KNOXVILLE, Tenn — Invite the Big Orange to play in a bowl game and you're sure to draw thousands of happy Tennessee fans along for the fun.
That's always been the case for the University of Tennessee. Their fans travel well and appreciate every chance they get to see the team in the postseason.
On Monday afternoon, Tennessee takes on the Iowa Hawkeyes in the annual Citrus Bowl in Orlando.
It's the sixth Citrus Bowl appearance for the Vols, which brings back memories of that crack former Florida coach Steve Spurrier once made about Tennessee: "You can spell Citrus without the U-T."
The "head ball coach," a Johnson City native, loved to tweak Tennessee.
UT, by the way, has won four of the five Citrus Bowls it's played leading up to Monday. It's a respectable New Year's Day bowl in a warm state that Tennessee fans know well.
Overall, UT is in the top five when it comes to collegiate bowl appearances -- 55 before Monday by many tallies -- overshadowed in number only by rivals such as Alabama and Georgia. The Vols have played in all the major bowls through the decades, winning thrillers in the Orange Bowl, Sugar Bowl and, of course, in January 1999 in a Fiesta Bowl appearance against FSU that netted them the national championship.
Here are some of the noteworthy moments and numbers from UT's bowl history.
*UT's first official "bowl" was the Orange in January 1939. They shut out the University of Oklahoma. In December 1931, the "Orange Tornado" beat New York University - back when it had a football team - in a charity game at Yankee Stadium. The Tennessee visitors were mightily impressed at being chauffeured around Manhattan in big, eight-cylinder vehicles.
*The coach with the most bowl appearances? Phillip Fulmer with 15. His biggest bowl, of course, was the victory against FSU in January 1999.
In case you're wondering, Robert Neyland had the second most bowl appearances with nine, or 10 if you count the charity game in the Bronx against NYU.
*Tennessee actually played for national championships in back-to-back bowls in the late 1990s -- in January 1998, with Peyton Manning at the helm, and in January 1999 with Tee Martin at the helm. Nebraska beat the Manning-led Vols 42-17 in 1998.
*Another bowl UT fans still talk about was the 1986 Sugar Bowl against Miami. It didn't start well, but, man, did the Vols turn it around. UT trailed early but ended up routing the 'Canes 35-7.
*Tennessee has twice played in the so-called "Granddaddy of Them All" Bowl, also known as the Rose Bowl. It hasn't fared well, losing both times in shutouts to USC.
*The biggest crowd to see UT play in a bowl game was the 1940 Rose Bowl, with an estimated 92,000 plus in attendance in Pasadena.
*Monday marks Tennessee's 25th time to play in a bowl on New Year's Day.
*The 1990s was the best bowl decade for the Vols. They went 10 times. Their record was 7-3.
*They've played many teams more than once. They've played Maryland five times in a bowl through the decades.
*Only a few UT head coaches have missed out on a bowl game while coaching at UT, including Knoxvillian Harvey Robinson, the coach who replaced Neyland. While Robinson didn't get to be head coach in a bowl game for the team, he was head coach when the first Smokey the Bluetick Coonhound joined the team in 1953 as a mascot, according to UT.
