Kentucky vs. Tennessee
118 of their 121 meetings are on file: they first met in 1893, and the earliest on file is 1906; officially, Tennessee leads 85–26–9; as played, 84–25–9 in the games on file. Over the last 10 meetings it’s Tennessee 8–2, and Tennessee has won the last 5. The NCAA vacated Tennessee’s win (2019); it doesn’t count officially. This page counts every game as it was played. Share
- Official series
- Tennessee leads 85–26–9
- Kentucky wins on file
- 25
- Tennessee wins on file
- 84
- Ties
- 9
- Earliest on file
- 1906 first met 1893
- Longest streak
- 26 Tennessee
- Current streak
- 5 Tennessee
- Last 10 meetings
- Tennessee 8–2
- Most recent
- 2025
The series at a glance
- Both ranked
- 3 meetings: Kentucky 0, Tennessee 3; 2 both in the top 10
- Average margin
- 14.4 points; 39 decided by one score (8 or fewer)
- At Kentucky
- 15–41–3 Kentucky’s record at home
- At Tennessee
- 43–10–6 Tennessee’s record at home
- Shutouts
- 35
Every meeting on file, as played. Ranks are the AP poll’s going in.
Games that tell the story
- Kentucky’s biggest win2020: Kentucky 34, Tennessee 7by 27 points
- Tennessee’s biggest win1994: Tennessee 52, Kentucky 0by 52 points
- Upset1957: Kentucky 20, Tennessee 6Kentucky had a 26% chance, by our ratings before kickoff
- Upset1984: Kentucky 17, Tennessee 12Kentucky had a 29% chance, by our ratings before kickoff
- Upset1949: Tennessee 6, Kentucky 0Tennessee had a 30% chance, by our ratings before kickoff
- Ranked showdown1951: Tennessee 28, Kentucky 0No. 1 Tennessee at No. 9 Kentucky
- Ranked showdown1950: Tennessee 7, Kentucky 0No. 3 Kentucky at No. 9 Tennessee
- Ranked showdown2022: Tennessee 44, Kentucky 6No. 19 Kentucky at No. 3 Tennessee
Coach against coach
| Years | Kentucky | Series | Tennessee |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1927–1933 | Harry Gamage | 0–4–3 | Bob Neyland |
| 1934–1937 | C.A. Wynne | 0–3 | Bob Neyland |
| 1938–1940 | A.D. Kirwan | 0–3 | Bob Neyland |
| 1941–1944 | A.D. Kirwan | 0–4 | John Barnhill |
| 1946–1952 | Bear Bryant | 0–5–2 | Bob Neyland |
| 1955–1961 | Blanton Collier | 4–2–1 | Bowden Wyatt |
| 1964–1968 | Charley Bradshaw | 1–4 | Doug Dickey |
| 1970–1972 | John Ray | 0–3 | Bill Battle |
| 1973–1976 | Fran Curci | 1–3 | Bill Battle |
| 1977–1981 | Fran Curci | 2–3 | Johnny Majors |
| 1982–1989 | Jerry Claiborne | 1–7 | Johnny Majors |
| 1990–1992 | Bill Curry | 0–3 | Johnny Majors |
| 1993–1996 | Bill Curry | 0–4 | Phillip Fulmer |
| 1997–2000 | Hal Mumme | 0–4 | Phillip Fulmer |
| 2003–2008 | Rich Brooks | 0–6 | Phillip Fulmer |
| 2013–2017 | Mark Stoops | 1–4 | Butch Jones |
| 2018–2020 | Mark Stoops | 1–2 | Jeremy Pruitt |
| 2021–2025 | Mark Stoops | 0–5 | Josh Heupel |
Head-coach pairings with three or more meetings on file, the series read from Kentucky’s side (Gamage 0–4–3 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
| Denarius Moore Tennessee | 7 catches, 205 yards, 1 TD | 2010 Receiving | |
| Darrell Taylor Tennessee | 7 tackles, 4 sacks, 4 for loss | 2018 Defense |
Biggest days: the week’s best individual games by our big-days rule, from box scores (2004 on).
From the newspapers
1908 · Evening star, Washington, D.C., Oct 18, 1908
1912 · Evening star, District of Columbia, Nov 17, 1912
1914 · The Birmingham age-herald, Alabama, Nov 27, 1914
1915 · The Richmond Virginian, Richmond, Va., Nov 26, 1915
1916 · The Birmingham age-herald, Dec 5, 1916
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.
Every game
Every game is listed as played on the field; a win the NCAA later vacated is marked “vacated”; the official series above counts them the NCAA’s way.