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Mississippi State vs. Tennessee

Mississippi State and Tennessee have 48 meetings on file, the first in 1907; officially, Tennessee leads 30–⁠16–⁠1; as played, 31–⁠16–⁠1 in the games on file. Over the last 10 meetings it’s Tennessee 9–⁠1, and Tennessee has won the last 3. The NCAA vacated Tennessee’s win (2019); it doesn’t count officially. This page counts every game as it was played.

Scheduled 2027 at Tennessee; 2029 at Mississippi State. As the programs’ Wikipedia articles list them (CC BY-SA).

Official series
Tennessee leads 30–⁠16–⁠1
Mississippi State wins on file
16
Tennessee wins on file
31
Ties
1
Earliest on file
1907
Longest streak
6 Tennessee
Current streak
3 Tennessee
Last 10 meetings
Tennessee 9–⁠1
Most recent
2025

The series at a glance

’0’1’2’3’4’5’6’7’8’9W–L
1900s0–⁠1
1910s3–⁠0
1920s2–⁠5
1930s0–⁠3
1940s1–⁠1
1950s3–⁠6
1960s2–⁠2–⁠1
1970s2–⁠1
1980s1–⁠1
1990s1–⁠4
2000s0–⁠4
2010s1–⁠1
2020s0–⁠2
Both ranked
2 meetings: Mississippi State 0, Tennessee 2
Average margin
14 points; 20 decided by one score (8 or fewer)
At Mississippi State
8–⁠6 Mississippi State’s record at home
At Tennessee
24–⁠6–⁠1 Tennessee’s record at home
Neutral sites
2–⁠1 Mississippi State first
Shutouts
12

Every meeting on file, as played. Ranks are the AP poll’s going in.

Games that tell the story

  1. Mississippi State’s biggest win1910: Mississippi State 48, Tennessee 0by 48 points
  2. Tennessee’s biggest win2003: Tennessee 59, Mississippi State 21by 38 points
  3. Upset1986: Mississippi State 27, Tennessee 23Mississippi State had a 22% chance, by our ratings before kickoff
  4. Upset1953: Mississippi State 26, Tennessee 0Mississippi State had a 26% chance, by our ratings before kickoff
  5. Upset2019: Tennessee 20, Mississippi State 10Tennessee had a 32% chance, by our ratings before kickoff
  6. Ranked showdown1998: Tennessee 24, Mississippi State 14No. 25 Mississippi State at No. 1 Tennessee
  7. Ranked showdown1991: Tennessee 26, Mississippi State 24No. 23 Mississippi State at No. 6 Tennessee

Coach against coach

YearsMississippi StateSeriesTennessee
1949–⁠1951Slick Morton1–⁠2Bob Neyland
1957–⁠1961Wade Walker0–⁠4–⁠1Bowden Wyatt
1986–⁠1990Rockey Felker1–⁠2Johnny Majors
1994–⁠2003Jackie Sherrill1–⁠4Phillip Fulmer

Head-coach pairings with three or more meetings on file, the series read from Mississippi State’s side (Morton 1–⁠2 against Neyland). A season split between coaches goes to the one credited with the game.

Both programs through the years

End-of-season Elo ratings of Mississippi State and Tennessee, 1907 on130015001700192019401960198020002020

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

Named most valuable

Peerless Price Tennessee1998

Most valuable: as the games’ Wikipedia articles name them (CC BY-SA).

From the newspapers

  • The Evening star's story of the 1949 game: Tennessee Wins, 100 But Mississippi State Proves Rugged Joe

    1949 · Evening star, District of Columbia, Sep 25, 1949

  • The Evening star's story of the 1952 game: favored Tennessee Needs Break 10 Top Mississippi State

    1952 · Evening star, Sep 28, 1952

  • The Evening star's story of the 1959 game: Reserve Back Leads Vols Over Mississippi State, 22-6

    1959 · Evening star, Washington, D.C., Oct 4, 1959

  • The Evening star's story of the 1960 game: FOOTBALL SCORES Continued From Page DI

    1960 · Evening star, District of Columbia, Oct 2, 1960

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

Sep 27, 202515Tennessee 41, Mississippi State 34at Mississippi State
Nov 9, 20247Tennessee 33, Mississippi State 14at Tennessee
Oct 12, 2019Tennessee 20, Mississippi State 10vacatedat Tennessee
Oct 13, 201219Mississippi State 41, Tennessee 31at Mississippi State
Oct 18, 2008Tennessee 34, Mississippi State 3at Tennessee
Oct 13, 200725Tennessee 33, Mississippi State 21at Mississippi State
Nov 15, 20039Tennessee 59, Mississippi State 21at Tennessee
Nov 16, 2002Tennessee 35, Mississippi State 17at Mississippi State
Dec 5, 19981Tennessee 24, 25Mississippi State 14Neutral siteSEC Championship Game
Sep 23, 199515Tennessee 52, Mississippi State 14at Tennessee
Sep 24, 1994Mississippi State 24, 23Tennessee 21at Mississippi State
Sep 21, 19916Tennessee 26, 23Mississippi State 24at Tennessee
Sep 8, 19908Tennessee 40, Mississippi State 7at Mississippi State
Sep 12, 198714Tennessee 38, Mississippi State 10at Mississippi State
Sep 13, 1986Mississippi State 27, 8Tennessee 23at Tennessee
Oct 6, 1979Mississippi State 28, 19Tennessee 9Neutral site
Oct 28, 1978Mississippi State 34, Tennessee 21Neutral site
Oct 23, 197118Tennessee 10, Mississippi State 7at Tennessee
Oct 3, 1964Tennessee 14, Mississippi State 13at Tennessee
Oct 5, 1963Mississippi State 7, Tennessee 0at Tennessee
Oct 6, 1962Mississippi State 7, Tennessee 6at Mississippi State
Oct 7, 1961Tennessee 17, Mississippi State 3at Tennessee
Oct 1, 196011Tennessee 0, Mississippi State 0at Tennessee
Oct 3, 19599Tennessee 22, Mississippi State 6at Tennessee
Oct 4, 1958Tennessee 13, 11Mississippi State 8at Tennessee
Oct 5, 1957Tennessee 14, Mississippi State 9at Tennessee
Sep 24, 1955Mississippi State 13, Tennessee 7at Tennessee
Sep 25, 1954Tennessee 19, Mississippi State 7at Tennessee
Sep 26, 1953Mississippi State 26, 17Tennessee 0at Tennessee
Sep 27, 19526Tennessee 14, Mississippi State 7at Tennessee
Sep 29, 19511Tennessee 14, Mississippi State 0at Tennessee
Sep 30, 1950Mississippi State 7, 4Tennessee 0at Mississippi State
Sep 24, 1949Tennessee 10, Mississippi State 0at Tennessee
Sep 25, 1948Mississippi State 21, Tennessee 6at Tennessee
Nov 10, 1934Tennessee 14, Mississippi State 0at Tennessee
Oct 7, 1933Tennessee 20, Mississippi State 0at Tennessee
Nov 5, 1932Tennessee 31, Mississippi State 0at Tennessee
Oct 30, 1926Tennessee 33, Mississippi State 0at Mississippi State
Nov 14, 1925Tennessee 14, Mississippi State 9at Tennessee
Oct 25, 1924Mississippi State 7, Tennessee 2at Mississippi State
Oct 27, 1923Tennessee 7, Mississippi State 3at Tennessee
Nov 11, 1922Tennessee 31, Mississippi State 3at Tennessee
Nov 5, 1921Tennessee 14, Mississippi State 7at Tennessee
Oct 30, 1920Mississippi State 13, Tennessee 7at Mississippi State
Oct 18, 1919Mississippi State 6, Tennessee 0at Tennessee
Nov 13, 1915Mississippi State 14, Tennessee 0at Mississippi State
Oct 31, 1910Mississippi State 48, Tennessee 0at Mississippi State
Nov 16, 1907Tennessee 11, Mississippi State 4at Tennessee

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.