It started with Gary Moore. Hubert Simpson provided the exclamation point six weeks later.

There were some forgettable moments in between, but two performances—stamped by Moore, Simpson and Jimmy Streater—began to bring Tennessee back towards national prominence in year three of the Johnny Majors’ era in 1979.

Moore was the kick-starter—literally. His 98-yard return for a touchdown on the opening kickoff against Auburn opened the way for a 35-17 win at Neyland Stadium in the third week of the season.

It was a signature triumph for Majors. More than one tumultuous month later, there was another—this one even bigger and more of a surprise. The Vols thumped No. 13 Notre Dame, 40-18 in Knoxville, resulting in a field storming and toppled goal posts.

It didn’t result in Tennessee’s immediate ascension to the SEC’s or even college football’s upper echelon, but it started laying the foundation for a following decade that would include five nine or more win seasons, a conference crown and the share of another that was the springboard for even more successes in the 1990s.

Here’s a look back at both games.

Vols, Tigers and the ‘best 60 minutes’ of football

Johnny Majors strode into his postgame press conference with a smile. He implored the reporters to show one, too.

“Let’s see a smile,” Majors said.

Tennessee won its first two games of the 1979 season—victories over Boston College and Utah—to extend its win streak to five games going back to 1978. But this one was different.

The Vols had just beaten Auburn for the first time in four years, and did it convincingly. Everything clicked from the moment the opening kickoff landed in the arms of Gary Moore at the 2-yard line on the north end of Neyland Stadium.

Moore went untouched for the first 40 yards or so. He ran into the back of two blockers and a couple of Tigers’ defenders, but he bounced back towards the sideline and that was it.

It was the first kickoff return for a touchdown by a Tennessee player in 45 years. On this day, it was the tone-setter.

“That was a great feeling,” Moore, who had a kick return for a score called back against Auburn the year before, told reporters. “When you have 10 other guys saying you’re going to do it, that’s a great feeling.”

It wasn’t the first big run that Moore broke that afternoon. In fact, the Vols’ offense pretty much had their way with Auburn on the ground.

Tennessee racked up 319 rushing yards. Jimmy Streater accounted for 106 of those.

The Tigers had little answer for the Vols’ quarterback, who had a hand in three scores.

Streater broke a 7-7 tie with a 9-yard touchdown pass to Reggie Harper that put Tennessee up for good in the first quarter. He scored again on a 6-yard run to cap an 80-yard drive just before halftime and then buried Auburn with a 28-yard scoring scamper in the third.

“Streater was the difference,” Auburn All-SEC safety James McKinney said. “He made their offense. We let him do what he wanted.”

In between Streater’s dazzling display, Moore rushed for 69 yards, totaling 41 of them on three carries on the drive that he scored on in the second quarter to stretch the Vols’ lead to 21-7.

Auburn found a little life on James Brooks’ 52-yard breakaway in the second half, but nothing that it could sustain.

Tennessee’s defense, led by Val Barksdale’s 15 tackles and two interceptions, stood up the Tigers on fourth down at the Vols’ 3-yard line in the fourth quarter to end a near-perfect day.

“I don’t know how good either team is, but I know we are a long way ahead of where we’ve been,” Majors said. “This was the best 60 minutes of football against a good team since I’ve been here.”

Vols run all over Irish

The same turf that Jimmy Streater and Hubert Simpson had stomped all over on an overcast afternoon at Neyland Stadium on Nov. 11, 1979 was covered in jubilant fans.

They brought down one goalpost, then marched it down the field, much like Simpson had done against Notre Dame’s defense for the last couple of hours.

It was a much different scene a week before, after Tennessee had been beaten by Rutgers and the joy of beating Auburn weeks earlier had completely evaporated.

But now, that loss seemed long in the rear view. The Vols didn’t just knockoff one of college football’s giants—they dominated them in every way.

Streater and Simpson were the headliners.

The two were a big part of Tennessee’s astounding 352 rushing yards. Simpson totaled 117 with a school-record four touchdowns. Streater had 66 yards, including a 51-yard run and a score, despite missing the entire second half with an injury.

James Berry rushed for 94 yards.

“We couldn’t even slow them down, much less stop them,” a frustrated Notre Dame head coach Dan Devine told reporters.

Simplicity was the secret for the Vols.

Offensive coordinator Joe Avezzano, in the wake of the loss to Rutgers, didn’t think Tennessee needed to do anything exotic to beat the Fighting Irish. Add in a little extra emotion, and the game plan worked to perfection.

“We ran the dive play 28 times,” Avezzano said. “Usually we’d use it five or six times. That’s simplicity part, but the emotion is key. All the Xs and Os in the world mean nothing without emotion.”

That emotion didn’t just show in the way the Vols played. It was evident after, with some players crying amid the celebration on the field.

“When this team wants to, we can beat anybody,” Tennessee offensive lineman Bill Marren said. “But we aren’t good enough to not play at 100% and win. We weren’t 100% (against Rutgers). We were today.”

Tennessee was equally dominant on defense, holding Notre Dame running back and Heisman hopeful Vagas Ferguson to 89 yards, though he did score three times. Simpson said after the game that he had a $1.00 bet that he’d out-rush him.

“I was going to give ‘em something to measure (Ferguson) by,” Simpson said. “My plan was to outdo him.”

Nothing worked outside of Ferguson, anyway. The Vols didn’t give Irish quarterback Lisch enough time to find another solution. He was sacked and pressured often. When he did get a chance to throw, three times a Tennessee defender was there to snag it away.

Wilbert Jones was one of them.

“I used to watch Notre Dame on television when I was a little kid,” Jones said. “To beat them, you don’t know how good it feels. Just wait till tonight. It’s going to feel even better.”