Editor’s note: This is a daily series revisiting 100 past Tennessee football games ahead of the Vols’ season opener against Syracuse on Aug. 30 in Atlanta. It is not a ranking of games.

What a day for a Bobby Majors masterclass.

Just before Tennessee kicked off its regular season finale against unbeaten and No. 5 Penn State in front of a nationally televised audience on Dec. 4, 1971, the first family of Vols football was honored.

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Majors stood at midfield, flanked by father Shirley, mother Elizabeth, brother and former Tennessee All-American back Johnny and the rest of the family on “Majors Family Day.”

Then Majors had the game of his life in his final act at Neyland Stadium, helping lead the Vols to a 31-11 thumping that snapped the Nittany Lions’ 15-game win streak.

Majors, the All-American safety, totaled 195 return yards on kickoffs and punts. He took the opening kickoff for 54 yards but was tripped up. He took another for 59 yards.

Majors gathered in a punt late in the second quarter and darted forward with the help of some blocking. He scored on this one, good for 44 yards and a 21-3 Tennessee lead.

This shellacking was headlined by Majors—who was named the offensive player of the game by the ABC broadcast, though he did his damage on special teams.

Majors also contributed on a stellar defensive effort that held Penn State, which entered the game as the nation’s top scoring offense, to a season-low 11 points.

Infact, the Nittany Lions didn’t get a whole lot of opportunities to score.

Late in the first quarter, when it looked like Penn State was closing in on one of those opportunities, linebacker Jackie Walker went after Nittany Lions’ quarterback John Hufnagel and the ball popped up and into then hands of Conrad Graham.

Graham sidestepped a Penn State lineman and he was gone, trotting into the end zone with Franco Harris and Lyell Mitchell trailing him.

The Nittany Lions put together a few promising drives in the third quarter, only for Cloud Simonton to snag a Hufnagel pass and Ray Nettles to recover a fumbled that snuffed both out.

Walker landed the knockout blow, stepping infront of another Hufnagel throw and going 43 yards the other way for a touchdown in the fourth.

Tennessee was bound for the Liberty Bowl against Arkansas and had completed its second-straight 10-win season under Bill Battle in emphatic fashion.

“The team was more inspired today than anytime this season,” Battle told reporters after the game. “And I thought the fans were, too.”

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