A look back at Tennessee Football's history hosting ESPN College GameDay

Tennessee Football on Saturday will host ESPN College GameDay in Knoxville for the 12th time in program history, dating back to a 30-27 win over Georgia on September 9, 1995.

Saturday will be the first GameDay trip to Tennessee for a Georgia game since then. It’s the third during the Josh Heupel era, after hosting twice in 2022. The other opponents for GameDay Saturdays have been Florida, Alabama, Auburn, Notre Dame and Miami.

Here’s a look back at all the game that drew ESPN’s long-running college football pregame show to Tennessee’s campus:

1995 | Tennessee 30, Georgia 27: Jeff Hall kicked a 34-yard field goal with 10 seconds left to lift Tennessee to a 30-27 win in Week 2 of the 1995 season, with the Vols on their way to an 11-1 record. Georgia running back Robert Edwards scored a couple touchdowns and Peyton Manning threw for two and ran for one in the win.

1996 | Florida 35, Tennessee 29: Danny Wuerffel threw four touchdowns in the first half and Florida scored on a fumble returned for a touchdown to make it a 35-0 lead just 25 minutes into the game. Tennessee scored 29 unanswered points from there thanks to four Peyton Manning touchdown passes, but it wasn’t enough. 

1999 | Tennessee 38, Notre Dame 14: No. 4 Tennessee throttled No. 24 Notre Dame in Knoxville on November 6, 1999, rolling to a 38-14 win over the Fighting Irish behind 196 yards passing and three touchdowns from Tee Martin and 232 yards rushing as a team, with two more scores on the ground.

2000 | Florida 27, Tennessee 23: Jabar Gaffney caught the go-ahead touchdown pass in the fourth quarter, putting Florida up for good at 27-23 despite Tennessee fans believing no catch was made as Gaffney dropped the ball as quickly as he caught it. The touchdown was rewarded anyway, helping the Gators rally to win after trailing 23-17 early in the fourth. Alex Walls kicked five field goals and Travis Henry scored on a 1-yard run in the loss. 

2002 | Florida 30, Tennessee 13: No. 10 Florida beat No. 4 Tennessee 30-13 in September 2022 at Neyland. Rex Grossman threw for 324 yards and two touchdowns and the Gators ran for 131 yards and a score in the rain-soaked win at Neyland Stadium. 

2002 | Miami 26, Tennessee 3: Cedric Houston ran for 63 yards on the first play of the game, but No. 2 Miami held Tennessee to a field goal and shut the Vols out from there. The Hurricanes, rich with future NFL talent across the roster, went a perfect 12-0 to reach the BCS National Championship game before losing 31-24 to Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl.

2004 | Auburn 34, Tennessee 10: Ronnie Brown scored on a 9-yard touchdown run early in the first quarter and No. 8 Auburn was off and running in a 34-10 win over No. 10 Tennessee. The Vols were down 31-3 at halftime after the Tigers added two Jason Campbell touchdown passes and a Cadillac Williams touchdown run. 

2012 | Florida 37, Tennessee 20: No. 23 Tennessee led 20-13 midway through the third quarter, but No. 18 Florida closed with 24 straight points, starting with an 80-yard Trey Burton touchdown run. GameDay earlier in the day had made its return to Knoxville for the first time in a decade.

2016 | Tennessee 38, Florida 28: No. 19 Florida led 21-0 after the first 25 minutes, but No. 14 Tennessee got on the board with an Aaron Medley field goal then proceeded to use the next 25 minutes to score 35 unanswered points in the second half, turning the 21-0 deficit into a 38-21 lead. 

2022 | Tennessee 38, Florida 33: No. 11 Tennessee beat No. 20 Florida 38-33 thanks to Hendon Hooker accounting for 461 total yards and three total touchdowns. He completed 22 of 28 passes for 349 yards and two scores and ran 13 times for 112 yards and a touchdown. 

2022 | Tennessee 52, Alabama 49: No. 6 Tennessee beat No. 3 Alabama 52-49 in a thriller, winning on a 40-yard walk-off field goal from Chase McGrath. Hendon Hooker threw for 385 yards and five touchdowns, with all five going to Jalin Hyatt, who caught six passes for 207 yards in his record-setting performance.