1979 Tennessee Volunteers football team

The 1979 Tennessee Volunteers football team (variously "Tennessee", "UT" or the "Vols") represented the University of Tennessee in the 1979 NCAA Division I-A football season. Playing as a member of the Southeastern Conference (SEC), the team was led by head coach Johnny Majors, in his third year, and played their home games at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tennessee. They finished the season with a record of seven wins and five losses (7–5 overall, 3–3 in the SEC) and a loss against Purdue in the Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl.

1979 Tennessee Volunteers football
ConferenceSoutheastern Conference
1979 record7–5 (3–3 SEC)
Head coach
Offensive coordinatorJoe Avezzano (3rd season)
Defensive coordinatorFrank Emanuel (1st season)
Captains
Home stadiumNeyland Stadium
1979 Southeastern Conference football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
No. 1 Alabama $ 6 0 0  12 0 0
Georgia 5 1 0  6 5 0
No. 16 Auburn 4 2 0  8 3 0
LSU 4 2 0  7 5 0
Tennessee 3 3 0  7 5 0
Kentucky 3 3 0  5 6 0
Ole Miss 3 3 0  4 7 0
Mississippi State 2 4 0  3 8 0
Vanderbilt 0 6 0  1 10 0
Florida 0 6 0  0 10 1
  • $ Conference champion
Rankings from AP Poll

Schedule

DateOpponentRankSiteTVResultAttendance
September 15at Boston College*W 28–1630,150
September 22Utah*W 51–1885,783
September 29Auburn
  • Neyland Stadium
  • Knoxville, TN
W 35–1785,936
October 6vs. Mississippi StateNo. 19L 9–2848,820
October 13Georgia Tech*
  • Neyland Stadium
  • Knoxville, TN
W 31–085,524
October 20at No. 1 AlabamaNo. 18L 17–2777,665
November 3Rutgers*No. 17
  • Neyland Stadium
  • Knoxville, TN
L 7–1384,265
November 10No. 13 Notre Dame*
  • Neyland Stadium
  • Knoxville, TN
W 40–1886,489
November 17at Ole MissNo. 19L 20–4455,760
November 24at KentuckyW 20–1757,950
December 1Vanderbilt
  • Neyland Stadium
  • Knoxville, TN (rivalry)
W 31–1084,142
December 31vs. No. 12 Purdue*MizlouL 22–2740,542
  • *Non-conference game
  • Homecoming
  • Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

Personnel

1979 Tennessee Volunteers football team roster
Players Coaches
Offense
Pos.#NameClass
RB 34 James Berry So
OG 64 Roy Cunningham Fr
RB 43 Terry Daniels So
WR 24 Clyde Duncan Fr
WR 26 Willie Gault Fr
WR 28 Anthony Hancock So
TE 85 Reggie Harper Jr
WR 4 Phil Ingram Jr
OT 78 Tim Irwin Jr
OG 68 Mike Jester Jr
C 59 Alan Lynn Sr
OG 70 Bill Marren Sr
RB 33 Gary Moore Sr
C 73 Lee North So
QB 5 Jeff Olszewski So
QB 8 David Rudder Sr
RB 32 Hubert Simpson Jr
QB 6 Jimmy Streater Sr
OT 67 Phil Sutton Sr
OG 71 Jay Williams Jr
Defense
Pos.#NameClass
DB 42 Val Barksdale Jr
DB 40 Bill Bates Fr
DE 93 Mike Cofer Fr
DE 57 Steve Davis Sr
DB 26 Greg Gaines Jr
DE 84 Brian Ingram Jr
S 14 Roland James Sr
DB 29 Danny Martin Jr
DT 60 Jim Noonan Sr
LB 44 Craig Puki Sr
LB 50 Danny Spradlin Jr
DE 83 John Wade Fr
DT 90 Brad White Jr
Special teams
Pos.#NameClass
K 10 Alan Duncan Jr
P 49 Dale Schnitman Sr
P 20 John Warren Fr
Head coach
Coordinators/assistant coaches

Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (S) Suspended
  • (I) Ineligible
  • Injured
  • Redshirt

Season summary

at Kentucky

1 234Total
Tennessee 3 773 20
Kentucky 0 1403 17

[2]

Vanderbilt

Vanderbilt Commodores (1–9) at Tennessee Volunteers (6–4)
1 2 34Total
Vanderbilt 10 0 0010
Tennessee 0 0 211031

at Neyland Stadium, Knoxville, Tennessee

  • Date: December 1
  • Game attendance: 84,142
  • [3]
  • Jimmy Streater became school's all-time leading passer

Bluebonnet Bowl (vs. Purdue)

1 234Total
Purdue 0 1476 27
Tennessee 0 0166 22


Team players drafted into the NFL

PlayerPositionRoundPickNFL Club
Roland JamesDefensive Back114New England Patriots
Craig PukiLinebacker377San Francisco 49ers

References

General

  • 2011 Tennessee Football Record Book (PDF). Knoxville, Tennessee: University of Tennessee Athletics Media Relations Office. 2011. Retrieved March 6, 2012.

Specific

  1. 2011 Tennessee Football Record Book, p. 125
  2. "Late Field Goal Lifts Tennessee." Palm Beach Post. 1979 Nov 25.
  3. "Vols bash Vandy." Eugene Register-Guard. 1979 Dec 02. Pg. 7E. Retrieved 2020-Dec-11.
  4. 2011 Tennessee Football Record Book, p. 101
  5. "1980 NFL Draft". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved March 6, 2012.
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