3. LSU Tigers (No. 1)
Year: 1959 (Home)
Final score: No. 13 Tennessee wins 14-13
Tennessee football and the LSU Tigers haven’t played often. But when they do play, there’s a heartbreaker somewhere. The Vols had their 2001 national championship season ruined by an upset loss to LSU in the SEC Championship game. But they got revenge with a 21-0 comeback in Death Valley to win 30-27 in overtime on the heels of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
But LSU then got them with a Jamarcus Russell game-winning drive in 2006 and then the game the Vols won but then lost due to a penalty with no time on the clock in 2010. So yes, heartbreak is everywhere here. But none of those compare to what was done in 1959.
After the elite 1956 season, the Vols were solid in 1957 but struggled in 1958, and faith was crumbling a bit in Bowden Wyatt. Even after an early win over the Auburn Tigers to get into the top 10, the Vols lost to the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets and tied the Alabama Crimson Tide. So they were 4-1-1 and No. 13 when No. 1 ranked LSU came to town on this day.
Led by eventual Heisman Trophy winner Billy Cannon, the Tigers were 7-0. But they had just beaten the No. 3 ranked Ole Miss Rebels in the game that would seem to have determined the SEC and national champion. So UT was an afterthought. They shouldn’t have been.
Wyatt channeled the days of Robert Neyland, his former coach, and saw his team put together a legendary defensive performance. Using the advantage of 20-degree temperatures for a team that had just played in 70-degree weather in Baton Rouge, the Vols cashed in on LSU mistakes, including two missed field goals. That was enough for them to trail 7-0 at halftime.
In the second half, Jim Cartwright took advantage of another LSU mistake. He intercepted a pass and ran it 59 yards the other way for a touchdown to tie the game up. Then LSU had another turnover on the next drive, as Ken Sadler forced a fumble. Neyle Sollee then gave UT the lead with a 14-yard run. So two turnovers and two missed field goals by the Tigers put the Vols in control.
However, LSU would finally get their break, as the Vols fumbled a punt that the Tigers recovered at their own two yard line. Three plays later, they got the ball into the end zone to make it 14-13. But to stay in the national title hunt, Paul Dietzel couldn’t afford a tie. So he trusted his Heisman back in Cannon to get the two.
Cannon took the pitch right and looked like he would get in. But Wayne Grubb, Charley Severance and Bill Majors, who made up for the muffed punt that set up the touchdown, sold out to that side and made the stop. They had based their decision on film study from what LSU had done to Ole Miss, and it was the defensive stop of history for Rocky Top.
The Vols would hold on for a legendary 14-13 victory, and it remains their greatest win over LSU, as they ruined the Tigers’ national title hopes, a favor LSU would return 42 years later. There was no epic ending in this season, though, as UT lost its final three games. But the thrill of this game alone and the quality of the win is still enough to put it here.