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Ranking Tennessee football’s top 10 wins under Johnny Majors

By Caleb Calhoun

Johnny Majors, Head Coach for the University of Tennessee Volunteers stands with his team during the NCAA Southeastern Conference college football game against the University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish on 9 November 1991 at the Notre Dame Stadium in Notre Dame, Indiana, United States. The Tennessee Volunteers won the game 35 - 34. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Allsport/Getty Images)
Johnny Majors, Head Coach for the University of Tennessee Volunteers stands with his team during the NCAA Southeastern Conference college football game against the University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish on 9 November 1991 at the Notre Dame Stadium in Notre Dame, Indiana, United States. The Tennessee Volunteers won the game 35 - 34. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Allsport/Getty Images) /
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Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images
Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images /

7. 834. 35. 839. Final

1. 1985-86: Miami’s chance at national title ruined in Sugar Bowl

This was the story of a team coming together to accomplish so much with so little amidst so much adversity. Tennessee football was not even supposed to be here. The Vols started 1985 unranked and then lost their star quarterback, Tony Robinson, to a season-ending injury in October.

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Still, Johnny Majors’ team held strong to finish 8-1-2 and win its first SEC Championship since 1969. The Miami Hurricanes, meanwhile, were 10-1, ranked No. 2 under second-year head coach Jimmy Johnson and looking for their second national title in three years.

After the No. 1 ranked Penn State Nittany Lions lost the Orange Bowl to the Oklahoma Sooners earlier in the day, the ‘Canes were psyched. They had beat Oklahoma earlier in the year, so to win the title, they just had to beat the No. 8 ranked Vols. It was supposed to be just a formality. UT didn’t belong, remember? So everybody thought Miami would dominate.

Vinny Testaverde made it look like that with an early touchdown drive to put Miami up 7-0. However, the Vols began to blitz all night, and “The U” couldn’t figure it out. Daryl Dickey, Robinson’s replacement, hit Jeff Smith in the second quarter to tie it up. Then All-American receiver Tim McGee recovered a fumble in the end zone to give UT a shocking 14-7 halftime lead.

Touchdown runs from Sam Henderson, Jeff Powell and Charles Wilson ensued in the second half, as the Vols’ defense continued to dominate. Amidst these blitz packages, Testaverde was sacked seven times. He fumbled three times, one of which set up Henderson’s touchdown, and also threw a pick, which Chris White returned 68 yards to set up Wilson’s touchdown.

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Simply put, Tennessee football’s defense dominated, and the offense did what it had to do. As a result, the Vols had what would become one of their greatest wins in school history, a thrashing of a much-greater hyped up Miami team. It was the highlight of Johnny Majors’ career on Rocky Top, as this team became known as the “Sugar Vols,” finishing 9-1-2 and ranked No. 4.

For more posts remembering Johnny Majors’ accomplishments on Rocky Top as a player and coach for Tennessee football, please click here.

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