Auburn vs. Tennessee
Auburn and Tennessee have 54 meetings on file, the first in 1929; Auburn leads the series 28–23–3 in the games on file. Over the last 10 meetings it’s Auburn 7–3. Share
- Auburn wins
- 28
- Tennessee wins
- 23
- Ties
- 3
- Earliest on file
- 1929
- Longest streak
- 6 Auburn
- Current streak
- 1 Tennessee
- Last 10 meetings
- Auburn 7–3
- Most recent
- 2026
The series at a glance
| ’0 | ’1 | ’2 | ’3 | ’4 | ’5 | ’6 | ’7 | ’8 | ’9 | W–L | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1920s | 0–1 | ||||||||||
| 1930s | 2–3 | ||||||||||
| 1950s | 2–2 | ||||||||||
| 1960s | 5–4–1 | ||||||||||
| 1970s | 7–3 | ||||||||||
| 1980s | 5–4–1 | ||||||||||
| 1990s | 0–4–1 | ||||||||||
| 2000s | 5–0 | ||||||||||
| 2010s | 1–1 | ||||||||||
| 2020s | 1–1 |
- Both ranked
- 11 meetings: Auburn 4, Tennessee 5; 3 both in the top 10
- Average margin
- 12.2 points; 23 decided by one score (8 or fewer)
- At Auburn
- 16–7–1 Auburn’s record at home
- At Tennessee
- 15–10–2 Tennessee’s record at home
- Neutral sites
- 2–1 Auburn first
- Shutouts
- 13
Every meeting on file, as played. Ranks are the AP poll’s going in.
Games that tell the story
- Auburn’s biggest win2013: Auburn 55, Tennessee 23by 32 points
- Tennessee’s biggest win1980: Tennessee 42, Auburn 0by 42 points
- Upset2018: Tennessee 30, Auburn 24Tennessee had a 17% chance, by our ratings before kickoff
- Upset1960: Tennessee 10, Auburn 3Tennessee had a 27% chance, by our ratings before kickoff
- Upset1980: Tennessee 42, Auburn 0Tennessee had a 33% chance, by our ratings before kickoff
- Ranked showdown1990: Auburn 26, Tennessee 26 (tie)No. 5 Tennessee at No. 3 Auburn
- Ranked showdown1987: Auburn 20, Tennessee 20 (tie)No. 3 Auburn at No. 11 Tennessee
- Ranked showdown1971: Auburn 10, Tennessee 9No. 5 Auburn at No. 9 Tennessee
Coach against coach
| Years | Auburn | Series | Tennessee |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1936–1939 | Jack Meagher | 2–2 | Bob Neyland |
| 1956–1962 | Ralph Jordan | 4–3 | Bowden Wyatt |
| 1964–1969 | Ralph Jordan | 2–3–1 | Doug Dickey |
| 1970–1975 | Ralph Jordan | 4–2 | Bill Battle |
| 1977–1980 | Doug Barfield | 2–2 | Johnny Majors |
| 1981–1991 | Pat Dye | 5–4–2 | Johnny Majors |
| 1999–2008 | Tommy Tuberville | 4–1 | Phillip Fulmer |
Head-coach pairings with three or more meetings on file, the series read from Auburn’s side (Meagher 2–2 against Neyland). A season split between coaches goes to the one credited with the game.
Both programs through the years
Our Elo rating at the end of each season, a measure of how strong a team was, not a forecast; 1500 is an average FBS team.
Stars of the series
Biggest days
| Jason Campbell Auburn | 27 of 35, 374 yards, 3 TD, 1 INT | 2004 Passing | |
| DeSean Bishop Tennessee | 34 carries, 220 yards, 3 TD | 2026 Rushing | |
| Dejuan Lane Tennessee | 9 tackles, 2 sacks, 2.5 for loss, 1 INT | 2026 Defense |
Named most valuable
| Jason Campbell Auburn | 2004 |
| Peyton Manning Tennessee | 1997 |
Biggest days: the week’s best individual games by our big-days rule, from box scores (2004 on). Most valuable: as the games’ Wikipedia articles name them (CC BY-SA).
From the newspapers
1935 · Evening star, District of Columbia, Oct 13, 1935
1936 · Evening star, District of Columbia, Oct 15, 1936
1939 · Evening star, Dec 10, 1939
1956 · Evening star, Washington, D.C., Sep 30, 1956
1957 · Evening star, Washington, D.C., Sep 29, 1957
Public-domain newspapers from the Library of Congress’s Chronicling America, found through the American Stories dataset (Dell and Harvard, CC BY 4.0). The earliest meetings with a story on file; each game’s page has the full text.
On television
ESPN’s College GameDay has broadcast from this game twice: 2004, 2004.
| 2026 | ESPN | 3.0 million viewers |
College GameDay’s sites from Wikipedia’s list of its locations (CC BY-SA). Viewers: Nielsen, as compiled by nschultz7’s ratings tracker.
Every game
Every game is listed as played on the field.