For two programs who have only faced each other four times in history, represent states that don’t share a border and were in separate conferences for 115 years, Tennessee Football and Texas A&M shouldn’t have too many connections. However, Knoxville, Tenn., and College Station, Texas, need more than 936 miles and 14 hours of driving to separate them.
The connection between the Vols and Aggies go back to almost their beginnings. In 1909, A&M hired one Charley Moran, who became the first coach to lead the program for more than three years, going 38-8-4 from 1909 to 1914. Moran played for Tennessee Football in 1897, just its second year back after not fielding a varsity team from 1893 to 1895.
In 1910, Moran’s freshman team had a player from the state of Texas named Robert Neyland. After that year, Neyland, who hailed from Greenville, Texas, transferred to West Point and became a member of the U.S. Army. Nearly 15 years later, Neyland was hired as a Tennessee Football assistant at the recommendation of Moran.
A year after his hiring, Neyland took over as head coach and obviously, in three separate stints, interrupted twice by military service, turned UT into a national power. He went 173-31-12 with seven conference championships, five SEC Championships and four national championships.
One of those conference title years, though, involves another connection to A&M. Neyland’s 1939 Vols remain the last team to go undefeated, untied and unscored on in the regular season. They finished the year 10-0 and SEC Champions, and at the time, they were in the midst of a 23-game winning streak.
However, the AP Poll declared Texas A&M national champions. Although that ranking seemed validated after Tennessee Football lost to the USC Trojans in the Rose Bowl, Vols’ star George Cafego was hurt in that game, and bowls were glorified exhibitions at the time. Rankings came out before the bowls, so it was still controversial. It also remains A&M’s last national title.
Speaking of national titles, though, the Vols owe their 1998 national title in part to the Aggies thanks to a former UT quarterback. Branndon Stewart was part of the 1994 Tennessee Football quarterback class, a freshman alongside Peyton Manning. After a series of injuries, it was clear Manning would be the starter, so Stewart transferred to A&M.
In 1998, Stewart helped A&M upset an undefeated Kansas State Wildcats team in the Big 12 Championship game. That resulted in the Vols playing the Florida State Seminoles, not KSU, for the national title. Now, UT was better than K-State, but they had issues defending the triple-option at the time, so it’s very plausible they lose if they face Bill Snyder’s team.
Coaching ties also connect these two schools beyond just Moran. Jackie Sherrill, who later coached the Mississippi State Bulldogs, won three Southwest Conference titles in a row at A&M in the 1980s. He was a protege of Johnny Majors and actually succeeded Majors as head coach of the Pittsburgh Panthers in the 1970s.
Head to head matchups bring drama as well. Tennessee Football faced A&M for the first matchup between the two schools in the Gator Bowl to end the 1957 season. Bowden Wyatt’s team beat Bear Bryant’s Aggies 3-0 after owning Bryant when he was with the Kentucky Wildcats. It would also be Bryant’s last game with Texas A&M.
Of course, that win didn’t turn out well for the Vols, as Bryant went to the Alabama Crimson Tide afterward and unleashed a dynasty while Wyatt’s program fell apart, going 4-6 in 1958 and never recapturing his early success since the single-wing was going out of style. In fact, facing A&M usually preceded the end of an era for the Vols.
These two teams wouldn’t meet again until the end of the 2004 season in the Cotton Bowl. UT was down to its third string quarterback, Rick Clausen, who went off that game and led the Vols to a 38-7 win. Up until that point, Erik Ainge, when he got healthy, was the assumed starter for 2005 after a stellar freshman campaign.
However, Clausen’s play in the Cotton Bowl and his experience created a quarterback competition that year, one the coaches never solved. Against that backdrop, Tennessee Football went 5-6, suffering through its first losing season since 1988 and effectively ending the golden age of the modern era for the Vols.
Just over a decade later, though, UT seemed to be back with a 5-0 start in 2016. Butch Jones’ team was in the top 10 and had just beaten the Florida Gators and Georgia Bulldogs. They were visiting Texas A&M in a battle of undefeateds. Turnovers and some late-game poor coaching by Jones cost the Vols in double-overtime.
That loss triggered a three-game losing streak that put Jones on the hot seat, and he was fired a year later. Of course, four years after that, the Vols played Texas A&M to close out the 2020 season. The day of the game, the news of Jeremy Pruitt’s NCAA violations broke. UT lost to finish 3-7, and Pruitt was fired for cause a month later.
Taking all this into account, drama follows Tennessee Football when it faces A&M, and these two schools have many deep connections. Will any other fireworks be in store when the two schools face off on Saturday? If they are, it could end up being on A&Ms side for once given the Jimbo Fisher drama.
