Tennessee football vs. LSU: Wild endings, upsets, historically significant games – here are the top 15
30. 817. 10. 839. Final
Nov. 18, 2017
Here’s another Tennessee football game that was historically significant because of head coaches. This matchup featured two head coaches who had been fired from previous Power Five jobs and had taken over their current programs initially as interim head coaches.
The week before this matchup, the Vols finally cut ties with Butch Jones. They were 4-6 at the time, and Jones’ horrendous coaching single-handedly cost them in three of those games. As a result, the Vols named Brady Hoke, who was fired by the Michigan Wolverines in 2014, as interim head coach to finish the final two games.
On the other side, Orgeron was the full-time head coach. However, he took over as interim head coach the year before at LSU after Les Miles was fired, and in 2013, he had taken over for Lane Kiffin as the USC Trojans’ interim head coach. After a 3-2 start in 2017 with losses to the Mississippi State Bulldogs and Troy Trojans, Orgeron looked done.
However, he then won four of five, only losing to Alabama. Oregon entered this game looking to prove he could take LSU to the next level. Tennessee football wanted to finish strong with new life under Hoke. Mother Nature wanted to unleash holy hell on both programs, and a torrential downpour hit Rocky Top.
In that rain, LSU dominated. It was tied 3-3 in the second, but they then broke it open to go up 17-3. In the third quarter, leading 17-10, they scored two touchdowns, and UT’s historically bad offense continued to sputter. The Vols lost to Vandy the next week to finish 4-8 and 0-8 in SEC play for the first time in history.