Alabama leads Tennessee 61 to 40 with seven ties across 108 games, and has more wins over the Volunteers than over any other program in college football. The two schools do not agree on the count. Alabama’s official record is 59 to 39 with seven ties, because the NCAA vacated its 2005 win and forfeited a 1993 tie, and Tennessee counts both. Either way, the series has been played on or near the third Saturday in October since 1928 and has carried that name since 1939.
| All time series, per Tennessee | Alabama 61, Tennessee 40, 7 ties |
| All time series, per Alabama | Alabama 59, Tennessee 39, 7 ties |
| First meeting | November 28, 1901, a 6 to 6 tie in Birmingham |
| Most recent | October 18, 2025, Alabama 37 to 20 in Tuscaloosa |
| Longest Alabama streak | Fifteen, 2007 to 2021 |
| Longest Tennessee streak | Seven, 1995 to 2001 |
| Largest margins | Alabama 51 to 0 in 1906; Tennessee 41 to 14 in 1969 and 1995 |
| Next meeting | October 17, 2026, Neyland Stadium |
The Fifteen Straight
Alabama won every meeting from 2007 through 2021, the longest streak in the series by a distance, and Nick Saban went 16 and 1 against Tennessee in seventeen seasons. The Volunteers went through five head coaches in that span and the rivalry lost its national standing, which is what made 2022 land the way it did.
2022: Fifty Two to Forty Nine
Sixth ranked Tennessee beat third ranked Alabama 52 to 49 on a field goal as time expired, with Hendon Hooker throwing for 385 yards and Jalin Hyatt catching five touchdowns. The crowd tore down both goalposts and carried them to the Tennessee River. It was the first Tennessee win in the series since 2006, the highest scoring game in the rivalry’s history, and the reason the Third Saturday in October was a top fifteen matchup again in three of the next four seasons.
The Cigars
The winning team smokes cigars in the locker room, a tradition dating to the 1960s that Alabama observed fifteen straight years and Tennessee revived in 2022 and again after a 24 to 17 win in Knoxville in 2024. It is, technically, an NCAA violation each time and has been treated as a secondary infraction every time it has been reported.
Neyland and Bryant
Robert Neyland went 12, 5 and 2 against Alabama across three stints, the best record any Tennessee coach has managed. Bear Bryant went 16, 7 and 2 the other way, including eleven straight wins from 1971 to 1981, and Johnny Majors ended that streak in 1982 with a 35 to 28 win in Knoxville that put Bryant on the field for the last time in the series. The 1939 game, a 21 to 0 Tennessee win in Knoxville, was the one that gave the rivalry its name in print.
Where the Games Were Played
Alabama leads in all three venues the series has used: 21, 14 and 6 in Birmingham, where it was played for decades; 27, 22 and 1 in Knoxville; and 12 and 4 in Tuscaloosa, where Tennessee has not won since 2003. The 1995 game in Knoxville drew 106,700, a series record at the time.
The Heupel Years
Josh Heupel is 2 and 3 against Alabama, with the 2022 and 2024 wins at home and losses in Tuscaloosa in 2021, 2023 and 2025. Tennessee has scored at least 20 in all five of those games, the first time the Volunteers have done that in five straight meetings since 1995 to 2001, the years of their own seven game streak. The 2026 game is at Neyland Stadium. Our Alabama vs Auburn page covers the Crimson Tide’s November rivalry.
The Bottom Line
Alabama leads Tennessee 61 to 40 with seven ties by Tennessee’s count and 59 to 39 by its own, across 108 games on the Third Saturday in October. The fifteen game Alabama streak ended with the 52 to 49 game in 2022, Tennessee has won two of the last four, and the 2026 meeting is October 17 in Knoxville. Our Tennessee all time record page covers the wider picture.