Tennessee's Slow Decline

For the most part, from the origin of the AP Poll in 1936 up until the 1962 season, Tennessee football was at the top of the SEC. Tennessee had the most appearances in the AP Poll of any SEC program for these 25 seasons.

*In 1962, Ole Miss passed Tennessee in total all-time AP Poll appearances, however that was short-lived.

*In 1964, Alabama passed Tennessee in total all-time AP Poll appearances.

*In 1967, Tennessee passed back ahead of Ole Miss for the #2 spot in the SEC in terms of all-time AP Poll appearances... and Tennessee would hold this #2 position for an astounding 48 seasons. Tennessee's lead over the rest of the SEC (aside from Bama) would reach its peak in the 2004 and 2005 seasons, when they had 90 more poll appearances than #3 Florida. Here is how many appearances each program had at the end of 2004:

594- Alabama
526- Tennessee
436- Florida (trailed UT by 90)
433- Auburn (trailed UT by 93)
406- LSU (trailed UT by 120)
361- Georgia (trailed UT by 165)

*In 2005, Tennessee maintained that 90 appearance lead through the first 10 releases of the AP Poll. By the 11th release, Tennessee fell out of the AP Poll and the slow decline began.

*In 2015, LSU passed Tennessee in AP Poll Appearances
*In 2016, Florida passed Tennessee in AP Poll Appearances
*In 2019 (Week 3), Georgia passed Tennessee in AP Poll Appearances

*On Sunday, when Auburn is ranked in the AP Poll, they will tie Tennessee and by January, Auburn too will join the ranks of teams sliding ahead of the Vols in AP Poll appearances.

*Tennessee was #2 in this category for nearly half a century. It took a very long time for everyone to catch up, but by next season, Tennessee will rank 6th in the SEC in all-time AP Poll appearances.

What an absolute collapse of a once great program.