Beyond the impact that Saturday night's game will have on the 2025 Alabama Crimson Tide season, there are other reasons why a win matters. The Alabama vs. Tennessee rivalry goes back to 1901. The Crimson Tide has played only one other team more times than it has competed against Tennessee. Saturday night will be the 108th meeting and will tie Mississippi State as Alabama's most frequent foe.
Alabama leads the series 60-39-8 (not adjusted for one vacated win). That the Vols have won two of the three most recent games is beyond unacceptable to a segment of Alabama Crimson Tide fans who have hated the Vols for decades. Making the most recent outcomes more grating is the audacity of Tennessee fans, not only claiming, but actually believing the Vols have gained a current upper hand over Alabama. They view Josh Heupel as a superior coach to Kalen DeBoer and see the Crimson Tide program on a downward slide that it is unable to reverse.
Alabama Crimson Tide and Tennessee History
Alabama fans would hate such arrogance from any foe, but some history shared by the Crimson Tide and Tennessee is like salt to a wound. The old history between the two programs is one of respect. For Paul 'Bear' Bryant as a player and a coach, and for Robert Neyland as a coach, an Alabama vs. Tennessee game was the ultimate test to measure a player and a team.
After Bryant, during the Johnny Majors era of Tennessee football, some of the respect faded. During the subsequent Phil Fulmer era of Tennessee football, it largely disappeared. Fulmer was a sanctimonious hypocrite who, for years, tried to destroy the Alabama football program. While Fulmer and Tennessee repeatedly violated NCAA recruiting rules, Fulmer publicly and privately (to the NCAA) accused Alabama of violations. We know Tennessee cheated because the major booster at the time, Roy Adams, admitted it. Adams called the NCAA a joke and stated his spending on Tennessee recruits and players would never be constrained by the NCAA. More details are available from a 2017 Bama Hammer post, linked here.
There may be a time when the history of the rivalry does not matter. For some younger Alabama fans, that time is now. Many older fans will take it to their graves. To some, it is a recent travesty for Phil Fulmer to be named by the American Heart Association as the recipient of the 2026 Paul 'Bear' Bryant Lifetime Achievement Award.