The Tennessee Volunteers played their first organized football game all the way back in 1891, and since then they’ve won 811 games, played in won 26 bowl games and claimed six national titles and 13 conference crowns. But among the many successful teams that help form UT’s illustrious history, which are the best of the bunch?

Here are the top five teams in Tennessee history:

Honorable mention: 1956 (10-1): The 1956 Volunteers finished the regular season with a perfect 10-0 record and only failed to be recognized as a national title team due to its 13-7 loss to Baylor in the Sugar Bowl. Tennessee held eight of 11 opponents to seven points or fewer and defeated two ranked teams including then-No. 2 Georgia Tech. The fact that this team cannot crack the top 5 should go to show you how many good teams the Volunteers can claim.

5. 1989 (11-1): Tennessee’s lone blemish in ’89 was its loss on the Third Saturday in October to No. 10 Alabama, a 17-point defeat that ultimately kept the Vols from contending for a national title at season’s end. Nevertheless, Tennessee won three other games that year against ranked opponents, all three ranked in the top 10 in the county. The Volunteers closed the year with a four-point victory over Arkansas in the Cotton Bowl Classic and claimed the 10th of their 13 current SEC championships.

Notable: Many of the Vols best teams ever were predicated on defense and the 1989 Volunteers were no exception. The team allowed just 217 points all season, an average of 18 points per contest. They held eight opponents to 14 points or fewer, including their first five opponents of the year in succession before falling to Alabama.

Best players: RB Reggie Cobb, DE Marion Hobby

Memorable game: Tennessee topped then-No. 4 Auburn 21-14 on the final day of September to vault from No. 12 to No. 6 in the Associated Press poll. The Vols finished the season tied with Auburn and Alabama atop the SEC standings to close the season, indicating just how pivotal that win was for the ’89 squad. Playing in a torrential downpour, Tennessee benefitted from not one but two safeties in one of the most bizarre openings to a game we’ve seen in the last 30 years. Auburn’s punter twice mishandled snaps in the rain, allowing the ball to go out the end zone for the pair of safeties. The Vols scored 17 more points the rest of the way thanks to Reggie Cobb’s 225 yards on the ground, and as a result the 21-14 final seems much less bizarre than it actually was.

4. 1950 (11-1): Tennessee lost its second game of the year in 1950 by a final score of 7-0 at the hands of Mississippi State, but the Vols were so good that year they were able to claim a national title at season’s end anyway according to a number of different polls (but not the AP). Tennessee only allowed one opponent to score more than 14 points all year and only allowed three opponents to reach double figures. Even more impressive, Tennessee handed then-No. 3 Kentucky (led by Bear Bryant at the time) its only loss of the season, then defeated No. 2 Texas in the Cotton Bowl Classic in the heart of the Lone Star State to close the year.

Notable: Not only was Tennessee dominant on the defensive side of the ball that year, but they scored points in bunches on offense as well. The Vols scored at least 27 points seven different times that season, scoring 35 or more points on four separate occasions.

Best players: QB/HB Hank Lauricella, DL Doug Atkins

Memorable game: Kentucky only allowed 69 points all season in 1950, but seven of those came in Tennessee’s 7-0 win over the Wildcats in a game that ultimately decided that season’s SEC champion (the two teams finished tied for the conference crown, meaning a UT loss would’ve cost it a share of the title). Even more impressively, Tennessee’s defense matched UK’s all game long, holding a team that scored 25-plus points in nine of 12 games to a goose egg at game’s end.

3. 1939 (10-1): This team might have actually been better than the 1938 team that won the national championship the year before, but it drops to No. 3 on this list due to its 14-0 loss to USC in the Rose Bowl that season, its only loss of the year. Granted, the Rose Bowl is more or less a home game for USC, especially when it’s 1939 and the other team is from Tennessee back in the days when commercial flight wasn’t all that accessible. However, although UT won the SEC crown the Rose Bowl loss kept it from winning the national title, and when your program claims six all-time national titles its impressive enough to crack even this list without one.

Notable: Before losing to USC, Tennessee completed the 10-game regular season without allowing a single point all season. That’s not a typo and April Fool’s Day was more than a week ago. The Volunteers posted a season-long shutout, which is really about as dominant as it gets. In fact, it makes USC look like the Monstars from Space Jam for even scoring 14 points in the first place.

Best players: OG Ed Molinski, HB George Cafego

Memorable game: Tennessee’s toughest opponent during the regular season was No. 8 Alabama, to which it handed a 21-0 loss on the Third Saturday in October. The Volunteers were ranked No. 5 at the time but vaulted to No. 1 in the AP poll following the win, a spot it would maintain until falling to No. 2 USC.

2. 1998 (13-0): This Tennessee team is best remembered as the first national champion of the BCS era, which provided fans with the closest thing to an undisputed national champion at the time. What’s ironic is this team won it all in rather impressive fashion the season after Tennessee legend Peyton Manning was taken with the first overall pick in the NFL Draft. The Vols beat five ranked opponents that year, including four ranked in the top 10, leaving little doubt as to which team was the nation’s best in ’98.

Notable: Even without Manning leading the offense, the Vols managed to score at least 28 points in eight of 13 games, scoring 40 or more points four different times. Tennessee also held 11 of 13 opponents to 21 points or fewer, including four of five ranked opponents.

Best player: QB Tee Martin, LB Al Wilson, FB Shawn Bryson, WR Peerless Price

Memorable game: Tennessee’s perfect season was in jeopardy just two weeks into the fall with the No. 2-ranked Florida Gators coming to town. Shawn Bryson scored on a 57-yard touchdown run, the UT defense forced four Florida turnovers in regulation and eventually the two teams went to overtime deadlocked at 17. Tennessee’s Jeff Hall made a field goal to cap the first half of the first overtime, and when Florida’s Collins Cooper missed a potential game-tying field goal in the back-half of overtime the Volunteer fan base erupted with joy. Tennessee snapped a five-game skid against Florida and gained some much-needed momentum on its way to an unblemished record.

1. 1938 (11-0): The 1938 Volunteers were not just the first of Tennessee’s six national championship teams, but it was also the most dominant. You can make a compelling argument that UT’s dominance in ’38 was as much a result of a lack of worthy competition as it was due to the team’s talent and execution, but it’s nearly impossible to overlook a team that not only went undefeated but also held its 11 opponents to a combined 16 points all season.

Notable: Tennessee boasted eight shutouts in 1938, including five in a row to close the season. The Vols shutout then-No. 4 Oklahoma 17-0 in the Orange Bowl to end the year, perhaps its most impressive win of the season.

Best players: OG Bob Suffridge, End Bowden Wyatt and HB George Cafego (all All-Americans).

Memorable game: The Orange bow victory against Oklahoma is historic not only because Oklahoma was a fellow top-5 team shutout at the hands of Tennessee’s menacing defense, but because the win snapped Oklahoma’s 14-game win streak in the process. The Sooners hadn’t lost since the middle of the 1937 season, and they hadn’t allowed more than six points to any opponent since the ’37 season opener.