Tennessee Things and Other Auburn Connections
Auburn and Tennessee used to be a thing. It’s less of a thing now, like other rivalries, due to SEC expansion. Auburn has won 7 of the last 8, and that’s the difference in the series, with the Tigers owning a 29-22-3 record against the Vols. But since we don’t play the Big Orange that much, let’s learn some things.
🍊 Tennessee Things
🌼 Tennessee’s orange came from flowers.
Orange and white were chosen from the colors of American daisies growing on The Hill on Tennessee’s campus. So one of college football’s loudest color schemes started with campus landscaping. So tough.
🧱 The checkerboard end zones disappeared for 20 years.
The orange-and-white checkerboards debuted in 1964, but vanished when artificial turf arrived in 1968 because they couldn’t get the right kind of orange turf. They finally returned in 1989. I guess somebody finally figured out puke orange in the turf plant.
🐕 Smokey literally won the mascot job by barking louder.
Tennessee held a live mascot contest in 1953, and the dog that eventually became Smokey kept barking louder as the crowd cheered louder. That apparently was enough to win. Riveting.
🎵 “Rocky Top” isn’t actually Tennessee’s official fight song.
Their real fight song is “Down the Field.” Sounds a lot like “War Eagle, fly down the field.” But “Rocky Top” is all you’ll ever hear. It’s almost like it’s all they know.
🚤 The Vol Navy exists because one guy hated traffic.
Broadcaster George Mooney started taking his boat to Neyland in 1962 to avoid gameday traffic, and it eventually grew into a fleet of more than 200 boats. Ok fine, I actually like this one.
🐅 Auburn Connections
🏟️ Auburn-Tennessee used to be an annual late-September event.
The teams played every year from 1956 through 1991, and almost every meeting in that stretch came on the final Saturday of September. Fourth Saturday in September sounds way better than Third Saturday in October.
🤝 Auburn and Tennessee somehow tied twice in three years.
They played to a 20-20 tie in 1987 and then a 26-26 tie in 1990. I personally hate the idea of kissing my sister, but apparently people in Tennessee love it.
💥 Pat Dye wrecked Tennessee in 1988.
You might remember Jon Gruden mentioning this about 100 times during his trip to Auburn for the Florida game. The Tigers beat the Vols 38-6, which is tied for Tennessee’s largest loss in the series.
🔥 Auburn won six straight over Tennessee from 2003 through 2013.
That stretch included regular-season wins (even 2008!), the 2004 SEC Championship Game, and a 55-23 win in Knoxville in 2013. Not a bad little decade.
🔁 Alex Golesh and Kodi Burns were both at Tennessee before ending up together at Auburn.
Golesh was Tennessee’s offensive coordinator/tight ends coach in 2021-22, while Burns coached the Vols’ wide receivers in 2021. They later reunited at USF in 2025, and now they’re together again at Auburn. Awwww….
