Tennessee vs. Alabama is as October as fall foliage, Halloween decorations and the intense pressure of the baseball playoffs.

And so here we are again.

It’s here. Tennessee vs. Alabama.

It’s that boisterous week smack in middle to late October.

Tuscaloosa and Knoxville, 2 football-mad towns tussling on a Saturday after the fans of each illustrious program have spent all week talking trash.

And it’s always special, every year, no matter the records. But this time around, it could be really, really special. Because it’s No. 3 Alabama, just knocked off its No. 1 perch again in the AP poll but still undefeated, and No. 6 Tennessee, also undefeated and feeling high and mighty for the first time in a long time.

Saturday’s 104th installment of this grand SEC rivalry, which Bama leads 59-37-7, is the first really, really meaningful one in many years because of the Volunteers’ rise in 2022. It has the potential to be a down-to-the-wire stress fest amid those checkerboard end zones at Neyland Stadium.

In recent years, though? Well, let’s just say the combination of Alabama’s reign over college football since Nick Saban arrived in 2007 and Tennessee’s downturn the past several years have created quite the number of lopsided margins in the series.

Lately, it has been Advantage Tuscaloosa. By a lot. And for a very long time now. Knoxville hasn’t prevailed in this rivalry since 2006, fittingly the year before Saban arrived.

So in the spirit of all those Tennessee-Alabama blowouts of the recent and distant past (mostly recent), we give you the 10 biggest blowouts in the rich history of Vols vs. Tide. Note that after the top-6 blowouts, there is a 5-way tie for 7th-biggest blowout, meaning this list will actually contain 11 games, not 10.

Also note that all 11 games on this blowout list feature Bama on the right side of things and Tennessee on the wrong side. Tennessee’s largest win in the series is 27 points — which it did in 1969 and 1995. Alabama has 14 wins larger than that.

1. Alabama 51, Tennessee 0 — Nov. 29, 1906

The first 9 meetings between the Crimson Tide and Volunteers, starting in 1903, actually took place in November, not October, and some of them were on Thanksgiving Day. This was 1 of those many Turkey Day meetings, and no, Saban hadn’t gotten to Tuscaloosa quite yet to terrorize the Vols. The final score just looked that way that day at the Birmingham Fairgrounds.

The Tide improved to 5-1 with the big late-season win that was their season finale, and they finished 4th in the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association. The Vols fell to 1-6-2 in their season finale and finished 10th.

2. Alabama 49, Tennessee 10 — Oct. 15, 2016

Fast-forward a century and a decade and you get a lopsided affair in Knoxville that has become commonplace in the past 15 years since Saban took over. This one hurt in particular for Vols fans because it was at Neyland, and because Tennessee was ranked 9th and was actually having a solid season amid the past several years of being irrelevant.

Jalen Hurts and Bo Scarbrough each rushed for more than 100 yards for the Tide as they improved to 7-0 and gave the 5-2 Vols a dose of reality. Bama would go 14-1 in 2016 and get back to the national title game, where it was denied a repeat championship by Clemson.

3. Alabama 45, Tennessee 7 — Oct. 21, 2017

The following season, the rivalry was back in Tuscaloosa, and a Tide team that would go on to win Saban’s 5th national title at Bama had no sympathy for an unranked Volunteers team. The Tide improved to 8-0, and Tennessee was back in its spin cycle of mediocrity, falling to 3-4 and staying winless in the SEC at 0-4. That’s where the Vols stayed all fall, becoming the first Tennessee team to not win an SEC game since becoming a charter member in 1932. Head coach Butch Jones was fired a few weeks later.

Scarbrough had 2 4th-down touchdown runs that day, and Alabama outgained Tennessee by a whopping 604-108 as Saban improved to 11-0 against the Vols during his time in Tuscaloosa.

4. Alabama 58, Tennessee 21 — Oct. 20, 2018

Back to Neyland in the even-year matchup and, well, back to the drawing board again for the woeful Vols, who at least had won 1 SEC game by the time they got to the Tide that season. Meanwhile, Bama was 8-0 overall and 5-0 in the SEC (again) after destroying Tennessee (again), and the Tide were on their way to the College Football Playoff (again).

Bama ultimately got clipped by Clemson in the national title game for the 2nd time in 3 years, this time in blowout fashion (44-16) it was getting quite used to with its Knoxville rivals. Tua Tagovailoa threw touchdown passes to 4 receivers that day at Neyland for the top-ranked Tide.

5. Alabama 45, Tennessee 10 — Oct. 26, 2013

Another odd-year matchup in Tuscaloosa, another pounding by yet another top-ranked Bama team over a Tennessee squad that was on its way to a 2-6 season in the SEC in Jones’ first year as head coach. T.J. Yeldon scored on 3 1-yard runs, and AJ McCarron threw for 275 yards and 2 touchdowns for Bama, which took a 35-0 halftime lead and never looked back.

The Tide had won 3 of the past 4 national championships at that point, but that 2013 team lost the Iron Bowl and crashed and burned at season’s end, finishing 11-2 and No. 7 in the AP poll, considered a down season in Tuscaloosa.

6. Alabama 35, Tennessee 0 — Oct. 19, 1963

The 9th-ranked Crimson Tide took it to the Vols in front of 53,454 fans at Legion Field in Birmingham, improving to 4-1 and dropping Tennessee to 1-4. This wasn’t a Saban Era beating, but it fit the profile, with Bama headed in 1 direction and the Vols headed in the other.

A guy named Joe Namath tossed 3 touchdown passes and ran for another score as the Tide improved to 21-19-5 all-time against the Vols. A little more than a month after this game, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. That Alabama team would go 9-2 overall and 6-2 in the SEC and win the Sugar Bowl over Ole Miss in Bear Bryant’s 6th season as head coach.

T7. Alabama 34, Tennessee 3 — Oct. 21, 1961

The 5th-ranked Tide handled the Vols at Legion Field, getting their 1st victory over Tennessee since 1954. The Volunteers were on a 5-0-1 run in the rivalry between 1955-60. But Bama finally got some payback and improved to 5-0, scoring 34 unanswered points after the Vols went up 3-0. Tennessee fell to 2-2 on the season on the way to a pedestrian 6-4 overall record and a 4-3 mark in the SEC.

As for Alabama? All that Tide team did was go 7-0 in the SEC, 11-0 overall, and capture the national championship in Bryant’s 4th season.

T7. Alabama 41, Tennessee 10 — Oct. 23, 2010

Julio Jones was on fire in Knoxville, setting a single-game Bama school record with an eye-popping 221 yards receiving on 12 catches. It helped the Tide score 28 unanswered points in the 2nd half to break loose after they led just 13-10 at halftime. Alabama improved to 7-1, but the 2010 Tide were the 1 Saban team from 2009-12 that didn’t win the national title.

Bama actually lost 3 games that season, going 10-3 overall and finishing a very un-Bama-like 5-3 in the SEC, but the Tide made up for it the next 2 years. The Vols finished 6-7 in Derek Dooley’s first season in Knoxville.

T7. Alabama 37, Tennessee 6 — Oct. 22, 2011

The eventual national champion Tide exploded for 31 points in the 2nd half in Tuscaloosa, turning a 6-6 halftime deadlock into a blowout that made this list. McCarron passed for 284 yards and a touchdown and ran for another score as Bama improved to 8-0 overall while Tennessee was on its way to a 1-7 season in the SEC.

The Tide lost their next game a few weeks later at home to LSU in overtime, but Saban got the last laugh in the rematch with the Tigers in the national title game.

T7. Alabama 44, Tennessee 13 — Oct. 20, 2012

Before the Tide won their 3rd national crown in 4 years by beating down Notre Dame in Miami, they stopped off in Knoxville in mid-October and administered yet another beatdown of the Vols. McCarron was at the centerpiece yet again, throwing for a career-high 306 yards and 4 touchdowns to lead top-ranked Bama.

While the Tide were starting to stockpile national titles under Saban, the once-proud Tennessee program continued to be in disarray and ultimately finished 1-7 in the SEC again under Dooley.

T7. Alabama 48, Tennessee 17 — Oct. 24, 2020

The last game on our all-Bama list of blowouts was a precursor to Saban’s 6th national championship at Alabama. The Tide scored 14 points in each of the first 3 quarters at Neyland Stadium and were never threatened on the way to a 5-0 start. Mac Jones threw for 387 yards, and Najee Harris added 96 yards rushing and 3 touchdowns.

Bama was on its way to a perfect 13-0 record in a season that didn’t start until late September because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, Tennessee was stumbling toward a 3-7 season, leading to the firing of Jeremy Pruitt, the hiring of Josh Heupel and the Top 10 showdown between unbeatens on Saturday in Knoxville that surely won’t go like the 11 games on this list.