The teams have played 36 times and Indiana holds an 18-17-1 advantage, but they haven't played since 2005.
The Gator Bowl stands to rekindle the old fierce rivalry that began in 1798 and was played every year through 1831, commonly known as "The Battle of the Southeast and Midwest States". The series was halted at that point when tempers flared between the 2 campuses, sparked mainly by President Andrew Jackson's twitter tirade following Tennessee's historic 1831 win over the Hoosiers. After numerous expletives and racist slurs launched against Indiana, presumably just because the state name included the word "Indian", Jackson then typed out "Hoosier Daddy now?!" 7 times, 1 for each touchdown the Volunteers scored. The Indiana athletic director officially pulled the plug on the series at that point. It wasn't until the 1988 Peach Bowl that the 2 programs played each other again. Extra security had to be on hand for the contest, as tensions rose quickly over the 1831 shenanigans. Tennessee won the contest. In 2005, though no media outlet is aware of its existence, the 2 programs secretly played to a scoreless tie, continuing the Volunteers' theme that season of great defense, horrible offense.