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Tennessee football’s top 10 seasons with 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 10 November 1990 at the Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tennessee, United States. Notre Dame won the game 34 - 29. (Photo by Rick Stewart/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 10 November 1990 at the Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tennessee, United States. Notre Dame won the game 34 - 29. (Photo by Rick Stewart/Allsport/Getty Images) /
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Photo by Doug Pensinger/AllSport
Photo by Doug Pensinger/AllSport /

5. 1987 (Johnny Majors’ role: Head coach)

10-2-1; W Peach Bowl; No. 14 AP; No. 13 Coaches

This was a rebound year for Tennessee football. They entered 1986 in the top 10 after proving they were finally back in 1985, but then they fell to a 2-5 start. However, they had a strong finish to finish 7-5. Entering this season behind returning quarterback Jeff Francis, expectations were high for the program. Early on, they lived up to them.

UT started the year ranked No. 17 and had a thrilling game-winning field goal to beat the No. 16 ranked Iowa Hawkeyes in the Kickoff Classic in New Jersey. to open the year. They then beat the Colorado State Rams and Mississippi State Bulldogs to get to 3-0, and after tying the No. 3 ranked Auburn Tigers at 20, they got into the top 10. A win over the Cal Golden Bears got them to No. 8.

However, true to form during this period, they lost to a very inferior Alabama Crimson Tide team 41-22. After rebounding to beat the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, they suffered a bad 20-18 upset loss to the Boston College Eagles. UT then won out, though, against the Louisville Cardinals, Ole Miss Rebels, Kentucky Wildcats and Vanderbilt Commodores.

Their wins over Kentucky and Vanderbilt were both by two points. Then, Reggie Cobb scored a game-winning touchdown in the Peach Bowl with under two minutes to go to lead them to a 27-22 win over the Indiana Hoosiers.

Rocky Top had its first 10-win season under Majors. However, it’s also a year of what-could-have been, as UT was better than the two teams that beat it. Also, had they just beaten Auburn, meanwhile, they would’ve won the SEC. But this was still a good year.

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