A terrible upset loss to the Georgia State Panthers may have Tennessee football fans panicking. But these previous seasons give the Volunteers hope.
College football history as a whole shows that teams can rebound from horrible upset losses, especially ones that exist to start the season. Well, the same is true for Tennessee football and its own history.
Over the course of their 120-plus seasons, the Vols have certainly had moments in which they suffered horrible losses to bad teams they would like to have back. And some may have ruined goals they had for their seasons.
However, Tennessee football in the grand scheme of things actually has a few memorable seasons with such losses. You just can’t explain them, and it gives Jeremy Pruitt’s second team on Rocky Top a lot more hope.
In this post, we’re going to break down some of those successful years for the Vols in which a bad loss took place. Sometimes, the year outweighs the memory of the loss. Other times, even if it’s a good year, the loss still stands out. But these were still all good seasons.
For this to meet our criteria, all the seasons had to involve the Vols finishing off in the top 25. And they all had to involve them losing a game to a team that finished the season with a losing record. We’re doing that despite the fact that the Georgia State Panthers may not finish this year with a losing record. Heck, they already have a 1-0 start.
Anyway, these years should give you an idea of what Rocky Top and Pruitt can overcome. Nothing is too great for a football team to deal with, even if they are in a rebuilding phase and have lots of things to improve on.
And yes, there are lots of things to improve on for the Vols. Also, this doesn’t change the fact that the loss is unacceptable. But it provides more hope, so let’s bring in a bit more optimism. These are Tennessee football’s five best seasons in history in which they suffered a horrible upset loss.