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Tennessee football: Vols 10 most improved years after missing bowl game

By Caleb Calhoun

Andy Kelly #8, Quarterback for the University of Tennessee Volunteers runs the ball during the NCAA Southwest Conference Cotton Bowl Classic championship college football game against the University of Arkansas Razorbacks on 1 January 1990 at the Cotton Bowl Stadium, Dallas, Texas, United States. The Tennessee Volunteers won the game 31 - 27. (Photo by Joe Patronite/Allsport/Getty Images)
Andy Kelly #8, Quarterback for the University of Tennessee Volunteers runs the ball during the NCAA Southwest Conference Cotton Bowl Classic championship college football game against the University of Arkansas Razorbacks on 1 January 1990 at the Cotton Bowl Stadium, Dallas, Texas, United States. The Tennessee Volunteers won the game 31 - 27. (Photo by Joe Patronite/Allsport/Getty Images) /
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8. 1955 (6-3-1, 3-2-1)

1954 record: 4-6 (1-5)

We didn’t say that teams had to make a bowl game to be on this list of improvement seasons. Suc is the case with the Vols in 1955. Johnny Majors was behind numerous turnaround seasons for Tennessee football as a head coach. But some of the biggest improvement teams he was a part of came from his playing days on Rocky Top in the 1950s.

Majors was part of the new age of the Vols, the post Robert Neyland years under Bowden Wyatt. Many of us look back on those years aware that they did not work out. But in the mid-1950s, the story was completely different.

Wyatt was the second coach after Neyland’s final retirement. Regression happened under Harvey Robinson, the first head coach, as they went 6-4-1 in 1953 then 4-6 in 1954. In 1955, Wyatt came along after six years with the Wyoming Cowboys and two with the Arkansas Razorbacks.

Looking to resurrect his alma mater, where he helped usher in a national championship in 1938, Wyatt got off to a rough start in 1955. Losses to the Mississippi State Bulldogs and Duke Blue Devils had this team at 0-2. Then, out of the blue, they got on a roll and went six straight games without a loss.

The highlight was a 7-7 tie against the No. 8 ranked Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. A loss to the Kentucky Wildcats ended the streak, but a week later the Vols beat the No. 19 ranked Vanderbilt Commodores to finish 6-3-1. That improvement set the stage for another big year, and Majors was a breakout star with 11 touchdowns and over 1,100 yards rushing.

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