Tennessee football vs. LSU: Wild endings, upsets, historically significant games – here are the top 15

Oct. 9, 1982

Whenever the kicking game is a part of this series, it seems to work in Tennessee football’s favor. Here is another matchup in which field goals made the difference. It’s also one that gave the Vols the necessary momentum to save Johnny Majors job. Let’s explain.

Majors was hired in 1977 to replicate what he did in four years with the Pittsburgh Panthers. By 1982, he had just two winning seasons, two losing seasons, a .500 season and no season with more than eight wins. Lucky for him, that eight-win season was an 8-4 1981 campaign and suggested he was building something.

However, the Vols were upset by the Duke Blue Devils to open 1982 and then lost to Auburn. Entering this game 2-2, they were about to face two top 20 opponents. This would spell the end for Majors. Well, it didn’t happen. UT traveled to Baton Rouge to face an LSU team that was 3-0 and upset No. 4 ranked Florida the week before.

In their third year under Jerry Stovall, the program was finally seeming to be rolling. Trailing 24-14 in the fourth quarter, the Vols scored to cut it to 24-21. Then they drove into LSU territory, and Fuad Reveiz nailed a 52-yarder to tie the game up with two minutes left.

The Vols actually got the ball back after that Reveiz make, and they drove down to try another 52-yard field goal. Reveiz missed the kick, but the tie was like a win for UT. It was the momentum they needed going into next week, when they shocked No. 2 ranked Alabama, ending an 11-game winning streak in the series, saving Majors’ campaign.