Category Archives: Football

Stories of the Decade: How Will We Remember Georgia State?

What kind of decade was it for Tennessee? The total unpredictability of last season is only good enough for eighth on our list of the most important football stories of the last ten years.

For now.

The version of 2019 where it doesn’t work out for Jeremy Pruitt and the Vols down the road leaves last season as an interesting anomaly, but beyond that? We talked a lot late in the year about the most impressive piece of history from 2019: the Vols covered the spread six games in a row, from Mississippi State to Missouri, for the first time since 1990. In that run, Tennessee turned 1-4 into 8-5, and earned forgiveness for losing to Georgia State. It’s an impressive feat.

But for 2019 to truly be remembered well, the Vols of the current decade have to do more than make us forget Georgia State. They have to make us remember it.

If Darrell Taylor doesn’t get drafted in the first round after my bedtime, the Vols will continue this trend:

  • UT First Round picks who played for Fulmer: 19 in 18 years
  • UT First Round picks who played after Fulmer: 3 in 10 years

(If Taylor does get drafted tonight, he’ll at least join a strong group of Cordarrelle Patterson, Ja’Wuan James, and Derek Barnett as post-Fulmer first rounders.)

If no Vols are taken in the second round, you’ll have this:

  • UT Second Round picks who played for Fulmer: 17 in 18 years
  • UT Second Round picks who played after Fulmer: Justin Hunter

(Alvin Kamara was quite the steal in round three.)

One of the best parts of last season’s finish is the way it came on the shoulders of guys who stayed. Darrell Taylor, Daniel Bituli, Nigel Warrior, and Marquez Callaway all made an enormous difference; they’ll all get a phone call at some point this weekend, be it the draft or free agency. And of course, Jauan Jennings was building on an already memorable legacy.

Tennessee didn’t beat any ranked teams in their late season run. But they also weren’t sending the kind of talent that regularly beats ranked teams to the NFL this season. Before the turnaround, all of us spent time lamenting the fact that, “Just play the young guys!” wasn’t necessarily an option the Vols weren’t already exploring. This team was what it was after losing to Georgia State and BYU. This program was what it was after the last 10+ years.

But they found a way anyway.

I want only good things for those five seniors, this weekend and in the years to come. The truth is, their Tennessee legacy is now out of their hands.

If 2019 stands alone, it’s a really interesting story. But if it becomes the first chapter?

Of the most important stories of the last decade, it’s only number eight for now. But if Pruitt and the Vols get things right to start this decade, 2019 will become one of the best and most important stories of the 2010’s.

Stay tuned.

More in this series:

#10: Are you sure the referees have left the field?

#9: A Smokey Gray Almost

Stories of the Decade: A Smokey Gray Almost

My wife and I got married in August of 2013. When we came back from our honeymoon, the first question everyone asked was, of course, “What do you think of the new uniforms?”

Unlike Lane Kiffin’s last minute switcheroo with the black uniforms, Tennessee fans got almost two months of build-up for the smokey grays. My informal opinion is most fans went on to prefer the Nike version with its truly unique helmet, as opposed to the adidas version that eventually showed up at just about every other school they had under contract. The black unis were a hit because, in large part, the Vols played so well in them, even those who really hated the idea couldn’t be so loud about it. I’ve joked before that in my eight years of writing at Rocky Top Talk, the only comment my dad ever left on a post was to express his disdain for the black unis.

Uniforms are serious, polarizing business. As we speak, it feels like Nike is intentionally screwing up NFL uniforms just to make more money when they bring back the old look a couple years later. I’m a fan of clean, unique looks. It’s one of the great things about Tennessee: our orange is immediately distinguishable, as are our checkerboards even when Kentucky tries to steal them. The memories of the Butch Jones era aren’t always fond, but those first Nike unis with the checkerboard stripe down the side of the pants and the back of the helmet? I love those. It keeps everything great about Tennessee’s traditional look, and adds a slight touch to make them even more uniquely ours. If you have an iconic franchise, there’s no reason they should ever wear something like this:

(Also, these are the best road unis we’ve ever worn:)

The initial reaction to the smokey grays seemed somewhere in the middle – a big change for an iconic brand. But in the weeks (and years) ahead, man, they sold. Not just the jerseys, but lots of gray merchandise. I still have a lot of it; it’s helpful when you’re trying to be loud, but not too loud, in hostile territory.

Year one for Butch Jones started off okay: the Vols beat Austin Peay in the opener, then rode an enormous wave of turnovers to blow by Western Kentucky 52-20. Then the Vols were Marcus Mariotaed at Oregon, and Nathan Petermaned themselves at Florida. A 31-24 survival of South Alabama didn’t warm any fuzzies.

Georgia came to Knoxville ranked sixth. The year before, they came as close to disrupting Alabama’s dynasty without actually doing it as anyone, a feat only topped by themselves a few years later. In 2013 they lost a 38-35 thriller at Clemson in the opener, then rebounded with a 41-30 win over South Carolina. The week before Knoxville, they beat LSU 44-41. These dudes were tested, and the Aaron Murray, Todd Gurley, Malcolm Mitchell offense was lighting it up. The Dawgs opened as 10.5-point favorites and it swelled to 13.5 by kickoff.

My wife comes from a huge baseball family, heavily familiar with the sports DNA. But she was newer to football. And getting married three weeks before the first game of the Butch Jones era, I was nervous. It’s a question many of us have asked at some point in the last decade: will the Vols be good enough in time for this person I love to become attached to them?

Georgia scored 10 points on their first two drives. The Vols got a field goal early in the second quarter, but the Dawgs immediately answered with a touchdown. It was 17-3 at halftime, and the Vols had punted four times, plus a three-and-out to open the third quarter.

And then Georgia missed a 39-yard field goal with nine minutes left in the third quarter.

I don’t know how many fans do the two-possessions math, but it’s enough to make a difference. The Vols hadn’t moved the ball all day, but we were still in it with #6 Georgia. And when that happens, all it takes is one play.

The spark, as it turned out, came from Pig Howard. We all know where this game is headed, but before that, Howard caught a 33-yard pass from Justin Worley to get the Vols to the Georgia 40 yard line. Worley ran for 11, then Howard ran for 10. And then, on 3rd-and-10:

https://twitter.com/DrewRoberts/status/386631472662056960

Back in it.

The Vols got a stop, but couldn’t capitalize. But Michael Palardy, doing double duty, bombed a 57-yard punt to back the Dawgs up. Tennessee’s defense earned a three-and-out.

There’s a list of great Neyland Stadium moments that happened in a loss. Everything until the end zone interception in the final minutes against #1 Notre Dame in 1990. The screen pass to Travis Stephens pre-hobnail. Cedric Houston almost going the distance right away against #1 Miami in 2002. Everything before the flash flood against Oregon in 2010. That first interception against Oklahoma in 2015.

This is definitely on that list:

Before he was the guy making three dozen tackles in big games, Jalen Reeves-Maybin was the guy who blocked this punt. Devaun Swafford gets the score, I believe it’s Geraldo Orta who gets the decleater at the goal line. And Neyland and the Vols are fully alive.

What’s truly amazing about this game is that everything left to happen all transpired in the last minute of the third quarter, the fourth, and the overtime. Aaron Murray ran for 57 yards on the last play of the third, Georgia scored on the first play of the fourth, and maybe it’s over. But nope: Rajion Neal busts one on 4th-and-1 for 43 yards, then finishes off the drive, and we’re tied again. The Vols get a stop, and two epic drives unfold. Tennessee goes 80 yards in 13 plays, converting two 4th-and-1’s and a 3rd-and-10. Neal scores again from seven yards out, and the Vols have their first lead of the day, 31-24, with 1:54 to go. Rajion on the day gets 148 yards on 28 carries.

Aaron Murray, to his absolute credit, refuses to be denied. Ten plays, 75 yards, no timeouts, three third down conversions, including a two yard pass with five seconds left to send it to overtime.

You know how it ends. But this one was a great example of what can be in a coach’s first year, even when you don’t win. Butch Jones was already off and running on the recruiting trail. But this one made people believe, including my wife. It’s a great testimony to what Neyland can be, even when we don’t win.

The Vols had to sit with it through the bye week. South Carolina, ranked 11th, was next. Tennessee didn’t play as well as they did against Georgia.

But Marquez North and Michael Palardy found a way.

If you forgot, and I bet you haven’t, Derek Dooley never beat a ranked team in three years. When Butch Jones almost got #6 Georgia, then beat #11 South Carolina?

Here’s one of the pictures that’s changed the most over time:

When it happens, you think it’s the first of many. Turns out, it might’ve been the best win in all of Jones’ tenure. His teams went on to beat #19 Georgia, #12 Northwestern, #19 Florida, #25 Georgia, and #24 Nebraska. None were ranked higher on gameday than #11 South Carolina here. Among teams ranked in the final AP poll, Jones’ Vols beat #24 Northwestern in 2015, and #14 Florida and #16 Virginia Tech in 2016. None finished the year better than South Carolina in 2013 at #4.

You just never know. We thought Marquez North would be a star for years to come, but this became his finest hour. These two games over three weeks felt like the beginning, like they should’ve earned a much higher place than #9 on our list of the most important stories of the decade. They’re still a terrific example of what can be powerful, in a coach’s first year and in Neyland at all times. But they’ve become the first example of what came to haunt Jones’ tenure: great moments that didn’t ultimately last because they didn’t turn into great seasons.

More in this series:

10. Are you sure the referees have left the field?

About that preseason college football magazine . . .

Hello!

Greetings from the Gameday on Rocky Top bunker, where I have been distancing myself from all manner of unpleasantries. I’d like to thank John Unspellable (apologies to Spencer Hall for stealing his joke for like the fourth time — it works for all Eastern European and Polynesian names and never gets old!) . . . thanks to John K. for entertaining me during this unique period in our history.

It’s a good time to be a health care lawyer with reliable internet, but you might say that it’s kind of a bad time for most everything else. There are more important things than football, right?

But you know what? There are few more important unimportant things than football. By the way, I have been up to my nostrils in football stats, coaching changes, and various and sundry football minutiae and have been typing incessantly for like 48 hours straight, sustaining on air-fried french fries and chicken salad. So really, I’m not responsible for anything I say here.

Where was I? Oh, yes. Footbaw. The question on everyone’s mind right now — just behind “This is probably just allergies, right?” — is this: “When are we going to get back to business?”

“Business,” as it concerns me wearing this hat and you reading this post, translates to questions about whether and when we are going to publish our Gameday on Rocky Top magazine. Allow me to quote Fiddler on the Roof to answer that question: “I’ll tell you. I don’t know.”

Here’s the thing. We don’t yet know whether there’s even going to be a football season. Or whether they’ll allow non-conference games. Or fans.

But here’s the other thing. Does publishing a preseason football magazine even depend on whether there’s a football season? And if so, how much? We’ve said in this space and at the other place many times that football is almost as much about anticipation as it is actually watching the games. So, as long as I have hope that there will be a season, I am interested in football.

But . . . if someday soon somebody in a suit and tie trots out to a podium and says, “No football for you,” well then, spending tens of thousands of dollars to print thousands of copies of a publication that depends on anticipation of a thing that’s definitely not going to happen is probably not in the Harvard Manual of Prudent Business Decisions. Woo for run-on sentences.

But here’s the other, other thing. Suppose that dude in the tie steps up to the podium in June, clears his throat, and exclaims, “GEAUX TIGAHS!” If that happens, we’re going to want a preseason football magazine, stat, y’all. But if I wait until June to get started, it will be too late.

Thus my current state of drowning in football stats, coaching changes, and fingers on auto-pilot fueled by fake fried food saying things without my mind’s consent. We’ve been writing anyway, so we might as well use it, is what I’m saying.

So, the “whether” is pretty easy. That’d be a “yes.”

But “when” and “how” we will publish is still TBD. We’ll let you know when we know. If you have opinions on it, leave said opinion in the comments below and the next time I surface to shower, I’ll check in.

For now, I’m just going to leave you with some random impressions that are rattling around in my troubled mind after a marathon writing session today:

  • This is the year Will Muschamp gets fired by his schedule.
  • Somebody needs to institute a transfer season so there’s a finish line of some sort. I’m all for players transferring; I just wish they wouldn’t do it while I’m in the middle of a sentence.
  • So let me get this straight: Ole Miss fired Hugh Freeze because of a scandal, gave Matt Luke three years to rehab the program’s reputation, and is now tossing the keys to Lane Kiffin? Okay, then.
  • Eliah Drinkwitz is going to stab somebody in the heart while they’re looking up his name.
  • The bat cooties have screwed everybody, but especially programs with new coaches.
  • Georgia’s defense was even better than you thought last year. Its offense was even worse. They really started to miss Jim Chaney a few games in, and this year they’re going to miss Sam Pittman and Jake Fromm and their offensive line, and they draw Alabama from the West. Meanwhile, Florida’s getting better. Therefore: Florida over Georgia for the East this year? I think I just talked myself into it. Discuss.
  • LSU was about as awesome as awesome gets last year. But hoo-boy, a lot of that awesome might well be long gone. It’s not just Burrow; they return less production than anyone in the league. The OL loses 57 of 75 starts! And how much of Burrow was actually Brady? He’s gone, too, and so is the defensive coordinator. They could lose five games. Or they could run the table because of talent and Red Bull. Geaux Tigahs!
  • With anxiety over Georgia and LSU, is this Alabama’s to win again? I hate those guys. But . . .
  • . . . Texas A&M is sneaking up on the West. I may give it to them.
  • Auburn can beat anybody this week and lose to themselves next week.
  • For like the fourth year in a row, we’re going to be asking this question about halfway through the season, “Wait. When did Kentucky get good?”
  • Sam Pittman and Kendal Briles in charge of the offense with Barry Odom leading the defense? Huh. That could actually work.
  • When was the last time Alabama didn’t have to replace either of its coordinators?
  • Mike Leach didn’t even bother hiring an offensive coordinator.

That’s all. My french fries are getting cold.

JT Daniels to Tennessee? Let’s Discuss…

With the news that former 5-star QB JT Daniels has entered the transfer portal, followed by the report from 247 Sports analyst that “Tennessee is among the teams to watch,” all of a sudden there is some real intrigue with a QB position the battle for which seemed to lose a little steam with incoming 5-star freshman Harrison Bailey not getting to participate in spring practice due to COVID-19.

The possibility does not come without its concerns.  Among them, would it cause any of the existing QBs on the roster to leave?  Well, even without the possibility of Daniels joining the program, Tennessee seems likely to lose at least one of JT Shrout and Brian Maurer either before or during the 2020 season.  That would leave the 2020 team with only Jarrett Guarantano, Harrison Bailey, Jimmy Holiday, and whoever of Shrout/Maurer is still around – a talented but very inexperienced bunch behind the much-maligned and tough-but-injury prone Guarantano.  And after 2020 Guarantano will be gone, leaving the position potentially even thinner.  So unless Daniels would cause Bailey, a five-star himself and the jewel of the 2020 class, to leave, any potential loss of personnel would likely be more than negated by Daniels himself.

As for the 2020 team itself, adding Daniels to the mix would be the ultimate “cream rises to the top” moment for Tennessee’s QB room and ultimately vastly raise the ceiling of the 2020 team.  There are three likely scenarios that could play out: 1) Daniels, a Top 20 overall player in the 2018 class despite effectively playing up a year, who started at USC as a true freshman before missing all but the first half of the first game of 2019, wins the job.  That means he’s beaten out the 5th year senior in Guarantano, a ballyhooed freshman in Bailey, and the rest of the QBs on the roster, showing the kind of talent that made him that sort of superstar prospect, 2) Guarantano wins the job.  That means that he – a 5th year senior in his first season with the same offensive coordinator as the season before – has beaten out Daniels, Bailey, and the rest, or 3) Bailey wins the job, which means his talent is just so damn good, and his grasp of the offensive system so damn advanced, that he’s beaten out Daniels, Guarantano, and the rest.  In either scenario, iron has sharpened iron and the Vols will have the best QB they can possibly have leading what should easily be Coach Jeremy Pruitt’s best team in his three-year tenure.  As an aside, any of those would still leave the option of redshirting Maurer, a QB with a lot of potential who would be great to keep in the program.

The next concern is the possibility that Daniels’ presence on the roster turns off high school QBs in the 2021 and 2022 classes.  As far as 2021 is concerned, the Vols are realistically in on only one QB at the moment in Top 100 prospect Kaidon Salter.  And while Salter is potentially a very, very good QB, not only is he not yet committed to Tennessee in the first place but he’s also simply not the prospect Daniels is.  2022 is another issue when it comes to the potential for Tennessee to add an elite QB in the class.  Between instate stud Ty Simpson and legacies Braden Davis and Kaden Martin – all three of whom are high level prospects with elite offers – as well as 4-star MJ Morris who has been to Knoxville multiple times – the Vols are frankly in the best position to land an elite QB in the class in recent and maybe even not so recent memory.  That said, are guys who would at most overlap with Daniels for one season going to be scared off by his presence?  And to be honest, is Daniels likely to still be on the roster in 2022?  One would think that his goal is to spend at most two seasons somewhere – throwing for a ton of yards and winning a ton of games – before bouncing for the NFL.  And if that hasn’t happened maybe he’s simply not the prospect he’s cracked up to be. 

Finally, there is the fact that right now Tennessee is a few scholarships over the 85-limit.  To that I say…so.freaking.what.  That’s what Pruitt gets paid upwards of $5-6 million dollars a year to figure out.  As good of a job as he’s done creating a roster that is an SEC East dark horse even without Daniels in 2020, there are still players who just don’t belong on an SEC roster.  And like the great Brent Hubbs of Volquest always says (usually about a recruiting class, but still), the numbers always work themselves out. 

The bottom line is that Quarterback is the most important position in football, and if you have the opportunity to add a truly elite talent to your roster you do it and figure the rest out later.  Should all of the above concerns be given consideration?  Sure.  But other than Bailey transferring – which is hard to see happening but certainly not impossible – none of them supersede what adding Daniels could do for the 2020 team and for the program overall. 

Stories of the Decade: Are You Sure the Referees Have Left the Field?

The last three weeks we’ve looked back at some of Tennessee’s most rewatchable games: the dramatic, the dominant, and the best performances. It doesn’t take long to realize anything related to most rewatchable for the Vols is going to lean heavy into the past.

But even with fewer happy moments to choose from, I’ve found myself wanting to talk about more recent events as well. Like a lot of places, we put out some decade retrospective stuff in December, focusing on our favorite things from the last ten years. For this summer’s Gameday on Rocky Top Magazine – which we believe will still be a thing – I wrote a piece on the most important stories of the decade and put them in chronological order.

But even before sports were postponed, I found myself thinking about expanded versions of the stories in that list – some good, some bad, some weird – and trying to rank them in order of importance. Of everything that happened to Tennessee football in the 2010’s, which moments ended up having the biggest impact?

Like you, I’m hopeful we’ll get to tell stories about the present and future of Tennessee football really soon. Until then, here’s a look back at the more recent past and how it impacts the present. Starting today, with two games we might’ve thought would be the most difficult losses of the decade at the time they happened. Turns out, they barely made the list.

10. Are you sure the referees have left the field?

Here’s the argument for Derek Dooley heading into year zero one:

  • Not Lane Kiffin
  • Said “britches” in his introductory press conference
  • Mom was entertaining
  • Not Lane Kiffin

But man, points one and four were strong. We wanted this dude to work, especially for those reasons.

Before Kiffin’s departure (which we’ll get to in this list), we were talking ourselves into the Vols as a dark horse SEC East candidate in 2010. The 2009 Vols finished just 7-6, but were 24th in SP+. Aside from big wins over Georgia and South Carolina, Tennessee was competitive with Florida, should’ve beaten Alabama, and ran into one of Virginia Tech’s most dangerous teams in the Chick-fil-A Bowl. Eric Berry would go pro and the Vols would need a new quarterback. But the talent level within the program still felt high enough to dream. (2010 was the right year for dreams to come true in the SEC East, as it turned out: South Carolina would win their first and only division title at only 5-3.)

Kiffin’s departure didn’t take down a solid recruiting class right away. And Dooley’s Vols came out feisty: a 13-3 lead on Oregon in the second quarter in Knoxville, and still down just seven late in the third quarter before a pick six opened all the floodgates. The Gators, coming off a two-year tear, won by just 14 against Dooley’s first squad. The reality check could’ve come the next week against UAB, but the Vols survived in overtime.

And then, #12 LSU in Baton Rouge.

Jordan Jefferson – remember when LSU couldn’t find a quarterback who could throw? – ran 83 yards for a touchdown on the game’s first play. And you figure, okay, maybe this is the comeuppance. Maybe this is the reality, we’re going to be bad for a while, and we’ll just take a whipping here.

But LSU’s next two drives ended with an interception and a missed field goal. The Vols tied it up. More turnovers, more missed field goals, and suddenly it’s still 7-7 going to the fourth quarter. LSU added a field goal in the first minute to make it 10-7.

And then, manna from heaven. Two big plays – a 37-yard completion to freshman Justin Hunter on 3rd-and-3, a 20-yard run from Tauren Poole on 3rd-and-6 – and the Vols had the lead. LSU got a 47-yard completion to first and goal at the nine yard line, so the joy didn’t seem built to last. But LaMarcus Thompson made a fantastic end zone interception on the very next play, LSU’s fourth turnover.

The Vols had 4th-and-1 at the LSU 31 with 5:41 to play, went for it, and didn’t get it. And so began a 16-play drive for the Tigers.

We know the ending, but along the way you forget, or at least I did, that on this drive LSU converted 3rd-and-13 and 4th-and-14.

And then, the ending.

I remember one of my friends calling me as soon as Dooley and the Vols came barreling onto the field in celebration, and having about a 20-second conversation about how the Vols – despite being out-gained by like 200 yards – deserved to win because Les Miles deserved to lose a game like this every once in a while. And then I remember hanging up the phone real fast.

I laughed when I went back and read what we wrote at Rocky Top Talk in the immediate postgame: what if those sixty seconds (when we thought we won) are as good as it gets this year?

But then, a month later, enter Tyler Bray. And suddenly, it got better.

Bray rewrote Tennessee’s freshman passing record book, but did so against 1-11 Memphis, 4-8 Ole Miss, 2-10 Vanderbilt, then 6-6 Kentucky. The four-game winning streak on his shoulders built all kinds of optimism for 2011 and beyond under Dooley, with a nice year zero prize: a first (and, we hoped, maybe only) trip to Nashville for the Music City Bowl. North Carolina would serve as a nice Level 2 for Bray, helping us understand more of what we should expect from him in the future.

A fairly compelling football game broke out. Trailing 10-7, Bray hit fellow freshman Da’Rick Rogers for a 45 yard score with 90 seconds left in the first half. That was enough for Carolina to answer, taking a 17-14 lead into the locker room. That score held until the final five minutes, when Bray hit Hunter from eight yards out to give the Vols a 20-17 lead…because the Vols missed the extra point. Dun dun dun.

Carolina turned it over on downs, but the Vols couldn’t run out the clock. UNC took over at their 20 yard line with 31 seconds left and no timeouts. That part, too – all this in just 31 seconds – I’d forgotten.

The clock stops first because Janzen Jackson gets a 15-yard personal foul for…I believe launching is the technical term, though I’m not sure I can recall it being flagged before or since. That’s at the end of a 28-yard completion, so now Carolina has it at the Vol 37. They pick up 12 more yards on the next play, then spike the ball with 16 seconds left. It would’ve been a 42-yard field goal to tie from here.

And then they run a draw play to get a little closer, I guess. It’s a ridiculous idea. But you know what happens next.

Ten years later, it’s still a question worth asking: which loss hurt more? For me, it’s this one: takes away from your momentum at the end of the year, and it’s much less your fault. Plenty of stuff the Vols could’ve done differently, in regulation or the two overtimes to come. But also, the referee is supposed to stand over the ball while Carolina is running half their personnel on and off the field as those final seconds tick down, and prevent T.J. Yates from (wisely) spiking the ball anyway with one second left (followed by the head referee infamously saying, “The game is over.”) These days we have a rule against that. But not in 2010.

In an alternate universe, the Vols and Tar Heels started a home-and-home series the following year, plenty of chances for revenge and all that.

Instead, we got the peak of the Derek Dooley era, fittingly, by beating Butch Jones and Cincinnati in week two of 2011. And some of the steps to that peak came from the build-up of this argument: the Vols went 6-7 in 2010, but were 8-5 when the game ended the first time. I think the 2010 Vols are still overachievers, especially considering the three coaches in three years bit, the way they fought against Oregon and Florida early, and didn’t quit late.

From what I believe was our fourth Music City Bowl recap piece:

It just twists the knife deeper to know that the Vols were beat twice, in a way, because the other team was so insane, it accidentally worked to their advantage.  Both LSU and UNC tried to substitute with far, far too little time left on the clock.  In Baton Rouge, the Vols responded to that insanity in kind, and it cost us.  In Nashville, I’m not sure the umpire ever even saw it…because the thought that they would go ahead and try to kick instead of spiking it on third down really was that crazy.

On January 1, 2011, those two games seemed like they would definitely be both the hardest and craziest losses we took this decade. But just you wait.

Our Most Rewatchable Performances

In this series we’ve looked at most rewatchable games and most rewatchable beat downs. What about the most rewatchable individual and team performances?

A few of Tennessee’s most memorable individual performances became part of Tennessee’s most rewatchable games. We’ve already covered Josh Dobbs at South Carolina in 2014, Travis Stephens at Florida in 2001, Tony Thompson at Mississippi State in 1990, and Erik Ainge at Kentucky in 2007, among others. There are also some record-breaking performances that simply get overshadowed by the outcome: Al Wilson’s three forced fumbles against Florida in 1998 is a school record, but just one piece of that grand narrative.

For this list, I tried to look at games that were particularly defined by what the individual or team did. A huge, huge thanks to the folks who put Tennessee’s football media guide together, which was incredibly helpful in building this list.

10. 1991: Carl Pickens at Louisville

In the first ever ESPN Thursday night game, the season opener saw the #11 Vols, two-time defending SEC Champions, head to Louisville to face current Purdue coach Jeff Brohm (who breaks his ankle in this game). Other than Peyton Manning, I’m not sure any Vol had as much Heisman hype in Week 1 than Carl Pickens. Eric Berry was a more unique story as a defensive player, though Pickens played both ways his freshman season. Heath Shuler would eventually finish second. But Pickens was a two-year standout coming into the ’91 campaign, with Andy Kelly back for his senior year to throw bombs. In this game, Pickens catches a 75-yard touchdown pass and returns a punt 67 yards for another score, the longest combination of two touchdowns by two different means in school history.

9. 1995: Peyton Manning & Joey Kent at Arkansas

Overshadowed immediately because the Vols beat Alabama for the first time in ten years the next week in the number one game on our beat down list. But in the moment, a Top 20 clash between the #10 Vols and #18 Arkansas, who went on to win the SEC West in 1995. The Razorbacks scored 31 points on what became a really good Vol defense. But this was Peyton Manning’s national coming out party: 384 yards through the air, at the time his career high (which he’d go on to top four more times). And Joey Kent tied a school record with 13 receptions (with Pickens from the 1990 Notre Dame game, maybe the most rewatchable game the Vols lost). Tennessee won 49-31, with Manning and Kent both on their way to rewriting the Vol record books.

8. 1999: Tennessee Defense vs Wyoming

There’s a lot of nostalgia here: the season opener after winning the national championship the year before. A great Neyland Stadium moment when Jamal Lewis gets 21 yards on the first play from scrimmage in returning from his ACL tear. For me, this was my first game in the student section as a freshmen at UT. But the school record here belongs to the defense: a ludicrous 13 sacks against the Cowboys. You watch some of these old games and it just wasn’t a fair fight, this one certainly among them.

7. 1998: Tee Martin at South Carolina

This one you probably know: Tee Martin completes his first 23 passes against the Gamecocks, setting an NCAA record. An incredible accomplishment considering he started the year struggling through the air against Syracuse and Florida. Another game time capsule game for the 1998 season.

6. 2011: Tyler Bray, Da’Rick Rogers & Justin Hunter vs Cincinnati

We go back and talk about this game a fair amount, and not for the Derek Dooley vs Butch Jones weirdness. Other than anything from 2016, I think you walked out of this game feeling like the Vols were closer to being “back” than any other point in the last decade. Tyler Bray set a school record for completion percentage among QBs with more than 40 attempts, going 34-of-41 (82.9%) for 405 yards and four touchdowns with no interceptions. And Da’Rick Rogers and Justin Hunter turned in the only dual 10+ catch/100+ yard game in school history, both getting 10 catches with Hunter gaining 156 yards and Rogers an even 100. Injuries derailed all this momentum the next few weeks, but in the moment, life was good. And it remains one of the best passing/receiving performances in school history.

5. 2019: Jarrett Guarantano, Jauan Jennings, Marquez Callaway & Josh Palmer at Missouri

What’s the most rewatchable game from last season? Kentucky and the Gator Bowl have the best endings. South Carolina is most enjoyable from a beat down perspective. And if you’re looking for the one that provides the most hope, it might actually be Alabama. The Vols beat Missouri 24-20; doesn’t seem like a lot to shout about. But behind a couple of blocked field goals, a Mizzou trick play touchdown, and a fumble in Tiger territory, Tennessee dominated. The Vols outgained Missouri by 246 yards, their largest margin vs FBS competition in five years. Jarrett Guarantano threw for 415 yards, joining Manning and Bray as the only Vols to hit that number. And for the first time in school history, Tennessee had three receivers break the 100-yard barrier: 6 for 124 for Josh Palmer, 5 for 115 for Jauan Jennings, 6 for 110 for Marquez Callaway.

4. 1989: Chuck Webb vs Ole Miss

With Reggie Cobb’s Tennessee career over at midseason, the CobbWebb became simply the Chuck Webb show. And no one has ever been better than Webb on this day: 294 yards on the ground against what became an 8-4 Ole Miss team. It’s a ridiculous performance, one of two from his late season flurry that deserves your attention…

3. 1989: Chuck Webb vs Arkansas

Three years before they joined the SEC, #10 Arkansas met the #8 Vols in the January 1, 1990 Cotton Bowl. And Webb was at it again, running for 250 yards, still the second-most in school history. It’s a better opponent in what became a really good football game: the Vols won 31-27, capping off an 11-1 SEC Championship season.

2. 2001: Kelley Washington vs LSU

In Tennessee’s first game post-9/11, #7 Tennessee hosted #14 LSU on Saturday night in Knoxville. We know what happened in the rematch and all that, though you’ll get less bad vibes watching the first encounter because Rohan Davey doesn’t get hurt. But the story here became Kelley Washington: 11 catches for a school-record 256 yards. I’ve never been at a game where everyone in the building knew what was going to happen, and then it happened anyway like this. Casey Clausen was going to #15. And Nick Saban’s defense simply could not stop it.

1. 1997: Peyton Manning vs Kentucky

The Couch/Manning graphic at the start of this broadcast is nice for storytelling purposes, but there simply was no “Manning vs _________” for any other college quarterback by this point. Couch, the #1 pick in the 1999 NFL Draft, was good: 476 yards, three touchdowns, 31 points for Kentucky. Manning was Manning: 523 yards, still a school record vs power five competition, five touchdowns, 59 points for the Vols. Peyton had bigger wins and more crucial performances, specifically two weeks later against Auburn in the SEC title game. But if you want the poetry of the individual performance, this is Manning’s masterpiece.

Our 10 Most Rewatchable Beat Downs

Last week we shared our picks for the most rewatchable Tennessee games of the last 30 years. They lean toward the dramatic, with plenty of offense from both sides.

But maybe you love seeing Tennessee’s defense do its thing? Or maybe, in these strange days, you’re in the mood for pure dominance?

Here are our picks for Tennessee’s most rewatchable beatdowns:

10. 1989: Tennessee 24 UCLA 6

The birth of the “Decade” of Dominance. The Vols started 0-6 in 1988, then won their last five games, a story told in full on the latest Host of Volunteers podcast. The 1989 Vols barely beat Colorado State in the opener. And then they went to #6 UCLA in a west coast night game, and rolled. A filthy coming out party for the CobbWebb – you’ll see all kinds of triple option fun in this game with those two and Sterling Henton.

9. 1990: Tennessee 40 Mississippi State 7

After an 11-1 SEC Championship season in 1989, Chuck Webb blew his knee out in the second game of the 1990 season. Enter Tony Thompson, who ran for 248 yards at Mississippi State in his first start. Bonus points for the fumblerooski in this one.

8. 1997: Tennessee 38 Georgia 13

There are lots of great Peyton Manning choices for this list, but none of them combine such a great rushing performance against a quality opponent. Georgia was undefeated and ranked 13th. The Vols made a change at running back, and this became the “Give the Ball to Jamal” game: 343 yards through the air for Manning, 232 on the ground for Jamal Lewis, and one of the best beatdowns of a good team in the last 30 years.

7. 1993: Tennessee 55 South Carolina 3

The Steve Tanneyhill revenge tour. After the long-haired South Carolina quarterback led an upset the previous year – the Gamecocks’ first in the SEC, which also cost Johnny Majors his job – he came to Knoxville for round two. If you’d like to see why SP+ rates the ’93 Vols as the decade’s best, this blowout is a great example. Also rewatchable: the 1995 edition, where a senior Tanneyhill drove the Gamecocks to the one yard line on the opening drive. He was helicoptered on a goal line hit, couldn’t get in on second or third down, and the Vols blocked the field goal and ran it back for a touchdown to kick off a 56-21 beat down.

6. 2001: Tennessee 45 Michigan 17

Heartbroken after losing to LSU in the SEC Championship Game, this was a terrific epilogue on the 2001 season. The first and only meeting between these two programs, and the first after the Manning/Woodson Heisman drama four years earlier. And yep, it’s a beatdown. Jason Witten outrunning their secondary is the most memorable highlight, but far from the only one.

5. 2007: Tennessee 35 Georgia 14

One of the clearest crossroad games of the last 30 years: lose, and Fulmer’s job is in serious trouble. Win, and you’re in first place in the SEC East. And Tennessee outright dominated a team that would finish the year ranked second in the nation.

4. 2006: Tennessee 35 California 18

One of the most joyfully surprising evenings I’ve ever seen at Neyland. I think it’s how equally surprising the struggles of 2005 were, that made you doubt if the Vols could bounce back for the first time in 15+ years. And then they bounced back with a vengeance in this one. My favorite blowout that didn’t involve our biggest rivals.

3. 1992: Tennessee 31 Florida 14

The downpour. Heath Shuler and the Vols won a thrilling 34-31 contest at Georgia the week before in Phillip Fulmer’s interim stint. This one, in front of the rain-soaked masses in Knoxville, was even more surprising and brilliant.

2. 1990: Tennessee 45 Florida 3

If you want to skip to the second half, it’s cool. The Vols led 7-3 at the break, and Dale Carter probably should’ve let the second half kickoff bounce out of bounds. He did not. And the Vols never looked back. Easily the best single half of football of my lifetime in Steve Spurrier’s first trip to Knoxville as the Gator coach. Florida was ranked ninth. The Vols won by 42.

1. 1995: Tennessee 41 Alabama 14

Other than everything that happened in 1998, this is the best of the Phillip Fulmer era. No wins over the Tide since 1985. Peyton Manning and Joey Kent on play number one. Streaks are made to be broken; this one was obliterated.

What did we miss?

Vols Land Commitment from Instate WR Merrill

With today’s commitment of WR Walker Merrill from Brentwood HS in Nashville, Tennessee now has nine public commitments.  Merrill is the second of those from the Volunteer State along with ATH Elijah Howard, and is another elite talent in the Vols’ commitment column.  Our prior column understated both Merrill’s standing on Tennessee’s board as well as the idea that his offers from LSU and Auburn were committable, thereby now him in that elite tier.  Nevertheless, his commitment does highlight the broader point, which is that regardless of the early-cycle narrative that the state of Tennessee is perhaps down in talent compared to prior years the Vols will very much still have a chance to build the 2021 class around the bigtime talent that does exist within the state’s borders.

With Merrill now in the fold the Vols can turn their instate attention firmly to LB Junior Colson – who appears to be closing in on a decision and has the Vols firmly at the top of his list along with Michigan, LSU, and OU – OL William Griffin and Dietrick Pennington, TE Hudson Wolfe, and WRs Adonai Mitchell and Tray Curry – all of whom are elite prospects themselves. 

Were the Vols able to land those 5-6 players above to go with Howard and Merrill the 2021 class would have a bigtime base of instate talent to build around, and once the season gets started there will likely be more talent that emerges. As Coach Jeremy Pruitt and his staff seek to add North Carolina to Georgia and Alabama in terms of its “Focus States,” they’ll also continue to be opportunistic in areas where individuals on the staff have ties, such as the DMV and Philadelphia area for TE Coach Joe Osovet and IMG Academy for QB Coach Chris Weinke, along with of course recruiting nationally for elite prospects that it can find itself involved with.

Merrill’s commitment also means the Vols will likely be incredibly choosy at WR as they now have two bigtime commitments in him and Jordan Moseley and a greater need for numbers at other positions after signing three studs in 2020 as well as adding walkon former 4-star Mykel Jones as a multi-year transfer.  The Vols are of course very much in the mix for the aforementioned instate WRs Mitchell and Curry, and are also bigtime contenders for Top 50 prospect Donte Thornton, recent Notre Dame decommitment Deion Colzie from Athens (same school as Len’neth Whitehead), as well as others like Christian Lewis, Chauncey Magwood and Malcolm Johnson.  After signing a bigtime WR class in 2020, 2021 is setting up to be the class in which Pruitt and his staff get the WR room to the level it needs to be to consistently compete for SEC titles.

Our 10 Most Rewatchable Tennessee Games

When I’m stressed, spent, or any other word you might use to describe what these days are taking from us, I find myself going back to happier childhood memories. I’ve been playing back through the Super Nintendo Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past on my Switch for the past 10 days or so, and I’m almost sad that I’m coming close to the end. It was surreal to turn on ESPN Sunday night and find WrestleMania 30; we taught our son the Yes! movement a little too close to bedtime, as it turned out.

And if you’re reading this site, chances are you’ve tried to fill some of these hours with Tennessee highlights. The problem with highlights, however, is they only burn seconds, and you can blow through what feels like everything you know in a short amount of time.

In watching those old WrestleMania matches, and in talking to some of my friends on what they’ve been going back and watching, I started thinking of some of our old “best of” lists. We’ve spilled plenty of word count on bests and favorites and all that over the years. But what’s most helpful right now is rewatchability: what games am I most likely to sit down and watch all of, with the least temptation to fast forward?

As always with me, you get 1989-present, both as a nice starting point in Tennessee’s history and about as far back as my own memories go. Shout out to those who uploaded these onto YouTube long ago, so that they’re here like old friends today. Click each game to go to the broadcast.

With rewatchability, you value the whole thing. I often use 1998 Florida as the example: one of the most memorable and important wins in Tennessee football history…but not an overly great football game play-for-play. Today’s list focuses on excitement, and is thus a little heavy on offense. I tried to think of these games in terms of the most plays of consequences, fewest three-and-outs, etc. We’ll come back in a few days with a list of Tennessee’s most satisfying beatdowns, if you’re in the mood for something a little less dramatic. And I also leaned into some games that haven’t been in as heavy a rotation; I adore the 1997 win over Auburn in the SEC Championship Game, but they replay that all the time. I think the top four games on this list are unassailable; if I watched them today I’d still be interested in watching them again tomorrow. The rest are the games I think are most rewatchable for March of 2020, including for younger fans, representing some of the greatest hits of the last two decades.

Play-for-play, for the most exciting ways to spend 60+ minutes of gametime and 2-3 hours watching Tennessee football, these are my picks:

10. 2006: Tennessee 31 Air Force 30

This game carries the weight of Inky Johnson’s injury, someone whose positivity we could all use more of right about now. A week after blowing past #9 California, Tennessee needed all of David Cutcliffe’s high-powered offense against the Falcons and the triple-option. Total punts in this game: two. Total punts by Tennessee in this game: zero.

9. 2001: Tennessee 38 Kentucky 35

Two weeks before the December showdown at Florida, the #6 Vols fell behind 21-0 against Jared Lorenzen in Lexington. I was at this game, and it was terrifying; much less so when you know the outcome.

8. 2016: Tennessee 38 Florida 28

Four years later, this one still carries a tinge of grief for what this team didn’t ultimately become, which is why I have it lower than the next one on our list among games from the last decade. Still, there are so many meaningful plays in this game, even having memorized them all in the last few years.

7. 2014: Tennessee 45 South Carolina 42 (OT)

Hello, Josh Dobbs. The most rewatchable game of the 2010’s. All the things we wanted to believe about Dobbs that night really came true. An incredible football game even before the complete insanity of the last five minutes, and the performance of Tennessee’s pass rush in overtime. And the last word against Steve Spurrier.

6. 2006: Tennessee 51 Georgia 33

Another feather in the 2006 cap. If you’re too young, you might wonder what an 18-point win is doing in this group instead of being on the beat-down list. Just watch. Antonio Wardlow gets the cover of Sports Illustrated, and this might be the most complete fourth quarter in the history of Tennessee football.

5. 2007: Tennessee 52 Kentucky 50 (4OT)

All the other multi-overtime games at Tennessee really lack a compelling story for most of regulation. Not this one. And don’t forget, this was a really good Kentucky team: beat #1 LSU, ranked in the Top 10 two different times that year. No Tennessee win in the last 13 years has mattered more than this one.

4. 1991: Tennessee 35 Notre Dame 34

The Miracle at South Bend, and the best road unis the Vols have ever worn. If you’ve never watched this game from start to finish – including the entire first half just to appreciate how bad it was in digging a 31-7 hole – now’s the time.

3. 2004: Tennessee 30 Florida 28

The best play-for-play game I’ve ever seen at Neyland Stadium. Ainge and Schaeffer, Chris Leak, a 12-play 80-yard UT touchdown drive featuring all runs, a bananas touchdown pass from Ainge to Bret Smith, and the ballad of James Wilhoit. All in front of what will probably always be the largest crowd in Neyland Stadium history.

2. 2001: Tennessee 34 Florida 32

The best play-for-play game I’ve ever seen period. The stakes, the rivalry, everything on the line and winning anyway. It’s hard to believe this game turns 20 years old next fall.

1. 1998: Tennessee 28 Arkansas 24

I think those two Florida games are slightly better play-for-play. But they don’t carry the feel-goods of 1998, which will always push this one over the top.

On Getting the Last Word

We often talk of the similarities in Tennessee’s historical football and basketball DNA when it comes to our biggest rivals: no one has beaten Alabama football or Kentucky basketball more than the Vols. In nearly 30 years of divisional play, the Vols fell into a similar pattern with Florida in football: always within reach, grasped just enough to make you believe it can happen each time. (Apparently that’s true at Rupp Arena now too.)

I think I’ve always leaned into this idea because it somewhat mirrors the dynamic between Alcoa and Maryville in football. And those of us who double as Braves fans know much of the “good enough to believe you can win every year” DNA. You don’t win every year, of course. Being close means being invested, and being invested means losing hurts. But the payoffs, when they come, are incredible. And they happen just enough to make you believe it can happen again this time.

But there’s one other, much more enjoyable trait of being a Tennessee Vol: we tend to get the last word against our greatest villains.

Bear Bryant won 11 in a row against Tennessee from 1971-1981. The Vols broke that streak in Knoxville in 1982 with a 35-28 victory, in what became Bryant’s final season.

Steve Spurrier caused more pain for Tennessee football than any individual in my lifetime. But the Vols sent him out of The Swamp with a loss, 34-32 in December 2001, the greatest individual football game one of my teams has ever played in. Thirteen years later, Josh Dobbs rallied the Vols from down 14 with less than five minutes to play to win 45-42 in overtime, the last time Tennessee faced him at South Carolina.

Peyton Manning is our favorite hero, and his story was always best defined by its villains, including Spurrier. But the longest of those relationships belong to Tom Brady. And, in 2015, Manning got the last word in the AFC Championship Game.

So my first thought yesterday, even before trying to picture Brady in one of those creamsicle uniforms? If your Venn diagram, like mine, includes the Titans as well?

I’m sure Alabama and Florida and New England fans enjoyed all those wins; I know how little I enjoyed the losses.

But getting the last word? I enjoy that very much.