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Tennessee football: Five other times Vols C-USA foes had winning records

By Caleb Calhoun

KNOXVILLE, TN - NOVEMBER 04: Jarrett Guarantano #2 of the Tennessee Volunteers shakes hands with Keon Howard #2 of the Southern Miss Golden Eagles after the game at Neyland Stadium on November 4, 2017 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
KNOXVILLE, TN - NOVEMBER 04: Jarrett Guarantano #2 of the Tennessee Volunteers shakes hands with Keon Howard #2 of the Southern Miss Golden Eagles after the game at Neyland Stadium on November 4, 2017 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images) /
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Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images
Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images /

Conference USA teams have consistently faced Tennessee football in the past. Here are five times the Volunteers faced ones that had winning seasons.

Ever since the C-USA formed in 1995, Tennessee football has made a point to play teams from that conference regularly. The Vols hold a 21-1 record all time against opponents from there, with their only loss coming in 1996 to the Memphis Tigers.

Ironically, they have a 22-1 series advantage over Memphis, so if they beat the UAB Blazers on Saturday, that 1996 loss to Memphis will be their only loss in 23 games against both the Tigers and the C-USA. Of course, the Tigers are now in the American Athletic Conference.

But that’s beside the point. Usually, when the Vols face C-USA teams, they are facing a program with a losing record. In fact, 17 of their 22 games against teams from the conference have finished the season with a losing record.

However, on Saturday, that will not be the case. Tennessee football hosts a 6-1 UAB team that is looking like it’s on track to win back to back C-USA championships just in its third year as a restored program under head coach Bill Clark.

UT head coach Jeremy Pruitt has numerous connections to Clark and his whole coaching staff, as does Pruitt’s father, since they all coached high school football in and around North Alabama in the late 1990s and early to mid-2000s. So he knows how dangerous UAB can be.

Looking back at their history, though, the Vols have been pretty good when facing C-USA teams above .500. In fact, they’ve never lost such a game, although as we mentioned, they only have one lost to a team from that conference in history.

When have they had opponents from that league similar to the Blazers, though? And what were the outcomes of those matchups? Let’s look back in history for a bit to see what’s in store for them Saturday. This is a look at Tennessee football’s five previous games against C-USA teams that finished the season with winning records.

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