3. Bill Battle
1972: 10-2 (4-2)
No. 8 AP; No. 11 Coaches; W Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl
Another third year similar to Butch Jones’ 2015 team, Bill Battle gave false hope with this season. In fact, just like 2015 with Joshua Dobbs, Tennessee football was offsetting an inevitable downward slide in 1972 thanks to a mobile quarterback, this time by the name of Condredge Holloway. He was set to take over this year, and this was his best season.
UT started things off with a 34-3 win over the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets and then a 28-21 win over the No. 6 ranked Penn State Nittany Lions. After beating the Wake Forest Demon Deacons, they got to No. 4. However, they then suffered a heartbreaking 10-6 loss at the Auburn Tigers, and two games later, they lost by a touchdown to the No. 3 ranked Alabama Crimson Tide.
Two one-score losses to the two schools from Alabama would cost the Vols a national championship. They won everything after that, and in an unusual setting, they got to face a fellow SEC opponent, the No. 10 ranked LSU Tigers, in the Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl in Houston Texas the day before New Years Eve in 1972.
In that game, the No. 11 ranked Vols built a 24-3 lead thanks to two touchdown runs by Holloway and another touchdown pass by him, and they held on for a 24-17 win. As a result, they finished 10-2 and in the top 10 of one poll, which was a great way to end Battle’s third season. However, every year under him got progressively worse after that.