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Tennessee Loss to Florida Ranks Among the Worst in Vols History

By Caleb Calhoun

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The Tennessee Volunteers football team has had many heartbreaking losses in its history. Saturday’s loss to the Florida Gators is among the worst.

We all remember the 2001 SEC Championship game that Tennessee blew to LSU. There’s also the 2007 SEC Championship game.

Then there’s the 2010 matchup with LSU in Death Valley.

And who could forget 2005 Vanderbilt, 2006 Florida, 2011 Kentucky, 2014 Florida, and this year’s Oklahoma?

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All of these go up there among the most sickening losses in Tennessee Vols football history. Now, this year’s Florida game goes on that list. The question is, where does it rank?

The two SEC Championship game losses to LSU in 2001 and 2007 are the worst in recent history. It does not top those because no championship was on the line.

And 2001 LSU is the worst loss in Tennessee history when you consider what the Vols blew with that game.

Because of the magnitude of the rivalry and the streak, this Florida game is definitely worse than the Oklahoma game two weeks ago. And it is also worse than the 10-9 loss that happened last year.

So that takes us back to 2011 Kentucky. Blowing a long winning streak and missing a bowl game hurts, but that season was such a loss that it did not hurt worse than anything else that happened that year.

Then there’s 2010 LSU. Comparing the two, Saturday’s loss to Florida still hurts worse. Consider that in Death Valley in 2010, Tennessee really had nothing to play for and was not supposed to win that game. It only hurt because they thought they had won and then lost, but the win would not have really done anything.

Obviously, it’s not as bad as the 2007 loss to LSU, but it is definitely worse than the 2005 loss to Vanderbilt, because that was similar to the 2011 loss to Kentucky.

So as far as this millennium goes, it is safe to say this is the worst regular season loss. The Vols are desperate to end a 10-game winning streak to their hated rival, they blew a two-score lead in the fourth quarter last year in it, and they did it for the second straight time this year.

Given all the offseason hype, to lose this one hurts worse than any other regular season game. You might have to go back to one of they Peyton Manning losses to Florida to really compare this game to a painful regular season loss that will be hard to recover from.

It’s definitely the worst one since 2000.

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