The Tigers ended their 1933 season with a December 9 home game against the Ten­nessee Volunteers. LSU had played the Vols just twice, tying one and losing the other. Since all the other SEC teams had finished their seasons, the crowd of 15,000 included all the other league coaches.

Major Bob Neyland, the Tennessee coach, was an old friend and fellow West Point alumnus of LSU's Biff Jones. Neyland used the single wing back and semi-punt forma­tions. Jones preferred the Pop Warner system that featured single and double wing formations.

With a 7-2 record, UT was favored to hand the 6-0-3 Tigers their first defeat of the sea­son. The Vol offense was led by All-American HB Beattie Feathers, who was not at his best because of an injury in a recent game. The Vols held the edge in experience with eight senior starters to LSU's four.

Coach Jones surprised the Vols and LSU fans by starting junior Bert Yates at fullback in place of star sophomore Abe Mickal. The move paid off as Yates gained more rushing yards than the entire Vol backfield. He rang up 95y on 18 carries and lost only 5y once when he slipped and fell. That helped LSU control the ball for 90% of the playing time, but three long marches failed to produce points.

The teams spent the entire first quarter in a cautious sparring match of punts in which Yates booted toe to toe with the injured Feathers.

The Tigers got a break early in the second period when they rushed Feathers hard as he punted from his goal line to gain excellent field position at the UT 37. Mickal passed to E Jeff Barrett for a first down at the 22. The drive reached the seven before an offside penalty set the Tigers back. So Mickal tried a field goal from 20, but the ball went under the crossbar.

Near the end of the half, Feathers took a pass but dropped it when he was tackled hard by Jess Fatherree. The UT star was carried from the field. He returned after the intermis­sion but played only a few minutes before retiring permanently.

The Tigers started the third period with another drive. FB Ernest "Son" Seago ran for 25y to the UT 19, where he fumbled to end the threat. LSU stopped the Vols, and Yates led a drive to the Vol 23, where he fumbled the ball away.

On the first play of the fourth period, Tennessee was in a hole on its seven after a quick kick. A 30y run got the Vols out of danger, but several long passes failed to connect, and LSU got the ball back and finally scored the game's only touchdown.

After Mickal and Seago gobbled up yards on the ground, Abe passed to E Pete Burge, who made another spectacular catch like the one he snagged against Tulane the previous week. The 12y gain put the pigskin on the UT 28. Mickal then cracked the line for a first down at the 15. Abe called his own number several more times until he finally plunged over from the one. He also kicked the point to make it 7-0 LSU.

The Tigers kept the Vols at bay the rest of the game, quick kicking at every opportunity and not giving Pug Vaughn a chance to complete a long pass.

LSU played only four substitutes to Tennessee's 17. Tiger T Jack Torrance, the lar­gest football player in the country at 285lb, never left the field in his last game for LSU.

The Tigers finished their second season in a row without an SEC loss.