The Vols have played football for 132 seasons, starting in 1891; their combined record of 870–415–53 (.670) ranks them fourteenth on the all-time win list for NCAA football programs.[2][3] Their all-time ranking in bowl appearances is fifth (55) and eighth in all-time bowl victories (30), most notably four Sugar Bowls, three Cotton Bowls, two Orange Bowls, a Fiesta Bowl, and a Peach Bowl. They have won 16 conference championships and claim six national titles, including two (1951, 1998) from the major wire-service: AP Poll and/or Coaches' Poll in their history.
The Vols play at Neyland Stadium on the university's campus in Knoxville, where Tennessee has won 485 games, the highest home-field total in college football history for any school in the nation at its current home venue. Additionally, its 101,915 seat capacity makes Neyland the nation's sixth largest and third largest in the Southeastern Conference.
History
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The Tennessee Volunteers draw their nickname from the many volunteer soldiers of the War of 1812 and Mexican-American War.
Tennessee has been selected as national championships six times from NCAA-designated major selectors, including twice (2) from major wire-services: AP Poll and Coaches Poll.[4][5]:112–115 Tennessee claims all six national championships.[6][7]
The Associated Press (AP) has selected Tennessee as national champions twice, in 1951 and 1998. The No. 1 Vols lost in the Sugar Bowl following the 1951 season after being named AP and UPI national champions due to the polls being conducted before the bowl season prior to 1965 and 1974 respectively. The 1938 and 1950 championships, while not AP titles, were recognized by a majority and a plurality of overall selectors/polls, respectively.[8][9]
Tennessee has also been awarded national championships by various notable organizations in six additional years of 1914, 1931, 1939, 1956, 1985, and 1989, though the school claims none.[10]
Conference championships
Tennessee has won a total of 16 conference championships, including 13 SEC championships.[11]:273–275
As winners of the Southeastern Conference's Eastern Division, Tennessee has made five appearances in the SEC Championship Game, with the most recent coming in 2007. The Vols are 2–3 in those games.
Tennessee has had 24 head coaches since it began play during the 1891 season. Robert Neyland is the leader in seasons coached and games won, with 173 victories in 21 seasons (spread out over three stints). John Barnhill has the highest winning percentage of those who have coached more than one game, with .846. James DePree has the lowest winning percentage of those who have coached more than one game, with .306. Of the 23 different head coaches who have led the Volunteers, Neyland, Wyatt, Dickey, Majors, and Fulmer have been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta.
This is a list of Tennessee's ten most recent bowl games. Tennessee holds an all-time bowl game record of 30–25 through the 2023 season, due to the removal of the vacated win from 2019.[12]
Tennessee's all-time appearances and victories of 56 & 31 (on-field results) rank fifth and fourth, respectively. With the removal of the vacated 2019 victory, they stand at 55 appearance and 30 victories, which rank as sixth and seventh.
Logos and uniforms
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The Volunteers had originally worn black uniforms from 1911 to 1920.
Orange jerseys with black wool numbers were first worn on September 23rd, 1922, in a 50-0 win against Emory & Henry.[13]
In 1935, the jerseys were white with orange stripes on the sleeves but this changed in 1936 to orange jerseys and white numbers, which were on the front for the first time.[13]
Tennessee Volunteer jerseys in 2007
In 2009, the Volunteers wore black jerseys with orange pants on Halloween night against the South Carolina Gamecocks.[14]
On October 5, 2013, the team debuted its "Smokey Gray" uniforms in an overtime loss to the Georgia Bulldogs at Neyland Stadium.[15]
In 2024, the team continues with "Smokey Gray" as the main colour but now, for the first time, features an orange 'Tennessee' across the chest.[16]
The orange and white colors worn by the football team were selected by Charles Moore, a member of the very first Tennessee football team in 1891. They were from the American Daisy which grew on The Hill, the home of most of the classrooms at the university at the time (now housing most of the chemistry and physics programs et al.). Tennessee football players did not wear the color until 1922 however.[17]
The orange color is distinct to the school, dubbed "UT Orange", and has been offered by The Home Depot for sale as a paint, licensed by the university. Home games at Neyland Stadium have been described as a "sea of Orange" due to the large number of fans wearing the school color; the moniker Big Orange, as in "Go Big Orange!", derives from the usage of UT Orange.
The color is spot color PMS 151 as described by the university.[18]
In addition to the famous orange and white, UT also has had the little-known Smokey Gray color since the 1930s and debuted the color in the October 5, 2013, rivalry game against Georgia in an alternate jersey.[19]
Checkerboard end zones
Orange and white checkerboard end zones are unique to Neyland Stadium.
Tennessee first sported their famous orange and white checkerboardend zone design in 1964 under coach Dickey and remained until artificial turf was installed at Neyland Stadium in 1968.[20] They brought the design back in 1989. The idea was inspired by the checkerboard design around the top of the clock tower at the historic Ayres Hall.[21]
The checkerboard was bordered in orange from 1989 until natural grass replaced the artificial turf in 1994. The return of natural grass brought with it the return of the green (or grass colored) border that exists today.[22]
Rocky Top is not the official Tennessee fight song (Down the Field is the official fight song), as is widely believed, but is the most popular in use by the Pride of the Southland Marching Band. The Band began playing the fight song during the 1970s after it became popular as a Bluegrass tune by the Osborne Brothers. The fight song is widely recognized as one of the most hated by opponents in collegiate sports.[23] The song became one of Tennessee's state songs in 1982.
Smokey
Smokey IX before a November 2007 game against Vanderbilt.
Smokey is the mascot of the University of Tennessee sports teams, both men's and women's. A Bluetick Coonhound mascot, Smokey X, leads the Vols on the field for football games. On game weekends, Smokey is cared for by the members of Alpha Gamma Rho's Alpha Kappa chapter. There is also a costumed mascot, which has won several mascot championships, at every Vols game.[24]
Smokey was selected as the mascot for Tennessee after a student poll in 1953. A contest was held by the Pep Club that year; their desire was to select a coon hound that was native to Tennessee. At halftime of the Mississippi State game that season, several hounds were introduced for voting, all lined up on the old cheerleaders' ramp at Neyland, with each dog being introduced over the loudspeaker and the student body cheering for their favorite. The late Rev. Bill Brooks' "Blue Smokey" was the last hound announced and howled loudly when introduced. The students cheered and Smokey threw his head back and barked again. This kept going until the stadium was roaring and UT had found its mascot, Smokey. The current Smokey is Smokey X, after Smokey IX was retired at the conclusion of the 2012 season. The most successful dog has been Smokey VIII who saw a record of 91–22, two SEC titles, and the 1998 National Championship.[25]
The Vol Walk
Head coach Johnny Majors came up with the idea for the Vol Walk after a 1988 game at Auburn when he saw the historic Tiger Walk take place. The walk became an official part of gameday in a Tennessee-Alabama match on October 20, 1990. Prior to each home game, the Vols will file out of the Neyland-Thompson Sports Complex, down past the Tennessee Volunteers Wall of Fame, and make their way down Peyton Manning Pass and onto Phillip Fulmer Way. Thousands of fans line the street to shake the players' hands as they walk into Neyland Stadium. Through rain, snow, sleet, or sunshine, the Vol faithful are always out in full force to root on the Vols as they prepare for the game. The fans are always pumped up with Rocky Top played by The Pride of the Southland Band.[26]
The T
The Pride of the Southland is in formation while the UT team runs the T.5 min video of the opening sequence of a football game
The "T" appears in two special places in Vol history and tradition. The "T" first appeared in 1964 when coach Doug Dickey added the familiar block letter T onto the side of the helmets; a rounded T came in 1968. Johnny Majors modified the famous orange helmet stripe to a thicker stripe in 1977.[27]
The Vols also run through the T. This T is formed by the Pride of the Southlandmarching band with its base at the entrance to the Tennessee locker room in the north end zone with team personnel holding the state flag and the UT flag, Smokey running in on the field, and the entire UT team storming in to loud cheers and applause from the 100,000-plus Vols fans in Neyland. When Coach Dickey brought this unique and now-famous tradition to UT in 1965, the Vols' locker room was underneath the East stands. The Vols would run through the T and simply turn back to return to their sideline. However, beginning in 1983, the team would make the famous left turn inside the T and run toward their former bench on the east sideline when the locker room was moved from the east sideline to the north end zone. It was announced on January 24, 2010, that the Vols would switch their sideline from the east sideline to the west sideline for all home games from then on. This resulted in the Vols making a right out of the T instead of a left. This change took effect with Tennessee's first home game of the 2010 season against UT-Martin.
Vols
Davy Crockett waving the UT flag during a November 3, 2007, game against Louisiana–Lafayette
The Volunteers (or Vols as it is commonly shortened to) derive that nickname from the State of Tennessee's nickname. Tennessee is known as the "Volunteer State", a nickname it earned during the War of 1812, in which volunteer soldiers from Tennessee played a prominent role, especially during the Battle of New Orleans.[28]
Vol Navy
Around 200 or more boats normally dock outside Neyland Stadium on the Tennessee River before games. The fleet was started by former Tennessee broadcaster George Mooney who docked his boat there first in 1962, as he wanted to avoid traffic around the stadium. What started as one man tying his runabout to a nearby tree and climbing through a wooded area to the stadium has grown into one of college football's unique traditions. Many fans arrive several days in advance to socialize, and the Vols have built a large walkway so fans can safely walk to and from the shoreline. UT, the University of Pittsburgh, Baylor University, and the University of Washington are the only schools with football stadiums built next to major bodies of water.[29]
All-time record
As of the end of the 2023 regular season, Tennessee is ranked eleventh all-time won-lost records by percentage and tenth by victories. The all-time record is 870–415–53 (.670).[30] At Neyland Stadium, the Vols have a record of 478–141–17 (.765).[31] 11 additional wins from 2019-20 were vacated by NCAA Committee on Infractions penalty ruling in July 2023. One of those victories was in a bowl game. Tennessee's all-time on-field record is 881-415-53(.673). The all-time on-field bowl record is 31-25(.554). Tennessee's all-time on-field record at Neyland Stadium is 494-142-18 (.770).
The UT football season records are taken from the official record books of the University Athletic Association. They have won 13 conference championships and six national titles in their history and their last national championship was in the 1998 college football season.[31]
Tennessee holds the NCAA record for the most consecutive shutout wins with 17. The streak started with a Volunteers win against Tennessee-Chattanooga on November 30, 1938 and ended with a 27–12 loss against Alabama on October 19, 1940. During this streak, Tennessee outscored its opponents 479–0. Tennessee also holds the record for the most consecutive quarters opponents held scoreless, with 71.[32]
The Vols play at Neyland Stadium, where Tennessee has an all-time winning record of 494 games, the highest home-field total in college football history for any school in the nation at its current home venue. The stadium surrounds Shields–Watkins Field, the official name of the playing surface.[33]
Hall of Fame
Tennessee boasts the most college football hall of famers in the SEC, seventh most in major college football, and the ninth most of all college football programs, with 24.
Reggie White, former defensive lineman for the Philadelphia Eagles, Green Bay Packers, and the Carolina Panthers, 13× Pro Bowl selection (1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998), 10× First-Team All-Pro selection (1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1998), 3× Second-Team All-Pro selection (1994, 1996, 1997), Super Bowl champion (XXXI), 2× NFL Defensive Player of the Year (1987, 1998)[174]
From 1992 to 2023, Tennessee played in the East Division of the SEC and played each opponent in the division each year along with several teams from the West Division. In 2024, the SEC expanded the conference to 16 teams and eliminated its two divisions, causing a new scheduling format for the Volunteers to play against the other members of the conference. After initially only releasing the 2024 schedule, the 2025 schedule was announced at SEC Media Days with further scheduling information to come[182] Only the 2025 conference schedule was announced on March 20, 2024, while the conference still considers a new format for the future.
↑ Stanton, Jimmy; Yellin, Jason; Kniffen, Mary-Carter, eds. (2014). 2014 Tennessee Football Media Guide. University of Tennessee Department of Athletics. pp.1, 160–174. Retrieved May 5, 2015.
Seifried, C.S., Downs, B.J., Graham, J., & Love, A. (2020). Life before Neyland: The Early Development of Football Fields at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Tennessee Historical Quarterly, 79, 226-257.
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