Tennessee football: Vols top 10 now defunct rivalries in history

9. Clemson Tigers

All-time series: Tennessee leads 11-6-1

Years rivalry existed:

• 1904-1908 (Vols record: 2-2-1)

Currently, Tennessee football has a rivalry with the Clemson Tigers over who is Wide Receiver U and on the recruiting front. Dabo Swinney built up his national championship-caliber program luring recruits away from the Vols, and it started when Lane Kiffin encouraged UT commitment Tajh Boyd to look elsewhere back in 2009.

Ever since then, Clemson has begun to supplant Rocky Top as the elite team in orange in the Southeast, and the Vols are relying on Jeremy Pruitt to take that back. However, over a century before this, these two teams had a Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association rivalry. It was just as the Vols were emerging as a program.

The two schools played each other for five straight years, starting in 1904 under Sax Crawford. Clemson won that one 6-0, and the two tied the next year. This was a dark period for the Vols, as they went 3-5-1 both years and 1-6-2 in 1906, losing to Clemson again. But this team rebounded under George LeVene by going 7-2-1 and 7-2 in 1907 and 1908, beating Clemson both times.

After that, though, the rivalry drew to a close. However, the teams sporadically played each other into the 1940s. Since 1944, they have only met three times: in 1974 and 1976 and then the 2004 Peach Bowl. That Peach Bowl was a devastating loss and part of the Georgia Dome curse, where the previous team, the LSU Tigers, had a history of upsetting Rocky Top as well.