Tennessee Vols Top 30 Memorable Moments of the Adidas Era

Nov 15, 2014; Knoxville, TN, USA; General view of Neyland Stadium during the first half of the game between the Tennessee Volunteers and the Kentucky Wildcats. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports

19. Surprise 2004 Football SEC East Championship

As the Tennessee football program began its decline during the 2000s, there were always outliers that would tease you into thinking such a fall-off was not going to happen. The 2004 football season was one of those.

The Vols had just come off of a 10-3 season but lost their four-year starter in Casey Clausen at quarterback. Fulmer turned to two freshmen at the position at the beginning of the season, Erik Ainge and Brent Schaefer, and he never looked back.

The Vols scored a blowout win against UNLV and then won a thriller against the Florida Gators, their last win in the series, thanks to a personal foul penalty that never should have been called and a James Wilhoit 50-yard field goal right after he missed an extra point.

But the highlight of the season came in Athens. The Dawgs were a Top Five team in quarterback David Greene’s senior year, had just blown out LSU the week before while the Vols had been blown out by Auburn, and had not lost to the Vols in five years. Entering the game 12-point underdogs, Tennessee held on to win at the wire 19-14 in a major upset.

Even after Schaefer and Ainge both suffered season-ending injuries, Fulmer turned to Rick Clausen at quarterback, and the Vols still managed to win the SEC East. Two losses to undefeated Auburn and a weird loss to Notre Dame in which Ainge went down with an injury at halftime were the only blemishes on the record.

A 10-3 finish and Cotton Bowl victory left fans extremely teased and excited about a potential title run the next year with so many starters back. We’ll get to the 2005 disaster another time.

Next: #18: Florida Loses Twice in 1997