Nick Saban famously went 16-1 against Tennessee during his time at Alabama, but Saban’s record is not the best of any Alabama football coach vs. the Volunteers, even in the modern era.

Bill Curry, the much-maligned Crimson Tide head coach from 1987-89, went 3-0 vs. Tennessee in the “Third Saturday in October” rivalry. He’s one of just four Alabama coaches who never lost to the Volunteers, and the only one among those whose tenure began after World War I.

Kalen DeBoer’s first Alabama team travels to Knoxville to meet Tennessee on Saturday. The Crimson Tide and Volunteers are both 5-1 overall and 2-1 in the SEC this season.

Should Alabama win on Saturday, DeBoer would join Saban, Curry and Gene Stallings as the only Crimson Tide coaches in the last three-quarters of a century to beat the Volunteers on their first try. Saban and Stallings remain revered in Tuscaloosa; Curry most decidedly does not.

But Curry’s success against Tennessee is undeniable. Here’s a rundown of how his Alabama teams performed against the Volunteers, in case you had forgotten …

• Curry’s 1987 Alabama squad beat Tennessee 41-22 in Birmingham, dealing a Volunteers team that would eventually win 10 games its first loss of the season. The Crimson Tide — which had lost the previous week to lowly Memphis State — jumped out to a 21-0 lead after one quarter and cruised to the easy victory.

Quarterback Jeff Dunn threw for 229 yards and a touchdown, a 90-yarder to Pierre Goode. Gene Jelks also returned a punt for a score, and Bobby Humphrey ran for 127 yards and two TDs.

The win over Tennessee was part of an uneven debut season for Curry, whose team also beat a 10-win LSU squad late in early November. The Crimson Tide then lost its final three games to finish 7-5.

• Alabama also entered the 1988 Tennessee game coming off an embarrassing defeat, a 22-12 homecoming loss to Ole Miss in which the Crimson Tide did not complete a pass. That game achieved infamy when someone (who remains anonymous) threw a brick through Curry’s office window in the Alabama football complex.

RELATED: Did someone really throw a brick through Bill Curry’s office window in 1988? The short answer is ‘yes’

Tennessee, however, was off to an even worse start in 1988. Johnny Majors’ Volunteers lost their first five games that season, including blowouts against LSU, Auburn and Washington State.

Alabama continued Tennessee’s misery, scoring two touchdowns in both the first and fourth quarters for a 28-20 victory at Neyland Stadium. The Crimson Tide intercepted Volunteers quarterback Jeff Francis three times, including a 60-yard pick-six by John Mangum that staked Alabama to an early 14-0 lead.

Murry Hill’s 55-yard touchdown run with 1:38 left put the game away for Alabama, which finished that year 9-3 after close November losses to LSU and Auburn. Tennessee won its last five games to end up 5-6, its first losing record since 1980.

• Curry’s final Alabama team was his best, and entered the 1989 Tennessee game at Legion Field 5-0 and ranked No. 10 in the country. The Volunteers were 5-0 and ranked No. 6, riding a 10-game winning streak dating to the previous season’s loss to the Crimson Tide.

Two previously unknown players had emerged as stars for Alabama that season, quarterback Gary Hollingsworth and running back Siran Stacy. Tennessee, on the other hand, was short-handed after the drug-related dismissal of starting tailback Reggie Cobb.

Alabama led by five at halftime, but pulled away on the strength of back-to-back touchdowns early in the third quarter. Hollingsworth threw for 379 yards and three TDs, while Stacy totaled 317 all-purpose yards and scored four times — including a memorable 75-yard catch and run on a shovel pass from Hollingsworth in the second quarter — as the Crimson Tide won 47-30.

‘They’ll never forget you here’: Siran Stacy & the story of Alabama’s 1989 victory over Tennessee

Alabama went on to win its first 10 games that season before losing 30-20 to Auburn in the first Iron Bowl played at Jordan-Hare Stadium. Tennessee — which had beaten Auburn in September — did not lose again, creating a three-way tie for the SEC championship (there was no conference title game in those days).

Because Alabama had last gone to the Sugar Bowl in 1979 (as opposed to 1985 for Tennessee and 1988 for Auburn), the Crimson Tide got the postseason trip to New Orleans as the SEC’s official representative. Alabama lost 33-25 to eventual national champion Miami to finish 10-2, and Curry resigned a short time later to take the Kentucky job.

Curry’s overall record at Alabama was 26-10, but the only number many remember is 0-3 vs. Auburn. More than anything, it was that inability to beat the Crimson Tide’s in-state rival that hastened Curry’s departure from Tuscaloosa, his success against in Alabama’s “other” rivalry game notwithstanding.

Curry’s three wins over Tennessee were part of a seven-game winning streak for Alabama against the Volunteers, a run that started in 1986 under Ray Perkins. Gene Stallings won his first three games on the “Third Saturday in October” before a 17-17 tie in 1993 snapped not only Alabama’s streak over Tennessee but also the Crimson Tide’s 28-game overall winning streak that encompassed the 1992 national championship season.

Since Curry, Alabama coaches have had a mixed bag of success against Tennessee. Mike DuBose and Mike Shula notably struggled, with DuBose going 0-4 and Shula 1-3.

In addition to Saban, Stallings (4-2-1) also won more than he lost against the Volunteers. But only one coach in the modern era of Alabama football can say he never lost to Tennessee, and it’s not who you might expect.

Alabama coaches’ all-time records vs. Tennessee