What was the biggest all time UT upset win?

#6
#6
1986 Sugar Bowl. IDK the line but Miami was heavily favored and we kicked the hell out them. Good times.
 
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#8
#8
Sugar Bowl win over Miami... nothing else comes close that I can recall
 
#9
#9
I dunno if it was an upset as in the pregame hype....but the come back against ND in the miracle of South Bend is pretty close too...
 
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#11
#11
Yep, '86 Sugar Bowl (after 85 season) gets my vote too. We tamed the Canes. Testeverde couldn't get any rhythm all night. Our D was awesome, and our O was superb!
 
#13
#13
**EDIT

Miami 1986 IMO.

I previously stated '89 UCLA game but that team ended up being way overrated (I was looking at the wrong year).

Sorry, I was only 2 in 1989 afterall :)
 
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#14
#14
That '85 Team upset #1 Auburn, who had Heismann Trophy Winner running back Bo Jackson, at Neyland Stadium that year. They went on to win the SEC East that year behind backup QB Darrel Dickey & a right to play #2 ranked Jimmy Johnson's Miami Hurricanes in the 1986 Sugar Bowl. Tennessee won 35-7 & ended up as the #3 ranked team at years end.
 
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#15
#15
Tenn at south bend I think is the biggest upset in ut history. But there are a few other gamestthat's right up there. Go vols
 
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#16
#16
LakeMaryFLVol said:
I know that may be the best... beacause no one gave us a chance...What was the spread? Was it bigger than the 18 for the 2001 FL game?
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No, it was less than 10 points for the '86 Sugar Bowl. According to this source, the spread was only 8.5 points (1986 Game Recap / Allstate Sugar Bowl). Given our ranking as a top-5 team, we never should have been 18-point underdogs vs. Florida in 2001, but we were. I cannot recall a bigger point spread by which we were underdogs and actually won the game.

Our upset victory over No. 1-ranked and defending national champion LSU in 1959 would also have to rank among our greatest upset victories; I have no idea, however, what the point spread was for that game.
 
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#17
#17
W.TN.Orange Blood said:
That '85 Team upset #1 Auburn, who had Heismann Trophy Winner running back Bo Jackson, at Neyland Stadium that year. They went on to win the SEC East that year behind backup QB Darrel Dickey & a right to play #2 ranked Jimmy Johnson's Miami Hurricanes in the 1986 Sugar Bowl. Tennessee won 35-7 & ended up as the #3 ranked team at years end.
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Auburn '85 was my pick. We were not ranked at the time and shocked everyone with that win.
 
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#18
#18
86 sugar bowl

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#20
#20
Some time in the early 80s -- around 84? -- when we had Johnnie Jones at RB, we were about to play Bama, and he asked what was the line. Someone said, they have it Bama by 3. He asked, 3 points? They said, no, 3 TDs. JJ said Oh hell no, and we went on to beat em.
 
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#21
#21
orangebloodgmc said:
Some time in the early 80s -- around 84? -- when we had Johnnie Jones at RB, we were about to play Bama, and he asked what was the line. Someone said, they have it Bama by 3. He asked, 3 points? They said, no, 3 TDs. JJ said Oh hell no, and we went on to beat em.
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Yes, Johnnie Jones from Munford, TN. ran all over Bama that day. I can hear John Ward saying Jones from Munford, TN. about 50 times that day.
 
#22
#22
W.TN.Orange Blood said:
That '85 Team upset #1 Auburn, who had Heismann Trophy Winner running back Bo Jackson, at Neyland Stadium that year. They went on to win the SEC East that year behind backup QB Darrel Dickey & a right to play #2 ranked Jimmy Johnson's Miami Hurricanes in the 1986 Sugar Bowl. Tennessee won 35-7 & ended up as the #3 ranked team at years end.
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For those of us who weren't alive, why didn't the #1 and #2 teams play for the title that year? I know it wasn't BCS yet, but seems like it woulda been easier.
 
#23
#23
While not the biggest lines, our 2003 win @ Miami we were a big underdog as well as @ Georgia in 2004 (they were ranked #3 and we had just gotten out butts kicked at home by Auburn).
 
#24
#24
W.TN.Orange Blood said:
That '85 Team upset #1 Auburn, who had Heismann Trophy Winner running back Bo Jackson, at Neyland Stadium that year. They went on to win the SEC East that year behind backup QB Darrel Dickey & a right to play #2 ranked Jimmy Johnson's Miami Hurricanes in the 1986 Sugar Bowl. Tennessee won 35-7 & ended up as the #3 ranked team at years end.
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There was no SEC East in 1985. We were SEC Champs , mainly because Florida was ineligible due to being on probation. We both finished 5-1 in SEC play but UF beat us ..
 
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#25
#25
Daloth said:
For those of us who weren't alive, why didn't the #1 and #2 teams play for the title that year? I know it wasn't BCS yet, but seems like it woulda been easier.
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Conference tie-ins with the various bowls at that time rarely permitted a match-up of the teams who were ranked Nos. 1 & 2 as of the final regular season poll. Penn State, which I believe was then still an independent, was ranked no. 1 and pitted against Oklahoma, whom Miami had beaten during the regular season. Miami's loss to us and Oklahoma's victory over the Nittany Lions elevated the Sooners to national champions.
 
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