Tennessee football: Postponing Texas A&M provides weather advantage

The Aggies and Florida Gators now visit the Tennessee football Volunteers in December.

Here’s a weird quirk nobody is paying attention to. Tennessee football has two top 10 teams left on the schedule. One is against a team from Florida, and one is against a team from Texas. Thanks to a postponement, both have to face them in Knoxville in December now.

When the Vols’ Saturday matchup with the Texas A&M Aggies was postponed until Dec. 12, it opened the doors for them to potentially be able to score two huge upsets. A&M is ranked No. 5 in the nation right now, and Florida is ranked No. 6.

These are two of the three southernmost teams in the SEC. Neither will be familiar with outdoor conditions in the Great Smoky Mountains coming from such southern states, and that’s a huge advantage for Tennessee football that nobody is talking about..

Florida specifically has never won a game in an outdoor stadium as far north in Knoxville after Nov. 30. They have a grand total of six wins in school history in outdoor games after Nov. 30 outside of the state of Florida. One of them was back in 1912 in Cuba, even further south. In fact, the Gators have specifically played the Vols in Knoxville in December and lost 13-12.

Historically, the Aggies have been much better, to be fair. They beat the University of San Francisco in the Northern California city back in 1937 on Dec. 4, the No. 19 ranked Washington State Cougars in Takoma, Wash. in 1941 on Dec. 6 and the Georgia Bulldogs in College Park, Md. at Byrd Stadium, home to the University of Maryland, in the Presidential Cup Bowl in 1950.

However, that 1950 win is Texas A&M’s last win in an outdoor stadium north of Knoxville after Nov. 30. They came close in 2014, beating the West Virginia Mountaineers in the Liberty Bowl, but Memphis has a much warmer climate than Knoxville.

In 2015, the Aggies lost to the Louisville Cardinals in the Music City Bowl, as Nashville’s climate is much colder. They then lost to the Wake Forest Demon Deacons in the Belk Bowl, which is in Charlotte, N.C., in 2017.

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Neither program is built to handle cold weather, and with Tennessee football facing both of them in December, the Vols have a chance at an unlikely turnaround from their 2-4 start. Could you imagine if Jeremy Pruitt, after losing to the Kentucky Wildcats and Arkansas Razorbacks, managed to upset both teams in College Football Playoff contention?

For what it’s worth, the Vols have played Florida five times outdoors in December and have won four of them. Their only loss was in the 1969 Gator Bowl, when UT head coach Doug Dickey was suspiciously about to take the Florida job anyway.

At the same time, both of their wins over Texas A&M came in December and January. They beat the Aggies 3-0 in the 1957 Gator Bowl and 38-7 in the Jan. 1, 2005 Cotton Bowl to wrap up the 2004 season.

Also, Knoxville weather has favored the Vols against better teams in the past. Go back and look at the 1950 national championship team. It’s signature win was over the SEC Champion Kentucky Wildcats, led by Bear Bryant. When the two teams faced off, the Great Appalachian Storm of 1950 struck. The game featured more than 10 fumbles, and the Vols won an ugly affair 10-0.

Simply put, Tennessee football got a huge break facing both these teams in December. The Vols also get the Vanderbilt Commodores, a likely win, as their final game in November. As a result, they’ll be back alive with a chance at a winning record this year if they can find some way to upset the Auburn Tigers next week.