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Tennessee football: Vols five best seasons with a horrible upset loss

By Caleb Calhoun

1 Jan 1997: Defensive backs Terry Fair and Cory Gaines of the Tennessee Volunteers slap hands during the Florida Citrus Bowl game against the Northwestern Wildcats at the Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Florida. Tennessee won the game 48-28. Mandatory Credit: Andy Lyons /Allsport
1 Jan 1997: Defensive backs Terry Fair and Cory Gaines of the Tennessee Volunteers slap hands during the Florida Citrus Bowl game against the Northwestern Wildcats at the Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Florida. Tennessee won the game 48-28. Mandatory Credit: Andy Lyons /Allsport /
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Photo by Scott Halleran/Getty Images
Photo by Scott Halleran/Getty Images /

5. 1992

Lost to Arkansas Razorbacks 25-24; South Carolina Gamecocks 24-23

9-3 (5-3); No. 12 AP and Coaches; W Hall of Fame Bowl

We start this list with a unique season in that Tennessee football suffered two upset losses, which will make our description here longer than the others. Both were one-point losses to SEC newcomers who would both finish the season with a losing record.

They also were part of a three-game losing streak surrounding a loss to eventual national champion Alabama Crimson Tide and resulting in a coaching transition that would forever alter the course of the Vols. So these upsets were real.

This was the year in which longtime UT head coach and former UT All-American Johnny Majors, who had been there since 1977, would have to miss the start of the season due to open-heart surgery. Filling in for the man who coached UT to three SEC titles and won a national championship with the Pittsburgh Panthers was his offensive coordinator, Phillip Fulmer.

With a new quarterback in Heath Shuler to replace Andy Kelly and lots of other talent needing to be replaced, expectations were low. But the Vols got off to a red-hot start, upsetting the Florida Gators and Georgia Bulldogs in back to back weeks to get to 3-0. They got to 5-0 after Majors returned and into the top five. Then the upsets happened.

Their first loss was to Arkansas. This team was 1-4, and its only win was to the South Carolina team we’re about to mention. But the Hogs cashed in on an ugly day at Neyland, and after scoring a touchdown and failing on the two-point play, they recovered an onside kick and made the game-winning field goal.

Two games after that heartbreak and a fall to 5-2 in an understandable loss to Alabama, that same South Carolina team came in. And they also shocked the Vols, building a 24-17 lead late. An epic Mose Phillips touchdown run brought it to 24-23, but UT needed a two-point conversion to avoid a tie and stay in first place. They failed on the play.

As a result, UT had gone from 5-0 to 5-3, and they suffered two horrific upset losses. S.C. would finish the year 5-6, but Arkansas would finish 3-7-1. That was embarrassing and Majors was canned as a result. He won his final three games to get back to 8-3, and then Fulmer replaced him for good.

In the Hall of Fame Bowl, Tennessee football dominated the Boston College Eagles to win 38-23. So despite two upset losses, they still had nine wins, a top 15 finish, a bowl win and victories over Florida and Georgia. The transition of Majors to Fulmer is what everybody remembers about this season, though.

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