Tennessee football: 10 memorable game-winning touchdown drives in Vols history

14 Nov 1998: An overall view from inside Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tennessee during a game between the Tennessee Volunteers and the Arkansas Razorbacks. The Volunteers defeated the Razorbacks 28-24. Mandatory Credit: Tom Hauck /Allsport
14 Nov 1998: An overall view from inside Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tennessee during a game between the Tennessee Volunteers and the Arkansas Razorbacks. The Volunteers defeated the Razorbacks 28-24. Mandatory Credit: Tom Hauck /Allsport /
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Photo by Jonathan Daniel /Allsport
Photo by Jonathan Daniel /Allsport /

Tennessee football has had some incredible game-winning touchdown drives in the past. Here are the 10 most memorable ones in Volunteers’ history.

Throughout its history, Tennessee football has found numerous ways to pull out thrilling victories. But as the game evolved and the offensive schemes expanded, they like many other schools also developed a history of game-winning touchdown drives.

It’s one thing to go down the field for a game-winning field goal. But needing a touchdown to win is a completely different animal, as you can’t just rely on your kicker to nail a 50-yarder like the Vols did to beat the Florida Gators back in 2004.

And without the field goal, Tennessee football has a pretty impressive history of epic game-winning drives. They have turned into historic wins for the program as well that also resulted in historic season.

Now, for a bit of fun, we’re going to look back on those drives in this past. To do that, we first have to establish what a game-winning touchdown drive is. And our criteria is actually going to be a bit more specific.

To qualify as a game-winning touchdown drive, UT has to have taken the lead in a game on the last offensive drive in which they picked up any first downs, and they have to have held on for victory. That means game-winning drives can still occur if a defensive stand won the game.

However, if the offense made key plays after that drive that put them ahead for good, then it won’t make this list of game-winning drives. We’re putting a specific focus on those final offensive drives in a game. Overtime drives don’t count.

Our rankings will also be based on how memorable the win was, the magnitude of the game, the quality of the opponent, and yes, how impressive the drive itself was. All of these things come into account for the Vols’ history here.

So let’s go ahead and take a fun trip down memory lane on Rocky Top and remember some of the most clutch Vols’ possessions ever. These are the top 10 memorable game-winning touchdown drives in Tennessee football history.