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Lee Corso picks Tennessee football for sixth time; Here are the past five

By Caleb Calhoun

Lee Corso kisses a Tennessee Volunteers football helmet on the set of the ESPN College GameDay stage outside of Ayres Hall on the University of Tennessee campus in Knoxville, Tenn. on Saturday, Sept. 24, 2022. The flagship ESPN college football pregame show returned for the tenth time to Knoxville as the No. 12 Vols hosted the No. 22 Gators.Kns Espn College Gameday
Lee Corso kisses a Tennessee Volunteers football helmet on the set of the ESPN College GameDay stage outside of Ayres Hall on the University of Tennessee campus in Knoxville, Tenn. on Saturday, Sept. 24, 2022. The flagship ESPN college football pregame show returned for the tenth time to Knoxville as the No. 12 Vols hosted the No. 22 Gators.Kns Espn College Gameday /
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KNOXVILLE, TN – SEPTEMBER 21: Ran Carthon #33 of the Florida Gators runs with the ball against the Tennessee Volunteers on September 21, 2002 at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tennessee. Florida defeated Tennessee 30-13. (Photo by Craig Jones/Getty Images)
KNOXVILLE, TN – SEPTEMBER 21: Ran Carthon #33 of the Florida Gators runs with the ball against the Tennessee Volunteers on September 21, 2002 at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tennessee. Florida defeated Tennessee 30-13. (Photo by Craig Jones/Getty Images) /

30. 840. 13. 839. Final

2. Sept. 21, 2002

If you thought 2012 was bad when Lee Corso picked Tennessee football, 2002 was worse. At the time, Corso had developed a reputation for picking against the Vols. From the time he began the headgear in 1996, he had only picked UT once in a head gear game, picking against them once in 1997, twice in 1998 and then in 1999, 2001 and 2002.

The year before, he joined in with everybody picking Florida to beat the Vols in that Dec. 1 matchup right after Kirk Herbstreit said it wouldn’t be a close game. They were buying into the 18.5-point Florida spread, and then the Vols won 34-32.

In this rendition, UT was 2-0 and in the top five. Florida was 2-1 and had gotten blown out at home two weeks before by the Miami Hurricanes. They also no longer had Steve Spurrier, as it was Ron Zook’s first year. All of this combined with what happened in 2001 led to Corso picking the Vols to win.

It didn’t happen. A scoreless first 25 minutes ended with an onslaught by Florida in the last five minutes of the first half. They scored, and then a monsoon came out. UT forgot how to handle snaps with the rain. Casey Clausen fumbled four, losing one and killing another drive.

A fumbled kickoff and a fumble on a standard draw play all cost them in the half. As a result, they fell behind 24-0 at halftime. Tennessee football fought back in the second half, but they lost 30-13. That derailed a ton of preseason hype, as they went 8-5.

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