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Tennessee football: Vols 10 greatest seasons without top 25 finish

By Caleb Calhoun

JACKSONVILLE, FL - JANUARY 02: Eric Gray #3 of the Tennessee Volunteers celebrates after a 16-yard touchdown run to give his team the lead in the fourth quarter of the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl against the Indiana Hoosiers at TIAA Bank Field on January 2, 2020 in Jacksonville, Florida. Tennessee defeated Indiana 23-22. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)
JACKSONVILLE, FL - JANUARY 02: Eric Gray #3 of the Tennessee Volunteers celebrates after a 16-yard touchdown run to give his team the lead in the fourth quarter of the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl against the Indiana Hoosiers at TIAA Bank Field on January 2, 2020 in Jacksonville, Florida. Tennessee defeated Indiana 23-22. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images) /
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2. 1955

6-3-1 (3-2-1)

*No bowl game

We mentioned the hiring and firing of Harvey Robinson after Robert Neyland’s final retirement on our first slide. There is also a season already involving Bowden Wyatt on here, and it deals with his last good season on Rocky Top.

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This was Wyatt’s first season and Tennessee football’s first without Robinson. After Neyland fired Robinson, his former All-American defensive end was a logical choice, as Wyatt had just won the Southwest Conference in his second year with the Arkansas Razorbacks which followed a six-year stint with the Wyoming Cowboys, where he won two Skyline Conference championships.

Things got off to a rocky start, as the Vols fell to 0-2 with losses to the Mississippi State Bulldogs and Duke Blue Devils. But with Johnny Majors, Buddy Cruz and Bill Johnson on the team, Wyatt would get them to rebound.

UT then won five of six, their only blemish being a tie against the No. 8 ranked Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. At that point, they were 5-2-1 and had gotten back into the top 20. However, they then got blown out at the Kentucky Wildcats, falling to 5-3-1. A win over the No. 19 ranked Vanderbilt Commodores salvaged things, though.

Related Story. Five key 2020 Vols who were three-stars. light

Going 6-3-1 with a top 25 win and three games against top 25 teams overall was enough to put this season at No. 2. Also, it set the stage for the 1956 SEC Championship, which would be Tennessee football’s greatest season without Neyland until Doug Dickey came along.

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