What Happened Last Time the Texas Longhorns Played the Tennessee Volunteers?

Week 4 of the 2026 slate brings the Texas Longhorns to Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tennessee, where they will take on the Tennessee Volunteers for the first time in a setting that isn't the Cotton Bowl in Dallas.

The meeting between the two teams will only be their fourth all-time, with the Longhorns holding a narrow 2-1 lead in the all-time series, with the 2026 edition serving as the first all-SEC meeting between the two schools.

And if you want to take a trip down memory lane to look back on the last meeting between the two teams, you will have to go all the way back to a chilly Texas New Year's Day in 1969.

What Happened Last Time?

Texas Longhorns quarterback Arch Manning (16) runs with the ball against the Michigan Wolverines during the first half at Camping World Stadium. | Matt Pendleton-Imagn Images

On January 1, 1969, at the Cotton Bowl deep in the heart of Dallas, the No. 8-ranked Volunteers took on Darrell Royal and the No. 5 Longhorns in front of a crowd of 72,000 people.

Texas got their home state crowd fired up early with a 14-yard scoring run by running back Steve Worster early in the first quarter, and after the Longhorns defense put together a stop, quarterback James Street found wide receiver Charles Speyrer for a 78-yard catch for the score, with a failed extra kick only making it 13-0 Texas after the first quarter.

The second quarter saw the Horns find the end zone two more times, first with a nine-yard run by Ted Koy, and the second coming from a five-yard run by Chris Gilbert, which was following by a two-point conversion between Spreyrer and Street to make up for the failed extra point and give the Longhorns a commanding 28-0 lead at halftime.

The Volunteers would finally get on the board with a 17-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Bobby Scott to receiver Gary Kreis to cap off a quick four-play drive.

The Longhorns would reassert their dominance with another one-play touchdown drive that resulted in a 79-yard connection between Street and Speyrer to put the Horns up 36-7.

The only score in the fourth quarter came on Tennessee's behalf with Scott's scoring pass to Mike Price from three yards out with 55 seconds left in the game, and the two-point try was no good, leaving Tennessee with a measly 13 points as the Longhorns took a Cotton Bowl Classic win in their home state, 36-13.

Texas and Tennessee meet in Knoxville for the first time ever in Week 4 on Saturday, September 26.

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