All for Tennessee
Fansided

Tennessee football: Vols 10 best seasons coming off a losing record

By Caleb Calhoun

1990: Roland Poles of the Tennessee Volunteers in action during a game against the Arkansas Razorbacks at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Texas. The Tennessee Volunteers won the game 31-27. Mandatory Credit: Joe Patronite /Allsport
1990: Roland Poles of the Tennessee Volunteers in action during a game against the Arkansas Razorbacks at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Texas. The Tennessee Volunteers won the game 31-27. Mandatory Credit: Joe Patronite /Allsport /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
9 of 11
Next
Photo by John Sommers II/Getty Images
Photo by John Sommers II/Getty Images /

3. 1907

7-2-1 (3-2)

1906 record: 1-6-2 (0-3-1)

Yes, we go back to the prehistoric days of Tennessee football for this one. But before the four straight years of losing seasons from 2010 to 2013 and the most losses in school history in 2017 with a 4-8 record, the Vols had a much worse period in the early 1900s.

After going 6-2, under Hubert Fisher in 1902, the Vols stumbled to four straight losing seasons the first time. And these were bad seasons. They went 4-5 in 1903, 3-5-1 in 1904 and 1905, and an abysmal 1-6-2 in 1906. At the time, the Vols had gone through three head coaches during that stretch: Fisher, Sax Crawford and James DePree.

In 1907, they turned to their first Ivy League graduate since Fisher, George Levene, to lead the program. And immediately they had a turnaround. The Vols started 2-0 with wins over the Tennessee Military Institute and the Georgia Bulldogs on the road.

That Georgia win was their first conference win, which at the time was the SIAA, in three years. So already they had shown progress two games in. A close loss to the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets dropped them to 2-1, but then they won their next three games over the Clemson Tigers, Maryville Scots and Chattanooga Mocs.

After tying Kentucky State College, now the Kentucky Wildcats, they beat the Mississippi A&M Aggies, now the Mississippi State Bulldogs, and the Arkansas Razorbacks. A loss to the Alabama Crimson Tide ended their season at 7-2-1, but that was an incredible turnaround after four straight losing seasons. It was their first seven-win season in school history.

Home/Vols Football