5. Two touchdowns by Johnny Majors engineers historic rushing day
After leading Tennessee football to two huge top 25 wins over SEC schools, Johnny Majors was getting set for his final home game as a player on Rocky Top. He was still in the Hesman Trophy race and had already cemented his status as an All-American and an elite talent. Well, in front of his fans, he delivered one great sendoff performance.
Majors was the catalyst for a historic rushing attack by the Vols that day. They had 255 total yards on the ground as a team. When it came to Majors himself, he had two rushing touchdowns, helping the Vols, who were No. 2 at the time and still in the running for the national title, to a convincing win over a Kentucky team that was actually pretty good, finishing the year 6-4.
In addition to his efforts on the ground, Majors also had a great game with his leg. He averaged 49.6 yards per punt on five punts, a big reason UT controlled this game. So this was one outing that really did fuel his case to win the Heisman, which he was eventually robbed of by Paul Hornung anyway.
Still, this was a memorable final home game. We were down to this and Majors’ game against the Florida Gators in 1955 for the final spot, as he also had two touchdowns in that game. However, lots of that was due to help by Florida, who committed multiple turnovers returning punts. So this one made the list.