Tennessee football: Vols win over Auburn ended 15 losing streaks

13. Games against SEC teams (11 games)

Last win: 2016; Tennessee beats Missouri 63-37

This is the one that stood out to everybody. The bulk of Tennessee football’s 11-game Power Five losing streak, six-game losing streak to ranked teams, six-game losing streak to teams away from home and four-game losing streak to ranked teams away from home all came during that 0-8 SEC record in 2017.

It was part of an overall SEC losing streak, though, that reached 11 games. We know about those games. The Florida Gators loss was the catalyst for last year’s collapse, and each loss after that sent the Vols further and further down as a program. The two losses to the Florida Gators and Georgia Bulldogs this year made it worse.

But in reality, it actually started back in 2016. With an 8-3 record, the Vols just needed to beat the 5-6 Vanderbilt Commodores on the road to be in position for a New Years Six bowl game. That’s how middle of the pack the SEC was that year.

Instead, they could not stop the Vandy offense, and Derek Mason scored a huge upset win in Nashville. Then came the 0-8 record in 2017 before the 0-2 start in 2018, resulting in an eight-game losing streak.

That loss further represented the collapse of what should have been a great season in 2016. The last win the Vols had over an SEC team before Saturday was at home against a bad Missouri Tigers team in Barry Odom’s first year.

Although the defense was also horrible in that game, giving up 37 points, the offense set record after record on Senior Day en route to 63 points. Joshua Dobbs delivered beautifully in his final home game with UT, throwing for 223 yards and three touchdowns and rushing for 190 yards and two touchdowns.

John Kelly’s 101 yards and a touchdown along with Alvin Kamara’s 55 yards and two touchdowns made for a historic rushing day in which the team had 386 yards on the ground and five touchdowns. But it was a bittersweet day, as the Florida Gators captured the SEC East title earlier in the afternoon. And it only got bitter afterward.