Tennessee–Vanderbilt football rivalry
First meeting | October 21, 1892 Vanderbilt, 22–4 |
---|---|
Latest meeting | November 25, 2023 Tennessee, 48–24 |
Next meeting | 2024 |
Statistics | |
Meetings total | 118 |
All-time series | Tennessee leads, 78–33–5[1] |
Largest victory | Vanderbilt, 76–0 (1918) |
Longest win streak | Tennessee, 22 (1983–2004) |
Current win streak | Tennessee, 3 (2021–present) |
Current unbeaten streak | Tennessee, 5 (2019–present) |
The Tennessee–Vanderbilt football rivalry is an American
History
From 1892–1927, Vanderbilt went 19–2–3 against Tennessee. Tennessee's hiring of Robert Neyland in 1926 reversed completely the on field rivalry. Nathan Dougherty hired him with the explicit goal to "even the score with Vanderbilt." Vanderbilt's Dan McGugin (1904–17, 1919–34) was 13–8–3 all-time against the Vols.
Vanderbilt's longest win streak is 9 from 1901 to 1913. Tennessee's longest win streak is 22 from 1983 to 2004.[2]
From 1928 to 2011, Tennessee went 71–9–2 against Vanderbilt. Since 2012, Tennessee leads 7–5 on the field.
Game results
Tennessee victories | Vanderbilt victories | Tie games |
|
Notable games
1892: The rivalry's first two games
1892 saw the first ever matchup between the Vanderbilt Commodores and the Tennessee Volunteers. The two schools played each other twice during the year; Vanderbilt won both games. On the first matchup; for the Volunteers it was their third ever game in the second season of play and their first season with more than one game. For the Commodores it was their seventh ever game and third season of play.
The first game was played in
1900: Tie at Vanderbilt jubilee
A game was played between the schools as part of Vanderbilt's celebrations surrounding its 25th anniversary. It ended a scoreless tie.[5]
1902: Edgerton scores
1902 had one of Tennessee's strongest early elevens. Vanderbilt won 12–5 despite a weak line due to its running game.[6] John Edgerton scored both Vanderbilt touchdowns. Tennessee's only score was provided by an A. H. Douglas run around right end, breaking two tackles and getting the touchdown. Nash Buckingham had a 40-yard run through the line. Jones Beene blocked and tackled well.[6]
1908: Vandy wins despite Leach
1908 was a down year for Vanderbilt with a wealth of sophomores; guided shrewdly by McGugin to its success.[7] The Volunteers had compiled four wins in conference play. It was widely considered the best Tennessee football season up to that point.[8] Vanderbilt won the match between the two schools 16–9.
Walker Leach made a 41-yard field goal to put the Vols up 4–0. "This seemed to arouse the local team" and Vanderbilt drove down the field for a touchdown. On a fake kick, Leach circled Vanderbilt's left end for 60 yards. Ray Morrison stopped him short of the goal.[9] Nathan Dougherty was on Tennessee's squad.
1913: Tennessee mistakes help Vanderbilt
Red Rainey scored Tennessee's touchdown. Goat Carroll missed the kick.[10] Tennessee's right guard S. D. Bayer drew a 33-yard, half the distance to the goal penalty for slugging, and was ejected by umpire Bradley Walker. The first down after, Hord Boensch threw a touchdown pass to Enoch Brown. Brown ran the last ten yards shaking off several defenders.[10] Boensch kicked goal and won the game for Vanderbilt.
1914: UT's first victory
In 1914,
An account of the first touchdown reads, "Four minutes of play had barely drifted by when Tennessee's weird, mystic, elusive forward pass, May to Carroll, deadly in accuracy, went sailing home for the first touchdown of the game. The chesty Tennessee quarterback sent the oval whizzing for a distance of thirty-five yards and Carroll gathered in the ball near his goal line, when he hurried beneath the posts with all the speed at his command."[12]
1916: UT surprises
Tennessee upset Vanderbilt 10–6 in 1916. Vanderbilt's lone score came on a 70-yard run by Rabbit Curry. The year's only unanimous All-Southern Graham Vowell scored Tennessee's winning touchdown. Tennessee and Georgia Tech finished the season as conference co-champions.[13]
1918: Berryhill scores six times
In 1918, Vanderbilt beat Tennessee by its largest ever margin; 76–0. Grailey Berryhill scored six touchdowns.[14] The Student Army Training Corps represented UT, and so Tennessee does not count the game, however, Vanderbilt does.[15]
1919: A tie in the rain
A steady rain soaked spectators and both squads. The contest ended tied at three. Josh Cody scored on a 30-yard drop kick, while Buck Hatcher made a 25-yard drop kick.[16]
1920: Vanderbilt avenges '16 on Waite Field
In what was expected to be a hard match, the Commodores got vengeance for Curry, who died in aerial combat over France during the First World War, and lost to Tennessee on Waite Field in 1916, by netting a 20 to 0 victory at the Vols' home field.
1921: Kuhn acts as captain
The
During the first quarter, an end run of about 20 yards from Kuhn first made the score 7–0. In the second, after the Commodores obtained good field position from the punt returns of Rupert Smith, Kuhn had a 30 or 35-yard touchdown run utilizing Lynn Bomar as a lead blocker.
At one point in the second half, Freddie "Froggie" Meiers carried an onside kick over for a touchdown, but it was called back.[19] The Tennessee backs were repeatedly thrown for no gain or losses all game, and steady improvement from the Commodore eleven had been noticed.[20][21]
1922: Vanderbilt triumphs at Shields–Watkins Field
The
Tennessee was out for revenge,[23] as they had only beaten the Commodores twice, and Vanderbilt was ahead in points scored in the series by a vast margin, 347 to 53. Tennessee also hoped to better its Southern Conference record after having lost to Georgia. Both teams had last week rested their starters, Vanderbilt winning over Mercer, and Tennessee beating Mississippi by a score of 49 to 0. It was therefore thought the game should be a closer one than in years past, with Vanderbilt only slight favorites.[23][24] The game turned out to be hotly contested, so much so that many felt Vanderbilt was outplayed but not outfought. Perhaps the week off for many Commodore starters had hindered Vanderbilt's ability to play its best.
Tennessee drove down to the 7-yard line in the first quarter, but was held on downs. The first score came from Vanderbilt in the second quarter on a 31-yard touchdown pass from
In the fourth quarter, Tennessee got to the 1-yard line after a series of long passes. Tennessee fullback Roe Campbell charged over the line for the touchdown. The Volunteers' Clayton failed to kick goal. Later in the fourth, Vanderbilt intercepted a Tennessee pass in Volunteer territory, leading to a chance to score. After runs at the line failed, a 5-yard pass from Neely to Lynn Bomar got the touchdown.[25] Hek Wakefield's try was successful.[22][26]
Lynn Bomar,
1923: Vanderbilt unleashes pent up fury
After two undefeated seasons and a scoreless tie with Michigan, hopes were high going into the 1923 season. Michigan this year were national champions and edged out the Commodores 3–0. Vanderbilt then was upset by Texas. The week before the Tennessee game, Vanderbilt suffered a scoreless tie with Mississippi A&M in the rain. With a 51–7 victory over the Tennessee Volunteers the next week, the Commodores regained "all the power and smoothness with which it had started the 1923 season."[28] Ralph McGill reflected the sentiment, "All the pent-up fury of misunderstanding and disappointment burst out like a flood. The Vols might as well have flung themselves in the way of a runaway train. It was a machine that found itself. The power was there and the Commodores took a fierce joy in using it."[14] The Volunteers were led by M. B. Banks, in his third year as head coach.
Vanderbilt gained 455 yards of total offense.
1927: Dodson gets Neyland a tie
In 1927, two hall of fame coaches without a conference loss battle to a tie. Robert Neyland was hired to coach Tennessee in 1926 by Nathan Dougherty with the explicit goal to "even the score with Vanderbilt." 1927 is his first great team, tying with others as victors of the Southern Conference. Dan McGugin's Commodores led 7–0 until a late Dick Dodson run tied the score.[31] "After the game McGugin questioned each of his players as to his whereabouts during the run. Without exception the players claimed that two men had blocked them. McGugin shrugged. "Well, we'll just protest the play. It's perfectly obvious that Tennessee had twenty-two men on the field."[31]
1928: Vols pass to victory
Tennessee remained undefeated on the season with a 6–0 victory over Vanderbilt; its first win in the series since 1916. Before 1928, Vanderbilt held a strong advantage over the Volunteers with a record of 18–2–3. Since 1928, Tennessee has dominated the rivalry.
The crowd of 22,000 was the largest ever to see a game in Tennessee up to that point. A 16-yard pass from Roy Witt to Paul Hug in the second quarter was the lone score of the contest.[32] Jimmy Armistead ran all over Tennessee, once stopped short of the goal by Witt.[32] Buddy Hackman provided strong defense against the forward pass.[32]
1932: A scoreless tie
Clyde Roberts outrushed Beattie Feathers as the SoCon champion Vols tied the Commodores 0–0. The game's lone scoring play was a catch by Feathers, called out of bounds in front of the Vanderbilt bench.
1982: Vandy's last win of the century
The game was billed as the “Super Bowl of Tennessee” between Vanderbilt and Tennessee. Tickets were reportedly selling for $150.00 each. The game was a sellout; 41,683 fans and 3,800 watched on closed circuit TV. Both teams swapped the lead back and forth; neither team led by more than seven points. The whole time the game was played it rained, drenching the field. The whole season Taylor took advantage of the short pass. Vanderbilt was able to throw the bomb that won the game. Taylor passed for two 42-yard passes for a touchdown. Whit Taylor made a 65-yard pass to Phil Roach to set up the game-winning one-yard run from Whit Taylor. The run was a quarterback keeper around the right end following a fake to Keith Edwards. Vanderbilt held on to win 28–21.[33] This would be Vandy's last win over the Volunteers in the 20th century, beginning a 22-game losing streak which wouldn't end until 2005.
1987: The comeback
The Volunteers overcame a 28–3 second quarter deficit to defeat the Commodores by a score of 38–36.[34]
1992: Vols send Majors out a winner
Tennessee defeated Vanderbilt by a score of 29–25 in Johnny Majors' last game as head coach of the Vols.[35] Majors would be replaced by assistant coach Phillip Fulmer who would coach the team until 2008.[36][37]
1994: Tennessee's largest victory
The Vols dominated the Commodores en route to a 65–0 blowout win, the largest margin of victory by the Volunteers in the history of the rivalry.[38] UT running back James Stewart gained 121 yards on 12 carries to become the Vols' all-time leading rusher and Tennessee set a school record with 665 total yards of offense.[39]
2000: Close but no cigar
Vandy overcame a 21–6 fourth quarter deficit thanks largely to the play of quarterback Greg Zolman but the Commodores came up short in a 28–26 loss.[40] The Southeastern Conference's least penalized team that year, the Vols committed a season-high 14 penalties for 135 yards and also had three turnovers. The two-point victory was the smallest margin of victory for the Vols over the Commodres since 1992.
2005: Cutler ends Vols' longest win streak
The Commodores ended their season, and
2019: Volunteers end three-game losing streak to Vanderbilt
Tennessee ended a three-game losing streak to Vanderbilt 28–10 on a stormy evening in Knoxville. True freshman running back Eric Gray rushed for 246 yards on 25 carries and had three rushing touchdowns. Gray had the fifth-highest single-game rushing total ever by a Tennessee player. Tennessee finished the regular season 7–5 and 5–3 in conference play. The win sealed the Volunteers first winning record in conference play since the 2015 season.[43]
See also
- List of NCAA college football rivalry games
- List of most-played college football series in NCAA Division I
References
- ^ a b "Winsipedia – Tennessee Volunteers vs. Vanderbilt Commodores football series history". Winsipedia.
- ^ "Staff & Media Policies" (PDF). cstv.com. Vanderbilt. 2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 31, 2013. Retrieved August 29, 2014.
- ^ "Here are Tennessee football wins vacated under Jeremy Pruitt and how it impacts Vols history". Knoxville News. Retrieved July 18, 2023.
- ^ Bill Traughber (November 20, 2013). "Vanderbilt defeated Vols twice in 1892". Retrieved February 5, 2015.
- ^
- ^ Pope, Edwin (October 12, 1956). "Fottball's greatest coaches". Atlanta,: Tupper and Love – via Internet Archive.
- ISBN 9780880110716.
- ^ "Vanderbilt Athletics". Vanderbilt University Quarterly. 9: 28–35. 1909.
- ^ a b Bill Traughber (November 25, 2014). "1913 Rewind: Commodores rally to stay undefeated against Vols". Retrieved March 28, 2015.
- ^ "Tennessee Total National Championships". College Football Data Warehouse. Archived from the original on January 17, 2010. Retrieved June 1, 2010.
- ^ "Athletics". The University of Tennessee Record. 18 (5): 65. 1915.
- ^ a b c d Russell, Fred, and Maxwell Edward Benson. Fifty Years of Vanderbilt Football. Nashville, Tennessee, 1938, p. 36
- ^ Bill Traughber (November 18, 2009). "Vandy-UT's conflict of 1918".
- ^ "Hope and Fear In Crimson Hearts". The Montgomery Advertiser. November 4, 1921.
- ^ Volunteer Yearbook 1922, p. 138
- ^ "Vanderbilt Wins from Tennessee". Columbus Daily Enquirer. October 30, 1921.
- ^ "Aerial Attack Grows in Favor". The Macon Daily Telegraph. October 31, 1921.
- ^ "Vanderbilt Wins Over Tennessee". The Times Picayune (New Orleans, Louisiana). October 30, 1921.
- ^ a b "Vanderbilt Wins From Volunteers." The State [Columbia, South Carolina] November 5, 1922: 11.
- ^ a b "Vandy Meets Vol Eleven". Atlanta Constitution. November 1, 1922.
- ^ "Hard Contests Are Scheduled" The Lexington Herald November 6, 1922: 3.
- ^ Louis Henry Baker (1945). Football:Facts and Figures. p. 85.
- ^ The Volunteer Yearbook (1923) Archived August 19, 2014, at the Wayback Machine p. 110–111
- ^ "Tennessee Fights Hard, but Loses to Vanderbilt." The Montgomery Advertiser November 5, 1922: 11.
- ^ a b c "Tennessee Is Swamped By Vandy". Times-Picayune. November 11, 1923.
- ^ "Gil Reese". The Evening Independent. December 7, 1923.
- ^ "Vandy Defeats Tennessee 51–7". The Bee (Danville, Virginia). November 12, 1923.
- ^ a b Edwin Pope (1956). Football's Greatest Coaches. p. 340.
- ^
- ^ Traughber, Bill (September 8, 2011). "Vanderbilt Football: Tales of Commodore Gridiron History". Arcadia Publishing. Retrieved October 5, 2023 – via Google Books.
- ^ Archives, L. A. Times (November 29, 1987). "COLLEGE FOOTBALL : Tennessee, Down by 25 Points, Pulls Out 38–36 Victory". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 5, 2023.
- ^ Archives, L. A. Times (November 29, 1992). "Majors Receives a Victorious Sendoff : SEC: Tennessee defeats Vanderbilt, 29–25, in Volunteer coach's final regular-season game". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 5, 2023.
- ^ "Arkansas fans laugh at Majors' quip about Fulmer". ESPN.com. November 22, 2005. Retrieved October 5, 2023.
- ^ Organ, Mike. "Johnny Majors speaks out about Phillip Fulmer being named Tennessee athletics director". The Tennessean. Retrieved October 5, 2023.
- ^ "Tennessee 65, Vanderbilt 0 – UPI Archives". UPI. Retrieved October 5, 2023.
- ^ Archives, L. A. Times (November 27, 1994). "Tennessee Runs Over Vanderbilt : SEC: Stewart runs for 121 of Volunteers' school-record 665 total yards to become school's all-time rushing leader in 65–0 victory". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 5, 2023.
- ^ "Tennessee Tennessee/Vanderbilt Vanderbilt College Football recap on ESPN". www.espn.com. Retrieved October 5, 2023.
- ^ "Football History". VandySports.com (Rivals.com network). May 26, 2004. Archived from the original on December 30, 2006. Retrieved November 26, 2006.
- ^ "– Official Website Of The Denver Broncos". Denverbroncos.com. Archived from the original on July 3, 2007. Retrieved September 22, 2010.
- ^ "Vanderbilt 10–28 Tennessee (Nov 30, 2019) Game Recap". ESPN. Associated Press. December 1, 2019. Retrieved October 5, 2023.