Conference record |
1914 | SIAA | Zora G. Clevenger | 9–0 | 5–0 |
1927 | SoCon | Robert Neyland | 8–0–1 | 5–0–1 |
1932 | 9–0–1 | 7–0–1 | ||
1938 | SEC | 11–0 | 7–0 | |
1939 | 10–1 | 6–0 | ||
1940 | 10–1 | 6–0 | ||
1946 | 9–2 | 5–0 | ||
1951 | 10–1 | 5–0 | ||
1956 | Bowden Wyatt | 10–1 | 6–0 | |
1967 | Doug Dickey | 9–2 | 6–0 | |
1969 | 9–2 | 5-1 | ||
1985 | Johnny Majors | 9–1–2 | 5–1 | |
1989 | 11–1 | 6–1 | ||
1990 | 9–2–2 | 5–1–1 | ||
1997 | Phillip Fulmer | 11–2 | 7–1 | |
1998 | 13–0 | 8–0 |
Division Championships
Year | Division Championship | Opponent | Result |
1997 | SEC East | Auburn | W 30–29 |
1998 | Mississippi State | W 24–14 | |
2001 | LSU | L 20–31 | |
2003 | N/A lost in a tiebreaker to Georgia | ||
2004 | Auburn | L 28–38 | |
2007 | LSU | L 14–21 |
Head coaches
Since its first game in 1891, Tennessee has had 24 head coaches. Robert Neyland has coached for the most years and won the most games. He has 173 wins in 21 years (spread out over three stints). John Barnhill has won .846 percent of the games he has coached, which is more than anyone else who has coached more than one game. With a .306 winning percentage, James DePree has the worst record of all coaches who have run more than one game. Neyland, Wyatt, Dickey, Majors, and Fulmer have all been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta. They are five of the 23 head coaches who have led the Volunteers.
Bowl games
Season | Coach | Bowl | Opponent | Result |
2004 | Phillip Fulmer | Cotton Bowl Classic | Texas A&M | W 38–7 |
2006 | Phillip Fulmer | Outback Bowl | Penn State | L 10–20 |
2007 | Phillip Fulmer | Outback Bowl | Wisconsin | W 21–17 |
2009 | Lane Kiffin | Chick-fil-A Bowl | Virginia Tech | L 14–37 |
2010 | Derek Dooley | Music City Bowl | North Carolina | L 27–30 2OT |
2014 | Butch Jones | TaxSlayer Bowl | Iowa | W 45–28 |
2015 | Butch Jones | Outback Bowl | Northwestern | W 45–6 |
2016 | Butch Jones | Music City Bowl | Nebraska | W 38–24 |
2019 | Jeremy Pruitt | Gator Bowl | Indiana | W 23–22 |
2021 | Josh Heupel | Music City Bowl | Purdue | L 45–48 |
Rivalries
The Alabama Crimson Tide, the Florida Gators, and the Vanderbilt Commodores are the Vols’ three main rivals. Kentucky Wildcats and Tennessee have also been rivals for a long time and for a long time. Since 1992, when the SEC made the Eastern Division, the Tennessee Vols and the Georgia Bulldogs have become more and more of a rivalry. None of their games have trophies, but from 1925 to 1999, Kentucky and Tennessee played for a trophy called the Beer Barrel. From 1985 to 2010, Tennessee won 26 straight games against Kentucky. On November 26, 2011, Kentucky beat Tennessee 10–7 in Lexington, putting an end to the streak. Before Georgia Tech left the SEC, the Volunteers’ biggest rivals were the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, the Auburn Tigers, and Ole Miss. Realignment forced them to drop Auburn and Ole Miss from their schedule.
All-time record
As of 2017, Tennessee is ranked thirteenth by the percentage of wins and ninth by the number of wins. The best score ever is 830–375–53, which is.682. The Vols have a record of 464–127–17 at Neyland Stadium (.777).
The University Athletic Association keeps the official records for the UT football season. They have won 13 conference titles and six national titles over the course of their history. Their last national title came in 1998 when they played college football.
The Vols play at Neyland Stadium, where Tennessee has won 464 games, the most of any college football team in the country at its current home field. Also, with 102,455 seats, Neyland is the fifth largest stadium in the United States.
Retired Players
No. | Player | Position | Tenure | Retired |
91 | Doug Atkins | DE | –1952 | 2005 |
16 | Peyton Manning | QB | 1995–1997 | 2005 |
92 | Reggie White | DE | 1980–1983 | 2005 |
62 | Clyde Fuson | FB | 1942 | 2006 |
49 | Rudy Klarer | G | 1941–1942 | 2006 |
32 | Billy Nowling | FB | 1940–1942 | 2006 |
61 | Willis Tucker | FB | 1939–1940 | 2006 |
45 | Johnny Majors | HB | 1954–1956 | 2012 |
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