When was "Third Saturday in September" first used to refer to the Florida–Tennessee football rivalry?
Florida–Tennessee football rivalry
Florida and Tennessee have played on the third Saturday of September almost every year since 1992, giving the rivalry its nickname. Notable exceptions were in 2001, when the game was postponed until December 1 due to the September 11 terrorist attacks, and in 2014, when the addition of two new members to the SEC temporarily scrambled the dates of many traditional conference rivalries and moved the Florida–Tennessee game to October. The rivalry has sometimes served as the conference opener and is often the first significant test of the season for one or both of the teams.
1930 Florida Gators football team
The Gators beat coach Bill Alexander's Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets for the first time, handing them their worst defeat in years, 55 to 7. Red Bethea scored three touchdowns, Ed Sauls two, and John Hall one. After the Tech game, newspapers posted how Bethea "made the Florida fans forget there ever was a Cannonball Clyde Crabtree." 
The season's final game saw a bitterly fought contest end in a 13 to 6 loss to coach Robert Neyland's Tennessee Volunteers. Buddy Hackman scored both of Tennessee's touchdowns. Tennessee quarterback Bobby Dodd also starred.
2010 Alabama Crimson Tide football team
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In the 93rd edition of the Third Saturday in October, the Crimson Tide defeated the Tennessee Volunteers 41–10. Tennessee scored first, on a 59-yard Tauren Poole touchdown run to take an early 7–0 lead. Alabama responded by scoring on its next two drives: a 36-yard Jeremy Shelley field goal, and a one-yard Greg McElroy touchdown run to take a 10–7 lead. The second quarter closed with a 42-yard Shelley field goal and a 33-yard field goal by Michael Palardy of Tennessee to make the halftime score 13–10.
Florida–Tennessee football rivalry
One result of the SEC's 1992 expansion and split into divisions was the beginning of an annual match-up between Florida and Tennessee at a time when both programs rose to national prominence. Under head coaches Steve Spurrier and Phillip Fulmer, the Gators and Volunteers were annual contenders for conference and national championships, with both teams usually fielding wide-open offenses led by top quarterbacks such as Danny Wuerffel and Peyton Manning, among many other highly decorated players on both sides of the ball.
History of Florida Gators football
The 1993 season was the first in which the Gators were ranked in the AP top ten every week. In the second week, quarterbacks Danny Wuerffel and Terry Dean throw a total of seven interceptions against Kentucky. With eight seconds left, Wuerffel threw a pass down the middle to walk-on receiver Chris Doering for the game-winning touchdown; Gator play-by-play announcer Mick Hubert shouted, "Doering's got a touchdown!" The next week, Florida recovered and defeated Heath Shuler-led, fifth-ranked Tennessee 41–34 in a "shootout". Auburn dropped the Gators to their lowest ranking (10th) of the season. Tied 35–35 late in the game, Auburn kicked a 41-yard field goal to win 38–35. Florida's other loss was to national champion FSU. The Gators never led, although they had cut the score to 27–21. With just under six minutes left and the crowd roaring, FSU faced third down at its 21-yard-line. Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Charlie Ward hit freshman running back Warrick Dunn up the sideline for a 79-yard touchdown and a 33–21 FSU win. The Gators defeated Alabama 28–13 in the SEC Championship and the third-ranked West Virginia Mountaineers 41–7 in the Sugar Bowl, finishing fifth in the AP Poll.
Florida–Tennessee football rivalry
Tennessee dominated the rivalry's early years, winning the first ten meetings and building a 13–2 series lead after their victory in the 1971 game. Florida has held the advantage since then, especially since the schools became SEC East rivals in 1992. After winning in 2018, Florida leads the all-time series 28–20.
Florida–Tennessee football rivalry
As usual, the Gators and Vols were slated to meet on the 3rd Saturday of September during the 2001 season. However, the SEC canceled all games on the weekend following the September 11 attacks, and they were rescheduled for December 1, 2001, requiring the SEC Championship Game to be pushed back a week as well.
Florida–Tennessee football rivalry
As long-time members of the same conference, Tennessee and Florida have long competed in many other sports besides football. Men's basketball in particular became a heated rivalry for a time in the mid- to late-2000s, when coach Bruce Pearl's Volunteer squads challenged coach Billy Donovan's national championship-winning Gator teams for supremacy in the SEC's Eastern Division. However, the basketball rivalry cooled after Pearl left Tennessee in 2011 (Pearl is currently head coach of another SEC school, Auburn) and Donovan left Florida in 2015, and the schools' football rivalry has consistently received more attention from fans and media over the years.
Tennessee Volunteers football
The Vols' three main rivalries include the Alabama Crimson Tide (Third Saturday in October), Florida Gators, and Vanderbilt Commodores. Tennessee also has a long and important rivalry with Kentucky Wildcats. Since the formation of the SEC Eastern Division in 1992, the Vols have had an emerging rivalry with the Georgia Bulldogs. None of their games have trophies, although Kentucky–Tennessee used to battle over a trophy called the Beer Barrel from 1925 until 1999. From 1985 until 2010, Tennessee held a 26–game winning streak over Kentucky. The streak ended on November 26, 2011 when Kentucky defeated Tennessee 10–7 in Lexington. The Volunteers had important rivalries with the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, Auburn Tigers, until Georgia Tech left the SEC and realignment forced them to drop Auburn from the schedule.
Super Bowl III
Super Bowl III was the third AFL–NFL Championship Game in professional American football, and the first to officially bear the trademark name "Super Bowl". The game, played on January 12, 1969, at the Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida, is regarded as one of the greatest upsets in American football history. The heavy underdog American Football League (AFL) champion New York Jets defeated the National Football League (NFL) champion Baltimore Colts by a score of 16–7.
Florida–LSU football rivalry
The Florida–LSU football rivalry is an American college football rivalry between the Florida Gators football team of the University of Florida and LSU Tigers football team of Louisiana State University. Although both universities were founding members of the Southeastern Conference (SEC) in December 1932, the Gators and Tigers did not meet on the gridiron until 1937, and have been annual opponents only since 1971. When the SEC instituted divisional play in 1992, Florida was placed in the SEC Eastern Division and LSU in the Western Division, and Florida and LSU were selected as permanent cross-division rivals. The Gators and Tigers have combined to win five national championships and eleven SEC titles over the past two decades.
Florida–Tennessee football rivalry
While the rivalry was still important to both schools, it lacked its previous national impact and attention during the first half of the decade. In 2013, both Tennessee and Florida failed to qualify for a bowl game during the same season for the first time since 1978. In 2014 and 2015, both teams came into their game unranked, something that had not happened since the 1950s.
Florida–Tennessee football rivalry
Ironically, even after UF beat UT 33-20 in 1997 for their fifth straight victory in the series, upset losses to LSU and Georgia put the Gators in the Citrus Bowl. Meanwhile, Tennessee and Manning won their first SEC Championship Game and went on to play in the 1998 Orange Bowl.
Georgia Tech–Tennessee football rivalry
The Georgia Tech–Tennessee football rivalry is an American college football rivalry between the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets and Tennessee Volunteers. The series dates back to 1902 and features two of the most prominent programs in college football history, with Georgia Tech claiming four national championships, 15 conference titles, and 21 consensus All-Americans, and Tennessee claiming six national championships, 16 conference titles, and 38 consensus All-Americans. Tennessee leads the series 25–17–2. The series ended in 1987, but it was renewed in the September 2017 Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game.
Florida–Tennessee football rivalry
Tennessee won their first two clashes against Dickey's Gators, and Florida won the next two, including a 1976 victory in Gainesville that was their first home win against the Vols in four tries. Dickey resigned as Florida's coach after the 1978 season, ending a largely disappointing tenure at Florida and eventually returning to Knoxville in 1985 to become Tennessee's athletic director.
Third Saturday in October
1967: In 1967, both Alabama and Tennessee were ranked in top ten. The game started with Walter Chadwick scored on a one-yard touchdown run for the Vols, Alabama responded with an eight-yard touchdown that tied the game 7–7 at the end of the first quarter. The score remained tied at the half after a scoreless second quarter.
Florida–Florida State football rivalry
Florida State was ranked No. 9 and Florida No. 11 coming into the 2003 contest in Gainesville. It turned out to be a close and high-scoring affair, but it is most remembered for several controversial referee calls by the ACC officiating crew, and was christened the "Swindle in the Swamp" by several national and Florida sportswriters for the questionable calls on multiple fumble/no-fumble plays that went against Florida. Florida nevertheless held a slim 34–31 lead late in the fourth quarter when Seminoles quarterback Chris Rix hit wide receiver PK Sam for a 52-yard touchdown pass with under a minute to go, giving Florida State a 38–34 lead. Before the winning score, Rix had completed a first down pass on a fourth-and-14 play deep in Seminoles territory to keep the drive alive. The Seminoles went on to hold off the Gators, 38–34.
Third Saturday in October
1966: A week following Alabama's win over Clemson, Alabama regained the No. 3 position in the AP Poll prior to the game against Tennessee. At a rain-soaked Neyland Stadium, Alabama overcame a 10–0 fourth quarter deficit and defeated the Vols 11–10 and preserved their perfect record. Tennessee scored all of their points in the first quarter. The first points came on a six-yard Dewey Warren touchdown pass to Austin Denney and next on a 40-yard Gary Wright field goal for a 10–0 lead. Still up by 10, the Crimson Tide made their comeback in the fourth quarter. Ken Stabler scored on a one-yard touchdown run and then successfully converted the two-point conversion on a short pass to Wayne Cook that made the score 10–8. With 3:23 left in the game, Steve Davis kicked the 17-yard, game-winning field goal that made the score 11–10. The Volunteers did manage to set up a 19-yard field goal attempt that went wide in the final 0:20 of the contest. The victory improved Alabama's all-time record against Tennessee to 23–19–7.
Alabama Crimson Tide football
Despite the heated in-state rivalry with Auburn, Bear Bryant was more adamant about defeating his rivals to the north, the Tennessee Volunteers. The series is named the Third Saturday in October, the traditional calendar date on which the game was played. Despite the name, the game has only been played on the third Saturday five times between 1995–2007. The first game between the two sides was played in 1901 in Birmingham, ending in a 6–6 tie. From 1902 to 1913, Alabama dominated the series, only losing once, and never allowing a touchdown by the Volunteers. Beginning in 1928, the rivalry was first played on its traditional date and began to be a challenge for the Crimson Tide as Robert Neyland began challenging Alabama for their perennial spot on top of the conference standings. In the 1950s, Jim Goostree, the head trainer for Alabama, began another tradition as he began handing out cigars following a victory over the Volunteers.
Third Saturday in October
Both football programs share very notable people. Bill Battle, Alabama's Athletic director from 2013–17, was the head coach of Tennessee from 1970–76 and played on the Crimson Tide's 1961 national championship squad.
Three-peat
NCAA Division III Football
Tennessee Volunteers football
The Gators and Vols first met on the gridiron in 1916, and have competed in the same conference since Florida joined the now-defunct Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association in 1912. However, a true rivalry has developed only relatively recently due to infrequent match-ups in past decades; in the first seventy-six years (1916–1991), the two teams met just twenty-one times.
This changed in 1992, when the Southeastern Conference (SEC) expanded to twelve universities and split into two divisions. Florida and Tennessee were both placed in the SEC's Eastern Division, and have met annually on the football field since 1992. The rivalry quickly blossomed in intensity and importance, as both squads were perennial championship contenders throughout the 1990s. The games' national implications diminished in the 2000s, as first Tennessee and then Florida suffered through sub-par seasons. However, the intensity of each meeting still remains one of the highest in college football. Florida won the 2017 meeting 26–20 on a pass play as time expired.
Florida–Tennessee football rivalry
But in 2001, despite the teams' identical records and much to the chagrin of the Vols, the Gators were 17-and-a-half point favorites at kickoff.
Indiana–Kentucky football rivalry
The Indiana–Kentucky football rivalry is an American college football rivalry between the Indiana Hoosiers and Kentucky Wildcats. The Hoosiers played the Wildcats first met in 1893 in Lexington and both tied the game at 24. They played annually in football from 1987 until 2005 in what was known as the "Bourbon Barrel" game as C. M. Newton wanted something similar to the Kentucky–Tennessee rivalry, beer barrel.
Florida–Tennessee football rivalry
Once again, the late September matchup between Tennessee and Florida found both teams ranked in the top 5, with the Volunteers ranked No. 2 and the Gators No. 4 in the AP poll. The game was played in newly expanded Neyland Stadium, and an NCAA record crowd of over 107,000 were in attendance for one of the most highly anticipated games of the college football season.
Third Saturday in October
2003: #22 Tennessee, fighting to stay alive in the SEC East, traveled to Tuscaloosa to take on the unranked Crimson Tide. The two teams went to an unprecedented five overtime periods before Tennessee finally breaks the ice in the fifth overtime scoring a touchdown and the mandatory two-point conversion. Alabama would fail to answer the touchdown and Tennessee escaped Tuscaloosa with a 51-43 win in the longest game in either team's history. Tennessee has not won in Tuscaloosa since.
1903 Florida State College football team
Florida State played Georgia Tech at Piedmont Park in Atlanta on November 7, “a sunny and mild autumn day.” Georgia Tech made two touchdowns in the first half after “easy gains.” In the second, Clarke, Georgia Tech’s left tackle, “made one of the prettiest bucks…which had been seen” and scored a third time. By the end of the game, Georgia Tech had defeated Florida State 17–0. Though Florida schools had played each other since 1901, this was the first time one played a Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association (SIAA) opponent. Fuzzy Woodruff called it the first evidence of intercollegiate football in Florida.
Tennessee Volunteers
Tennessee competes in the SEC's Eastern Division, along with Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Missouri, South Carolina, and Vanderbilt, and has longstanding football rivalries with the majority of them. However, the Vols' most intense and bitter traditional rivalry is with the Alabama Crimson Tide. The teams battle every year in the Third Saturday in October, though the game is now usually held on the fourth Saturday in October. The Vols' Super Bowl champions Peyton Manning and Reggie White are among the most famous NFL athletes to start their careers at the University of Tennessee. Todd Helton also played football, in addition to baseball, as a quarterback.
Fort Lauderdale–Tampa Bay rivalry
The rivalry's fourth phase came to be in 1998 when the newly formed Miami Fusion joined the Tampa Bay Mutiny in Major League Soccer. Although their name implied they were based in Miami, the Fusion's home games were played in Ft. Lauderdale at Lockhart Stadium. Several of the derby's players from previous eras, such as Ray Hudson, Thomas Rongen, Perry Van der Beck, Eddie Austin, Farrukh Quarishi, Ivan McKinley and Nick Sakiewicz, ultimately found themselves employed by these MLS clubs. Hudson, who provided the Fusion's broadcast color commentary and later coached them, was one of the most vocal advocates of the rivalry's continuance during this era. Even the "Florida Derby" moniker was resurrected, despite neither team being directly linked to their footballing forebears. These two sides met only seventeen times, as both squads were contracted before the 2002 MLS season, thus putting the regional battle on ice once again.
Florida–Florida State football rivalry
In 1947, the Florida Legislature reorganized the state's university system again. In order to accommodate the post-World War II surge in college enrollment, both the University of Florida and Florida State College for Women became coeducational, with the Tallahassee institution taking its present name, "Florida State University." Florida State immediately established a football program for the 1947 season, and helped to found the non-scholarship Dixie Conference along with several other small football programs in 1948. After three seasons, FSU became an independent program, began offering football scholarships, and scheduled their first games against major college programs in 1951, at which point FSU's coaches, players and students began calling for games against the Gators.
Third Saturday in October
2005: Tennessee returned to Tuscaloosa ranked 17th after a disappointing 3-2 start following their preseason #2 ranking. Alabama came in ranked #5 and undefeated, their highest ranking entering the game since 1993. A defensive struggle ensued, with neither team able to find the endzone. With the score tied at 3-3, Tennessee appeared ready to score the game's first touchdown with 5:08 remaining. Running back Cory Anderson caught a swing pass and reached the two yard line before Alabama's Roman Harper knocked the ball loose and through the endzone for a touchback. Alabama quarterback Brodie Croyle then drove the Tide down into field goal range where Jamie Christensen kicked the game-winning field goal with 13 seconds left to give the Crimson Tide a 6-3 win and keep their undefeated season alive.
2009: Despite #1 Alabama entering the game as a 14-point favorite, the Crimson Tide struggled with the Volunteers, holding only a slim 12–3 lead late in the fourth quarter. With Alabama attempting to kill the clock, eventual Heisman Trophy winner Mark Ingram fumbled for the first time in 296 carries, giving Tennessee the ball in Alabama territory. Tennessee scored the first touchdown of the game eight plays later, making the score 12–10. Tennessee then recovered an onside kick at their own 41 yard line, needing only a field goal to pull off the upset. After reaching the Alabama 28 yard line, Tennessee attempted a would-be game-winning field goal of 43 yards. Alabama's standout defensive lineman, Terrence Cody, blocked the low line-drive kick, his second blocked field goal of the quarter, preserving the 12-10 Alabama victory en route to an eventual National Championship.
History of Florida Gators football
The 1979 season was a 0–10–1 disaster, but Pell's Gators improved after he hired offensive coach Mike Shanahan. Quarterbacks Bob Hewko and Wayne Peace led the team to an NCAA-record turnaround with an 8–3 season in 1980. Despite Georgia's consensus All-American back Herschel Walker, Florida nearly defeated the national-champion Bulldogs for what would have been its first SEC championship until Georgia executed one of the most famous plays in college-football history. The Bulldogs were trailing 21–20 with time running out, facing a third down and long yardage from their seven-yard line. After scrambling around his end zone, Georgia quarterback Buck Belue found wide receiver Lindsay Scott open in the middle of the field. Scott outran everyone else down the sideline, scoring the game-winning touchdown with seconds left. Georgia radio announcer Larry Munson's call of the play gave the game its nickname: "Run Lindsay Run." The Gators ended their season with a 35–20 victory against the Maryland Terrapins in the Tangerine Bowl, the first time a winless team received a bowl invitation the following season. Pell's teams built on that success, leading Florida to seven wins in 1981, eight wins in 1982 and nine wins in 1983. The 1982 team upset 10th-ranked USC, 17–9, in a nationally-televised game which helped return Florida football to national prominence. The 1983 team finished sixth in the final AP Poll, the highest final ranking in school history to date. The 1982 and 1983 teams included consensus All-American linebacker Wilber Marshall.
Florida–Tennessee football rivalry
Emotions ran high when Spurrier brought his first Gator squad to Neyland Stadium in October 1990. Florida was 5–0 and ranked No. 9 coming into the matchup with Johnny Majors' 3–0–2 and No. 5 Vols, marking the first time in series history that both rivals were ranked in the AP top-10 when they faced off. The game began as a defensive struggle, with UT holding a slim 7–3 lead at the half. However, the Vols' Dale Carter returned the second half kickoff 91 yards for a touchdown, igniting the home crowd at Neyland Stadium. The Gators fumbled on their next possession and would turn the ball over six times in the second half. The opportunistic Vols took full advantage, turning Spurrier's homecoming (and, coincidentally, Tennessee's homecoming game) into a 45–3 rout, the largest margin of victory in series history.
Florida Gators football
Louisiana State and Florida first met on the football field in 1937, and have been annual opponents since 1971. Since 1992, LSU has been Florida's permanent inter-divisional rival from the SEC Western Division. The winner of the Florida–LSU game went on to win the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) national championship game in the 2006, 2007, and 2008 seasons. This rivalry has been known recently for close games, with both teams highly ranked. Florida leads the all-time series, 33–29–3.
Florida–Florida State football rivalry
The late-hit controversy that began after the team's regular season meeting intensified when the Texas Longhorns upset third-ranked Nebraska Cornhuskers in the Big 12 Championship Game and Florida defeated Alabama in the SEC Championship Game, creating an FSU–UF rematch in the Sugar Bowl. Spurrier continued to complain to the press about the issue while FSU coach Bobby Bowden responded that he thought the hits in question were clean while admitting that "we just hit to the echo of the whistle instead of the whistle."
History of Florida Gators football
The Gators were first in the preseason AP Poll for the first time in 1994, remaining there until their loss to Auburn. Florida remained in the top five until the FSU game known as the Choke at Doak (FSU plays at Doak Campbell Stadium). The Gators led, 31–3, at the beginning of the fourth quarter before FSU scored four touchdowns. FSU coach Bobby Bowden opted to kick the extra point rather than attempt a two-point conversion, overruling nine assistants who begged him to go for the win (there was no overtime in college football at the time). The kick was good, tying the game at 31 and completing FSU's comeback. Florida edged Alabama by one point in the SEC Championship before facing the Seminoles in a rematch in the Sugar Bowl (won by FSU, 23–17). The Gators finished seventh in the AP Poll.
1996 Florida Gators football team
The third game was a showdown between No. 4 Florida and No. 2 Tennessee. Volunteers quarterback Peyton Manning had not beaten the Gators in two previous attempts, and after a second-half meltdown a year earlier in Gainesville, the Volunteers were looking to exact revenge on their SEC East rival in Knoxville. The game featured two of the top quarterbacks in college football, Manning and Florida's Danny Wuerffel. Both teams featured strong aerial attacks, but Florida's Fred Taylor and Tennessee's Jay Graham were among the SEC's best tailbacks. ESPN's College Gameday was on hand to broadcast their pregame show live from Knoxville.
1990 NCAA Division I-A football season
The most important game of week three was a top five match-up of #1 Notre Dame against #4 Michigan. In an exciting game, the Fighting Irish prevailed, 28–24, to remain #1. The other game that would have season long significance was (#21) Illinois' upset of (#9) Colorado, 23–22. The game would figure prominently in the national championship argument in January. Steve Spurrier also won his SEC debut, with his #24 Florida team besting the Alabama Crimson Tide, 17–13. While #2 Auburn and #3 Florida State both won, the Seminole's 48–6 win over Georgia Southern brought it to #2 in the polls. At the close of the week, the top five teams were: Notre Dame, Florida State, Auburn, BYU, and USC. Climbing into the top ten was Virginia with a 3–0 record.
Ole Miss–Tulane football rivalry
The first game took place on December 2, 1893, in New Orleans, and the two schools have continued to play each other with few interruptions since. Tulane and Ole Miss spent much of their athletic histories as members of the same conference: the SIAA from 1899 to 1920, the Southern Conference from 1922 to 1932, and as charter members of the SEC from 1932 to 1966. Ole Miss did not play a game against Tulane at home in Oxford, Mississippi, until 1920, and it wasn't until 1951 that the teams began to frequently alternate hosting the game.
1928 Alabama Crimson Tide football team
Alabama's October 20 meeting with Tennessee was the first game between the two schools in 14 years. While the game had been played on irregular dates up until 1914, when the series was renewed in 1928 the game was scheduled for the Third Saturday in October. Alabama and Tennessee have played yearly ever since, except when interrupted by World War II in 1943, although the game has more frequently been scheduled for the fourth Saturday in October since the SEC expanded to 12 teams in 1992. Alabama lost this renewal of the series 15–13, victimized by poor special teams play (a 98-yard kickoff return for Tennessee to open the game, a safety on a fumbled punt, a missed extra point) and mistakes (an offsides penalty that kept a Tennessee drive alive, leading to its second touchdown).
Florida State Seminoles football
Once Veller left the school, Tom Nugent became the third coach at Florida State. He stayed at Florida State for six years and compiled a record of 34–28–1. In one of his most notable accomplishments, Nugent gave the Seminoles their first win over an SEC opponent with a 10–0 victory against Tennessee in 1958.
1964 Florida Gators football team
This season was also notable as the first in which the Florida State Seminoles defeated the Gators. Even though many of the early games in the series were close (and the 1961 contest ended in a 3–3 tie), Florida State had yet to beat their in-state rivals in six attempts. The 1964 game would be the first time that the Gators would journey to Doak Campbell Stadium, and the Seminoles under coach Bill Peterson were enjoying their best season since joining the ranks of major college football programs. However, the Gators still felt confident that another victory was in the offing, coming out onto the playing field with the boast "Never, FSU, Never!" attached to their helmets.
Florida–Tennessee football rivalry
Dickey was the head of UT's athletic department during the intense UF/UT Spurrier/Fulmer rivalry of the 1990s and retired in 2002, after which he moved to Jacksonville, Florida.
Harvard–Yale football rivalry
The rivalry has been noted in American athletic and popular culture. The University of Mississippi's first football team, organized by Alexander Bondurant, adopted yale blue and crimson for team colors in 1893. Newspapers printed "Bull Tales", Garry Trudeau's collegiate precursor to Doonesbury published in the "Yale Daily News", often featuring Brian Dowling and Calvin Hill, in the run-up to the 1968 Yale vs. Harvard football game. Burns, Baby Burns, the fourth episode in the eighth season of The Simpsons, depicts Mr. Burns returning to Springfield after attending The Game.
Florida–Georgia football rivalry
The Florida–Georgia football rivalry is an American college football rivalry game played annually by the University of Florida Gators and the University of Georgia Bulldogs. The game was first played in 1915, and has been played every season since 1926, except for a war-time interruption in 1943. This match-up between Southeastern Conference opponents is one of the most prominent rivalry games in college football, and has been held in Jacksonville, Florida since 1933, with only two exceptions, making it one of the few remaining neutral-site rivalries in college football. The game attracts huge crowds to Jacksonville, and the associated tailgating and other events earned it the nickname of the "World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party", although that name is no longer used officially.
Florida–Tennessee football rivalry
Down by that score late in the fourth quarter, UF took possession of the ball at their own 9-yard line. Gator quarterback Jesse Palmer steadily led his team down the field, and with 14 seconds left in the game, they found themselves with a first and goal at the Vols' 3.
Florida State Seminoles
Following World War II, Florida State College for Women became coeducational and was renamed Florida State University in 1947, and the school once again started a football team. After its first season, FSU joined the Dixie Conference, which it won in each of the three years it was a member. It withdrew from the conference in 1951 and competed as an independent team for the next forty years.
Under head coach Bobby Bowden, the football team became one of the nation's most competitive football teams, greatly expanding the tradition of football at Florida State. The Seminoles played in five national championship games between 1993 and 2001, and have claimed the championship three times, in 1993, 1999, and 2013. The FSU football team was the most successful team in college football during the 1990s, boasting an 89% winning percentage. FSU also set an NCAA record for most consecutive Top 5 finishes in the AP football poll – receiving placement fourteen years in a row, from 1987 to 2000. The Seminoles were the first college football team in history to go wire-to-wire (ranked first place from preseason to postseason) since the AP began releasing preseason rankings in 1936. FSU also owns the record for most consecutive bowl game victories with 11 between 1985 and 1996 and made a post-season appearance for thirty-six straight seasons from 1982-2017. The Seminole football team has also won eighteen conference championships in the Dixie and Atlantic Coast.
2016 Tennessee Volunteers football team
Pregame line: Alabama –12The ninth-ranked Tennessee Volunteers and the top-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide met for the 99th time to renew their rivalry on the "Third Saturday in October" for the first time in four seasons. Alabama won their 10th–straight game in the series, 49–10, the worst loss for the Volunteers since losing 59–14 at Oregon in 2013. Tennessee pulled within seven in the second quarter, after forcing a fumble on the Crimson Tide's 11-yard line. Two plays later, Alvin Kamara rushed up the middle to bring the score to 14-7. However, the Volunteers' only other score in the game came in the third quarter when kicker Aaron Medley chipped in a 37-yard field goal to make the score 28-10 at the 4:03 mark.
Kentucky–Tennessee football rivalry
The Tennessee-Kentucky football rivalry is an American college football rivalry between the Kentucky Wildcats and Tennessee Volunteers. Both border rivals have faced off on the gridiron since 1893, making it one of the oldest series in major college football. It was close in the early years, with Kentucky holding a series lead after the first 22 match-ups. But since the early 1930s, Tennessee has dominated the cross-border rivalry.
Both schools were charter members of the Southeastern Conference when it was established in 1932. Since that season, Tennessee has a 53–14–3 record against Kentucky, including a streak of 26 straight victories from 1985 to 2010, which is one of the longest such streaks in NCAA history. The Wildcats did not win any games against the Volunteers during the 1940s, 1990s, or 2000s. The only decade of the SEC era in which UK posted a winning record against Tennessee was the 1950s, when they went 6–3–1. The series was not without disappointment even during that period for Kentucky fans, however, as the Vols dealt Bear Bryant's 1950 Wildcat squad their only defeat during their school-best 11–1 season.
Fort Lauderdale–Tampa Bay rivalry
The Rowdies and the original Fort Lauderdale Strikers (1977–83) first met in an indoor friendly on February 27, 1977 after the Miami Toros had moved to Fort Lauderdale and changed their name. It was around the time of their first outdoor meeting on May 7, 1977 that the term "Florida Derby" first appeared in local media reports. As NASL franchises they faced each other over 40 times, including 20 regular season games, 2 playoff games, 1 playoff mini-game, 5 friendlies, 12 times indoors and several reserve squad matches. During the 1983 NASL Grand Prix of Indoor Soccer, they also met in the finals of a $5,000 shoot-out challenge "(which Tampa Bay won)". The intrastate rivalry appeared to have run its course following the 1983 outdoor season, when the Strikers moved to Minnesota for the 1984 NASL season.
Florida–Tennessee football rivalry
Florida and Tennessee would not meet again for fourteen years, the longest gap in the series. They next faced off in the 1969 Gator Bowl. In that highly unusual post-season matchup between conference foes, Florida won 14-13, then hired away the Tennessee's head coach, former Gator quarterback Doug Dickey.
Florida–Tennessee football rivalry
In the final game of Bobby Dodd's playing career, Tennessee defeated Florida in Jacksonville 13–6. Buddy Hackman scored both of Tennessee's touchdowns. An account of Dodd's trickery: "Against Florida in 1930 he got his teammates in a huddle and told them about a play he had used in high school. When the ball was snapped, it was placed on the ground unattended. The players ran in one direction. Then the center returned, picked up the ball, and waltzed to the winning touchdown." This play would later come to be popularly known as the "fumblerooski", after Nebraska famously used it in the 1984 Orange Bowl versus Miami.
History of Florida Gators football
Florida went three seasons before recapturing an SEC title in 2000. The 1998 Gators lost two games to teams which would eventually meet in the first BCS National Championship game: Tennessee and FSU. Florida returned to the SEC Championship in 1999, but lost to Alabama and then Michigan State in the Citrus Bowl. The 2000 team won Spurrier's sixth SEC championship, with one conference loss; Mississippi State defeated the Gators 47–35, breaking Florida's 72-game win streak against unranked teams. Spurrier, frustrated, rotated three quarterbacks (including Rex Grossman). After the game, Mississippi State fans stormed the field and tore down the goalposts (parts of which ended up all over campus). The preseason #1-ranked 2001 Gators appeared ready to return to the SEC Championship as favorites, but were upset 23–20 by Auburn in a last-minute field goal and lost 34–32 to Tennessee in a game postponed until December due to the September 11 attacks. Florida accepted an invitation to the Orange Bowl, defeating Maryland 56–23. Grossman was runner-up for the Heisman Trophy. In a surprise move, on January 4, 2002 Spurrier stunned Florida fans by resigning as the Gators' head coach; ten days later, he became head coach of the NFL's Washington Redskins.
Florida–Tennessee football rivalry
As the season progressed, the postponed game took on greater and greater importance. Each squad suffered only one close loss (#6 Tennessee lost to Georgia 26–24, #1 Florida lost to Auburn 23–20) and entered the contest with Tennessee ranked #5 and Florida ranked #2. The winner would represent the SEC East and face LSU in the SEC Championship. With a win in that game, the Gators or Vols were likely to receive an invitation to the Rose Bowl to face the undefeated Miami Hurricanes with a national title on the line.
Clemson–Florida State football rivalry
Clemson and FSU first played in 1970, predating Florida State's membership in the ACC. The actual rivalry started to emerge in 1988 when the No. 3 Clemson Tigers hosted the No. 10 Seminoles in a "clash of styles" marked by FSU's highly touted skill talent and passing attack, versus Clemson's well regarded option, linemen and linebackers, that was ultimately decided by Leroy Butler's 78-yard "puntrooskie" run, costing Clemson the victory and dashing their national title hopes. Clemson avenged the loss in 1989, dominating the trenches, with a 34–23 victory in Tallahassee, marked by a 73-yard scoring run by Terry Allen and a 73-yard interception return by Wayne Simmons. The Seminoles and Tigers finished the 1989 season with 10–2 records, and ranked No. 3 and No. 12 in the final AP poll, respectively. The series also marked the only two games coached by Danny Ford and Bobby Bowden, who were the 3rd and 9th ranked coaches in winning percentage in college football at the time.
Third Saturday in October
The Alabama–Tennessee game has been played in three locations: Birmingham, Alabama, Knoxville, Tennessee, and Tuscaloosa, Alabama. In the first four (1901–1908) meetings, the game was held in Birmingham, Alabama. In 1909, the home and home series began, though most of Alabama's home game against Tennessee were played in Birmingham. The teams did play in Tuscaloosa a few times through 1930. The game was not played in Tuscaloosa after 1930 until 1999. Alabama leads the series in all three venues: for games contested in Birmingham, 21–14–6; in Knoxville, 26–20–1; and in Tuscaloosa, 9–4. Alabama won the last game, played on October 20, 2018, 58–21.
Florida–Tennessee football rivalry
Steve Spurrier returned to his alma mater in 1990 to become the Gators' head ball coach. In yet another link between the programs, Spurrier had been a star quarterback at Science Hill High School in Johnson City, Tennessee during the early 1960s. Although Knoxville is nearby, he did not seriously consider attending UT because he was an excellent passer and the Vols ran a single-wing offense at the time which featured a running quarterback. Instead, he choose to return to the state of his birth (Spurrier was born in Miami Beach), eventually becoming the Gators' first Heisman Trophy winner in 1966. Tennessee and Florida did not face off during Spurrier's time as the Gators' quarterback. However, he did return to Knoxville in 1988 when he was the head coach at Duke, and his Blue Devils upset the Vols, 31–26.
Florida–Tennessee football rivalry
Despite these denials, Dickey was introduced as the Gators' new head football coach five days after the Gator Bowl contest by Florida's new full-time AD, Ray Graves. Players on both the Florida and Tennessee squads were upset by the move and the NCAA conducted an investigation to determine whether ethics policies were violated. However, no wrongdoing was discovered and Dickey was the Gator head coach for 1970.
Florida–Tennessee football rivalry
As of the 2018 game, Florida holds an 8–1 edge over Tennessee in the decade.
Florida–Tennessee football rivalry
Florida would go 12–0 through the regular season and the SEC Championship Game and played for the national championship in the 1996 Fiesta Bowl, losing in a blowout to Nebraska. Tennessee would not lose another game all season, finishing 11–1 after a Citrus Bowl victory over Ohio State. The schools finished No. 2 and No. 3 in the final polls, with the AP Poll placing the Gators ahead and the Coaches' Poll reversing the order.
Falcons–Saints rivalry
It began in 1967, the first year of play for the Saints, and press accounts from that game, including the "Rome News-Tribune" and "Los Angeles Times", referred to it as the "Dixie Championship." In recent years, the game has sometimes been referred to as the "Southern Showdown". This has especially been the case leading up to the first of the two 2011 games, by WWL radio in New Orleans.
American football on Thanksgiving
The Turkey Day Classic, a college football game between Alabama State University and Tuskegee University, has been played on Thanksgiving Day annually from 1924 to 2012 and again since 2016; as such, it has historically been known as the "Turkey Day Classic." It is also the oldest black college football classic, since the two colleges first played each other in 1901. Tuskegee University pulled out of the contest after 2012 (they were replaced by Stillman College in the 2013 contest), and Alabama State did the same from 2013 to 2015, deciding to move its homecoming to the Saturday before Thanksgiving; in both cases, the NCAA football tournaments prompted the schools to move the end of their seasons to before Thanksgiving so that they would be able to compete for the national championship should they qualify. (The establishment of the Celebration Bowl for historically black schools allowed the Turkey Day Classic to resume; it will be held against conference rival Mississippi Valley State in 2018.) Another popular black college football classic played on Thanksgiving weekend is the Bayou Classic between Grambling State University and Southern University, which is held the Saturday after Thanksgiving; for the 2017 season only, because of a hurricane earlier in the season, the Labor Day Classic between Texas Southern and Prairie View A&M was played on Thanksgiving weekend, and the two teams voluntarily agreed to hold that Classic on the same weekend in 2018. Alabama State, Mississippi Valley State, Prairie View A&M, Texas Southern, Southern and Grambling are all members of the Southwestern Athletic Conference.
LSU Tigers football
Although both universities were founding members of the Southeastern Conference (SEC) in December 1932, the Florida Gators and Tigers did not meet on the gridiron for the first time until 1937. LSU is Florida's permanent inter-divisional rival. LSU has played Florida every year since 1971. Florida leads the series 32–29–3. The longest winning streak in the LSU–Florida series is held by Florida, with nine victories from 1988 to 1996. LSU's longest winning streak is four, from 1977 to 1980. The winner of the Florida-LSU game went on to win the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) national championship game from 2006 to 2008. Some of the notable games in this rivalry include the 1960: Wristband Robbery, 1964: Hurricane Delay, 1972: Flooded Swamp, 1989: College Football's First Overtime Game, 1997: LSU's Revenge, 2006: Tebow Domination, 2007: 5 for 5 on fourth down, and 2016: Hurricane Delay Pt 2.
2007 Tennessee Volunteers football team
Nick Saban set a different tone for this year's "The Third Saturday in October" right from the get go. Saban elected to kick an onside kick on the opening kickoff. Alabama recovered and scored 3 on Leigh Tiffen's 39-yard field goal. Bama extended their lead to 10 when QB John Parker Wilson connected with Terry Grant on a 3-yard touchdown pass.
Florida–Tennessee football rivalry
It was not the first last-minute win for the Vols that season, and it would not be the last, either. UT survived several close calls to complete their first perfect season (12–0) since 1938 and claimed their first national championship since 1951 with a 23–16 victory over Florida State in the Fiesta Bowl
Florida–Tennessee football rivalry
While the rivalry faded in national importance in the mid-2010s, the contests themselves were quite memorable, as four UF-UT games in a row featured a dramatic fourth quarter rally.Series record sources: "2011 Florida Gators Football Media Guide", "2011 Tennessee Football Media Guide", and College Football Data Warehouse.
Florida–Florida State football rivalry
The decade began auspiciously with the first meeting of top-10 squads in the history of the rivalry (UF No. 6, FSU No. 8) heading into FSU's 45–30 win in Tallahassee. The stakes were even higher in 1991 in Gainesville, as both teams were ranked in the AP Poll top five (FSU No. 3, UF No. 5). The Gators had just clinched their first SEC Championship while the Seminoles were still feeling the sting of a defeat at the hands of the rival Miami Hurricanes. The game was a defensive struggle that culminated in a Gator defensive stand late in the fourth quarter to preserve a 14–9 win. No. 3 FSU dominated the 1992 contest in Tallahassee 45–24 against then-No. 6 UF.
Florida–Tennessee football rivalry
Both Dickey and Graves remained in their respective positions at UF until the late 1970s, with Dickey fired after the 1978 season and Graves retiring in 1979. During his last season as Florida's coach, Dickey hired a recently retired Florida alum to his first coaching job as the Gators' quarterback coach: Steve Spurrier. In yet another twist, Dickey returned to Knoxville in 1985 to serve as UT's athletic director, replacing Bob Woodruff. Woodruff had played football at Tennessee, but he had been Dickey's head football coach at Florida and had also served as UF's athletic director immediately preceding Ray Graves.
2011 Alabama Crimson Tide football team
In the 2011 edition of the "Third Saturday in October", Alabama entered the game as a 30-point favorite over the rival Tennessee Volunteers. At Bryant–Denny, the Volunteers were looking for the upset after tying the game 6–6 at halftime; however 31 unanswered points resulted in a 37–6 Crimson Tide victory to extend their overall record to 8–0. The first half was dominated by both defenses with each only allowing a pair of field goals. Mike Palardy connected from 40 and 52-yards for Tennessee and Jeremy Shelley connected from 26 and 29-yards for Alabama.
Georgia Bulldogs
The Bulldogs' most historic rivalry is with the Auburn Tigers, referred to as the Deep South's Oldest Rivalry and dating back to 1892. The other rivalries are between the Bulldogs and the Atlantic Coast Conference's Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets ("Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate") and the Florida Gators ("Florida vs. Georgia Football Classic"). In addition, UGA enjoyed a strong rivalry with the nearby Clemson Tigers for many years in football, especially in the 1980s. The Bulldogs and the Tennessee Volunteers annual showdown on the second Saturday of October has become a rivalry as a result of the 1992 division of the Southeastern Conference into Eastern and Western divisions. Before 1992, the two teams had only met 21 times since 1899. Beginning in 1992, the two teams have played annually as members of the same division. Georgia also enjoys a healthy rivalry with the South Carolina Gamecocks, meeting on the football field 70 times since 1894.
Florida–Florida State football rivalry
With a strong advantage in resources, facilities and home field advantage (the first six games of the series were played in Gainesville), the Gators would dominate the rivalry in its formative years, as the Gators were 16–2–1 against the Seminoles from 1958 until 1976. One particularly poor stretch for the Seminoles was from 1969–72 when wide receiver Barry Smith was playing for Florida State. He didn't play in the 1969 contest since freshmen were not eligible then but recalled the 1970–72 games in a recent article in "The Tampa Tribune",
"My sophomore year . . . I ran a reverse . . . and I remember being nailed by Jack Youngblood. I remember watching the ball being pitched to me and thinking, when the ball was about halfway, that it was kind of race to see whether he was going to get to the ball first or me. He was foaming at the mouth. I still have nightmares from the hit he gave me . . . . My junior year, we were 5–0 and Florida was 0–5. There is no question that we were the much better team, and they beat us . . . . My senior year, we're playing Florida at home and we're 4–0. They had a decent team, but it wasn't like the year before . . . . Chan Gailey was their quarterback, and he had a big game. That game was a blowout. They torched us. It got so bad, I had to throw a touchdown pass . . . ." 
Bobby Bowden arrived at Florida State in 1976 and began to turn around the athletic program. After losing his first game against Florida in 1976, the Seminoles would win the next four in the rivalry, their first wins in the series since 1967. This would begin a decade and a half period in which the rivals would take turns running off winning streaks against the other.
Florida–Tennessee football rivalry
The Vols struck quickly. On the first play from scrimmage, Manning connected with receiver Joey Kent for a 72-yard gain. On the next play, Manning threw a touchdown pass to Marcus Nash, giving UT a 7–0 lead only 15 seconds into the game. After another Manning touchdown pass and two Gator turnovers, the Vols held a 30–14 advantage late in the second quarter in front of a stunned Florida Field crowd. Wuerffel led the Gators to an answering score, cutting the lead to 30–21 with a touchdown pass in the last minute of the first half. That would be the beginning of a historic run, as Florida scored 48 straight points despite a torrential second half downpour and won in a 62–37 rout. Many records were broken in the game: Wuerffel threw an SEC record six touchdown passes; Tennessee set school records for most points scored in a loss and most points given up in the modern era. After the game, "Sports Illustrated" chose to put Wuerffel on its cover instead of Manning.
Florida–Tennessee football rivalry
Like the game in Knoxville four years previously, the 2004 UF/UT contest on Tennessee's home field also ended in controversy involving an official's call.
Florida–Tennessee football rivalry
The teams' December meeting would become even more historical in early January, when Steve Spurrier announced that he was resigning as Florida's head coach after 12 seasons. The 2001 game was thus the last matchup in the Spurrier-Fulmer chapter of the rivalry (they would meet several additional occasions after Spurrier became South Carolina's head coach in 2005) and Spurrier's last home game at Florida Field.
LSU Tigers football
LSU's oldest rival is Tulane; the first LSU-Tulane football game was played in 1893 and for the first fifty or so years of Tiger football, no team was more hated by LSU fans than the Green Wave. The series, in which they battle for the Tiger Rag, was played continuously from 1919 to 1994. The intrastate rivalry featured two teams which were geographically close (Baton Rouge and New Orleans are roughly apart) and drew on socio-political tensions between the state's capital and seat of government and its biggest and most culturally important city. As opponents in the SIAA, Southern Conference and SEC, the Tulane rivalry flourished for many years but slowly declined after Tulane left the SEC and de-emphasized athletics. Until 1949, the series was very competitive, with LSU leading 23–18–5; since 1949, LSU has dominated, going 45–4–2. The two teams renewed the annual series in 2006 and ended it again after the 2009 meeting.
Third Saturday in October
1939: In 1939, #5 Tennessee defeated Alabama 21–0. At this time, the Alabama–Tennessee rivalry was officially designated as Third Saturday in October.
Florida–Tennessee football rivalry
Florida began the next decade with a 27–23 victory in Knoxville in front of a national record crowd of 108,768 fans. During the following season, the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks postponed all NCAA Division-I football games that were scheduled to be played on the following Saturday. The Florida and Tennessee match-up was rescheduled for December, and the Vols upset the Gators in Gainesville, winning on Florida Field for the first time since 1971. Steve Spurrier left Florida for the NFL after the 2001 season, but two trends in the rivalry continued in 2002: both teams were ranked in the top 10, and new Florida coach Ron Zook led the Gators to another win in Knoxville. However, both teams stumbled later in the season, and for the first time ever, neither would represent the SEC's Eastern Conference in the SEC Championship Game. The 2002 contest would be the last time to date in which both schools would enter their annual clash ranked in the top 10.
Alabama Crimson Tide football under Nick Saban
The Third Saturday in October is the name given to Alabama's annual game against the University of Tennessee Volunteers. Through the 2018 season, Saban has compiled an overall record of twelve wins and zero losses (12–0) against the Volunteers. In the period between the 1995 and 2006 seasons prior to the arrival of Saban, the Volunteers were 10–2 against the Crimson Tide. Since Saban has been Alabama's head coach, they have outscored Tennessee 396 to 126 in their eleven victories (average score 36 to 11). The only games that the Crimson Tide did not win by at least two touchdowns came in the 2009 game when Terrence Cody blocked a field goal as time expired and preserved the 12–10 Alabama victory and in 2015 when the tide won 19-14 due to a game clinching fumble recovered by A'shawn Robinson. 2016 and 2017 saw blowout wins of 49-10 and 45-7 for the Tide over the Volunteers. At the conclusion of the 2017 season, Alabama defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt was hired as the Tennessee head coach. In 2018, Alabama again routed Tennessee by a final of 58-21 scoring the most points ever by one team in the series. It broke the previous record set back in 1986, when Alabama had scored 56.
Florida–Florida State football rivalry
For the past three decades, one or both squads have usually been highly ranked coming into the game, adding national championship implications to a rivalry already heavily weighted with in-state bragging rights. From 1990 to 2000, every meeting featured both schools being ranked in the top 10 of the Associated Press rankings, with one or both schools ranked in the top 5 on multiple occasions. The winner of the game would go on to compete in the national championship game in six of those seasons (1993, 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000).
Florida–Tennessee football rivalry
The rivalry held national championship implications over each of the following seasons, with both teams entering the contests ranked in the top 10 every year. Though they were not always the favorite, Florida won five straight against Tennessee from 1993 to 1997, winning four SEC titles and a consensus national championship in 1996. The 1994, 1995, and 1996 contests featured match-ups between starting quarterbacks Danny Wuerffel and Peyton Manning, who never beat Florida during his celebrated college career. But though Florida beat Tennessee in 1997, upset losses to LSU and Georgia propelled Tennessee to their own SEC championship in Manning's senior year. Tennessee broke Florida's winning streak in 1998 with a 20–17 overtime win and went on to win their second straight SEC championship and a national championship. In 1999, Florida upset the Vols in Gainesville to close out the decade.
Auburn–Florida football rivalry
Florida defeated Auburn in the 2000 regular season in Gainesville 38-7. For the first time in series history, both teams would meet for the second time in a season in the SEC Championship game in Atlanta, GA. Florida defeated Auburn in similar fashion, 28-6, to claim the SEC Championship.
Florida–Tennessee football rivalry
On the field, Florida held a 4–2 advantage during the 1970s and 80s.
Ole Miss Rebels
A modification of the Elvis Presley song An American Trilogy, now known as From Dixie with Love or Slow Dixie, was also played during football games, both home and away. The song was first played during the half-time performance at the Ole Miss/LSU game of 1980 in Tiger Stadium. Upon its completion, the band received a standing ovation from more than 70,000 people on hand that day. It soon became a staple of the band for many years. During Ole Miss's winning streak of 2003, audiences began chanting "The South will rise again" in place of "His truth is marching on" at the end of the song. The chant remained a staple for the next several years. In 2009, with Ole Miss in the national spotlight for football success, political pressure mounted to do away with the chant. The Student Body Government proposed to call for the chant to be changed to "To Hell with LSU". When this proposal was not enacted, the university asked the band to quit playing the song.
Notre Dame Fighting Irish football rivalries
Notre Dame and Florida State have met nine times, first when both were strong independents and now as part of Notre Dame's commitment to scheduling ACC schools. This series began in South Bend, in 1981. Florida State won 19–13. Notre Dame won the second contest, however, in 1993, in South Bend, by a score of 31–24. The contest was referred to by some as "The Game of the Century." Florida State was, at the time, ranked #1 and Notre Dame was ranked #2. Although Notre Dame beat FSU again, in Tallahassee, in 2002 (by a score of 34–24), Florida State has won five of the last seven meetings (1994, 1995, 2003, 2011, 2014), including two bowl victories (the January 1996 Orange Bowl and the 2011 Champs Sports Bowl). The two teams are currently scheduled to meet again, during the regular season in 2021 and 2024. Florida State leads the series 6–3.
Tennessee–Vanderbilt football rivalry
1892 saw the first ever matchup between the Vanderbilt Commodores and the Tennessee Volunteers. The two schools played each other twice during the year; Vanderbilt won both games. On the first matchup; for the Volunteers it was their third ever game in the second season of play and their first season with more than one game. For the Commodores it was their seventh ever game and third season of play.
Kentucky–Tennessee rivalry
In contrast to the football series, Kentucky has generally dominated the basketball rivalry. The two teams first played in 1910. For the first couple decades the series was often back and forth, and the rivalry became particularly heated in the 1930s and 1940s, when the Volunteers were coached by John Mauer. Mauer had previously been the coach of Kentucky until he was let go and replaced by Adolph Rupp, adding additional bitterness to the rivalry. Under Mauer, the Volunteers held their own against the ascendant Wildcats.
Third Saturday in October
Alabama had a nine-game unbeaten streak from 1986 to 1994, including a tie in 1993 which was later forfeited due to NCAA sanctions. The streak was broken by Tennessee in 1995 when the Vols beat the Tide 41–14. Tennessee began their own seven game win streak that night, which was broken when Alabama defeated the Vols 34–14 in 2002. To-date, Tennessee is the only team to own seven consecutive victories over the Tide.
Florida Gators football
Although Florida and Tennessee are charter members of the SEC, irregular conference scheduling resulted in the teams meeting infrequently for many years. Tennessee won the first ten games between 1916 and 1954, when Florida finally defeated the Volunteers. In 1969, Florida hired Tennessee head coach (and former Florida quarterback) Doug Dickey to replace the retiring Ray Graves immediately after their teams met in the Gator Bowl.
Early history of American football
Organized intercollegiate football was first played in the state of Florida in 1901. A 7-game series between intramural teams from Stetson and Forbes occurred in 1894. The first intercollegiate game between official varsity teams was played on November 22, 1901. Stetson beat Florida Agricultural College at Lake City, one of the four forerunners of the University of Florida, 6–0, in a game played as part of the Jacksonville Fair.
On Thanksgiving Day 1903 a game was scheduled in Montgomery, Alabama between the best teams from each region of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association for an "SIAA championship game", pitting Cumberland against Heisman's Clemson. The game ended in an 11–11 tie causing many teams to claim the title. Heisman pressed hardest for Cumberland to get the claim of champion. It was his last game as Clemson head coach.
History of Tennessee Volunteers football
After the 1932 season, Tennessee joined the newly formed Southeastern Conference, setting the stage for decades of new and now storied rivalries with such teams like Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, and Vanderbilt. In 1933, Wallace Wade's Duke Blue Devils upset Neyland's Vols 10–2, the first loss for the Vols in over two and half seasons. It caused Neyland to say of Fred Crawford, the first first-team All-American from the state of North Carolina: "He gave the finest exhibition of tackle play I have ever seen." After the 1934 season, Neyland was called into military service in Panama.
Tennessee struggled to a losing record during Neyland's time in Panama. He returned to find a rebuilding project in 1936. In 1936 and 1937, the Vols won six games each season. However, in 1938, Neyland's Vols began one of the more impressive streaks in NCAA football history. Led by the likes of Tennessee's only three time All-American Bob Suffridge, the 1938 Tennessee Volunteers football team won the school's first National Championship and earned a trip to the Orange Bowl, the team's first major bowl, where they pounded fellow unbeaten Oklahoma by a score of 17–0. They outscored their opponents 283–16. The 1939 regular season was even more impressive. The 1939 team was the last NCAA team ever to hold their opponents scoreless for an entire regular season. Surprisingly, the Vols did not earn a national title that year despite being ranked #1 for most of the season, but did earn a trip to the famed Rose Bowl. The Vols were without the services of tailback George Cafego, who would finish fourth in the Heisman voting and be the top pick in the NFL draft, due to a knee injury. Cafego's backup was also injured. For a single-wing squad heavily dependent upon the tailback position, it proved to be too much for the Vols to overcome. In front of a crowd of over 90,000, Tennessee fell by a score of 14–0 to Southern California. That loss ended UT's streak of 17 straight shutout games and 71 consecutive shutout quarters, NCAA records to this day.
Florida–Georgia football rivalry
The first game acknowledged by both schools was held in Jacksonville in 1915. The rivalry has been renewed annually since 1926, except for the 1943 season when Florida did not field a team due to World War II. The game has often had championship implications, with both teams competitive in the Southeastern Conference. Florida, which did not win the SEC title until 1991, had its hopes dashed several times by a loss to Georgia in Jacksonville, including during Steve Spurrier's senior season in 1966. The game took on new importance when the SEC split into Eastern and Western Divisions in 1992, with both Florida and Georgia in the Eastern Division. As the two teams are frequently at or near the top of the division standings, the game has often determined who will represent the Eastern Division in the SEC Championship Game. To date, Florida has fourteen Eastern Division titles while Georgia has nine.
While the two universities agree that Georgia leads the overall series, they disagree as to the overall series record due to the disputed 1904 game. As of the 2017 contest, Georgia leads with a 51–43–2 record by its reckoning, and 50–43–2 by Florida's count. Georgia dominated the series before 1952, with Florida winning just five of the first 29 (or 30, if counting 1904) contests. Georgia also had an advantage in the 1970s and 1980s, leading the series 15–5 during those decades. Florida dominated the series 18-3 in the two decades following Steve Spurrier's return to Florida in 1990. Since 2010, the series has been split, 5–4.
Battle for the Palladium
The Battle for the Palladium was the annual college football rivalry matchup between the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders and Troy Trojans. The history between Middle Tennessee and Troy dated back further (1936) than any other two programs in the Sun Belt Conference, but in 1999 the rivalry was renewed after a 46-year hiatus. The lengthy period was a result of the two programs competing in different divisions. That all changed when Troy announced it would make the move from Division I-AA to I-A and join the Sun Belt Conference allowing the two programs to compete annually. With the program's history dating back longer than any other in the conference, the proximity between the schools, and the intense recruitment for the same players, the rivalry quickly re-ignited from 1999 to 2001. The rivalry escalated when both teams unintentionally attended the same movie theater and a few verbal taunts were traded the night before the 2001 contest. In 2003, The Palladium Trophy was introduced in Murfreesboro, Tenn. A year later, Troy officially joined the Sun Belt Conference after completing its final year of transition from Division I-AA to I-A.
1976 NCAA Division III football season
The 1976 NCAA Division III football season, part of college football in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association at the Division III level, began in August 1976, and concluded with the NCAA Division III Football Championship in December 1976 at Garrett-Harrison Stadium in Phenix City, Alabama. The Saint John's Johnnies won their first Division III championship, defeating the Towson State Tigers by a final score of 31−28.The 1976 NCAA Division III Football Championship playoffs were the fourth annual single-elimination tournament to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division III college football. The championship game was held at Garrett-Harrison Stadium in Phenix City, Alabama for the fourth consecutive year. Like the previous championship, eight teams competed in this edition.
1985 Tennessee Volunteers football team
In the fifth game of the season, the Vols visited Alabama for the "Third Saturday in October" rivalry. The Tide entered the game 4-1 following a 19-17 loss to Penn State in the previous week. The Vols had won the teams' previous three meetings, and desperately needed a win to stay in contention for the SEC Championship. The Tide was led by quarterback Mike Shula (the son of NFL coach Don Shula) and future All-American running back Bobby Humphrey on offense, and All-American linebacker Cornelius Bennett on defense.
Florida–Tennessee football rivalry
During the mid-1990s, the second highest ranked SEC squad was usually invited to play in the Citrus Bowl after the season. Florida won four consecutive SEC titles from 1993 to 1996, beating Tennessee each time and twice sending them to the Citrus Bowl. Spurrier, who was often known to poke fun at rivals, made jokes at Tennessee's expense during off-season Gator Booster dinners in the spring of 1997, pointing out that "you can't spell Citrus without UT" and suggesting Peyton Manning had returned for his senior season at UT because "he wants to be a three-time Citrus Bowl MVP".
Third Saturday in October
The Alabama–Tennessee rivalry has been known for streaks. In the first major streak of the series, Bama won seven straight over the Vols from 1905 to 1913 (the two teams did not play in 1910 and 1911), outscoring the Vols 112–0 in the process.
Florida–Georgia football rivalry
Since 2006, the rivalry has lacked an official name. It is generally called the "Florida–Georgia game" in Florida, or "Georgia–Florida game" in Georgia; some entities, including the Jacksonville newspaper "The Florida Times-Union", rotate the name each year to list the designated home team first.. Since 2009, the respective student government associations of the institutions have referred to the game as the War for the Oar, as the winning team takes home the Okefenokee Oar.
2001 Florida Gators football team
September 11 impact
The annual rivalry game with Tennessee scheduled for September 15, was rescheduled to the final week of the regular season as a result of the tragic events of September 11, 2001.
Fifth Third Bank Stadium
Fifth Third Bank Stadium (known as Kennesaw State University Stadium until 2013) is primarily used as the home for the Kennesaw State Owls men's football team. It was originally a soccer-specific stadium near Kennesaw, Georgia that opened on May 2, 2010, with the first match played on May 9. It was primarily used for soccer, and hosts lacrosse and rugby games. The facility is the result of a public-private partnership between Kennesaw State University and the now-defunct Atlanta Beat of Women's Professional Soccer. The facility hosts the KSU women's soccer team; previously, it hosted the Beat, and hosted the 2010 WPS All-Star Game on June 30. Pro soccer returned when Atlanta United 2 of the USL Championship moved to the stadium for the 2019 season. The stadium will also be hosting a 2019 CONCACAF Champions League match, where Atlanta United will be playing against Herediano on February 28, 2019.
Florida–Georgia football rivalry
The 1976 Florida Gators were 6–1 and ranked No. 10 coming into the game, and again seeking to secure their first SEC football championship. The Gators held a 27–13 halftime advantage and seemed to have the game in hand until the Bulldogs scored early in the third quarter to cut the lead to 27–20. Then, faced with a fourth-and-one situation at the Gators' own 29-yard-line, coach Doug Dickey decided to go for the first down rather than punt. Gators running back Earl Carr was stopped short by Bulldogs safety Johnny Henderson. Led by quarterback Ray Goff's game management and running back Kevin McLee's 198-yard rushing performance, the Bulldogs seized the momentum and scored three touchdowns on their way to a come-from-behind 41–27 win. After the game, Dickey said: "We were not outplayed. We were outcoached. I made some dumb calls." Sports writers seized on Dickey's "mea culpa", and in subsequent months and years popularized the phrase "fourth and dumb" to refer to Dickey's failed fourth down attempt and the game itself.
Florida Gators football
Key conference rivalries include the annual Florida–Georgia game in Jacksonville, Florida (usually around Halloween), the Florida–Tennessee rivalry (usually mid-September), and the inter-divisional Florida–LSU rivalry with their permanent SEC Western Division foe (in early to mid-October).