Alabama vs Tennessee Rivalry History, Odds & Preview: Third Saturday in October 2026

One of the SEC's best rivalry games returns for the 109th time since 1901, with Alabama and Tennessee playing at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tenn., on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. ET (ABC).

A game known as the "Third Saturday in October" for when it's historically been played, the Crimson Tide had been dominating the Alabama vs. Tennessee rivalry during the Nick Saban era, but the programs have split the series over the last four years. 

Despite the Volunteers catching up to the Crimson Tide in recent seasons, Alabama is a 9.5-point favorite and the popular pick among college football analysts. 

Alabama vs Tennessee rivalry history: Third Saturday in October

Alabama	Category	Tennessee
60 (1 win vacated)	Wins	40 (1 win vacated)
15 (2007-2021)	Longest win streak	7 (1995-2001)
51 (1906)	Largest margin of victory	27 (1995)
992-346-43 (.734)	Program record	892-424-55 (.671)
18 (16)	Claimed national titles (recognized)	6 (2)
34	Conference championships	16
4	Heisman winners	0
87	Consensus All-Americans	41
908	Weeks in the AP Poll	650
141	Weeks at No. 1	18
81 (46-30-3)	Bowl games (record)	58 (30-27)
429	NFL draft picks	381
86	First-round picks	48

Alabama and Tennessee's rivalry has long been filled with winning streaks, legendary coaches, and cigars.

The Crimson Tide and Volunteers played for the first time in 1901, with the programs tying 6-6 in Birmingham, Ala., the home of the rivalry for seven of the first eight meetings. However, the game wasn't initially played on the third Saturday in October (it was played in November), nor every season.

For the first 26 years of the rivalry, Alabama and Tennessee played just 11 times, which included the teams not playing at all between 1915 and 1927. Over those first 11 meetings, Alabama went 8-2-1 and didn't allow a Tennessee touchdown from 1903 to 1913.

The rivalry returned in full in October 1928, and Alabama and Tennessee have only gone without playing for one season since then, and that was in 1943 due to World War II. The return of the rivalry also coincided with Tennessee becoming a powerhouse under Robert Neyland, who was hired in 1926.

That helped Tennessee turn it into a competitive rivalry, with the Volunteers going 20-15-6 from the 1920s through the 1960s. But that's when Alabama changed college football forever after hiring Texas A&M's coach, who had earned his nickname after agreeing to wrestle a bear when he was 13 years old.

Paul "Bear" Bryant would beat Tennessee for the first time in 1961 and win on the third Saturday in October 16 times from '61 to '81, taking home six national championships in the process.

The rivalry would resume its competitiveness in the 1980s thanks to Johnny Majors, with Tennessee owning Alabama in the 1990s under Phillip Fulmer. But then everything changed when Alabama brought the only college football coach better than Bryant to Tuscaloosa in 2007.

Saban went 16-1 against Tennessee. But with Saban gone, the rivalry has been split the last two years under Kalen DeBoer. 

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History of the Alabama vs Tennessee rivalry

When did the Alabama vs Tennessee rivalry start?

The first game between Alabama and Tennessee was on Nov. 28, 1901, in Birmingham, Ala. The two programs tied 6-6, the only time both teams scored points in the first 10 meetings. In 1901, Tennessee was held scoreless when Alabama won 24-0, and then the Volunteers shut out the Crimson Tide 5-0 in 1904.

From 1905 to 1913, Alabama won seven straight against Tennessee, outscoring the Vols 112-0 (Tennessee would win 17-7 in 1914). After more than a decade-long hiatus, the rivalry returned in 1928 and became one of the top SEC rivalries thanks to Neyland.

Why does the winner of Alabama vs. Tennessee smoke victory cigars?

One of the most unique aspects of Alabama and Tennessee's rivalry is the victory cigars. The winning team lights up a victory cigar in its locker room following the game, and fans light them up in the stands of the stadium to celebrate a win.

The tradition began in the 1950s when Alabama's athletic trainer Jim Goostree began handing out cigars following a win over Tennessee. Both programs continued the tradition, which began as a secret due to NCAA rules around extra benefits for players and use of tobacco products.

In 2005, Alabama publicly brought the tradition back to the forefront of the rivalry but had to self-report it as an NCAA violation as a result. However, since 2007, the winner of Alabama vs. Tennessee has knowingly and openly violated the NCAA rule and reported said violation to the NCAA as part of the tradition.

Why is it called the Third Saturday in October?

This name is pretty self-explanatory, with Alabama vs. Tennessee being played on the third Saturday in October every season. The tradition began when Neyland started consistently scheduling the matchup against the Crimson Tide on the third Saturday in October, with the rivalry officially adopting the name of "Third Saturday in October" in 1939. 

Though the game hasn't actually always fallen on the third Saturday in October over the decades due to SEC scheduling and conference changes, the rivalry name of the "Third Saturday in October" has remained. 

Best moments in the Alabama vs Tennessee rivalry

• The Bear's streak ends (1982)

Before Saban, there was Bryant, and the Bear didn't often lose on the third Saturday in October. When he initially took over Alabama in 1958, Bryant got off to a rough start against Tennessee, going 0-2-1. But between 1961 and 1981, Bryant was 16-4-1 against Tennessee, including an 11-game winning streak from 1971 to 1981.

In 1982, Tennessee shocked the college football world after ending the streak. The Volunteers' legendary head coach Johnny Majors led his team to a 35-28 upset of No. 2 Alabama. Bryant would return for just one more season in Tuscaloosa, with Majors once again getting the best of the Bear, and Tennessee beating No. 11 Alabama 41-34.

• The five-overtime game (2003)

Tennessee was looking to bounce back from a loss to Alabama in 2002, its first since 1994, in a clash that resulted in the longest game in the history of the rivalry. The No. 22 Volunteers came back from down 20-13 in the fourth quarter when Casey Clausen led a game-tying drive with 30 seconds left to force overtime. 

Tennessee managed to convert a 4th-and-19 to stay alive during double OT, and in the fifth OT, Clausen scored to pull off a 51-43 win in Tuscaloosa. The game lasted four hours and 53 minutes.

• The goalposts go for a swim when the drought ends (2022)

One of the most improbable wins in the history of the Alabama-Tennessee rivalry came in 2022, when Saban was riding a 15-game winning streak (the longest in the rivalry's history) into Knoxville. Saban had owned the Vols for a decade and a half, recording double-digit wins in 13 of the 15 straight victories and handing Tennessee four of the largest blowout defeats in rivalry history.

No. 3 Alabama entered as a 7.5-point favorite against No. 6 Tennessee, but Vols head coach Josh Heupel's offense shredded Saban's defense during just his second game against the Tide. With Hendon Hooker leading the way, Tennessee put up 567 total yards while defeating reigning Heisman winner Bryce Young.

The Volunteers won 52-49 after Alabama missed a 50-yard game-tying field goal with 15 seconds to go. That's when Tennessee fans lit their cigars for the first time since 2006, and following a field storming, they tore down the goalposts before carrying the uprights to the Tennessee River.

Key figures in the Alabama vs Tennessee rivalry

• Paul "Bear" Bryant, Alabama 

Before Saban, there was Bryant. Considered one of the greatest coaches in the history of sports, Bryant went 232-46-9 at Alabama while winning six national titles. Bryant went 16-8-2 during his tenure as the Crimson Tide's head coach from 1958 to 1982. His 11th straight win against Tennessee in 1981 gave him a record-setting 16th victory in the rivalry. Saban would later tie the record in 2023.

Bryant, who went 3-0 as a player at Alabama against Tennessee, would change the rivalry when he took over in Tuscaloosa. Before the Bear arrived in 1958, Tennessee went 11-5-3 from 1938 to 1957 against Alabama.

• Robert Neyland, Tennessee

Tennessee's stadium is named after Neyland for a reason. He's the godfather of Tennesee football and, across three different stints as the program's head coach, went 173-31-12 with one national title (1951) and five SEC championships. He still holds the record for most wins by a Tennessee head coach against Alabama, going 12-5-2, and following his retirement as head coach in 1952, he remained with the program as athletic director until 1962.

Even as Tennessee's athletic director, Neyland continued beating the Tide, with the program going 5-3-2 against Alabama from 1953 to 1962. That was in large part due to an All-American running back who would later lead the Vols as a head coach, Johnny Majors.

• Nick Saban, Alabama

The greatest coach in college football history, Saban took over an Alabama program in shambles that had only beaten Tennessee three times from 1993 to 2006 (and one of those wins was vacated), including losing seven straight from 1995 to 2001. Saban instantly turned around the Tide on his first Third Saturday in October.

Saban would win 15 straight games against Tennessee, and tie Bryant's record for the most wins by any coach in the rivalry. He'd also go 201-29 as Alabama's head coach and win seven national titles and nine SEC Championships. 

• Johnny Majors, Tennessee

Majors isn't just one of the best coaches in Tennessee history, he's also one of the best players. A two-time SEC MVP with his No. 45 jersey retired at Tennessee, Majors went 2-1-1 as a player against Alabama, closing out his College Football Hall of Fame career with two straight wins over the Tide. And as an assistant coach from 1957 to 1959, Majors would add two more wins over Bama.

Though he wasn't as successful against Alabama as Tennessee's head coach from 1977 to 1992, going 4-12, he would end Bryant's 11-game winning streak and take four straight against the Tide from 1982 to 1985.

• Derrick Thomas, Alabama

There are dozens of All-American players at Alabama who found success against Tennessee, especially during the Saban era. But Derrick Thomas might still be the best player in Crimson Tide history. From 1985 to 1988, he was a record-setting pass rusher and a complete menace in the post-Bryant years.

Thomas, who set the unofficial NCAA single-season (27) and career sack records (52) at Alabama, helped the Tide end their losing streak against Tennessee. After four straight defeats to the Vols from '82 to '85, Thomas and Alabama won three straight against Tennessee in his final three seasons at Tuscaloosa.

• Phillip Fulmer/Peyton Manning, Tennessee

No Tennessee head coach enjoyed more success against Alabama than Phillip Fulmer, who was 11-5 against the Tide from 1992 to 2008. That included seven straight wins from 1995 to 2001, and a national title in 1998. Though Peyton Manning was in the NFL when the Vols won that national title, he was as important to Tennessee getting back on track against the Tide as Fulmer.

Fulmer went 1-1 in his first two seasons against Alabama, and then Manning helped Tennessee go to another level after arriving in Knoxville in 1994. Though he lost his first game against the Tide by four, Manning would beat Alabama three straight times in his final three seasons.

Biggest upsets in Alabama vs Tennessee history

Biggest blowouts in Alabama vs Tennessee rivalry 

Alabama vs Tennessee schedule & future matchups

The Alabama vs. Tennessee rivalry is scheduled for every season for the foreseeable future, with Alabama and Tennessee being marquee rivals in the SEC. The rivalry is on the current official SEC schedule for the next three years, with the SEC only releasing its official schedule through the 2029 season.

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