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Tennessee football: 10 Vols games vs. South Carolina that dramatically altered history

By Caleb Calhoun

KNOXVILLE, TN - OCTOBER 31: Kevin Cooper #45 of the Tennessee Volunteers celebrates with teammates after scoring a touchdown against the South Carolina Gamecocks at Neyland Stadium on October 31, 2009 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)
KNOXVILLE, TN - OCTOBER 31: Kevin Cooper #45 of the Tennessee Volunteers celebrates with teammates after scoring a touchdown against the South Carolina Gamecocks at Neyland Stadium on October 31, 2009 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images) /
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Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images
Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images /

9. 2009 – Tennessee: 31 South Carolina: 13

The black jerseys are what everybody remembers about this game. Tennessee football used that for sales years afterward and incorporated them into video games. However, this also had a significant impact on that season and the future one coach, Lane Kiffin.

The Vols and Gamecocks both only went 7-6 on the year. But this was the key game to put Kiffin on the map. Before this, he was all talk as the Vols’ head coach. Going into the match-up with a 3-4 record, though, it was hard to believe in him.

Kiffin’s strongest selling point was a blowout win over a bad Georgia Bulldogs team, only losing by 10 to the Florida Gators, and then being a blocked field goal away from beating the Alabama Crimson Tide the week before. It did seem like, though, he had this team fighting hard.

Coming into this game, South Carolina was in the Top 25. A night game on Halloween was the perfect setting for him to get his name out there. And that’s what he did. The Vols shocked the world with the black jerseys.

They carried that momentum onto the field and dominated the Gamecocks 31-13. It seemed like a program-defining win at the time. But as Tennessee football finished 7-6, it was just the win that put Kiffin on the map. Kiffin used that to be able to get offered the job with the USC Trojans, where he eventually got fired.

But what if the Vols don’t win this game? They would finish 6-7 with nobody looking to hire Kiffin. So Tennessee football goes into the future with him instead of Derek Dooley, and there’s honestly no way of knowing how things shake out.

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