Tennessee football’s rivalry with Alabama has featured many shockers in the past. Here are the 10 memorable upsets between the Volunteers and Crimson Tide.
When Tennessee football takes the field against the Alabama Crimson Tide Saturday, the Vols will be heavy underdogs. The good news is, despite losing 45-7 last year, they aren’t as big of underdogs going into this game thanks to Jeremy Pruitt’s team’s huge win over the Auburn Tigers last week.
But it’s still highly unlikely they win, and the overwhelming majority of the world likely thinks it’s impossible. That’s understandable. The Vols are 3-3 and just beat their first SEC or Power Five team in 11 tries. Alabama, meanwhile, may be the best team in the history of college football, something we will have to judge in time.
So this mismatch is clear. It’s hard to know if Tennessee football can even come close to making this game interesting. Even as the Tide showed a few weaknesses the last two weeks, finally, they still won by over four touchdowns both times.
This actually isn’t anything new, however, in the Tennessee-Alabama series. Despite the two programs being the most successful overall in SEC history, they are never really good at the same time. The Vols have been rebuilding through a barrage of failed coaches throughout Saban’s tenure in Tuscaloosa.
Meanwhile, the Phillip Fulmer run of the late 1990s through mid-2000s featured the Tide on probation twice, one of which was thanks in large part to Fulmer himself. This dates back to the 1970s, when Bear Bryant resurrected Alabama while the Vols fell apart under Bill Battle. Heck, even the resurgence of UT under Doug Dickey in the 1960s happened at the same time that Bryant had his slump period in Tuscaloosa.
With them being in such different places throughout the series history, it has made for numerous chances for upsets. And both teams have enjoyed such upsets at different times throughout the series. In this post, we’re going to take a look at when those occurred.
Keep in mind, these aren’t necessarily the best wins for either team in the series. They may not even be the most memorable. The only criteria is if the underdog one and how much of an underdog a team was when it won.
And a look back at these games could maybe give fans and players on Rocky Top just the confidence they need for Saturday. Hey, it’s crazy, but this list will show you crazy has happened before in this series. So let’s break down when. These are the 10 biggest upsets in the history of Tennessee football’s series against Alabama.