Tennessee football’s 10 most unlucky losses of all time

The Tennessee football Volunteers gave these games away.

There have been plenty of times when Tennessee football lost to inferior teams. The Vols have also lost plenty of heartbreakers. However, in both instances, they were still usually outplayed in some way. They were extremely unlucky in some cases, though.

Now, throughout history, Rocky Top has been more lucky than unlucky. That’s partially what comes with a winning mentality. When things get close, they actually expect to win, so they often pull games out because of such a mentality.

Still, in plenty of instances, Tennessee football has been on the other side of that bad luck. As the program has slipped significantly in recent years, its losing mentality has allowed bad luck to creep in on numerous occasions.

In this post, we’re going to take a look at the most unlucky losses UT has ever suffered. Some of these games have cost the Vols a shot at a championship, and others cost them a shot at reaching the postseason. All of these, however, are games they gave away.

Remember, this is not just a set of games UT blew against bad opponents. For instance, the SEC Championship game loss to the LSU Tigers in 2001 wasn’t a game of bad luck. The Vols were just severely outplayed in that one. By a similar measure, the Vols blowing a 17-7 lead to lose 21-20 to the Florida Gators in 2006 wasn’t unlucky. They just lost a heartbreaker there.

UT is not lacking in heartbreaking losses, though, even with those games being eliminated from the list. Every fan in Knoxville who has followed the program, especially during this century, will tell you that.

So which games are we talking about? How bad were the outcomes? Let’s go ahead and break all of that down on this trip down Heartbreak Lane. These are the top 10 unlucky losses for Tennessee football throughout the program’s history.