The Tennessee administration had seen enough.

Ten different coaches in the first 25 years of the football program had been unable to gain ground against rival Vanderbilt. At the end of the 1925 season, a move was made to change that. It ended up changing the program.

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Professor Nathan Dougherty, the chairman of the school's athletics board, hired a 34-year-old West Point graduate who had served as an assistant coach at his alma mater for six years and then another under M.B. Banks at Tennessee.

Robert Neyland was an innovator, something the football program was in need of in its fledgling years. It also needed to beat Vanderbilt, which had beaten the Vols 18 times in the first 22 meetings between the two teams.

"Even the score with Vanderbilt," Dougherty told Neyland. "Do something about the terrible series standings."

Since Neyland was hired in 1926, Tennessee has a commanding 78-15-3 edge in the series, making those first two decades nearly lost to history after Neyland won four national championships to bring the program to the upper echelon of college football.

Alabama and later Florida pushed Vanderbilt further down the list of Tennessee rivals in terms of games that mattered on a national scale. But few Tennessee-Vanderbilt games have been played on a bigger stage than the one both teams will play on Saturday at FirstBank Stadium in Nashville (Noon ET, ABC).

The No. 8 Vols (9-2, 5-2 SEC) are likely one win away from their first College Football Playoff berth with only the Commodores (6-5, 3-4) standing in the way, setting up for a high-stakes grand finale to the 2024 regular season.

I might be the most important Tennessee-Vanderbilt game, at least for the Vols and maybe even for the Commodores who could play the role of the ultimate spoiler. But it isn't the first time this game has had a lot on the line going in.

Here is a look at three memorable matchups, from fierce come-from-behind victories to clinching SEC titles.

Who: No. 8 Tennessee (9-2, 5-2 SEC) at Vanderbilt (6-5, 3-4)

When: Saturday, Nov. 30 | Noon ET

Where: FirstBank Stadium | Nashville

TV: ABC (Dave Pasch, play-by-play; Dusty Dvoracek, analyst; Taylor McGregor, reporter)

Series: 118th meeting all-time (Tennessee leads, 80-32-5)

In Knoxville: Tennessee leads, 41-12-1

In Nashville: Tennessee leads, 39-20-4

Last meeting: Nov. 25, 2023 -- Tennessee 48, Vanderbilt 23

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — (Dec. 1, 1951) The sign hung over the doorway of Tennessee's locker room at Shields-Watkins Field.

The words, "Thou shall not pass" were a commandment for the Vols' defense before they took the field, a direction more than a suggestion. And through nine games they had lived up to it, marching their way towards another national championship and meeting little resistance in the year 1951.

In the fourth quarter on Dec. 1, those title hopes were hanging by a thread and nearly severed by the passing of Vanderbilt quarterback Billy Wade.

Twice Wade had brought the underdog commodores within one point of No. 1 and unbeaten Tennessee. And twice Harold "Herky" Payne and Andy Kozar saved the Vols. The backfield duo were heroes that day, making up for the Vanderbilt defense turning all of its attention to Tennessee All-American back Hank Lauricella.

The Vols had built a three touchdown lead by the third quarter, one that was seemingly comfortable and routine for Tennessee, which had outscored opponents 338-61 in the previous nine games.

But Vanderbilt swung back with the big arm of Wade, who completed 16 passes for more than 250 yards. It helped that the Vols' defense was down two contributors in captain Bert Rechichar and Bill Pearman, who had been tossed from the contest for "rough play."

Wade's passing, coupled with Tennessee errors pulled the Commodores within one, at 21-20. Enter Payne and Kozar.

It started with a 35-yard run from Kozar. Then Payne extended the game-defining drive with an 8-yard run on fourth down. A few plays later, Payne scored to push the Vols' lead to 28-20.

Wade answered with a 63-yard scoring drive, again trimming Vanderbilt's deficit to one. But the defense held on, stopping the Commodores on their next possession to set up a Kozar touchdown run to put it away, 35-27.

After Kozar's touchdown, both benches cleared and the field turned into an all-out melee that involved police and fans. It was settled after a few minutes and so was Tennessee's national title bid. The Vols finished the regular season unbeaten and were heading to the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans.

They were tabbed consensus national champions, in no small part to Payne and Kozar.

"Harold (Herky) Payne, who has been overshadowed most of the season by the brilliance of Hank Lauricella, teamed up with the bruising power of Andy Kozar, to keep Tennessee's empire from tottering into the brink of disaster in the season's local finale," Knoxville Journal sports editor Ed Harris wrote.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — (Dec. 1, 1990) It was the climax of season wrought with emotions of both extremes.

Tennessee entered the 1990 season with visions of a national championship after narrowly missing out on one the year before. But by time the Vols played their regular season finale against Vanderbilt in Nashville, those hopes had evaporated.

Tennessee opened the season with a tie against eventual AP national champion Colorado. It let a lead slip away in another draw with Auburn weeks later. A frustrating loss to rival Alabama was followed by a gallant effort that came up short vs. No. 1 Notre Dame.

But there was still plenty for the Vols to play for against Vanderbilt. They were on the doorstep of an SEC title and Sugar Bowl bid. All they needed to do was beat the Commodores.

The game itself didn't exactly match the dramatics of what was at stake for Tennessee.

The Commodores had one win against LSU in week 2 of the season. Eight-straight losses followed, most of which weren't particularly close. Neither was this one in the end.

Vanderbilt scored first, taking the lead in the first quarter before the Vols answered back with a 9-yard touchdown run from Tony Thompson. The Commodores led again in the second quarter, going up 17-14 at halftime.

Thompson put Tennessee in front with a 12-yard scoring scamper early in the third and though Vanderbilt hit a field goal to pull within one, the Vols never trailed again. Thompson scored the third of four touchdown runs and Carl Pickens hauled in a 20-yard touchdown pass from Andy Kelly in the fourth to pull ahead by more than two scores.

Dewayne Dotson provided the exclamation point by intercepting a pass initially caught but dislodged by a Todd Kelly Sr. hit and returned 27 yards for a touchdown to finish off a 49-20 triumph.

Tennessee had its SEC crown and one month later, came from behind to beat Virginia in the Sugar Bowl.

"The old song says, 'You've got to have heart,'" Tennessee head coach Johnny Majors told reporters after the game. "This team has heart. They had it last year and they've got this year. This team has the right stuff."

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — (Nov. 17, 2007) The race for the SEC East was coming down to the wire.

Tennessee was in control with Georgia, which it routed earlier in the 2007 season, on its heels heading into the final two weeks of the regular season.

All the Vols had to do was beat Vanderbilt and Kentucky. The first seemed all but certain. The Commodores had ended a 23-year losing skid to Tennessee in their last game at Neyland Stadium in 2005, but they had lost four of their last six games heading into this rendition of the rivalry and were drifting further from bowl eligibility.

The Wildcats, who the Vols were slated to play on the road the following week in their last game of the regular season, seemed more likely to threaten Tennessee's grip on the division.

By halftime, the Vols were reeling.

Vanderbilt was leading 17-9, outscoring Tennessee 17-6 after it took the lead in the first quarter. The Commodores had the Vols on the brink heading into the fourth, up 24-9.

Fifteen seconds into the final quarter, Erik Ainge hit John Briscoe for a 7-yard touchdown that kick-started Tennessee's rally with its season on the line.

Ainge passed for another about seven minutes later, this one to Austin Rogers to pull the Vols within two. The defense forced three-straight three-outs, the third of which ended in a punt that Dennis Rogan returned to the Vanderbilt 33-yard line.

The go-ahead drive stalled out at the 16 and it all rested on the foot of Daniel Lincoln. He booted a 33-yard field with less than three minutes left to give Tennessee a 25-24 lead. It wasn't over, though.

Vanderbilt's offense, which had gone cold since early in the third, found life in the final minutes, reaching the Vols' 31. The Commodores chance to spoil Tennessee's SEC Championship Game hopes came down to a field goal of their own.

Bryant Hahnfeldt's would-be game-winning kick had the distance, but it drifted left and didn't stop. The Vols held on, beat Kentucky in a four-overtime thriller in Lexington the next week and punched their ticket to the SEC title game for the second time in four years.

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