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

Oct. 24, 1964

The same way the 2000 game launched Nick Saban’s career with LSU, the 1964 game launched Doug Dickey’s career with Tennessee football. Like Saban, Dickey was taking over a program that had fallen apart in recent years, and like the Vols in 2000, LSU was in the midst of a pretty epic run that spanned Paul Dietzel and Charles McClendon.

This game featured McClendon as head coach. LSU came in at 4-0 and ranked No. 9. A chance to challenge Bear Bryant and Alabama for the SEC Championship seemed very much in play. The Vols, meanwhile, came in a respectable 3-2, as everybody knew they were rebuilding Dickey’s first year while trying to install the slot-T.

Somehow, though, in Baton Rouge, UT’s defense showed up to play. Both teams traded field goals in the first half off fumbles by the other team. Then came an ugly second half, one in which LSU held the Vols to negative yards. However, LSU’s Doug Moreau also missed three field goals. Moreau’s final miss was with eight seconds left and an attempt to win.

The Vols also had a goal-line stand against them in the third quarter.UT shocked the No. 7 ranked Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets a week later to show what Dickey was building, but it was still too thin and young, so they lost three straight after that to finish the year 4-5-1. Things really took off the next year, though.