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Tennessee football: Five seasons Vols made bowl despite losing record entering Halloween

By Caleb Calhoun

KNOXVILLE, TN - OCTOBER 31: Teammates Darren Myles Jr. #3 and Nyshier Oliver #12 of the Tennessee Volunteers celebrate with teammates against the South Carolina Gamecocks at Neyland Stadium on October 31, 2009 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)
KNOXVILLE, TN - OCTOBER 31: Teammates Darren Myles Jr. #3 and Nyshier Oliver #12 of the Tennessee Volunteers celebrate with teammates against the South Carolina Gamecocks at Neyland Stadium on October 31, 2009 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images) /
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Photo by Doug Pensinger/AllSport
Photo by Doug Pensinger/AllSport /

1. 1986

Record on Halloween: 2-5 (0-3); Final record: 7-5 (3-3)

Liberty Bowl vs. Minnesota Golden Gophers (Won 21-14)

So we’ve got four seasons in the past decade in which the Vols entered Halloween with a losing record but made a bowl. There are no seasons between then and this year, though, when that happened. That’s because the only years they happened during that time were 1988, 2005 and 2008, and UT missed a bowl all three times.

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But in 1986, Tennessee football was in bad shape similar to 2010. They entered Halloween with a 2-5 record and were on the heels of a three-game losing streak to the Army Black Knights, No. 2 ranked Alabama Crimson Tide and Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.

That Army loss followed an upset loss to the Mississippi State Bulldogs in the second game of the year, and a blowout loss to the Auburn Tigers was why they had five losses. Army, MSU and GT were all upsets for a team that won the SEC title and the Sugar Bowl in 1985 to finish 9-1-2 and in the top five.

They appeared to be back under Johnny Majors, and they started 1986 ranked No. 10. So this looked like a very disappointing team. Once the calendar turned to Halloween, though, the turnaround for the Vols began.

UT had an off-week the week of the holiday. And they came back from the bye to face the Memphis Tigers, which eventually started winning streaks to end regular seasons when UT had losing records in 1988 and 2010. After beating Memphis, though, they upset the No. 20 ranked Ole Miss Rebels on the road, proving they were back.

Beating the Kentucky Wildcats and Vanderbilt Commodores was typical, but that represented a strong rebound season. And winning the Liberty Bowl over the Minnesota Golden Gophers got them to 7-5, a great finish.

Next. Vols stock report after Week Nine of 2019. dark

After another top 15 finish in 1987, Tennessee football had a similar year to this one in 1988 in which they had a losing record on Halloween but ended on a winning streak. However, they started 0-6 that year and were 1-6 on Halloween, so despite ending 5-6, they couldn’t make a bowl. That set the stage, though, for the next 16 years of success, so it deserved a mention.

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