The Tennessee Titans just gave Tennessee football fans something a lot of them have never experienced in their lives.

The Titans were 0-5 heading into Week 6 against the Indianapolis Colts. They were 6.5-point underdogs against those Daniel Jones-driven ponies up north. Somehow, Tennessee scraped out a massive win when the franchise needed it most and exorcised a lot of demons along the way.

Now let’s add Saturday to the equation.

The Tennessee Volunteers welcomed in the No. 6 Alabama Crimson Tide, a 7.5-point favorite at kickoff, and whooped them 26-10. Deshaun Bishop carried the Vols with two rushing touchdowns and another game over 150 rushing yards.

So it made me think. When was the last time the Titans beat an AFC South opponent and the Vols beat an AP Poll ranked SEC team in the same weekend?

The last time it happened was back in 2022

You have to go back to the 2022 season, when the Vols were good and on their way to an Orange Bowl in the second-to-last year of the four-team playoff.

On Oct. 29, 2022, Tennessee rolled No. 19 Kentucky 44-6 in the black “Dark Mode” uniforms. Ironically, Will Levis was the quarterback for those Kentucky Wildcats.

The next day, the Titans won on the road in Houston 17-10. Derrick Henry ran for 219 yards and two touchdowns with Malik Willis as the starting quarterback.

At that point, the Vols were the third-ranked team in the country, and the Titans (5-2) sat atop the AFC South standings. Then the Titans collapsed with a seven-game losing streak to close the 2022 season.

That means this weekend, Oct. 17-18, marked nearly four years since a Titans AFC South win and a Vols win over a ranked SEC opponent landed on the same weekend.

Both as underdogs? It has NEVER happened

Here’s where it gets fun.

I looked back through every season since the AFC South was created in 2002. Never have the Titans beaten a division opponent and the Vols beaten a ranked SEC opponent in the same weekend with both teams entering as underdogs.

That 2022 weekend doesn’t count. The Vols were 12.5-point favorites over Kentucky. Even with Willis under center, the Titans were still 3.5-point favorites at Houston.

This weekend, both teams were the underdogs. Both won anyway. It has literally never happened before.

The close calls that came up short

There have been a few near misses, and they hurt a little in hindsight.

Two years ago in October, the Vols beat No. 7 Alabama as 3-point underdogs. The Titans followed that up by losing to the Buffalo Bills by 24 points the next day.

During the 2021 season, Tennessee beat No. 18 Kentucky (again with Levis), and the Titans beat the Los Angeles Rams 28-16 in an impressive Sunday Night Football win right after Henry broke his foot. That was a great weekend, but the Rams aren’t an AFC South opponent. It’s missing the rivalry piece.

Back in 2018, the Vols beat No. 21 Auburn in dramatic fashion with Jarrett Guarantano at quarterback and Jeremy Pruitt on the sideline. Then the Titans got blanked 21-0 at home by the Baltimore Ravens in a nasty, rainy game where Marcus Mariota was sacked 11 times. Yuck.

During the 2016 season, Tennessee beat No. 19 Florida to snap that streak. Then Tennessee’s NFL team lost 17-10 at home to the Oakland Raiders.

So no, it just hasn’t happened. Not once.

The Titans knocked off an AFC South rival as underdogs. The Vols beat a ranked SEC opponent as underdogs. Same weekend. We’ve never seen it before, and after the start the Titans had, I’m not sure anybody in Nashville saw this one coming either.

Now, the two teams are in completely different spots in their seasons. The Titans are still just 1-5 and have a lot of work to do. Meanwhile the Vols climbed to the No. 11 spot in the newest AP Poll and have their eyes set on the College Football Playoff.