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Tennessee football: Vols 10 best wins against religious schools

By Caleb Calhoun

Aaron Hayden #24, Running Back for the University of Tennessee Volunteers runs the ball during the NCAA Southeastern Conference college football game against the University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish on 9 November 1991 at the Notre Dame Stadium in Notre Dame, Indiana, United States. The Tennessee Volunteers won the game 35 - 34. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Allsport/Getty Images)
Aaron Hayden #24, Running Back for the University of Tennessee Volunteers runs the ball during the NCAA Southeastern Conference college football game against the University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish on 9 November 1991 at the Notre Dame Stadium in Notre Dame, Indiana, United States. The Tennessee Volunteers won the game 35 - 34. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Allsport/Getty Images) /
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Photo by Joe Murphy/Getty Images
Photo by Joe Murphy/Getty Images /

3. 1945

Wake Forest Demon Deacons at Tennessee Volunteers

Final score: Tennessee wins 7-6

We’re back to another Tennessee football win over the Wake Forest Demon Deacons. To be fair, this used to be an annual rivalry, which is why there are so many games between the two schools on this list. But for this one, we take you all the way back to 1945, when John Barnhill was leading the program between Robert Neyland’s second and third stints.

The year before, UT had gone 7-1-1, and by any reasonable standard, they would have shared the SEC title with the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets since they went 5-0-1 in the league and GT went 4-0. But the title went to GT outright. Still, the Vols did go to the Rose Bowl, where they lost 25-0 to the USC Trojans.

That set the stage for the opener to this year. Wake Forest was coming off an 8-1 season, and while UT was looking to win the SEC, the Demon Deacons were hoping to win the Southern. But in a thrilling matchup, the Vols pulled out a 7-6 victory.

This win is on the list because of its magnitude. Wake got off to an 0-3 start because of that loss but turned into a quality win as they finished the season 5-0-1, including scoring a huge upset over the Clemson Tigers.

Meanwhile, the Vols only lost to the eventually undefeated Alabama Crimson Tide, but they finished the year 8-1 and ranked No. 14. This victory got them on the right track. It was an exciting win over a good team as well.

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