Tennessee football: Vols top 10 now defunct rivalries in history
1. Auburn Tigers
All-time series: Auburn leads 27-22-3
Years rivalry existed:
- 1935-1939 (Vols record: 3-2)
- 1956-1991 (Vols record: 14-19-3)
It seems like Tennessee football loves having rivalries with two schools from one state who are arch-rivals at the same time. They were rivals with the Duke Blue Devils and North Carolina Tar Heels at the same time, the Mississippi State Bulldogs and Ole Miss Rebels at the same time and the Auburn Tigers and Alabama Crimson Tide at the same time.
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Of course, the Vols have also been rivals with the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets and Georgia Bulldogs, albeit at different times. Anyway, when it came to Auburn, the two didn’t have a deep history before the rivalry exploded in the 1950s.
These schools first met in 1900, with Auburn winning 23-0, but they didn’t play again until 1929. They then began their first five-year mini-rivalry during UT’s ascendance into the Golden Age of Robert Neyland’s second stint, which we have discussed.
However, they didn’t meet again until 1956. That year, the Vols went 10-0 and won the SEC Championship before losing their bowl game, but the rivalry took off. From that moment With “Shug” Jordan on the job and winning a national title in 1957 and Bear Bryant joining the Alabama Crimson Tide in 1958, these three schools would always be in competition to win the SEC.
The rivalry reached its peak in the 1980s. Tennessee football upset a No. 1 ranked Auburn team in 1985 en route to their SEC Championship season. They then upset a No. 4 ranked Auburn team in 1989, which brought them into the modern era of their best success from 1989 to 2004. UT, Auburn and Alabama all also shared the SEC title that year.
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After the divisional split ended the rivalry, the schools still had epic matchups, like the 1997 SEC Championship game. Simply put, you can’t tell the story of Tennessee football without discussing this rivalry. It’s sad that it has ended, but there are numerous great memories from both sides in this battle.