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1988 Tennessee

5–⁠6 (3–⁠4 Southeastern Conference), coached by Johnny Majors.

Schedule and results

Tennessee in 1988, game by game: lost at No. 12 Georgia 17–28; lost vs. Duke 26–31; lost vs. No. 9 LSU 9–34; lost at No. 4 Auburn 6–38; lost vs. Washington State 24–52; lost vs. Alabama 20–28; won at Memphis 38–25; won vs. Boston College 10–7; won at Ole Miss 20–12; won vs. Kentucky 28–24; won at Vanderbilt 14–7+13−32Lost 17–28 at No. 12 Georgia-11No. 12 GeorgiaLost 26–31 vs. Duke-5DukeLost 9–34 vs. No. 9 LSU-25No. 9 LSULost 6–38 at No. 4 Auburn-32No. 4 AuburnLost 24–52 vs. Washington State-28Washington StateLost 20–28 vs. Alabama-8AlabamaWon 38–25 at Memphis+13MemphisWon 10–7 vs. Boston College+3Boston CollegeWon 20–12 at Ole Miss+8Ole MissWon 28–24 vs. Kentucky+4KentuckyWon 14–7 at Vanderbilt+7Vanderbilt
Each game’s margin, wins above the line and losses below.
DateOpponentResultElo
Sep 3at12GeorgiaL 17–⁠2843%
Sep 10vsDukeL 26–⁠3170%
Sep 17vs9LSUL 9–⁠3442%
Sep 24at4AuburnL 6–⁠3824%
Oct 1vsWashington StateL 24–⁠5263%
Oct 15vsAlabamaL 20–⁠2840%
Oct 22atMemphisW 38–⁠2543%
Nov 5vsBoston CollegeW 10–⁠764%
Nov 12atOle MissW 20–⁠1247%
Nov 19vsKentuckyW 28–⁠2460%
Nov 26atVanderbiltW 14–⁠760%

Elo: a pregame chance from scores alone.

How it ended: Beat Vanderbilt 14–⁠7; unranked in the final AP poll; tied for 6th in the Southeastern Conference.

In program history: The 81st-best season in program history by end-of-season Elo (of 123 on file).

AP poll, week by week

  1. Wk 1: 17
  2. Wk 2: 18

Players on this team

Before 2004 our records hold honors and the draft; these are the players whose college years here, from their Wikipedia articles or their honors, include 1988.

Record
5–⁠6
Conference
3–⁠4 tied for 6th in Southeastern Conference
AP final
Unranked peak No. 17
Points
212–⁠286
Coach
Johnny Majors
Elo
1558 −59 this season
SP+ rating
0.5 No. 55 of 102; offense No. 58, defense No. 51
SRS
−0.7 No. 58 of 105 in Division I-A
Recruiting class
—
Offensive coordinator
Walt Harris
Defensive coordinator
Ken Donahue
Captains
Keith DeLong and Nate Middlebrooks

Drafted in 1989

The 1989 draft
Rd 1Keith DeLong LBSan Francisco 49ers
Rd 6Jeff Francis QBLos Angeles Raiders

All-SEC

1 first team

First team

From Wikipedia’s 1988 all-conference team article, with the selectors that named each player (AP-1: the Associated Press’s first team).

1988 Southeastern Conference standings

Conference page
TeamConf.OverallAP final
Auburn6–⁠110–⁠28
LSU6–⁠18–⁠419
Georgia5–⁠29–⁠315
Alabama4–⁠39–⁠317
Florida4–⁠37–⁠5
Tennessee3–⁠45–⁠6
Ole Miss3–⁠45–⁠6
Kentucky2–⁠55–⁠6
Vanderbilt2–⁠53–⁠8
Mississippi State0–⁠71–⁠10

Ordered by conference winning percentage, then conference wins. Division splits and tiebreakers aren’t applied.