Tennessee football: Vols top 10 upset wins in school history

6. 1985-86 Sugar Bowl: Tennessee beats Miami 35-7

The Miami Hurricanes get to be on this list twice, and they aren’t even a conference foe. Tennessee football’s 1985 season was the resurgent season that returned the Vols to national prominence. At the time, it seemed like Johnny Majors’s eight-year rebuilding process had finally paid off.

Despite an injury to Tony Robinson, the Vols finished the regular season 8-1-2 and SEC champions. They were heading to the Sugar Bowl to face the Miami Hurricanes, looking for their second national championship in three years and their first under second-year head coach Jimmy Johnson.

Miami and Tennessee both had something in common in that the only loss for each of them was due to the Florida Gators. But they beat the Oklahoma Sooners, who beat the undefeated Penn State Nittany Lions in the Orange Bowl.

As a result, the ‘Canes would be national champs if they just beat the Vols in the Sugar Bowl. A powerhouse of the 1980s, nobody expected much from Majors’s Tennessee team that had just returned to national prominence.

And that made Miami heavy favorites. They were basically already crowned national champions, and analysts were already seeming vindicated when they scored a touchdown on their opening drive with ease, going up 7-0 after a Vinny Testaverde touchdown pass to Michael Irvin.

But then Tennessee’s defense got tough. And the offense came to life with backup quarterback Daryl Dickey hitting Jeff Smith for a game-tying touchdown. The shock hit when Tim McGee recovered a Miami fumble in the end zone to go up 14-7.

Clearly still hit with that shock, Miami crumbled in the second half. Tennessee football took control and scored three more touchdowns for a shocking 35-7 blowout upset. It was amazing for a resurgent team deemed lucky to be in the Sugar Bowl to blow out a national title favorite. And that makes it one of the highlights in Tennessee football history.