3. 1937
6-3-1 (4-3)
*No bowl game
We mentioned in our opening slide how Tennessee football finished ranked the first year the AP Poll was ever available, in 1936, and how that was also Robert Neyland’s first year back in his second stint on Rocky Top. This year, the Vols laid the foundation for a historic run with Bowden Wyatt entering his second year and running back George Cafego making his debut.
In an up and down season, Neyland’s kids started out 2-0 with wins over the Wake Forest Demon Deacons and VPI Gobblers. Then they tied the Duke Blue Devils and lost to eventual SEC Champion Alabama Crimson Tide. After beating the Sewanee Tigers and Georgia Bulldogs, they got to No. 15 in the national rankings. But then they hit a slump.
The Vols lost at the Auburn Tigers, then Neyland suffered his first loss to the Vanderbilt Commodores, the team he was hired to beat, since his first season in 1926. Still, they were able to rebound with solid road wins over the Kentucky Wildcats and Ole Miss Rebels to close out the season with a 6-3-1 record.
UT didn’t have any bad losses this year, and with Duke finishing ranked No. 20, they also had a quality tie. After this year, though, more talent would join Cafego and Wyatt with guys like Abe Shires, Ed Molinski, Bob Suffridge and Bob Foxx. The result was three straight years without a regular season loss and two national championships. This 1937 set the stage for that.