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Tennessee football’s five wins vs. Georgia with both teams undefeated

By Caleb Calhoun

Travis Stephens #25, Running Back for the University of Tennessee Volunteers is tackled by the University of Georgia Bulldogs defence during their NCAA Southeastern Conference college football game on 10 October 1998 at the Sanford Stadium in Athens, Georgia, United States. The Tennessee Volunteers won the game 35 - 34. (Photo by Vincent Laforet/Allsport/Getty Images)
Travis Stephens #25, Running Back for the University of Tennessee Volunteers is tackled by the University of Georgia Bulldogs defence during their NCAA Southeastern Conference college football game on 10 October 1998 at the Sanford Stadium in Athens, Georgia, United States. The Tennessee Volunteers won the game 35 - 34. (Photo by Vincent Laforet/Allsport/Getty Images) /
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10 Oct 1998: Olandis Gary #22 of the Georgia Bulldogs is tackled by Deon Grant #7 of the Tennessee Volunteers at Sanford Stadium in Athens, Georgia. Tennessee defeated Georgia 22-3. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Laforet /Allsport
10 Oct 1998: Olandis Gary #22 of the Georgia Bulldogs is tackled by Deon Grant #7 of the Tennessee Volunteers at Sanford Stadium in Athens, Georgia. Tennessee defeated Georgia 22-3. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Laforet /Allsport /

The Tennessee football Volunteers beat the Bulldogs five times when neither team had a loss.

Saturday marks the 50th matchup between Tennessee football and the Georgia Bulldogs. While this rivalry dates back to 1899 and began to occur annually back in 1992, it will also only be the 10th time that both teams enter this game undefeated.

Even more to the point, in those other nine games, four of them were the opener for both teams,  was the first or second game for both teams seven of nine times, and it was the conference opener for both teams eight of those nine times. When we say conference opener, since this goes back to the turn of the 20th century, that could mean SEC, Southern or SIAA opener.

Anyway, in such games, Tennessee football has a 5-3-1 record. A couple of the Vols’ most memorable wins over the Dawgs came with both teams undefeated, and as arguably the second and third most successful teams in SEC history historically, it makes sense that such outings would happen at times.

How memorable were those games, though? Well, in this post, we’re going to be looking back on all of those wins UT had against UGA with both teams undefeated. We won’t be including the 17-17 tie, which came in 1968, as both teams opened the season and UT was ranked No. 9 and defending SEC Champions. That was a major upset at the time.

There were some legendary wins Georgia had in this situation as well. Their comeback from 15-0 down to win 16-15 at Neyland Stadium in 1980 with freshman running back Herschel Walker en route to the national title was one of those games. They also blew out the Vols 44-0 in Athens, Ga. in 1981 and won 28-17 in 1988. All three of those games were both teams’ opener.

This post, though, will focus on games Vol fans would like to look back fondly on? We’ll go in order, from the earliest such game ever played. How far back does this go? What impact did these wins have on each UT season? Let’s break it all down. These are the five times in history Tennessee football beat the Georgia Bulldogs with both teams undefeated.

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