Tennessee football’s five worst seasons with third-year coach

Just as Zora G. Clevenger did in the early 1910s, Johnny Majors rebuild Tennessee football in the latter half of the 20th century, and part of that was a very disappointing third year. However, after a 4-7 season in 1977 and 5-5-1 season in 1978, this was a very welcome year relative to what the Vols had suffered through since Condredge Holloway had left the program in 1974.

Relying on the talents of Jimmy Streater and Roland James, UT ended a five-year bowl game drought this season. Their only issue here was inconsistency. The Vols played four games in the top 25 this season, and they lost all four.

It all began with a 3-0 start, including a 35-17 win over the Auburn Tigers, to get them to No. 19. But then they were upset by the Mississippi State Bulldogs, who would finish 3-8. After shutting out the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, they got back in the top 25, and they stayed there even after losing to the Alabama Crimson Tide.

However, at No. 17, they were then shocked on homecoming by the unranked Rutgers Scarlet Knights. Now back out of the top 25, they had one of their biggest early wins in the Majors era, blowing out the No. 13 ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish. That got them back into the top 25, only for them to lose to the Ole Miss Rebels, who went 4-7 that year.

Simply put, UT always lost when it hit the top 25. After beating the Kentucky Wildcats and Vanderbilt Commodores, they lost the Bluebonnet Bowl to the No. 12 ranked Purdue Boilermakers 27-22. However, this set the stage for Majors’ run in the 1980s, which started with a losing season in 1980 before the program slowly began to take off.