The Vols go to #6 in the AP poll, continuing their highest climb of the post-Fulmer era. There are a couple of different ways to look at it from here.
This is technically Tennessee’s highest ranking since 2005, when the Vols opened the year at #3 in the preseason poll. A near miss with UAB in the opener left Tennessee at #5 when it lost in The Swamp two weeks later.
If we’re looking for the last time Tennessee was at #6 or better deeper into the season? The 2003 Vols went to #7 after starting league play 2-0 with wins over Florida and South Carolina. They fell all the way to #22 after back-to-back losses to Auburn and Georgia. But the win at Miami pushed them back into the Top 10. That team was 10-2 and ranked #6 at the end of the regular season, got the (very) short end of the bowl selection process, and lost to Clemson in the Peach Bowl.
If we’re looking for the last time Tennessee was #6 in October? That’s 1999, technically: the defending national champs were #2 before losing at Florida, when they dropped to #7. They opened October at #6, but scored a pair of Top 10 wins over Georgia and Alabama, moving them to #3 heading to November. But Arkansas got revenge in Fayetteville, knocking them out of the BCS title chase.
But I think the most recent comparison right now is probably 2001: #6 heading into October, then the Hobnailed Boot. That loss, of course, ultimately cost the Vols nothing: Tennessee climbed from #13 all the way back to #5 in the AP poll, #4 in the BCS, when they went to Gainesville to face #2 Florida in the last week of the regular season.
And that game might also be the answer to, “This Saturday is Tennessee’s biggest game since…”
We looked at the highest ranked vs ranked games at UT since 1968 in our LSU postgame. Alabama’s close call with Texas A&M and the uncertain status of Bryce Young sent the Tide to #3 in today’s AP poll, but a 3 vs 6 matchup is still tied for the 10th on that list.
In terms of where a win would rank, we usually find ourselves saying we still need the full picture of the season. Tennessee’s last win to truly stand the full test of time in meaning and memory is the 2007 regular season finale at Kentucky, when the Vols beat the Cats in four overtimes to win the SEC East. The 2016 wins over Florida and Georgia are good teachers in how we can’t say the 2022 win over Florida (or yesterday, for that matter) are the biggest x since y just yet. What felt at the time to be program-changing ended up being bittersweet. We need to see the full picture of Tennessee’s season to fully evaluate a streak-busting win over #20 Florida or a blowout at #25 LSU.
But trust me, if Tennessee beats Alabama in a Top Six matchup? We’ll have plenty of fun entering it into the “best win since…” conversation immediately.
The Vols have been to Atlanta three times since that 2001 win in The Swamp; if you want to say any of those was a bigger game than this Saturday coming in, you’ve got a good argument. Some of it is just the calendar: we’re not entirely sure what a win or a loss to Alabama will do in the final calculus. The Vols will still control their own destiny in the SEC East no matter what they do this week. There are legitimate playoff conversations to be had in just about any outcome. It’s much easier to say how big a game is when it takes place in Atlanta; even though the Vols were out of the national championship conversation (and underdogs to the eventual champions and/or undefeated teams) in two of those three appearances, you’re still literally sixty minutes away from an SEC title. The Vols will be a little farther from that particular glory this weekend, even if they blow the Tide out.
But in terms of the national conversation, a top six showdown, and this old, old friend of a rivalry…if you want to argue this is Tennessee’s biggest game since 2001 Florida? You’ve also got a good argument.
And that would make it Tennessee’s biggest game in Knoxville since…
…1998?
Enjoy your week.