From 1913 to 1962, Tennessee football had a tradition of starting its season on the last Saturday in September. There were a couple of exceptions, including the 1950 national title team that started on Sept. 23 and the 1940 team that started on Sept. 20, but those were rare.
Before that time, the Vols started games the first Saturday in October, with the exception of 1905, the first time they ever did play a game in September. However, from 1963 on, they began a process of slowly moving up their start dates, and now they traditionally begin their season Labor Day weekend.