The Vols play at Neyland Stadium on the university's campus in Knoxville, where Tennessee has won 485 games, the highest home-field total in college football history for any school in the nation at its current home venue.

The Vols' main rivalries include the Alabama Crimson Tide (Third Saturday in October) and Vanderbilt Commodores.

Since the formation of the SEC Eastern Division in 1992, the Vols have had emerging rivalries with the Florida Gators, Georgia Bulldogs, and the South Carolina Gamecocks.

The Volunteers used to have important rivalries with the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, Auburn Tigers, and Ole Miss Rebels until Georgia Tech left the SEC and realignment forced them to drop Auburn and Ole Miss from the schedule annually.

[8][9] Tennessee has also been awarded national championships by various notable organizations in six additional years of 1914, 1931, 1939, 1956, 1985, and 1989, though the school claims none.

[11]: 273–275 As winners of the Southeastern Conference's Eastern Division, Tennessee has made five appearances in the SEC Championship Game, with the most recent coming in 2007.

Of the 23 different head coaches who have led the Volunteers, Neyland, Wyatt, Dickey, Majors, and Fulmer have been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta.

Tennessee holds an all-time bowl game record of 30–25 through the 2023 season, due to the removal of the vacated win from 2019.

[13]In 2009, the Volunteers wore black jerseys with orange pants on Halloween night against the South Carolina Gamecocks.

[14] On October 5, 2013, the team debuted its "Smokey Gray" uniforms in an overtime loss to the Georgia Bulldogs at Neyland Stadium.

They were from the American Daisy which grew on The Hill, the home of most of the classrooms at the university at the time (now housing most of the chemistry and physics programs et al.).

[19] Tennessee first sported their famous orange and white checkerboard end zone design in 1964 under coach Dickey and remained until artificial turf was installed at Neyland Stadium in 1968.

The Band began playing the fight song during the 1970s after it became popular as a Bluegrass tune by the Osborne Brothers.

A contest was held by the Pep Club that year; their desire was to select a coon hound that was native to Tennessee.

Thousands of fans line the street to shake the players' hands as they walk into Neyland Stadium.

The "T" first appeared in 1964 when coach Doug Dickey added the familiar block letter T onto the side of the helmets; a rounded T came in 1968.

[27] The Vols also run through the T. This T is formed by the Pride of the Southland marching band with its base at the entrance to the Tennessee locker room in the north end zone with team personnel holding the state flag and the UT flag, Smokey running in on the field, and the entire UT team storming in to loud cheers and applause from the 100,000-plus Vols fans in Neyland.

When Coach Dickey brought this unique and now-famous tradition to UT in 1965, the Vols' locker room was underneath the East stands.

The fleet was started by former Tennessee broadcaster George Mooney who docked his boat there first in 1962, as he wanted to avoid traffic around the stadium.

What started as one man tying his runabout to a nearby tree and climbing through a wooded area to the stadium has grown into one of college football's unique traditions.

[29] As of the end of the 2023 regular season, Tennessee is ranked eleventh all-time won-lost records by percentage and tenth by victories.

The streak started with a Volunteers win against Tennessee-Chattanooga on November 30, 1938 and ended with a 27–12 loss against Alabama on October 19, 1940.

[32] The Vols play at Neyland Stadium, where Tennessee has an all-time winning record of 494 games, the highest home-field total in college football history for any school in the nation at its current home venue.