Tennessee football’s Johnny Majors vs. Auburn’s Pat Dye: Ranking 11 games

7. 1982: Win catapults Tigers to first ranking under Pat Dye

After a 5-6 season in his first year, Pat Dye was on a mission to prove what he could do. In 1982, his team had gotten off to a 2-0 start, but they had to survive the Southern Miss Golden Eagles with a 21-19 win. Because of that game, there were major questions as to just how much of a leap they had taken this year.

Meanwhile, Tennessee football had started 1-1. They lost their opener in a shocker to the Duke Blue Devils, who had an offensive coordinator by the name of Steve Spurrier that year. The next week, they also had a two-point win, beating Johnny Majors’ former team, the Iowa State Cyclones, 23-21. So they were 1-1 entering this game.

While both teams had questions, Auburn was better, and Auburn also had this freshman running back by the name of Bo Jackson. The Tigers came away with a 24-14 win, sending the Vols to 1-2 on the year. They got to 3-0 and No. 20, their first ranking since 1980, when they had lost to the Vols in Doug Barfield’s final season.

Auburn’s ranking didn’t last initially, as Pat Dye and his program lost to the No. 8 Nebraska Cornhuskers the next week. However, they still went 9-3 on the year and finished No. 14. UT, meanwhile, had an up and down season to finish 6-5-1, but part of that was a shocking win over the Alabama Crimson Tide to end their 11-game losing streak in the series. So things worked out.