The University of Tennessee Athletic Council, chaired by Professor

Nathan Dougherty Nathan Washington "Big'n" Dougherty (March 23, 1886 – May 18, 1977) was a Hall of Fame college football player for the Tennessee Volunteers football team. He later became the Dean of the College of Engineering at the University of Tenne ...

, officially suspended varsity football during the World War I years of 1917 and 1918 because the majority of the players were called into military service. In addition, Coach

John R. Bender John Reinhold "Chief" Bender (May 14, 1882 – July 24, 1928) was an American football player and coach of football, basketball and baseball. He served as the head football coach at Black Hills State University (1905), Washington State Universit ...

was enlisted as an instructor at Camp John Sevier in

Greenville, South Carolina Greenville (; locally ) is a city in and the seat of Greenville County, South Carolina, United States. With a population of 70,720 at the 2020 census, it is the sixth-largest city in the state. Greenville is located approximately halfway be ...

. During this period without varsity football, two unofficial teams were formed from Army recruits and students. One team represented a training unit called the Fighting Mechanics and the other team represented the Student Army Training Corps (SATC). Vanderbilt's program considers the game between the two schools as an official game, however, University of Tennessee does not since most of their team was enlisted in the military fighting in World War I.

Schedule

Notes

References

{{Tennessee Volunteers football navbox Tennessee Tennessee Volunteers football seasons Tennessee (SATC) football