The Auburn–Tennessee football rivalry is an American

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

rivalry A rivalry is the state of two people or groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the "against each other" spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called "a rivalry", and each participant ...

between the Auburn Tigers and Tennessee Volunteers. The game was traditionally played prior to the 1992 football season, when the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central United States, South Central and Southeastern United States. Its 16 members in ...

split into its Eastern and Western divisions. Auburn leads the series 29–22–3.

Series history

The series started in 1900 with a 23–0 Auburn victory in

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of Alabama, United States. It is the county seat of Jefferson County, Alabama, Jefferson County. The population was 200,733 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List ...

, and was played traditionally from 1956 to 1991. When the SEC split into two divisions in 1992, Auburn was placed to west division and Tennessee was placed to the east division, and the rivalry was no longer played annually with both schools only meeting every five to seven years. Every east and west teams had two permanent cross division opponent's. Auburn opponent's were

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

and

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

, and Tennessee's were

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

and

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...

. Although, Florida was dropped from Auburn's schedule ending that annual rivalry, and Arkansas was removed from Tennessee's leaving only one permanent cross division opponent. From their current divisions, Tennessee started a rivalry with

, while Auburn began an important rivalry with

LSU Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as Louisiana State University (LSU), is an American Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louis ...

. Auburn is 7–3 vs Tennessee since the SEC expanded, and both teams met in the

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

, and

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

SEC Championship Game. Auburn owns the longest win streak in series history at six from 2003 to 2013. The Auburn–Tennessee game has been played in four locations. They have played in

Legion Field Legion Field is an outdoor stadium in the southeastern United States in Birmingham, Alabama, primarily designed to be used as a venue for American football, but occasionally used for other large outdoor events. Opened in 1927, it is named in ...

Knoxville, Tennessee Knoxville is a city in Knox County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. It is located on the Tennessee River and had a population of 190,740 at the 2020 United States census. It is the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division ...

Neyland Stadium Neyland Stadium ( ) is a sports stadium in Knoxville, Tennessee, United States. It serves primarily as the home of the Tennessee Volunteers football team, but is also used to host large conventions and has been a site for several National Footba ...

Auburn, Alabama Auburn is a city in Lee County, Alabama, United States. It is the largest city in eastern Alabama. The population was 76,143 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is a principal city of the Auburn metropolitan area, Alabama, Aubu ...

Jordan–Hare Stadium Pat Dye Field at Jordan–Hare Stadium (properly pronounced as ) is an American football stadium in Auburn, Alabama on the campus of Auburn University. It primarily serves as the home venue of the Auburn Tigers football, Auburn Tigers football ...

and

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

at the

Georgia Dome The Georgia Dome was a Stadium#Types, domed stadium in the Southeastern United States. Located in Atlanta between downtown Atlanta, downtown to the east and Vine City to the west, it was owned and operated by the State of Georgia as part of th ...

. Auburn leads 10–5 in Birmingham, Tennessee leads 13–10–2 in Knoxville, Auburn leads 8–3–1 in Auburn and the teams are tied 1–1 in Atlanta. On July 30, 2021, Texas and Oklahoma accepted to join the Southeastern Conference effective July 1, 2024, which could potentially lead to both teams meeting annually again.

Notable games

* 1972: Unranked Auburn upset No. 4 Tennessee in Birmingham. Auburn led most of the game 10–0. Tennessee came back to cut the lead 10–6, but Auburn held on for the upset. * 1985: In a game nationally televised by ABC, the Tigers came to Neyland Stadium ranked #1 with Heisman Trophy candidate Bo Jackson. However, Tennessee quarterback Tony Robinson made a case to be considered for the Heisman himself by passing for 259 yards and four touchdowns in a 38–20 blowout. * 1990: Proving once again that big leads do not hold up in the Auburn–Tennessee series, Auburn spotted Tennessee a 26–9 fourth-quarter lead, only to storm back to tie it at 26–26. Auburn QB Stan White threw a pair of fourth-quarter touchdown passes, both on fourth down. Tennessee missed a potential game-winning field goal with 15 seconds left. *1991: The last annual meeting between both teams due to the expansion of the SEC. At that time, Neyland Stadium set a record of attendance where the #5 Tennessee defeated #13 Auburn, 30–21. * 1997 SEC Championship Game: In the 1997 SEC Championship Game in Atlanta, Auburn scored 20 unanswered points to take a 20–7 lead. Tennessee scored two touchdowns late in the third quarter and another early in the fourth to win, 30–29. Tennessee's quarterback

Peyton Manning Peyton Williams Manning (born March 24, 1976) is an American former professional American football, football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 18 seasons. Nicknamed "the Sheriff", he spent 14 seasons with the In ...

threw for 373 yards and four touchdowns, while Auburn signal caller Dameyune Craig passed for 262 yards and a pair of scores. Tennessee went on and lost to

Nebraska Nebraska ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Ka ...

in the

Orange Bowl The Orange Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in the Miami metropolitan area. Played annually since 1935 Orange Bowl, January 1, 1935, it is tied with the Sugar Bowl and the Sun Bowl as the second-oldest bowl games in ...

, 42–17. * 2003: Tennessee came into

ranked No. 7. Auburn took their opening drive 80 yards and scored on a 6-yard run by Ronnie Brown. On their next possession, Jason Campbell threw a 29-yard touchdown pass in the left corner of the end zone to Ben Obomanu. The Auburn defense held Tennessee in check for most of the first half, but the Vols drove 85 yards to cut the lead to 14–7 at halftime. Cadillac Williams scored on a 1-yard run on Auburn's first possession of the second half to give the Tigers a 21–7 lead. Jason Campbell then completed an 8-yard touchdown pass to Cole Bennett on the second play of the fourth quarter to put Auburn up 28–7. Clausen threw for a touchdown on each of the Vols’ next two possessions bringing the score to 28–21 with just over seven minutes left in the game. The Vols drove to the Auburn 30-yard line late in the game but Carlos Rogers intercepted a pass to end the threat. Auburn won 28–21 to beat Tennessee for the first time since 1988. * 2004 SEC Championship Game: After Auburn blew out the Vols in the regular season the two teams won their divisions and played again in SEC Championship game. Auburn won the SEC Championship with a 38–28 victory then went on to defeat

Virginia Tech The Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, commonly referred to as Virginia Tech (VT), is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia, United States ...

in the

Sugar Bowl The Sugar Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in New Orleans, Louisiana. Played annually since January 1, 1935, it is tied with the Orange Bowl and Sun Bowl as the second-oldest bowl games in the country, surpassed only ...

Game results

Sources: ''2011 Auburn Football Media Guide''
2011 Auburn Tigers Football Media Guide
'', Auburn University Athletic Department, Auburn, Alabama, pp. 178–189, 191 (2011). Retrieved November 28, 2011. ''2011 Tennessee Football Media Guide''
2011 Tennessee Football Media Guide
', Tennessee Athletics Department, Knoxville, Tennessee, pp. 166–179 (2011). Retrieved November 24, 2011. and College Football Data Warehouse.College Football Data Warehouse
Auburn vs Tennessee
. Retrieved November 24, 2011.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Auburn-Tennessee football rivalry College football rivalries in the United States Auburn Tigers football Tennessee Volunteers football

Series history

Notable games

Game results

See also

References