Tennessee football: Remembering all four Vols bowl games played in 2010s decade

From 2010 to 2019, Tennessee football had five bowl seasons. The Volunteers played only four of those bowl games this decade. Here is a look back at those.

Note: This is part of a series of posts recapping the decade for Tennessee football, Tennessee basketball, Tennessee women’s basketball and other Tennessee Vols-related topics.

This decade marks the fewest number of bowl games Tennessee football has played since the first decade it ever played in a bowl game, the 1930s. To be fair, the Vols made more bowl games in seasons this decade than they did in the 1940s. However, one bowl in the 1940s was to end the 1939 season, and the bowl for this year will take place in 2020.

Nonetheless, the stat still stands. Rocky Top has only played in a bowl game four times this decade, and they have only gone to three different bowls. Even if you count this year, their only destinations have been in Tennessee and Florida.

Despite the rough history of this decade, UT still had some memorable bowl games. They won three straight for the first time since the 1990s, and a couple of the games themselves saw certain players make history.

So as the Vols get set to return to a bowl game for the first time in three years, and as we continue with our recaps of the decade, it only makes sense for us to look back on all the postseason games UT played in this year. As a result, that’s what we’re going to look at.

We mentioned that the Vols dominated in multiple bowls they played in this year. Three of these bowl games came after they had surprisingly strong finishes to the season, much like this year, and one came on the heels of them limping toward the finish line.

All of them, though, were part of a story. So let’s go back in history and look at them now. And maybe there will be a few more appearances in the 1920s. These are the four games Tennessee football competed in this decade.