1995
Record: 11-1
Final AP ranking: No. 3
Bowl: Citrus vs. No. 4 Ohio State
Tennessee was 2-0 heading into their ever-important SEC East showdown with No. 4 Florida in 1995.
The week before, the Vols had escaped an upset at home with a Jeff Hall field goal to beat Georgia, 30-27, and as usual, the game against Steve Spurrier and the Gators was likely going to decide the SEC Champion more than three months ahead of the conference title game in Atlanta.
In the first half, Peyton Manning couldn’t miss and helped Tennessee to a big lead before Florida stormed back in the second half to win 62-37 in the rain.
But after that loss, the Vols were one of the hottest teams in the country, winning all of their remaining games to complete a 10-1 regular season, including a 41-14 win against No. 12 Alabama in Birmingham.
Florida stayed undefeated, ended up in Atlanta, and won the SEC Championship before facing No. 1 Nebraska for the national championship game while Tennessee went to Orlando to take on No. 4 Ohio State in the Citrus Bowl.
It’s hard to dispute who the national champion would have been that season even if there were a college football playoff. The ’95 Cornhuskers have an argument for being the greatest college football team of all-time and put an exclamation mark on an undefeated season by beating Florida 62-24 in the Fiesta Bowl.
But had there been a playoff in 1995, Tennessee would have easily been in it.
The rematch against Florida in the College Football Final for an All-SEC championship game 16 years before Alabama and LSU did it 2011 would have made for a much more interesting game, but the Vols would have had to get past No. 1 Nebraska and Tommie Frazier first while the Gators would have played No. 3 Northwestern.
