Tennessee vs. Alabama: 10 Memorable Vols Wins in the Series

Sep 12, 2015; Knoxville, TN, USA; Tennessee Volunteers mascot carries the flag through the fans during Vol Walk prior to the game against the Oklahoma Sooners at Neyland Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jim Brown-USA TODAY Sports

The Third Saturday in October has great history in college football. Here are the 10 best victories for the Volunteers in the Tennessee vs. Alabama rivalry.

They first played in 1900 to a tie.

And they have played every year since 1927 with the exception of 1943, when neither team took the field due to World War II.

Alabama may lead the series 51-38-7, and they may have won the last seven (eight if you factor in the vacated win in 2007), but there is no question that both teams have had their share of great moments in this rivalry.

There have been plenty of times when Tennessee and Alabama have incited hatred in each other as well. Consider that before the division split in 1992, this was likely the game to determine the SEC Champion.

Looking back at Tennessee’s memorable victories over the Tide, many of them have come in recent history. In fact, their most elating wins all only go back to the Bear Bryant days.

But in this series that has been dominated by streaks, Tennessee has dealt Alabama just as many heartbreakers as Alabama has dealt Tennessee. It just seems like all the recent heartbreakers have worked in Alabama’s favor.

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Doug Dickey, Johnny Majors, and of course Phillip Fulmer have had their share of great victories over the Tide. The most recent one was obviously 2006, which was a long time ago.

But don’t forget that Tennessee won seven straight over Alabama from 1995 to 2001 and won 10 of 12 from 1995 to 2006, so the dominance in this series changes hands a lot.

It has just favored Alabama a lot more in the modern era of college football because they struck gold with two of the four greatest coaches in SEC history, Bear Bryant and Nick Saban.

Majors and Fulmer were very good, hall-of-fame worthy coaches. They were not Mount Rushmore coaches like those guys, though.

Anyway, this is still a great rivalry, so let’s take a look at the 10 most memorable victories the Vols have had in this series.

Next: #10: Tennessee Wins 16-13 in 2006