When did Ohio State and Tennessee play last in football?

The College Football Playoff has provided us with an opening quartet of fascinating, unique matchups.

But just how unique are they? Tennessee and Ohio State are a pair of college football blue bloods, with long and storied histories. So surely they've played each other plenty over the years, right?

Let's break it down.

The Tale of the Tape: According to Winsipedia, Tennessee and Ohio State have played just once, in the1996 Citrus Bowl. Tennessee won, 20-14.

So why haven't these two teams played all that much? A lot of it is entirely due to chance.

What's the Story: Ohio State is the ultimate college football blue blood program, a perennial national title contender year in and year out. If you go back to 1935, when the AP Poll started, the Buckeyes have spent significantly more time in the poll at season's end than they have out of it. Even when they're not a title contender, this team is very rarely bad, or even middling.

Tennessee, on the other hand, is the ultimate bridesmaid team. Florida fans' oft-used dig at Vols fans was "you can't spell Citrus Bowl without U-T." And sure enough, if you look at Tennessee's bowl history, it's littered with appearances in second-tier SEC bowl games. Lots of Citrus, lots of Gator, lots of Liberty and Peach Bowls.

Ohio State's bowl history, on the other hand, is scattered with Rose Bowl and Orange Bowl berths.

These two teams have had a few chances to play each other, though; in the modern era, Ohio State has played SEC teams in bowl games 11 times. In recent seasons (since 2015) those matchups have often come in the college football playoffs, and Tennessee hasn't really sniffed the field until this year.

In 2010 and 2011, Ohio State played in the Gator and Sugar Bowls, going 12-1 and 6-7. Tennessee was mired in the midst of back to back losing seasons in that span, going 6-7 in 2010 and 5-7 in 2011. In 2000 and 2001, Ohio State played the South Carolina Gamecocks in back-to-back seasons, both in the Outback Bowl. The Buckeyes were 8-4 in 2000, and 7-5 in 2001, while the Vols were markedly better, going 8-4 in 2000 and 11-2 in 2001.

1994 was probably the nearest miss we had; Ohio State was 9-4 and played Alabama in the Citrus Bowl, while Tennessee went 8-4 and played Virginia Tech in the Gator Bowl. Same in 1992; the 9-3 Volunteers went to the Hall of Fame Bowl, while the 8-3-1 Buckeyes lost in the Gator Bowl. In 1989, an 8-4 Ohio State team lost to Auburn, while an 11-1 Tennessee team won the Cotton Bowl. Lastly, in 1978, Ohio State played Alabama in the Sugar Bowl, while Tennessee went just 5-5-1 and missed out on postseason football.

Using the same modern era metric, Tennessee has played Big Ten teams in bowl games 16 times, including a run of six games in seven appearances from 2015 till last season. In that time, the Buckeyes have played in either the college football playoff or the top tier Big Ten bowl outside of the playoff, leaving them out of the Vols' path. The same is true in 2006 and 2007, when Ohio State was in back-to-back national title games, while the Vols were in back-to-back Outback Bowls.

In 1997, Tennessee played Northwestern in the Citrus Bowl after a 10-2 season, while 11-1 Ohio State went to the Rose Bowl. In 1994, the Vols played Penn State in the Citrus Bowl after a 9-2-1 season, while the Buckeyes went 10-1-1 and played BYU in the Holiday Bowl. In 1992, Tennessee went to the Fiesta Bowl and lost to Penn State, while Ohio State went to the Hall of Fame Bowl and lost to Syracuse. The 80s were more of the same; when Tennessee was good, Ohio State wasn't, and when Ohio State was good, Tennessee was having a down year.

Notable Matchups: Their singular clash was a banger. The 1995 season was one of the first times both teams were great at the same time; the Peyton Manning-led Volunteers were 10-1 and hadn't lost since their Week 3 defeat at the hands of eventual national runners-up Florida, while the Buckeyes had seen their own undefeated season spoiled in the finale against Michigan.

But the Vols' defense led the way to victory here, forcing two fumbles in the fourth quarter, which led to a pair of field goals to power Tennessee to a win.

Now, both teams are back on the big stage, and eager to prove they belong.

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