Ranking the College Football Announce & Studio Teams

(Note: We're not finished with the 50 Best Vol Games list, with six to go, it's just been a scattered week here and I don't want to try and speed through it before Saturday. As soon as more time frees up for me, we'll finish it off, no worries.)

As Keith Jackson leaves the announce booth (for real this time), the role of the marquee voice of college football is now up for grabs. Almost all of the announce teams that were in place two years ago have been reshuffled on both ABC/ESPN and CBS. And there are always some guys who bring out the essence of the moment during each game, and some guys that make you want to toss the remote.

As a point of emphasis, I did play-by-play broadcasting for Alcoa High School football in Tennessee for three years during college, which has helped shape my opinions about announce teams in general. And so as the season of my favorite sport is now underway (anybody catch that hit the BC defense put on the Central Michigan QB on the third play of the season? good grief, keep your head down!), here are my thoughts on the best and worst of college football announcing, plus some thoughts on the studio teams.

ANNOUNCE TEAMS
ESPN Thursday Night - Chris Fowler & Kirk Herbstreit
A new combination, and the first opportunity for Fowler as a play by play man. This is addition and subtraction from last year's crew: Mike Tirico is excellent at some events, especially golf, but I was always on the fence about him in college football. Fowler replaces him, but Lee Corso apparently won't be a part of the Thursday night broadcasts this year, and he had excellent chemistry with Herbstreit. If Fowler - who's one of the faces of the entire network and excellent on GameDay - can keep up with Kirk and the two of them have chemistry without Corso, this duo will work.
Grade: Incomplete (Fowler is brand new - Herbstreit gets an A- as an analyst)

ESPN2 Thursday Night - John Saunders, Craig James & Doug Flutie
Saunders is like Tirico, great at some things, but college football just isn't one of them. Lacks the excitement needed from the PBP man in college football. Craig James hasn't been the same since he left GameDay (and created Kirk Herbstreit). Listening to Flutie tonight, with some experience he can work and seems to enjoy calling the game, but this trio together may not work.
Grade: C-

ESPN 12:00 Telecast - Sean McDonough & Chris Spielman
Sean McDonough is my second favorite play by play man in football, college or pro, behind Ron Franklin. I'm not sure what happened to him - he went from being the main PBP man for CBS' SEC telecasts in the late 90s, to ESPN2's Saturday Night games, and now he's in the noon slot. If McDonough gets an A+, Spielman gets a D+. With lots of these crews, you find one really good announcer, and one guy who shouldn't be in the conversation.
Grade: C+

Lincoln Financial Sports - Dave Neal & Dave Rowe
These guys used to be the butt of lots of jokes, but they've grown on me over the years. I think Dave Neal has earned his keep as an announcer, plus the Dave, Dave & Dave combo when Dave Baker is on the sideline is always slightly humorous. Dave Neal earns points for being an all-around man, doing solid basketball work as well. The games they're calling are usually less important, but they still bring energy to the conversation. Maybe it's time to give the old JP its due...
Grade: B-

CBS SEC Game of the Week - Verne Lundquist & Gary Danielson
Big Verne is money, and is a great fit for SEC football. He trades Todd Blackledge to ABC/ESPN for Danielson, and that's even money. Danielson is above average, and will have a chance to shine getting some bigger games. We'll break these guys in on Saturday Night in two weeks with the Vols and the Gators. Great tandem.
Grade: A

ABC 3:30 Regional Telecast - Gary Thorne & Andre Ware
Gary Thorne made the most of the NHL Lockout, and became a solid announcer in more than one sport. He did a great job during the World Cup, makes baseball more exciting than most, and can do the same in college football. And yet again, you have a solid PBP man with a terrible ex-athlete. Andre Ware? Really?
Grade: C

ABC 3:30 Regional Telecast - Mark Jones & David Norrie
I think Mark Jones is one of the most underrated PBP men in any sport, though he doesn't quite capture the enthusiasm of a game the way that the very best tend to do. David Norrie is adequate, thus this is an adequate team.
Grade: B-

ABC 3:30 Regional Telecast - Dan Fouts & Tim Brant
Dan Fouts has been around the block a time or two, in college and the NFL. He's not good unless he's got somebody great with him, and while Tim Brant isn't terrible, he's not good enough to help Fouts carry this tandem.
Grade: C-

ESPN Midday Telecast - Dave Barnett & Bill Curry
You can catch these guys on Sunday this week, during Ole Miss & Memphis. Dave Barnett is underrated, and Bill Curry is knowledgeable, but his drawl and lack of speed and emotion takes away from the broadcast. Average, with room for improvement.
Grade: C+

ESPN2 Midday Telecast - Pam Ward & Mike Gottfried
Alright, now I like Mike Gottfried. And I think Pam Ward did a great job with the ESPN 12:00 games the last couple of years. But the two of them together? Not sure how that's going to work...we'll reserve judgement...
Grade: Incomplete

ESPN PrimeTime Saturday Night - Brad Nessler, Bob Griese, Paul Maguire
(This is the team that will call the Tennessee-Cal game) Mr. EA NCAA, Brad Nessler, is just one of those guys who's good at most everything he does. Bob Griese was good with Ketih Jackson. Paul Maguire - though most people disagree with this opinion - I thought had good chemistry on ESPN's old NFL Sunday Night games, and if he can get in with these two, this will be an experienced, solid team. Are they better than Ron Franklin and Mike Gottfried? Absolutely not, but if anyone has to replace that tandem, these guys can.
Grade: B+

ESPN2 Saturday Night - Ron Franklin & Ed Cunningham
Ron Franklin is THE man. Ed Cunningham is good enough. The only problem here? That it's the ESPN2 Saturday Night contest, which will give you such contests as Washington State at Auburn, and Arizona at LSU. Unless it's an absolutely loaded week of football, these guys won't get near the quality of game that they deserve, especially Franklin. I know that most people, nationally, know Nessler better than Franklin...but there's still no one better.
Grade: A-

ABC Saturday Night PrimeTime - Brent Musberger, Bob Davie & Kirk Herbstreit
Musberger, love him or hate him, is probably the most famous voice on this list. And though he can seem to favor one side over another ("The BUCKEYES!"), he gets it done. Herbstreit, as stated above, is great. Bob Davie is an idiot. He's bringing the ballclub down.
Grade: B

ESPN/2 Late Night - Mike Patrick & Todd Blackledge
Blackledge - who will also serve as an analyst for ESPN in studio - leaves CBS and comes over to join Patrick in a decent crew. These guys will serve double duty on opening weekend, doing Southern Cal-Arkansas on Saturday, and FSU-Miami on Monday Night. Capable tandem that may see some good games throughout the year.
Grade: B

STUDIO TEAMS
ESPN GameDay - Chris Fowler, Lee Corso & Kirk Herbstreit
Simply. The. Best. Ever. Nobody gets you ready on Saturday like these guys, live from wherever. They are college football.
Grade: A+

CBS - Tim Brando and a player(s) to be named later
Might be Spencer Tillman, I'm not sure and couldn't find it. These guys are good and do a nice job emphasizing the SEC and the nation, they're just not GameDay. Tim Brando is great.
Grade: B+

STUDIO ANALYSTS
ESPN - Lou Holtz & Mark May
Wait, where's Trev Alberts? Exactly. You can never, ever get enough Lou Holtz - who'll be picking South Carolina tonight but is very worried about Mississippi State - and Mark May has grown on me, though he'll have to work harder now that people aren't glad to hear him talk over Alberts anymore. These guys are good at what they do.
Grade: A-

As a bonus...here are some of the ex-players and interesting faces you can find in smaller market games...
- Charles Davis (former Tennessee DB) is back as an analyst for the TBS games, and has been picked up by FOX - the new official home of the BCS - to join baseball's Thom Brennaman to call the National Championship Game.
- On weeks where TBS has a late telecast, the one and only Chip Carey will call the game. Hopefully he'll be delayed by a Braves playoff run.
- The announce team for the CSS Replays of Tennessee games will include Pat Ryan - hands down the most entertaining color man in the history of radio when he was with Mike Keith
- The Alabama announce team for CSS Replays will inclue Tyler Watts (ree-ree!)
- John Ward is still one of the most awesome human beings to ever walk the earth. Actually, I'm not even sure if he's human. He might be something higher, up there with Tom Cruise or something. Except without the jumping on couches and general insanity, plus I'm pretty sure he could take him in a fight. If they ever released "John Ward Reads the Bible", there would no longer be any need for evangelism. I'm pretty sure Jesus would just go ahead and come back.

Tennessee Football 06

There's a fine line between optimist, pessimist, and realist. I would enjoy sitting here and writing a piece on how the Vols will go 12-0, win the SEC Championship, and then beat Notre Dame on the last play of the game to win the National Championship. I would also enjoy trying to exactly pinpoint the final Top 25, and nail down Tennessee's final record. 8-4? 10-2? 6-6? And there are many of you out there who are - at least some percentage of you - pulling for the Vols to ultimately fail, so we can get a new head coach and you can revel in your own misery.

Welcome to college football.

It's impossible to predict what comes next, starting tomorrow night. But I think the point of all of these preseason predictions is a little off base. So I'm not going to throw a number at you. Instead, I'm going to remind you of something.

California is projected to be more talented than the Vols, and Lee Corso has picked them to win the National Championship. They have a Heisman candidate at tailback, and a young coach who has this program ready to break into the next level, something they can do with a win at Neyland Stadium. If Cal beats Tennessee - and the Bears are capable of killing Tennessee - it may destroy any momentum the Vols have and begin a downward spiral.

Florida has a senior quarterback, great wide receivers, and a tremendous defense with a coach who always does well his second year at a program. The Gators and Vols have split the last eight meetings. They beat Tennessee last year. Tennessee will be favored to start the season 1-2 by most.

Georgia has won five of six against Tennessee this millenium, has a stable of running backs and a coach who is leading a program that has won 10+ games every year since 2002. This will be this team's first hostile environment. They beat Tennessee last year, and feel that they own the Vols. Any momentum that's built by beating Marshall and Memphis will turn sour instantly, and if this is the third loss of the season for the Vols, any championship aspirations will evaporate, and seats will catch fire.

Alabama is our biggest rival and will bring Kenneth Darby, great wide receivers, and a solid defense into Knoxville. At this point, will Tennessee have anything to play for? The Tide beat the Vols last year and in 2002, and any feelings of ownage by the Vols are gone under Mike Shula. Alabama may want this one more by this point.

South Carolina has Steve Spurrier, Sidney Rice, a year and a half of experience in his offense and beat the Vols last year. The game will be played in the unfriendly confines of Williams-Bryce Stadium. Last year, the Vols did not rebound when they only had a lower-tier bowl to play for. Why would this year be any different?

LSU is enormously talented, experienced, and mad about what happened in Death Valley last year. The Tigers could still be playing for the National Championship at this point in the season, and will bring a ton of fans to Knoxville.

Arkansas, by the time the second week of November rolls around, will have Mitch Mustain working within the system, and Darren McFadden might be the best player in the SEC. We haven't seen this team since 2002, but when they were our annual rival the game was a contest every year. They too might want it more.

One loss will build the stage for another easily. The schedule is very difficult. The program hangs in a balance, and confidence by a thread with momentum from last year still hanging around. Tennessee could finish 2006 with a 5-7 record by no stretch of the imagination.

After 5-6, after 2005, it's easy to adopt the mentality of settling. Of thinking that we'll only do so well in 2006, of accepting losses. Of no longer expecting championships and believing and knowing that this team is capable of beating anyone on its schedule. Even I - arguably the biggest orange-tinted glasses wearer you know - entertained the idea of thinking about expecting less in 2006.

Then Bruce Pearl came along.

And made us believe again.

I believe Tennessee can win every game they play.

It's not that David Cutcliffe is Bruce Pearl, or that such a transformation is called for. But the talent is still there. The program is still ready. We are still the University of Tennessee.

I could write that the Vols can go 12-0. And they could. But that's not the point.

You can't predict how the length of a season will go in September. I can't tell you how we'll play against Florida until I see us against Cal. But I know that we can beat Cal. And if we can beat Cal, we can build that into a victory over Florida. And if the Vols start 3-0, they can beat anybody. And I mean anybody.

Will they? Won't they? Who knows? But the negativity that I've heard about the Vols - days before they've played a single game - is uncalled for. Fact is, you might have the whole season to be negative.

Tennessee can win, or lose on Saturday. And we'll go from there. And maybe the season goes south and we have to have some difficult conversations along the way and afterward. Maybe the Vols finish around 9-3, and it's up and down the whole way. Or maybe the Vols make magic happen, and the victories keep coming, vaulting Tennessee into the Top 5 and the national championship picture.

Don't talk to me about records, don't talk to me about predictions, don't talk to me about the hot seat. Don't talk to me about what it'll take to keep someone's job. The season is shaped week to week, not in August. Right now, we're 0-0. And we'll be following along every week, good or bad.

This is still my favorite time of the year. Watch it. Enjoy it. Live it.

The Rules of Favorite Teams

I'm in Knoxville for a couple days, relaxing with some down time, and with most of my stats and info for the 50 Best Vol Games list back in Ceres, we're going in a different direction this afternoon with something that's bothered me for a long time and I feel needs to be set right. And today's the day.

We all know these guys in the sports realm who seem to bounce from team to team, bandwagon to bandwagon...but when their team of the month is doing well, they'll be all in your face about it and use words like "us" and "we" in describing the squad they've been following since the first of the month. And when things go south for said team, before you have a chance to turn around and put it back in their face, they've moved on to someone else and pretend like that doesn't bother them.

This is unacceptable. And so if you want to get in someone's face and run your mouth about any favorite sports team, college or professional, you should both be man/woman enough to stay with them when it's your turn to take it, and be bound to a select group of teams.

Therefore, today I'm unleashing the Official Rules of Favorite Teams. Buckle up and enjoy the ride.

Rule #1: By "favorite", we mean one.
In each of the big five - NBA, NFL, MLB, college football & basketball - you're allowed to have one team. That's your team. You don't get to be for Alabama and Auburn, because that's just stupid. You don't get to have an AFC team and an NFC team. You are allowed to pull for secondary teams (keep reading for the rules on this one), but as for "your team", you get one. Cut the fat, pick one.

For claification and personal integrity, my five are the Boston Celtics, the Tennessee Titans, the Atlanta Braves, and the University of Tennessee (football/basketball).

This part isn't complicated.

Rule #2: You must be able to explain - in terms we can all agree on - why said team is "your team".
For example, with mine:
- Boston Celtics: team I was raised on (through my grandparents)
- Tennessee Titans: team relocated to my area/city/hometown
- Atlanta Braves: team I was raised on/geographically closest
- University of Tennessee: team I was raised on/hometown team/alma mater

These are all acceptable reasons to be fans of the above teams. So if you live in Texas and you pull for the Spurs, that's cool. If you live in California and you pull for the Spurs, we're gonna need some credible evidence. Your alma mater is always acceptable, as is your hometown team, or the team geographically closest to you, or the team your parents/guardians raised on on.

As a sub-rule here, you are allowed to change favorite teams when two of these rules collide. For instance, I just moved near Blacksburg, VA. If I wanted to, under these rules I could legally make Virginia Tech my team in college athletics. BUT that means I would have to cease and desist being a diehard Tennessee fan - uh, which we're not going to do.

When the Oilers announced they were moving to Nashville, I became a Titans fan and left the Dallas Cowboys (team I was raised on). This is acceptable.

Gray areas with this rule: when a player is drafted from your college team. Many fans in Knoxville now support the Colorado Rockies and the Indianapolis Colts. This is shaky because if Todd Helton or Peyton Manning is traded and/or retires, your allegiance comes into question and you don't really have a team, you have a player. Very treacherous.

Reasons that are definitely not okay to have/change a team:
- They have cool uniforms (guys)
- They have cute uniforms (girls)
- They're the sexy cinderella pick and I want to sound knowledgeable
- They just won the Super Bowl/World Series/NBA Finals/BCS/Final Four

Rule #3: If you choose a team for an irrational/stupid/random reason, but you stick with that team for a lengthy period of trials and tribulations, you will slowly gain respect.
Real life example: let's say you choose to become a Chicago Cubs fan, for some reason, back in the early 1990s. We ridicule you for years because, let's be honest, it's the Cubs. But you never waver and you stay true to the Cubbies, through thin and thin. You are honest about it and knowledgeable - you know the players, you keep up in the standings, you follow the transactions, you get excited in the offseason, you use the phrase "this is our year" - and slowly we begin to see you as a "true" Cubs fan, because you've proved it through your practice. Under these circumstances, after a lengthy period of time (5-10 years), we will aknolwedge you as such, and even allow you to celebrate with great enthusiasm when they reach the NLCS. You will have earned our respect.

Real life example that does not work: you choose to become a Boston Red Sox fan because you liked a portrayal of them or a story from their history that you saw in a major motion picture, and then when they subsequently win the World Series the following season, you celebrate like crazy. Totally unacceptable, no respect awarded or deserved.

Rule #4: If your team has a lengthy period (5-10 years) of consistent below average performance - and the team is NOT your alma mater or hometown team - you may be allowed to leave them behind and choose a new team. But you cannot return to your old team if/when things suddenly turn around, nor can you abandon your new team because you were simply "trying them on for size".
And following this rule will still leave you a notch lower on the respect scale than if you had stayed true to your boys to the end.

Rule #5: Secondary teams are allowed, but engaging in any trash talk or verbal sparring in defense of this team is highly unethical.
I am allowed to cheer for Virginia Tech because I moved here. I am allowed to cheer for Florida State because a player from my high school, whose games I did the play by play for, signed a letter of intent with them. But should either of these schools face the University of Tennessee, I am not allowed to have any divided loyalties. And I am definitely not allowed to run down any Virginia or Miami fans simply because they're the rivals of my secondary teams. You should have plenty of enemies already. Likewise, I am not inclined to take any nonsense from marginal Alabama fans. Nor am I inclined to listen to you talk to me when your wife's favorite team beat my favorite team. Check yourself.

Rule #6: Keeping your favorite team quiet means you don't have enough faith.
Say it with me: THE BOSTON CELTICS ARE STILL GREAT!

Rule #7: You play to win the game (hello!)
"If you're gonna go, go all out." If they're your one favorite team, go with them. Support them. Love them. They need you, and you need them. Be clear about who you're with. Make sure your allegiances are legitimate. And if they're not, now's the time to get right. Now's the time to come clean. Step away from the bandwagon, come into the light on your own. We'll all respect you more for it. And if you choose poorly, it'll hurt more when you lose. But if you choose wisely, you'll love it to that same degree when you win.

The 50 Best Vol Games 1989-2005: Top 15 07. A Ring for Peyton

7. 1997: #3 Tennessee 30 - #11 Auburn 29 (SEC Championship)
When the divisional format was announced before the 1992 season, and the championship game was invented, the thought on most Vol fans' minds was "Now we'll get to play Alabama twice!" And so far, in 14 years of SEC Championship games, the Vols and Tide have never met. Someday, I'd love to see this, and I'm sure eventually it will happen - but the Vols have played in 4 championship games, and Alabama has played in 5, and we keep missing each other. In 1992, the Vols swept Georgia and Florida, but then lost three straight SEC contests and gave away the division. After that, the Gators hit their stride. Tennessee lost to Florida by 7 points in 93, 31-0 in 1994, turned a 30-14 lead into a 62-37 loss in 1995, and started down 35-0 in a 35-29 loss in 1996. Subsequently, Florida won the SEC East in each of its first five seasons, and went on to win the SEC Championship Game each time after 1992.

So when Florida again beat Peyton Manning and the Vols 33-20 in 1997, it looked to be same old, same old in Knoxville. Because, except for beating Florida and thus winning the Eastern Division, conference, or national championships...the Vols had done everything else. Here's a fun stat: between the 17-13 loss to Alabama in 1994, and the 28-24 loss at Arkansas in 1999, the Vols went 1-4 against Florida. They were 37-0 against the rest of the SEC.

I've said before, in Knoxville we only know two thought processes in mid-September: "Can we go all the way?" and "Will Florida lose twice?" Because if the Vols can beat the Gators, traditionally, they can beat anybody. But if you falter there, then you're going uphill the rest of the way. And starting in 1993, Florida didn't do much losing outside of the Noles. A probation Auburn team beat them by three points in 93 and 94, but no one else. The Gators went undefeated in the 95 regular season, and lost only to FSU in 96. So when the Vols fell in Gainesville in September 97, it had been three-plus years since Florida had lost an SEC game at all.

And we were getting tired of the Citrus Bowl.

Tennessee kept going about their business. Peyton Manning kept putting up ridiculous numbers. The Vols had found their running back in Jamal Lewis. And on October 11, Tennessee smoked Georgia 38-13. That night, the #1 Gators went into Death Valley to face #14 LSU. The Tigers had been the tease team for five years with Florida, always talented enough to play with them and never coming close. But on this night, the first chinks in the mighty Gator armor were revealed. LSU grabbed a big lead and held on, winning 28-21. And now, at least you knew you had a chance.

Florida played at #6 Auburn the very next week, but Spurrier's boys rebounded in a 24-10 victory, hammering Auburn QB Dameyune Craig. The Vols, meanwhile, picked up their third straight victory over Alabama. After both teams had an open date, on November 1 the Vols hosted South Carolina in the JP Sports 12:30 telecast. The Vols and Peyton Manning played ugly in the rain, but won 23-7. But as the game was drawing to a close in Knoxville, fans with radios in Neyland Stadium started getting the word out - the Cocktail Party had kicked off at 3:30, and the Dawgs were on fire. By the time fans were pulling out of Neyland Stadium, Georgia had opened a two possession lead on Florida, and for once - the only time in the last two decades - Georgia destroyed Florida 37-17.

And suddenly, the SEC East had fallen into Tennessee's lap.

There was still work to be done, including the 59-31 Manning-Couch showdown in Lexington that produced Manning's 500 yard day that still stands as the highest total in Tennessee history, and should've moved him closer to the Heisman Trophy. And after surviving against Vanderbilt 17-10, the Vols had won their first ever SEC Eastern Division title.

Which meant there was more football to be played, which is always a good thing. The Vols had also risen to #3 in the polls, behind undefeated Michigan and undefeated Nebraska. And while the Cornhuskers would roll in the Big 12 Championship Game, there was still the possibility of Michigan falling to Washington State in the Rose Bowl, which would then make the January 2 Orange Bowl between Nebraska and the Vols (if they won in Atlanta) for the National Championship. So there was everything on the line.

I went to my first Tennessee game at age 4 in 1985. I started going to every home game in 1988. After missing the Pacific game in 1990 (Chuck Webb's ACL tear) for a family reunion, I made it to every home game, either with my dad and our season tickets, or as a UT student, from the second game of 1990 until the Mississippi State game in 2003, when work finally won out on the lesser contests. Even living in Virginia, I'll still make it in for 5 of the 7 home games this year. I've seen everything at Neyland Stadium.

I've been to Tuscaloosa twice, Gainesville once, Athens three times, Columbia four times, Lexington four times and Nashville twice in the SEC. I was there for the first ever Thursday Night ESPN game at Louisville in 1991.

I've been to Peach Bowls following the 1987 and 2003 seasons. I was in Orlando to watch the Vols beat Ohio State on January 1, 1996. And I was in Tempe on the night it all came together.

All of that to say this - I've seen a lot of Tennessee Football. But my favorite atmosphere to watch a game in, without question, was the 1997 SEC Championship between Tennessee and Auburn.

First off, Atlanta is a cool city, and the Georgia Dome is a cool place - it's just a different thing if you've never seen a football game played indoors. Secondly, the SEC Championship is just a special game - it's not promised to you, you're happy to be there 100% of the time unlike some bowl games, you never know who you're going to play, and there's always something huge waiting for you if you win it.

I've been to all four SEC Championship Games the Vols have played in. In 1998 and 2001, the crowd was probably 80/20 orange. In 2004, the crowd was probably 65/35 Auburn because the Tigers were undefeated. But on this night, in 1997, it was 50/50. And I've never seen anything like it before or since.

The stadium was divided at the 50 yard line. You had one half of the field covered in orange, and the other half covered in deep blue. It was beautiful. Playing alongside of all the emotions involved with Tennessee's quest for the national championship, and Peyton Manning's quest for the Heisman, this was the first time playing the SEC Championship for both teams. And these just weren't any two teams - this was Tennessee and Auburn, two old friends back together again for the first time since 1991. Like I said, any SEC Championship Game is special. But this one...you don't forget your first time.

Tennessee got the opening kickoff, and put together one of the best opening drives I've ever seen, culminating in a 40 yard strike from Manning to Peerless Price. This game was the passing of the torch from senior Marcus Nash (9 catches for 126) to the junior Price (8 for 161). When the Vols went ahead 7-0 so quickly, it seemed like it was going to be one big celebration.

Then the beginnings of one of the most true facts in recent Tennessee history - that the Vols have never, ever played a good game in the Georgia Dome - came to life. It started with a 24 yard fumble return for a TD. That would be the first of an unbelieveable six turnovers by the Vols. When Tennessee fumbled again, Dameyune Craig went up top for 51 yards. Auburn would add two field goals and the Tigers led 20-7, just midway through the second quarter. It was the first time the Vols had been behind by two possessions since the Florida loss.

Jeff Hall gave the Vols a field goal going into the locker room to cut it to 20-10. In that locker room, the tone for the 1998 National Championship was set when Al Wilson delivered a fiery speech to the entire team, calling out Peyton Manning and Leonard Little and challenging the Vols to play the way they were capable of.

Tennessee responded, stopping Auburn on their opening drive and then roaring downfield, finishing the drive with Manning to Jermaine Copeland. The lead was cut to 20-17, and all seemed well.

But again, Auburn was a very good football team - 9-2 coming into this game - and the Tigers again burned the Vol secondary, going 24 yards to Fred Beasley to go back up 27-17. After yet another turnover, the Vols held and Manning found Peerless Price over the middle, who streaked downfield and scored from 46 yards away with 1:06 remaining in the third. Again, when it seemed like all was well, Auburn blocked the extra point and ran it back for two, and instead of trailing by only a field goal, the Vols were down 29-23.

After six turnovers and still being down only six points, in the 4th quarter you had to like our chances. And when the defense - which played exceptional football in the second half after the Beasley TD - held Auburn and forced a punt, the Vols finally went back in front. After a Jamal Lewis run, Manning went on a quick out to Marcus Nash, who shed two tackles and then was gone, 73 yards down the sideline. And suddenly, the Vols had the lead, 30-29.

11:14 still remained, but finally, Auburn turned it over. Dameyune Craig - who finished with 262 yards - had also hurt the Vols running the football, but he finally coughed one up on a scramble near midfield. The Vols didn't score, but the defense held again, and this time Jamal Lewis would run out the clock by himself, grinding out first down after first down, finishing with 127 yards on 31 carries. The Vols eventually ran Auburn out of time outs, took knees, and captured their first SEC Championship since 1990 with a 30-29 hard fought win over a good Auburn team.

Though the National Championship aspirations didn't quite work out, between Michigan's win and Nebraska's 42-17 stomping of the Vols, Tennessee took both the lessons learned from the Orange Bowl, and the authority as the defending SEC Champions with them into the memorable 1998 campaign. And even though Peyton Manning didn't win the Heisman, anytime someone ever tells you that he didn't win a big game, you point them to this one, and you tell them that yes, he does have a ring, and you tell them that he threw for 373 yards and 4 touchdowns in the SEC Championship Game. A great way for Manning to go out.

(Note: You can watch video highlights of this game right here.)

Random Thoughts - Friday Morning

- The Braves are at the breaking point. The Reds' come from behind victory in SanFran last night leaves Atlanta 7 games back with the calendar rushing towards September. Atlanta lost two of three at home to the team with the worst record in the National League earlier this week, and there's simply no more time for any margin of error. The Braves have closed to within 4.5 games three times since the All-Star Break, but have gotten no closer. Consistent starting pitching and more clutch hitting is what Atlanta simply must have if the Braves have any shot to sneak into the playoffs. The odds are stacked highly against them, but this is Atlanta and they've done it since 1991, so I'm not calling them dead until they are.

- PacMan Jones was charged with disorderly conduct after a profanity-laced argument with a woman in Nashville last night. The Titans' CB has been a love-hate player in Nashville for the past two seasons, picked #6 in the 2005 Draft and shown flashes of living up to it, but this would be his second charge in as many years, and Jeff Fisher doesn't like trouble. If Jones can keep his head on straight, he's a key part of the Titans' young defense. If not, he'll get in the doghouse rapidly, and the team will suffer. Stay tuned...

- ESPN.com's SEC Preview has no mention whatsoever of Tennessee, running feature stories on Chris Leak, Quentin Moses, LaRon Landry, and Kenny Irons. I'm not upset about it, and those are all good pieces to read...but I can't figure out if it's good or bad that the Vols are flying so low beneath the national radar. When sites like ESPN discuss who's going to win the SEC East, often times you won't see the Vols even in the conversation, which goes something like "it's the winner of the Cocktail Party, and watch out for South Carolina". I know this makes no difference in the grand scheme of things, but it's a new thing for me and I'm still adjusting...

- Finally, Alcoa and Maryville renew Tennessee's best high school football rivalry tonight. The News-Sentinel is predicting crowds in excess of 10,000 out at Maryville to watch this clash; the crowds at Alcoa last year eclipsed 8,000 easily. Even playing without Brandon Warren, it'll be hard for Alcoa to have had a better shot at beating Maryville than they did last year, which turned into a 41-21 loss that wasn't really that close. The Rebels did suspend four players this week, including their starting running back, and the last time Alcoa won in 2000, a similar situation unfolded in a 14-7 victory that propeled the Tornadoes to their first of three state titles in six years. Maryville has won five of six, and both schools have won back-to-back titles. If you're in the Knoxville area, you owe it to yourself to check this out, both for the D1 prospects you'll see on the field, and for the unmatched atmosphere of this rivalry game. For my alma mater today, I'd love to find a Rebel flag, shred it, and hang it outside my front door - but the folks up here in the Virginia hills probably wouldn't appreciate that. Here's pulling for an Alcoa win.

The 50 Best Vol Games 1989-2005: Top 15 08. Draining The Swamp

8. 2001: #5 Tennessee 34 - #2 Florida 32 (Gainesville, FL)
The story of this game begins on September 11, when the attack on NY/DC postponed the game until December 1. At that point in time, Donte' Stallworth had a broken wrist, John Henderson had a sprained ankle, and Earnest Graham did not. Florida was the preseason #1 in the AP poll in 2001.

After the Vols returned to action and beat LSU, they rose to #6 in the polls. On October 7, Georgia stunned the Vols in the final minute to win 26-24, breaking the Vols hearts and sending them downward to 13th in the poll. The following week, Florida lost 23-20 at Auburn. The climb back to the national championship picture would seem steep for both teams.

The Vols began to pick up ground quickly, thanks to their schedule. They rose to 9th after beating Alabama, then to 7th after beating South Carolina as November rolled around. Florida continued to roll, beating Georgia to move back into the Top 5 and set up the SEC East showdown on December 1.

When the calendar moved to November, the Vols were still at #7 with Miami and Nebraska both undefeated, and nine other one-loss teams still playing. There seemed no point in thinking about anything other than the SEC race. Then, as it has been so many times, November started being good to the Vols. On the first weekend, Michigan State upset Michigan to move the Vols to #6 as UT won at Notre Dame. But two weeks later, no one above them had lost, and the Vols found themselves sliding back down to #7 after the November 17 games, passed by Oregon after narrowly beating Kentucky. The Vols were ranked 7th with only one week of football left. It seemed totally impossible to get back into the race.

It started on the day after Thanksgiving. #2 Nebraska traveled to #14 Colorado, to face the rivals they'd beaten every year for almost a decade. And what Colorado did to Nebraska that day, the program still hasn't recovered from. I was driving back from Memphis when I heard the score on the radio: "Second quarter, Colorado 28 - Nebraska 0" and I almost wrecked my car, literally. By the time it was over, Colorado won 62-36, and the dominoes were falling.

The next day, as the Vols shut out Vanderbilt, unranked Oklahoma State went into Norman and stunned #4 Oklahoma 16-13. Suddenly, the Vols were #5. Miami's 65-7 thrashing of Washington (this team was really, really, really good) kept them at #1. But on the morning of December 1, the Gators were #2, Texas #3, and Oregon #4. And after Florida, the BCS margin between Texas, Oregon, and the Vols was razor thin. If the Vols could pull off the upset in Gainesville, they would leap Oregon without question in the BCS, and it would be real close with Texas...

December 1, 2001 is one of my favorite football days of all time. #1 Miami would play at #14 Virginia Tech. The SEC rescheduled games were played, and while the Vols and Gators would collide for the SEC Eastern Division title, LSU and Auburn would face off to determine the SEC West title. Oregon would play Oregon State in the Civil War. And the Big 12 Championship Game went on as scheduled, sending #3 Texas against suddenly red-hot Colorado. The opportunity was there for the Vols...really, the opportunity was there for everybody.

Standing in their way was arguably the most talented Florida team the Vols have ever faced, though without Earnest Graham. At this point, Rex Grossman was a Heisman frontrunner, competing with Ken Dorsey and Eric Crouch. He was throwing to Jabar Gaffney, Reche Caldwell, Taylor Jacobs and Carlos Perez. The offensive line featured Mike Pearson, Zac Zedalis, and Max Starks. On defense, the Gators led with infamous Alex Brown at end, with Ian Scott and Tron LaFavor at tackles. The linebackers were especially nasty, with Andra Davis and Mike Nattiel. And the loaded secondary featured Lito Sheppard, Keiwan Ratliff, Marquand Manuel, Guss Scott, and Todd Johnson. Oh yeah, and your head coach of the Florida Gators: Steve Spurrier.

But this wasn't just any Tennessee team either. By this point, Casey Clausen was a veteran, and Travis Stephens had been in the running for the Doak Walker award until being slowed by Notre Dame and the Vols' inability to run after falling behind 21-0 to Kentucky. With Donte' Stallworth, Kelley Washington, and Jason Witten lining up with an offensive line featuring Fred Weary and Scott Wells. The Vols fielded their best defensive line ever, with Will Overstreet, John Henderson, and Albert Haynesworth playing in front of Eddie Moore, Dominique Stevenson and Keyon Whiteside. Andre Lott, Jabari Greer, Julian Battle and Rashad Baker filled out the secondary. In short: clash of the titans.

The feature piece on ESPN GameDay (live from Gainesville) was about Gaffney and Caldwell, supposedly the best 1-2 receiver combination in America. But Stallworth-Washington was right up there with them, no doubt. And these two defenses were equally fierce. This should have been an even match, with the Gators getting the advantage because Tennessee hadn't won in The Swamp since 1971, going 0-7 in 30 years. So yeah, Florida should've been the favorite. Nobody was surprised when the Vols were underdogs.

18 points though, was a bit ridiculous.

There was no way that this team should've been 18 point underdogs to anybody. It's hard to imagine Florida and Tennessee ever playing where someone is an 18 point dog. The last three contests had been decided by 3 (in overtime), 2, and 4. Two top five teams should never be separated by 18 points. And yet, that's what you had.

And you had motivation in Knoxville.

As the Vols pulled out of K-Town, the words on the mouths and hearts of Vol nation were "We Believe." You found it on billboards on I-40, on convenience store marquees, it was everywhere. Screw 18 points, forget what Kentucky's passing game did to our secondary just 14 days ago...we believe.

In 1999, the Vols played in The Swamp for the first time in 30 years without fear. They traded it for arrogance and were beaten. In 2001, the Vols remained fearless but tempered it with blue collar determination. The Vols hit the field and essentially told Florida to buckle up - this one was going sixty minutes.

Crowded into Kory's apartment in downtown with about 30 other people, I watched this one unfold. And I can tell you where I was standing, what shirt I was wearing, and exactly the way that room looked. On a list of pound-for-pound, minute-for-minute, most exhiliarting Tennessee football games to watch, this one is alone at the top.

On Florida's first drive, the Gators went three and out. Cue the Vols, who methodically marched downfield, using quick passes from Clausen all over the field to push the defense back and allow Travis Stephens to start his motor. The Vols drove in time consuming fashion, and once they got close, Clausen hit Troy Fleming on the sideline for the score. One drive, 7-0 Vols.

The drive was so long that you were almost waiting for something to go wrong. On Florida's next possession, John Henderson got a mitt on a Grossman pass (who's just short enough to be bothered by Big John and Big Al in the middle), and Jabari Greer picked it off. And from that point, you knew the Vols could roll with them. A few plays later, from six yards out, Travis Stephens scored his first touchdown of the night, and the Vols led 14-0 with 3:03 left in the first quarter. Two drives, two touchdowns.

Then, what seemed like the inevitable happened: here comes Florida, who, in the years that they beat Tennessee, didn't just answer Vol scoring drives, they overwhelmed them. And in the second quarter of this contest, Florida did just that. It started with a bomb to Reche Caldwell to the one yard line, where Grossman would sneak in a play later. On Tennessee's third drive, Clausen went to Jason Witten, but Witten fumbled along the sideline and the ball stayed in bounds, and there was Todd Johnson, who returned the ball to the 16 yard line. Thankfully, the Vol defense held and the Gators knocked home a field goal to make it 14-10, but all the momentum was gone in the span of three minutes of game time.

Then it got worse. Clausen again went to Witten, who couldn't pull it in, and the ball was off his hands and into the arms of Mike Nattiel. This time Grossman went to Gaffney from 21 yards out, and now Florida had the lead 17-14 with still 9:00 left before halftime. The Vols ate away most of that clock, but the drive stalled on a failed 4th down conversion. The Gators would close out the half with another field goal, and led 20-14 at the break.

At halftime, I remember thinking that we couldn't possibly play any better than we had in the first quarter, and we were still losing. That, for all of our talent and effort, in The Swamp, you just can't play that well for the entire game - that we'd had our shot and now it was gone, and the momentum and energy on Florida's side we couldn't get back.

It took Tennessee four plays to prove me wrong.

The Vols came out of the second half throwing, and Clausen hit three consecutive completions, including a long one to Donte' Stallworth. At the Florida 35, they went back to Travis Stephens, and Stephens put Tennessee on his back from this point. He roared all 35 yards into the end zone, and in one minute and fifty-six seconds of game time, the Vols were back in front 21-20. Stephens was just getting warmed up.

Florida's offense was equal to the task, storming downfield. But the Vols scored one of their four sacks of Grossman on the night, and Florida instead was forced to settle for three. Jeff Chandler's kick put the Gators back on top 23-21 with 5:54 still left in the third.

Casey Clausen made his worst decision of the night on the next drive, firing into traffic where he was intercepted by Lito Sheppard. Florida again had the opportunity to get ahead by two possessions, and was faced with a 4th and one at the Vol 31. Spurrier being Spurrier, he sent the offense onto the field, but Florida was called for false start. He left the offense out there, now turning down a 53 yard attempt on 4th and 6. Will Overstreet sacked Grossman, and the see-saw went back Tennessee's way.

Tennessee's next drive ate up more clock and featured more Travis Stephens, breaking off another big run - this after the Vols went for it on 4th and 1 near midfield and got it - to set up Jabari Davis, who punched it in as the game moved to the 4th quarter. The Vols went for two and failed, but still led 27-23.

Florida came right back downfield, but in close, this drive featured a "did he fumble or not" play when Grossman was leveled in the backfield. The play was ruled an incomplete pass, but if instant replay was in effect I think it would've been overturned. As a result, the Gators sent the field goal unit on, and Jeff Chandler bombed one home from 52 yards. The Vols still led 27-26, with 10:30 to play.

Would the Vols go conservative? Well, not exactly. First, Clausen hit Bobby Graham - the subtle MVP of the night - for one of his seven catches for a big first down on 3rd down. And if by going conservative, you mean handing the ball to Travis Stephens, on this night it was the right call. On the definitive memory play of the game, Stephens ripped off 68 yards and embarassed, in turn, Marquand Manuel and Guss Scott. The authority with which he ran signified the Vols' intent the whole night - in the postgame, Lee Corso would say "Tennessee lined it up and said, "Come on, Florida. Bring it on." And they ran right at them." That's exactly what the Vols did, for 242 yards. Stephens' 226 is one of the top five all time rushing performances at the university.

Jabari Davis continued to reap the benefits of Stephens long but not quite touchdown runs. J-Train punched it in this time from one yard out, and suddenly the Vols led 34-26. The decision to go for two and missing left the game at one possession, with 8:30 to play.

Then, the Vol defense made an incredible stand, holding the Gators and forcing a punt. This time, perhaps Tennessee did get just a wee bit too conversative, but it's hard to complain - after being stopped, the Vols sent Dustin Colquitt on for his only punt of the night.

Rex Grossman was 77 yards away and time was precious. But the Heisman candidate went right to work, bringing Florida downfield, converting third downs, and ultimately putting the Gators in the end zone on a TD pass to Carlos Perez with 1:10 remaining. 34-32, and the Gators needed the two to tie. Grossman, sacked four times and beaten much worse than that, had a remarkable performance of 33 of 51 for 362 yards. Grossman has earned his place with Jay Barker and Danny Wuerfful as quarterbacks for teams I dislike that have my respect.

But Grossman needed the two to tie the game. He needed it for the Heisman, and Florida needed it for their season. The Gators went to the air - on the night, they ran for only 36 yards. Grossman was hurried by the Vol D, fired and the pass was broken up by Buck Fitzgerald (seen here celebrating with Andre Lott). We were almost home.

The onside kick was the last hope, and John Finlayson - who says tight ends aren't important - made a leaping grab to hang on to the ball. Then came the victory formation. Then came the realization. Then came the celebration.

Tennessee 34 - Florida 32.

By itself, beating Florida was and is an accomplishment. Winning in The Swamp erased all the years of frustration and the label that the Vols couldn't do this or that - something they cemented two years later by winning again. But this one was with everything on the table, and Tennessee won it.

On the day, #1 Miami narrowly escaped Virginia Tech 26-24 to lock up the #1 spot in the BCS. #4 Oregon was shaky but beat Oregon State 17-14, but the Vols would vault them. And any Texas controversy was erased when Chris Simms met the Colorado defense, and the Buffaloes stole the Big 12 Championship. By night's end, the Vols were left standing at #2 in the polls, #2 in the BCS - and it wasn't even close.

Later that night, LSU upended Auburn to win the SEC West. And seven days later, the most heartbreaking loss that I know of - the game that would be an easy #1 on the opposite of this list - happened in the Georgia Dome, ending the elation of this game far, far too soon. The Vols got seven days of celebration out of this win, and then it was over. Had Tennessee won the SEC Championship - regardless of success or failure against Miami in the Rose Bowl - this game would be in the Top 4. Instead, we're left with only the brief memories of that night...

In Knoxville, the celebration was enormous. The Strip was alive, fans rushed to Neyland Stadium ("Let's get the goal posts!"), and Tennessee Football was king. On a list of Phil Fulmer's most important wins ever, this one would be at or near the top. Travis Stephens was a hero and should have won the Doak Walker Award. But it was the effort of the entire team, for all sixty minutes, that made this one truly memorable. Tennessee walked into Gainesville 18 point underdogs with 30 years of heavy baggage. The Vols walked out as SEC Eastern Division Champions.

The 50 Best Vol Games 1989-2005: Top 15 09. From Goat to Hero in 4:17

9. 2004: #13 Tennessee 30 - #11 Florida 28 (Knoxville, TN)
If you wanted a home victory over the hated Gators and you weren't there in 1990 or 1992, hope you showed up in 98. Because there was no fun to be had in 94, 96, 2000 or 2002. Though the Vols had slowed the bleeding in the Florida series overall by taking the last two games in The Swamp at this point, Florida had won four of five in Neyland. The chances of turning that streak around seemed much better two years before than they did on this night, with a pair of freshman quarterbacks going against Ron Zook's Gators, featuring Chris Leak in his first appearance at Neyland. Erik Ainge and Brent Schaeffer had played well against UNLV, but of course, this was a different animal. Faster, more complicated defense with an offense capable of putting up points in a hurry - no one really knew what to expect. What they got was a classic football game, one of the most enjoyable games to watch I've ever seen in person.

A still-standing record crowd - which, with the reduction in total capacity coming up, may stand for a very, very long time - of 109,061 were on hand for the primetime kickoff on a warm night in Knoxville. Chris Leak, if you weren't there live, was jumping up and down like a lunatic in the huddle and on the sidelines, because this was supposed to be the night he got one up on his initial choice for a university. Instead, Leak was intercepted by Jason Allen early. To his credit, Leak overcame that play to have a solid night, throwing for 281 yards and moving the ball steadily. When Florida grabbed an early 7-0 lead, the Vols - directed by Schaeffer - went to work behind their offensive line. And with Cedric Houston, Jabari Davis, and Gerald Riggs - plus the elusive Schaeffer, who finished with 7 carries for 38 yards - the Vols pounded the Gators for seven straight runs on a touchdown drive.

The score was tied at 7-7 in the second quarter, with Ainge in the game and the Vols driving. I was at this game with Bobbitt, and he says "You know, Florida's giving yall the tight end across the middle." My reply: "I don't think you've ever paid attention to us before. We're Tennessee. We don't throw to the tight end." Bobbitt: "I'm just telling you, they're giving it to you, it's open." Next play: Ainge to Justin Reed across the middle, touchdown. Money, and suddenly the Vols are up 14-7 and know they can go punch-for-punch with Florida.

Florida would punch one in before halftime to tie it 14-14, and then Florida took the lead 21-14 in the 3rd. The Vol offense was sputtering as Florida went downfield and into field goal range, but the Gators missed a chip shot and the game stayed at one possession. From there, Erik Ainge led the best drive of his entire career, leading the Vols downfield like a veteran. The capper was a highpoint ball to Bret Smith at the pylon, which runs on highlight reels to this day - the play was a sure-fire interception that went just over the fingertips of the Florida DB and into the outstretched hands of Smith for the score. Just like that, the game was tied 21-21.

But Florida had a quick answer. The Gators were pushed back on third down when Leak fired into single coverage against Brandon Johnson. Johnson got a fingertip on it, but not enough, and the Gators roared 81 yards downfield for a touchdown, instantly sucking the life out of the stadium. 28-21 Florida.

Time became a factor in the 4th quarter, but again Erik Ainge led the charge. With the Vol offensive line dominating up front, the Vols moved into the red zone, and Ainge found Jayson Swain across the middle, and Swain punched it in, making it 28-27 with 4:17 left. On walks James Wilhoit, hasn't missed an extra point in his life. But already in 2004, there were a rash of crucial missed extra points...and this one would be added to the list, as Wilhiot inexplicably missed the extra point. Florida still led.

What were you thinking/feeling at that moment? Beyond the numbness, I was thinking about exactly how long it was going to take to get over it if we lost the game that way. A missed extra point to the team you hate the most. It make me wanna hurl just thinking about it right now. 2004 would've gone in a completely different direction...

The Gators netted a first down, and the Vol D had their backs to the wall. The Vols snuffed out running plays, then got a huge break on third down when a personal foul penalty was called on Dallas Baker down the sideline (in a "second guy gets caught" scenario), and then the referees stopped the clock, saving the Vols twenty-five precious seconds that they would need.

After the punt, Tennessee needed field goal range, and Erik Ainge got the keys. First Ainge went across the middle to move the Vols closer, then fired on a quick screen to pick up a few more. After those two huge completions, the ball sat 50 yards away. And if you're James Wilhoit, you can't ask for a better shot at redemption.

Did you think he was going to make it?

109,061 collectively held their breath right around midnight as Wilhoit put a thunderous boot into the ball...and from our seats behind the goalpost, we could see it had a chance. It's got a chance...it's really got a chance!

And then you had one of those moments that I can't fully express on the keyboard, where the entire Tennessee faithful rose in crescendo with "yyyyyyyyyyyYYYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"

He nutted it. I almost broke Bobbitt in half. You couldn't hear, you couldn't think. The list of moments that I've heard Neyland like this I can count on one hand: Jay Graham's run against Alabama 96, the end of the 98 Florida game, Travis Stephens on the screen pass in the 01 Georgia game, Cedric Houston's run on the second play of the 02 Miami game, and this moment. Nobody had left. Everybody was still there. Everybody witnessed it.

Tennessee beat Florida 30-28. It took me 90 minutes to get a clear channel to get a cell phone call through. It was one of those moments - as are most of these games once we've gotten this deep into this list - where you remember exactly where you were, and when it happened, you wanted to tell somebody "did you see that?!" The last moment of pure elation in Neyland Stadium.

The 50 Best Vol Games 1989-2005: Top 15 10. In the Downpour

10. 1992: #14 Tennessee 31 - #4 Florida 14 (Knoxville, TN)
To understand the weight of this one, you have to go back to the week before, when the Vols went to Georgia and won 34-31 behind Heath Shuler and Phillip Fulmer, both fresh-faced and ready to go. The Vols were heavy underdogs in that contest but pulled it out, salvaging hope for the season. However, the dominant thought was that this would be the back-to-reality game, against Steve Spurrier and the #4 Gators. The year before, Florida had dominated Tennessee in The Swamp 35-18. Now playing in the same division for the first time, this one would go a long way in determining who would come out on top.

The skies were threatening, as they say, when the game kicked off. And the Vols continued to respond to Phillip Fulmer, starting hot by blocking a Florida punt in the first quarter. From there, Heath Shuler did the work from 11 yards out (John Ward: "Yes! Yes! Yes! Heath Shuler can run!") and the Vols led 7-0. This game was the true onset of the four headed monster for the Vols in the backfield, as teams would have to deal with James Stewart, Aaron Hayden, Charlie Garner, and Mose Phillips. By the time this day was over, the Vols had logged 250 yards on the ground between the four of them and Shuler.

James Stewart would score to make it 14-0, but Florida didn't just disappear. The Gators scored before the half as the Vols tacked on a field goal, and it was 17-7 at the break. When the rain intensified, the live national telecast was cut off. Our seats at Neyland are under the overhang on the lower level, so we enjoyed watching everyone else party in the rain, hoping the Vols could hang on.

The singular play that makes this game most memorable came in the second half. In the very worst of the rainstorm, Heath Shuler found Mose Phillips on a swing pass. Phillips went down the sideline, 66 yards into the checkerboard, and elation erupted in Neyland Stadium. As the Vols pushed the advantage to 17 points, fans began to mock the Gator Chomp all over Neyland - something I haven't seen like this since, being that we haven't had this large of a lead on Florida since then. But for the entire 4th quarter, the Vols chomped away. And Florida, slowed by the rain and Tennessee's defense, which abused quarterback Shane Matthews. Florida never got any offensive momentum, and the Vols won 31-14.

What that should've done was lock up the SEC East, but in October the Vols lost three consecutive games, losing by 1 to Arkansas, by 7 to eventual National Champion Alabama, and by 1 to South Carolina, handing the SEC East back to the Gators. Errict Rhett, Florida's star tailback, was quoted after the loss as saying "I could never say Tennessee is a better team than us. Never." 17 points says otherwise.

This game stood as the last Vol victory over the Gators until 1998, adding to its lore over the years. In 14 days, this team went from low expectations and unpredictability, to anything is possible and ahead in the SEC East. Gives you some hope for 2006...

Random Thoughts - Monday Afternoon

Taking a quick breather from the Vol games list...

- The Yankees just broke the Boston Red Sox. Playing the almost unheard of five game series at Fenway, the Yankees won 12-4 and 14-11 in a Friday doubleheader, 13-5 on Saturday, 8-5 in 10 innings last night, and turned around 12 hours later and won 2-1 today. On Thursday the Red Sox were 1.5 back in the AL East, a division they've led for most of the season. Today, they're 6.5 out, and 4.5 out of the Wild Card - and this isn't the "nobody really wants it" NL Wild Card race, this is the White Sox and the Twins.

Now, you could've said this after Game 3 of the 2004 ALCS, but there's no way the Red Sox come back from this. At the All-Star Break I liked the Red Sox to win the division, because A-Rod was under attack and the Yankees looked like they were ready to come apart. The World Series rings on the Boston fingers should've reminded them that the division didn't belong to New York anymore. David Ortiz was hitting nothing but homers in the 9th inning.

Instead, there aren't words that I can put to what New York did to Boston over the weekend and today that would adequately describe it. Dominated? Owned? Destroyed? Ended?

There's no way Boston comes back from this.

- The US Ryder Cup Team was announced today. The Ryder Cup is one of my favorite events, going back to watching Justin Leonard sink that putt several years ago. The event isn't until September 22-24, but perhaps this time 12-time major winner Tiger Woods and friends can stem the tide of European dominance. U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!

- The WWE needs someone to take the belt - and the ratings - and run with it. The main event for SummerSlam last night was John Cena vs. Edge. Who's excited? I didn't see the PPV last night (though I read that Foley and Flair was legendary...I am getting tired of wasting good talent on PPV matches by having them face a McMahon or two), and up here I usually TiVo RAW and catch what interests me the next day during lunch...and I like Edge. I think he can work well as a foil, as the heel. But the WWE needs someone to rise up and fill a void that's been there since The Rock started making movies. They had a real shot when they bought WCW to make everything go right, and it seems like they missed the boat on a couple of chances here and there. I've never liked the RAW/SmackDown separation, though I understand its necessity. Watching Batista and Big Show get booed by the ECW fans two or three weeks ago was brutal.

Who is the marketable star right now? Triple H? How long will the DX angle run before they decide to have H and Shawn go at each other again (WrestleMania?) I loathe John Cena, and it seems like a solid percentage of fans feel the same way. I don't think Batista is the one to do it either. Looking at the current talent roster...what's the best possible WrestleMania main event you can throw out there right now?

It's not that it's unwatchable, or anything close to it - if they put Triple H and Kurt Angle in the WrestleMania main event, I'd pay. If they continue to utilize Shawn Michaels, play the Undertaker right, and put the younger guys who can really go (including Edge) around the undercard, you can have a good event. But they're missing Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels (round one), Steve Austin and The Rock. They dont have THE guy that makes everyone want to tune in. But they'll press on. They always do.

The 50 Best Vol Games 1989-2005: Top 15 11. Surviving Upset Saturday

11. 1998: #1 Tennessee 24 - #23 Mississippi State 14 (SEC Championship)
The final hurdle to clear before making reservations in Tempe was a second straight trip to the SEC Championship Game. The Vols were 11-0 and ranked #1, but had company - Kansas State and UCLA were also both undefeated and playing on this December Saturday, the Wildcats in the Big 12 Championship Game, and UCLA in a hurricane make-up contest against Miami. In the first year of the BCS, controversy was already on the table and waiting to rear its ugly head.

So-called experts had predicted that the Vols had enough of an advantage in computer polls and strength of schedule that, if they beat Mississippi State, should get in. But at this time, who knew for sure? And with the Vols playing last on this day at 8:00 PM, players and fans both pulled hard for one of the two giants to fall beforehand.

But what actually happened, I'm not sure anyone predicted, or wanted. First, Miami won a shootout over the Bruins in a noon kickoff, sending both Vol and Wildcat fans into a frenzy. Controversy was avoided, and it would be Kansas State and Tennessee squaring off. As the Big 12 Championship Game kicked off, the Vols could focus solely on the task at hand: beating Mississippi State, winning the SEC for two straight years, getting to Arizona.

The opponent here was supposed to be Arkansas. When the Vols narrowly escaped the Hogs 28-24 in Knoxville three weeks before, all thoughts were set on a December rematch. But then Arkansas was a big hungover from fumbling the game away against the Vols, and Jackie Sherrill's bunch caught them by surprise in the 4th quarter, stealing a victory and stealing the SEC West. And most Vol fans breathed a sigh of relief.

Tennessee was heavily favored and perhaps rightfully so, as Mississippi State was led by unknown Wayne Madkin at quarterback and prided itself on defense and special teams. But those two factors would come up huge in the Georgia Dome. With a crowd predominantly in orange, the game that unfolded was a defensive struggle from the beginning. On the day, Mississippi State's offense could do absolutely nothing - they finished with 84 yards passing and 65 yards rushing, a testament to the Vols' defensive supremacy. But Tennessee - who for my money has never played well in the Georgia Dome - kept them in it for 3.5 quarters. Near the end of the first, Tee Martin was intercepted, and the pick was returned 70 yards for a score. The Vols would score on consecutive drives in the second quarter, with a Travis Stephens plunge and a Jeff Hall field goal, to take a 10-7 lead.

It was around this time that it was announced that the Kansas State-Texas A&M Big 12 Championship had gone to overtime. And in the next few minutes, after KSU was held to a field goal, old Vol Brandon Stewart did his old school a favor, helping A&M get into the end zone and score a monumental upset. Kansas State was done.

The Vols were in the middle of their own fight at this point, but attention spans began to turn...instead of UCLA or Kansas State - two teams who lost their bowl games and who I think the Vols would've handled easily - the choice of opponents would now be much more dangerous, Florida State or Ohio State at 10-1 each. And while the computers eventually chose the Noles, the point was that the opponent had suddenly become much more dangerous.

But back to the task at hand...in the third quarter, neither team could score, but Mississippi State's complete lack of offensive production didn't have many worried. As stated, 149 total yards. So as the clock ticked down in the 4th quarter, the Vols were simply trying to hang on.

That's when Kevin Prentiss made one of the best punt returns I've ever seen, showing great vision and patience along the sideline to stay in bounds twice when I think the Vol D assumed he was out and the play was dead. Prentiss would go 83 yards into the end zone, and in the blink of an eye, Tennessee was losing in the 4th quarter, 14-10.

They don't let them do it anymore, but Mississippi State's kickoff team used to have a little team dance-type thing they would do after the team had scored, when they were lined up to kick. It's a celebration penalty now, but back then it was cool to watch...and this one was especially vibrant.

The great thing about this is, were you worried here? Really? After having been through so much in 98, I think at this point the Vols knew. With 8:43 left, the game was still well in hand. And on the ensuing drive, Tee Martin went up top for Peerless Price, hanging in the pocket just long enough before firing down the sideline. Price made the grab and got a foot in for a 41 yard touchdown, and just like that Tennessee was back on top. Price would finish as MVP with 6 catches for 97 yards.

Still, 6:15 remained. But not to be outdone, the Vol D made something happen on the very next play. Wayne Madkin was hit, fumbled, and the Vols recovered at the 26 yard line. And David Cutcliffe - in his last game before leaving for Ole Miss - went for the throat. Tee Martin found Cedrick Wilson in the end zone on the very next play, and the game was done. The Vols led 24-14, and the defense did the rest.

When the final gun sounded, thoughts instantly went towards Arizona. But in the light of the chase for a National Championship, the impact of back-to-back SEC Championships may have been a bit lost. Winning two SEC titles consecutively is a tremendous accomplishment, and the Vols have done it twice in the 1989-2005 timespan that we're using.

This was the game that shut the door, the answered all the doubters, that put the Vols in full control of their own destiny. No matter the opponent, the ticket was punched and the Vols would be ready. The final stop on the road to Tempe.

The 50 Best Vol Games 1989-2005: Top 15 12. 12-Point UnderDawgs

12. 2004: #17 Tennessee 19 - #3 Georgia 14 (Athens, GA)
When Phil Fulmer said he was going to turn the reigns of the offense over to Erik Ainge and Brent Schaeffer, in favor of the elder statesman CJ Leak and transfer Rick Clausen, Vol fans were a combination of excitement and uncertaintiy. The two-headed monster helped to feed the excitement by beating Florida, with both QBs turning in solid performances. But the Auburn game might've been the more realistic dose. Playing at home against a team that would go on to finish the season 13-0, the Vols were demolished 34-10, beaten in every phase of the game. Erik Ainge had five turnovers by himself, Schaeffer wasn't much better, the Vols got behind so fast they couldn't run, and the defense was made to look foolish by Jason Campbell and the two-headed beast of Cadillac Williams and Ronnie Brown. It was the most soundly rousing defeat Tennessee had suffered in a long time, and Vol fans weren't totally furious - it's that they simply began to really buy into the realism of playing two true freshmen at quarterback with a defense still trying to find its feet. Vol fans would chalk that one up to experience for the most part.

Four hours down the road on the same day, a top five showdown between LSU and Georgia ensued. And if you thought what Auburn did to Tennessee was nasty, the number that Georgia put on the defending National Champions was even more impressive. Georgia played the perfect game, getting five touchdown passes from David Greene in a 45-16 ambush of the Tigers. On Sunday morning, Georgia found itself ranked third in the polls, on a team loaded with senior talent, and - knowing that the Vols had beaten Florida, and then knowing that Auburn had exposed Tennessee's youth in a frightening way - you couldn't have asked for a better situation in Athens. Nevermind the SEC East, nevermind a young Auburn team still hovering outside the Top 5 on the first Saturday in October - the Dawgs were thinking National Championship. And perhaps, rightfully so. Mark Richt had taken Georgia to the threshold in 2002 with a 13-1 season, and had won the East again in 2003. Now all of those guys were seniors and ready to make the storybook run.

The Vols knew this as well. And the thought was, if (what was thought to be) an up and coming Auburn team did that to us at home, this is Georgia on the road. And if those freshmen took their lumps last week...in their first hostile environment ever...look out.

Let's also not forget that Georgia had now beaten the Vols four straight, including a 41-14 embarassment in Neyland Stadium the previous season. In short, all signs pointed to not only Georgia winning, but Georgia doing what it pleased. I was genuinely surprised when we were only a 12-point dog in this one.

So it happened that my sister, or one of her friends, or someone I know hit the ticket lottery, whoever it was (Will is 0 for life at winning the student ticket lottery, 0 for life at being an alternate). So I get the tickets - second row - and then I can't find anybody to go. As it ends up, it's me and Josh Clark going to war down I-75. If you ever catch this game on ESPN Classic or TiVo it, you can see us down close - look for the guy in the bright orange shirt and the blue scrub bottoms, with everyone else around him looking at him going "did that guy come straight from the hospital?" (The answer, by the way, is no - that's just what he wanted to wear)

Once we got on campus, before kickoff, I saw two things I'd never seen before. One - I've never, ever seen Tennessee disrespected like this before. Ever. Now, I know all of what I wrote up there is true about the overall tone for this game. And I know Georgia had beaten us four years in a row. But look, you'll never catch me disrespecting Alabama when we've beaten them 7 in a row, and especially not like this - like we're so far beneath them, the fans and their players, that we're just not worth their time at all. They weren't worried about us at all. And it didn't make you happy or make you think "maybe we'll slip up on them then." It made me furious - because we're Tennessee. And this is before 5-6. And they're Georgia - and I don't care if they'd won 4 in a row, we won 10 straight before that on them. And it's not like they can pull up a chair at the big boys table and throw down their National Championship rings. They're not Florida, they're not Alabama, they're not Auburn, they're not LSU - they were and are playing really good football right now, but Georgia doesn't get to disrespect Tennessee. Not like this. Especially not like this - for good measure, no one should disrespect Tennessee like this. You would've had to been there to see it firsthand.

And they paid for it.

But before we get to that...another byproduct of all of this was this is the worst turnout of Tennessee fans I've ever seen. Normally, a well-traveled team like the Vols will have a large section around the band in the lower level, and then another group of seats high in the upper deck - it's the same game at Neyland Stadium for visiting teams there. I'd been to Georgia twice before and had sat in both places, surrounded by lots of other folks in orange.

But on this day...where were you guys? Because there's no one wearing orange in the upper deck at all. And the lower level section is about 1/3 of its normal size - essentially, it's the students and the band, and most of the students are only there (so I'm told anyway) because they're too drunk to know better. I found a great picture of this that shows this real well, but pictures aren't working right now for some reason - we'll try later. When I told people in Knoxville that I was going after the Auburn game, one person asked me if I was a glutton for punishment, and my Dad looked at me like he didn't raise me right.

Fools, all of you! This is like slapping someone for picking against Tennessee in the weekly picks when they win. But again, we're getting ahead of ourselves.

The point is, we're small in number and most of us are highly intoxicated, but if you've ever been to an away game at a hostile environment, everyone wearing your color is your lifelong friend. So, backed into our little corner of the sideline/endzone with 80-plus thousand in red bearing down on us (though that stadium, like most, isn't that big if you've been to Neyland), we become our own little army. There are so few of us that by the 4th quarter everybody pretty much knows everybody. One of the reasons this game is so memorable for me are all of these little nuances about the student section that day - pilgrims in an unholy land. We came for war, underdogs or no. We'd all seen, heard, and felt the disrespect. Before kickoff, I'm thinking "man, this is exactly the type of situation where I'd love to kill these guys by four touchdowns more than I want to see a close game - but there's no way that's going to happen."

And then Tennessee comes out and does what it does when it's disrespected. All throughout 1998, at Florida in 2001, at Miami in 2003, and now on this day. When you throw a number like 12 points out there as the line and put this university on the other side of it, that's trouble in Vegas baby.

We get the ball, and on the opening drive immediately face 3rd and long. No problem, Ainge goes down the sideline for a big first down. Later we have 4th and 1 near midfield. We're going. We make it. Then, on 3rd and 9, Ainge goes up top for Bret Smith in the back of the end zone 22 yards away. 7-0.

You'd think that would've been enough to stop all that disrespect. It wasn't. Not even close - Georgia - again, from fans to players to coaches - wasn't worried. They really played with no urgency until the 4th quarter, and by then it was too late.

On Georgia's first drive, the Dawgs went three and out, giving the ball back to the Vols, who promptly drove downfield and nailed a field goal. In two drives the Vols had matched their offensive output from the previous week.

It would be DJ Shockley's only series of the game that sparked the UGA offense, as Shockley made a terrific throw under pressure to Fred Gibson for a TD. But David Greene couldn't get anything working all day - he would be sacked four times. James Wilhoit added a 51 yarder just before the half to make it 13-7 at the break. Wilhoit also missed two first half field goals that could've made it much worse.

Georgia wanted to come out of the locker room hot, but instead were shut down by the Vol defense again. The two teams had already traded fumbles once, but when Gerald Riggs lost the ball at the UT 13, it looked again to be Georgia's chance to finally get the lead. Instead, they settled for a field goal attempt, which Andy Bailey shanked from only 29 yards away.

Late in the third, Georgia again tried to build momentum by faking a punt ("I never should've done that" - Richt postgame), but Kevin Burnett read it cold and stuffed it, giving Tennessee excellent field position. Ainge would find Chris Hannon for the score (the Vols missed the two) but Tennessee now led 19-7 in the 4th quarter. And finally, Georgia woke up.

The Vol defense still made them earn it, and forced them to eat up plenty of clock. When Danny Ware bounced outside and barrelled into the end zone to make it 19-14, only 4:22 was left. Tennessee's offense could not pick up a first down on 3rd and 2, and was forced to punt, putting the game in the hands of the Vol defense.

Fresh in the memories of most at this point was 2001, when David Greene drove the Dawgs to a score in the final :44 to win in Knoxville. He did that as a freshman - now, as a senior with more time and more timeouts, and we'd fought so hard all day...but everyone in orange was dreading it. And to his credit, Greene gave them a shot, moving the ball from his own 12 upfield and hitting Fred Gibson, who just barely got out of bounds with :01 left at the Vols' 19. One play would determine it.

And then Greene kinda came unglued. The Vols brought a little pressure, Greene fired away - and I'm still not really even sure who he was throwing it to. Not the kind of play I would've expected from him - but man, I'll take it. As the ball was batted to the turf, Tennessee fans first exhaled a huge sigh of relief, and then slowly realized: not only had the Vols upset the #3 team in the country, not only had the Vols ended Georgia's four year victory streak...but the Vols had just beaten Florida and Georgia: the SEC East was locked up.

David Greene finished 15 of 36 with no touchdowns. Georiga was held to 56 yards rushing. Gerald Riggs would grind out 102 yards, and Erik Ainge played mistake-free football to secure the victory, as the Vols won the time of possession battle by more than ten minutes. Georgia was also penalized 12 times for 89 yards...frustration, anyone?

In Athens...the celebration was massive, even with the few & the proud in orange. We celebrated with the team, we celebrated with the band, and then we waited. See, Georgia's student section - the center of the disrespect - all had to make the long walk past our section to get out of the stadium. They tried to wait us out. We were patient.

I realize this is petty stuff, but if you were there, you would've enjoyed it just as much as me. One by one they walked past us, with a thin line of police separating the two. And Georgia doesn't take abuse nearly as well as it dishes it out. Like I said, it's Georgia - still looking for a seat at the big boy table - and a team like that is always the quickest to point a finger, the quickest to flip you off, the quickest to talk trash when they get an ounce of something going right. But when that right goes wrong - especially on this day, especially to the Vols, especially when they had everything going for them and were sure they were headed for the promised land...I'll never forget watching them make that walk, and the friendly conversations we had with each other.

Best part of the day: back in the car, listening to the Georgia postgame show. Former kicker Happ Hines is an analyst, and they throw it to him as soon as the show comes on the air. Happ, your thoughts on today's game?

"When I woke up today, it felt like Christmas morning. Everything was right, everything was great, things were going to go our way. This was our year. And now, Tennessee comes in, and not only have they stolen all of our presents, but they stole the #*&@ tree!"

The 50 Best Vol Games 1989-2005: Top 15 13. Eddie Who?

13. 1995: #4 Tennessee 20 - #5 Ohio State 14 (Citrus Bowl)
An excellent measure of the success of this program, and, subsequently, the expectations of its fan base, is how excited we are to go to a bowl game. The thought that the Vols travel well is true - we'll bring our full share to Gainesville, Athens, Tuscaloosa and the like. We'll come to Atlanta with bells on. But for bowl games? Not so much, and here's why: it takes a lot to impress us these days. When we are impressed, when we are excited, when it feels like an accomplishment instead of a letdown to be in whatever bowl we're playing in, the Vols will bring it. At the Fiesta Bowl for the National Championship, the crowd was 65-35 orange. In the Sugar Bowl in both January 86 and January 91, the Vols owned the dome. But consider this: in the last ten years, how many bowl games have Vol fans really been excited about? The National Championship aside, how many? In 97, Tennessee's excitement in going to the Orange Bowl was tempered by the fact that Michigan had to lose to Washington State the day before to give the Vols a shot at the top prize. The Citrus Bowl against Michigan - which normally would've drawn great anticipation and excitement - was tempered by the crushing loss to LSU in the SEC Championship. Same story to a lesser degree with the Cotton Bowl against A&M. And we just don't get excited about Peach Bowls around here.

If the Vols land in a January 1 or BCS bowl in 2006 - barring a late loss that leaves a bad taste - I'd say you'll see excitement, and you'll see us travel well. But normally, for bowl games, unless it's a really big deal, we're on a roll, or everything's on the line...sometimes we tend to go into them disappointed and then let the outcome of the game dictate whether or not the season was a success (2001, 2004) or a letdown (1999, 2003).

All that to say that the January 1, 1996 Citrus Bowl was a rare thing. The Vols - and their fans - were ready for this one. Tennessee was the second half in Gainesville away from being undefeated, and had instead watched the Gators go 12-0 and win the SEC Championship. In the days before the BCS and at-large bids, the Citrus Bowl was a place of honor, because the second best team in the SEC - which means you had a really good season - went there. And so in the tail end of the 1995 season, the Vols had won eight games in a row to finish 10-1 after the Florida loss, and rose to #4 in the polls. The season was also helped along greatly by the first victory over Alabama since 1985, which we'll talk more about later. Spirits were high and life was good in Knoxville, and since you couldn't complain about BS or getting screwed or anything else since the Gators were undefeated, we liked the Citrus Bowl.

And on the final day of the regular season, when Michigan upset #1 Ohio State 31-23, we started liking it even more. That not only knocked the Buckeyes out of the National Championship picture, but gave Michigan the Big Ten Championship and the Rose Bowl bid. Which meant that a dominant (for the first ten games anyway) Ohio State team was coming to Orlando. And though I'm sure the Buckeyes were not excited about it, Vol fans loved it.

What's more - and this is a great subject for another blog some other time - these guys might be the most talented team the Vols have faced. Ever. Since 1989, we've seen some great teams - the Vols played against the National Champion Crimson Tide in 92, the Danny Wuerfful Florida teams in 95 and 96 were out of this world good, the Gators again in 1998 with Jevon Kearse, the 02 Georiga team that went 12-1, and the 2004 Auburn undefeated team, who we saw twice. And folks, that's just the SEC. The Colorado team the Vols tied in 1990 went on to win the whole thing, by beating the Notre Dame team that beat Tennessee later that year. The 1993 Penn State team that throttled the Vols in the Citrus Bowl had Kerry Collins (wait, how old is this guy?), Ki-Jana Carter, and OJ McDuffie. The first Nebraska game, in 1997, those guys would certainly get many votes for the best team the Vols have ever played against. And the 2002 Miami team, with Ken Dorsey and Willis McGahee, was insanely good as well.

But I still might take this Ohio State team over all of them. Because they weren't just great on defense or great on offense, they were great everywhere. Did they destroy us the way Penn State, Florida, Nebraska or Miami did? Well, not so much, thanks to the Michigan loss and the rain (we'll get to that in a minute). But they did everyone else for the first ten games, and they certainly had the talent. If the Vols had beaten Florida and Ohio State had beaten Michigan, and the two teams played for the National Championship that year, where both teams were fired up and ready to go, on a dry field...well, I'll let you imagine it, but before you do, consider this: half of Ohio State's starting lineup was drafted in the first three rounds. Half! (Eddie Murphy voice) These aren't just "you know them from Ohio State" names, these are "that guy's on my fantasy team" names.

Just a few of the notables:
QB - Bobby Hoying
RB - Eddie George (Heisman Trophy winner)
WR - Terry Glenn
WR - David Boston
TE - Rickey Dudley
OL - Orlando Pace (First overall pick)
DE - Mike Vrabel
LB - Andy Katzenmoyer
CB - Shawn Springs
CB - Antoine Winfield

Now, let's make something else clear: if you line up the 1995 Vols with anyone, and I mean anyone from the Vol pantheon of the last 15 years - 1989, 1990, 1998, 2001 - it's even money. Tennessee lined up sophmore Peyton Manning at quarterback, with Jay Graham in the backfield, and the Joey Kent/Marcus Nash connection at wide receiver, playing in front of three NFL offensive linemen in Jason Layman, Jeff Smith, and Bubba Miller. By the way, the starting tight end was Scott Pfeiffer, now a proud member of First United Methodist Church of Alcoa. That's right, I'm name dropping Scott Pfeiffer.

On defense, Leonard Little anchored the line, and two of the most underrated Vol linebackers of the 90s - Tyrone Hines and Scott Galyon, mostly because of the trio of all stars who would play after them - helped bring the pain in front of one of our best secondaries with DeRon Jenkins, Terry Fair, Raymond Austin, and Tori Noel. Just writing this makes me cringe all over again about the second half of the 95 Florida game, because I really think we could've won the whole thing with this team.

Bottom line: this was a bowl game to be excited about. Two top five teams, both 10-1, both loaded with talent. Aside from the early Sugar Bowls or the National Championship, this is the most excited, most ready the Vols have ever been for a bowl game. You wanted this one bad.

Know who else was ready? Mother Nature. Any game on this blog where we talk about a torrential downpour - be it the 92 Florida game or the 2002 Florida game, the Arkansas game in 2001 where lightning caused a delay, anything - it all has to be in the context of this one. Because the rain in Orlando that day was straight from the Old Testament. I was there. It makes for a great story later, but the rain was so bad that it distracted you from the football instead of complementing the atmosphere of the game. Taking three steps from our hotel room door to the car meant you needed a change of clothes. Un-be-lieveable.

Our seats, by the way, were on the last level of the upper deck, right underneath one of those big light structures. So when lightning is flashing in the pregame, after driving 10 hours and being prepared for this epic contest between these two great teams...instead of focusing on the task at hand, we're actually, seriously considering if it's even safe to be there. Probably wasn't - I've read stories through the years of older folks who caught pneumonia and literally almost died from sitting thorugh this game. It was one of those things where a poncho was simply worthless and weighed you down. You get the idea.

Enough of that; the game itself now. Ohio State is favored and people everywhere think that if the Buckeyes come to play, Tennessee has their hands full. So when Heisman Trophy winner Eddie George plunges one in in the first quarter, and then Ohio State drives to first and goal in the second quarter, you're thinking "uh oh".

Enter the one and only Bill Duff. The Buckeyes had 4th and inches to score, and of course, with the big bruising #27 in the backfield, you're going for it. And the big bruising #50 on the defensive line was there to save the day.

John Ward: "Here's the give to George, I don't know sir! I do not know! Tennessee POUNDS him at the line, and it was Bill Duff, at the bottom of the heap...he-did-not-makeit!"

(I can't find any pictures whatsoever from this game, but the enduring image is of Duff coming out of that pile, absolutely screaming running back to the sidelines)

The orange-tinted crowd in Orlando would now be happy to get to the locker room down only 7-0. The rain was taking its toll on Peyton Manning and the passing game, and with time winding down in the half, the Vols were simply going to run the clock out. But for Jay Graham, "run the clock out" meant "break four tackles and run 69 yards for a touchdown." The best big play runner in UT history swung the momentum to the Vols as the game went to halftime at 7-7.

Side note: this was the 50th Anniversary of the Citrus Bowl, and they had a massive halftime extravaganza during which they released all of these doves. Doves, apparently, are not native to Orlando and not fond of torrential downpours. So for the entire second half, the doves have become lunatics, flying around the stadium at low altitudes trying to find a dry place. You can't make this stuff up. It should also be noted that I've seen the Ohio State band dot the i, and I'm not impressed. Circle drill 4 life.

They also served the best orange juice I've ever had from the concession stands, seing as how it was the Citrus Bowl after all. Perhaps the old Peach/new Chik-Fil-A Bowl will learn from this. Or maybe now in Orlando they just give away money.

Ahem...

To open the second half, Tennessee took the momentum it had already gained and doubled it early, when Peyton Manning finally got something going downfield. The 47 yard pass was really one of Manning's worst balls, badly underthrown, but trusty Joey Kent made the adjustment, stepped back in front of the defender at the five, and then spun into the end zone. And just like that, Tennessee had the lead 14-7.

That was all the offensive fireworks the Vols could manage, and the defense would have to dig in (did someone say illegal cleats?) The scored remained 14-7 as the game went to the 4th, but not for long. Bobby Hoying found tight end Rickey Dudley for 32 yards and a score to tie the game early in the final quarter. Dudley was a beast, grabbing five balls for 106 yards, and I remember thinking "So this is what a tight end is supposed to be like! We've got to get one of those!" No offense to Scott Pfeiffer, of course. Dudley's day was matched by Terry Glenn, who made seven catches for 95 yards.

With the score tied, the Vol offense still couldn't get anything going. But then the combination of the rain and the Tennessee defense won the game. Ohio State got the ball back in a tie game at 14-14. They fumbled. Tennessee recovered, drove to the 12 yard line, Jeff Hall kicked a field goal, and the Vols led 17-14. Ohio State got the ball back, and this time Eddie George fumbled. Tennessee then drove to the eight yard line, but still couldn't get in. So Jeff Hall came along again to extend the lead to 20-14. Ohio State needed a touchdown to win and was running out of time.

The Buckeyes started moving and got into Tennessee territory with the clock under 2:00. Now, if I'm John Cooper, and I've got the Heisman Trophy winner in the backfield who can run straight ahead and run people over, and I've got three outstanding pass catchers and a quarterback who can get it to them, and it's raining like the world is ending...the last thing I'm going to do is run the option. But that's why Jim Tressell is the coach in Columbus now. Hoying ran the option and badly mistimed the pitch, spinning the ball free and into the hands of the Tennessee defense. The threat was over, and the Vols had won a hard fought Citrus Bowl against one of the best teams you'll ever see. The Vols finished ranked #3 in the AP and #2 in the Coaches Poll, thanks to Nebraska's assault and murder of Florida in the National Championship game.

Eddie George had a solid day at the office, 25 carries for 101 yards and a touchdown. The "Eddie Who?" chants came not because the Vol defense had shut him down, but because Jay Graham got 154 yards on 26 carries, including the 69 yard touchdown. Graham took home MVP honors to compliment Manning's 20 of 35 passing, held to 182 yards due to the rain. Joey Kent grabbed seven of those for 109 yards. Graham's 154 yards are the third most in bowl history for the Vols, behind Chuck Webb's insane Cotton Bowl performance of 250, and Travis Henry's 180 against Kansas State.

A closing thought on Ohio State: the Buckeyes and the Vols walk a thin line with each other. Ohio State doesn't quite fit into that Michigan/Notre Dame/Texas category of non-conference teams you pull against every time you see them. Because of this win, the Vols have the bragging rights and can rest easy with that. Eddie George is my all-time favorite Tennessee Titan. So they're okay, I suppose, in our book. But for Ohio State, between the illegal cleats and everything else that happened between the Michigan loss and the Tennessee loss, I'm betting they don't care too much for us. Maybe part of it is that northern/southern thing too, who knows.

I do know that in 1998, after Ohio State lost to Michigan State and was beaten in the BCS by Florida State to earn the right to lose to the Vols, in the postseason the university had a computer program simulate a game between the Vols and Buckeyes. They then had Ohio State's announcers broadcast the game "live" for the thousands of Buckeye fans to pretend that they'd won the National Championship. Really and truly, that's one of the saddest things I've ever heard. John Ward would quit or die before agreeing to do something that ridiculous. We like our National Championships to be the real life kind around here.

We need to play these guys again.

The 50 Best Vol Games 1989-2005: Top 15 14. The Rally at Death Valley

14. 2005: #10 Tennessee 30 - #4 LSU 27 (OT) (Baton Rouge, LA)
The hype surrounding Tennessee's 2005 season had faded quickly to mass uncertainty, as the Vols were betrayed by their special teams in a 16-7 loss in Gainesville, and more central to the issues at hand, deadlocked in a quarterback controversy coming out of that game. Coach Fulmer did what he thought was best and right: naming Erik Ainge the definitive starter after the loss to Florida, despite having played both Ainge and Rick Clausen extensively in the UAB and Florida games. Clausen almost walked off the team during the week in practice, but the player's player stayed the course and supported the new number one starter.

LSU's season, meanwhile, had been through its own ups and downs. Hurricanes Katrina & Rita had ravaged Louisiana, sending refugees to LSU's campus for safety. The Tigers were forced to play Arizona State in Tempe instead of Baton Rouge, and needed special teams breaks and a Sun Devil meltdown in the fourth quarter to survive. When football was finally able to return - the game was pushed back to Monday night - everyone seemed to be more than ready to go. So the two teams who squared off in Knoxville after September 11 in 2001 would face each other again on the heels of the nation's next biggest disaster, at 2005's ground zero in Death Valley. Monday morning I'm driving to Memphis to pick up my car, and I get a call from Justin asking me if I want to come down for the game, he's got a ticket. I tell him it's too late, but I would've thought about it if he'd let me know before hand - I'd just eaten a pair of tickets to Gainesville the week before, but wasn't upset about dodging that loss and was a little uncertain about making the trip to Baton Rouge.

Big mistake. But not at first. The always-rowdy crowd was at another level on this night, and from the very beginning it seemed like it was just going to be a storybook homecoming for LSU on this muggy evening, because everything started going right from the opening kickoff. The Vols would fumble the kick but recover, but on the first drive, Erik Ainge was hit, lost the football, and LSU recovered. On the Tigers' first offensive play, Joseph Addai should've been stopped in the backfield, then bounced outside and went 19 yards for the score. And the roar, I'm sure, was tangible.

While the onslaught was only just beginning for LSU in the first half, things could've been worse - the Tigers would lose one of two fumbles inside Vol territory before using a flea-flicker to move to the Vol 2, where they would punch it in to lead 14-0 in the second quarter. With Ainge struggling and looking very nervous, the snapshot play of his 2005 season happened at the Vol 3, when Ainge was spun around and tossed the ball back over his head to - I suppose - try and avoid a safety. Instead the ball went right to an LSU lineman, who stumbled happily into the end zone. On the play, Ainge got a facefull of the goalpost. 21-0 LSU, and we're all wondering exactly how bad this is going to get.

At this point, Erik Ainge was 7 for 19 for 54 yards, with a fumble and an interception. Fulmer's decision to back away from his supposedly-firm stance on Ainge being "the" quarterback was risky but not surprising at this point, and while you can make a solid argument that things might've turned out differently if Ainge was never taken out of the UAB game, at this particular moment in the season, regardless of the outcome of the rest of the year, there's no question that bringing in Rick Clausen was the right thing to do.

So #16 walks out, on his old field in Baton Rouge, facing a 21-0 hole. He lightened up the huddle and rallied the troops right away, but couldn't get any points before halftime. LSU gave away a golden opportunity with disastrous clock management at the Tennessee 5 yard line on the final play of the first half, something Les Miles would hear about later - but at that moment, no worries, the Tigers led 21-0.

One of the biggest sequences of the night was the opening LSU drive of the second half, where the Vol D came back out of the locker room to play and stuffed the Tigers, forcing a punt. From there, Rick Clausen made the most of the overly-aggressive LSU defense, picking apart the blitz package that worked so well against Erik Ainge and going 6 for 7 for 40 yards on the drive, hitting Bret Smith from 8 yards out, and the Vols were on the board at 21-7. Hope arose, but LSU seemed to stomp it out with a field goal to give the Tigers a 24-7 lead going to the 4th quarter.

Everything you need to know about the rest of the 2005 quarterback controversy/offensive ineptitude can be learned from the LSU tape. The Tigers sent heat from every direction on Erik Ainge, and he melted. In alarming fashion. LSU tried to send the same heat from even more directions on Rick Clausen, and he kept staying with the three step drop, holding ground in the pocket, and finding the open man within 15-20 yards. Cool, calm, collected. LSU, and Les Miles - who turned in one of the worst coaching performances I've ever seen in a big game - just kept blitzing. Never stopped. And Clausen never stopped dinking and dunking. And it worked like a charm. The rest of the year, when defenses saw Clausen, they dropped eight back in coverage because they knew he couldn't beat them with his arm no matter how smart he was. And when Ainge got back in, here came the pressure, because no matter how great his arm was he couldn't deal with everything else upstairs. Simple, effective. But LSU never quite figured it out.

So it was that Clausen led another Vol drive and snuck the ball in from the one to make it 24-14 with 9:35 left. And at this point, I'm thinking "well, okay...we lose, but at least it looks better, and at least it seems like we've got this quarterback thing figured out now." And I thought to myself, that if we had any chance of actually coming back and winning this thing, we had to have a huge play - and Rick Clausen's arm wasn't really capable of delivering one.

Enter the Tennessee defense, which - until the Georgia game when Jason Allen went down - I might've taken over any other Vol defense in the last 15 years - who kept their heads in the game and waited for LSU's young quarterback to make a mistake. And so JaMarcus Russell did, trying to make a play and instead firing an interception to Jonathan Hefney. When Hefney got his hands on that ball, you knew that the odds of the Vols coming out of there with victory had just gone to around 50/50. His return to the LSU 2 set up Gerald Riggs, and just like that, it was 24-21 with a ton of time (7:15) left. And now it was LSU's offense that looked like it didn't know what to do, allowing Tennessee to continue to tackle well and bring pressure when need be. The Vols got the ball back and again, Clausen continued to write his story. In fact, he was the length of Corey Anderson's fingertips away from not even needing to worry about overtime, but the fullback couldn't haul in a wide open look. So on comes James Wilhoit from 28 yards, and he nails it. Tie game.

Both teams would get one final chance in regulation - a Russell interception gave the Vols a real shot at a game winning field goal, but LaRon Landry then intercepted Clausen (great scene here of Les Miles - having switched back and forth from the little earpiece to the gigantic headphones - screaming like a little girl after the interception for LSU to take its final timeout in a dead ball situation, and having one of his assistants physically push him back to the sideline and remind him what a stupid thing to do that would be. I wonder if there's someone on LSU's coaching staff whose sole job is to keep track of the timeouts and stay close enough to Les Miles to tackle him in case he goes off the reservation again.) After a freakish display of arm strength by Russell on a failed hail mary, the game went to overtime.

The only team ever to beat the Vols in overtime is LSU, in 2000. But the way this one had gone, you had to like our chances. So when the Vols won the toss, then when the defense held to a field goal, it seemed like only a matter of time. And while Clausen had gotten most of the spotlight and attention, Gerald Riggs did all the work in overtime, touching the ball on all five plays. On second down, Riggs went 10 yards on a screen pass to set up first and goal. From there, back to back runs made it 3rd and goal at the one...and before we got to really see what Fulmer was made of, to see if he would've gone for the TD and the game on 4th and goal at the one, Riggs went one on one with an LSU defender at the goal line, and won. The long night belonged to the Vols. It's interesting to note what happened to the players and teams involved in this one. LSU wouldn't lose again until they met Georgia in the SEC Championship, and finished the year throttling Miami in the Peach Bowl to leave a bad taste in no one's mouth. Tennessee seemed like they'd solved all their problems and found their leader in Rick Clausen (bonus points if you were watching on ESPN and remember the way Bob "The Furher" Davie pronounced his last name), but this performance would only lead to later controversy once the losses started piling up. On the night, Clausen was 21 of 36 for 194 yards, and earned a measure of justice against his old school. The 21 point second half hole is the largest the Vols have ever climbed out of, same with the 17 point 4th quarter hole. The game also moved the Vols to 5-1 all time in overtime games. As stated earlier, this game is lower on this list because of what happened the rest of the year, but for one night, after a thrilling 60+ minutes, everything was okay in Knoxville. Remember that? Seems like a long time ago...

The 50 Best Vol Games 1989-2005: Top 15 15. The Longest Third Saturday

15. 2003: #22 Tennessee 51 - Alabama 43 (5 OT) (Tuscaloosa, AL)
In 21 days, the 2003 season had gone from championship potential to the hot seat for Phillip Fulmer and the Vols. Tennessee rose as high as #7 in the polls before falling in a 21-0 hole at Auburn that they could not climb out of. The blowout home loss to Georgia the week after left more than a few heads shaking as the Vols had lost two straight, suffered through a long off week, fell to #22 in the polls, and had fans remembering 2002 all too clearly. Heading to Tuscaloosa, the Vols would face their old nemesis, who had ended a seven year run of futility in Knoxville the year before, but now were looking for their first ever win over the Vols in Tuscaloosa, despite a 3-5 start to the 03 campaign. AD Mike Hamilton - in the days before the firing of Buzz Peterson and last year's 5-6 football season - once called this his most trying time as athletic director, because the perception at the time was, "the sky is falling." The panic that ensued after losing only two straight goes to show you how far the Vols fell in 2005. But back to Tuscaloosa...the word for the week was "underachievers", and everyone from the fans to the media to the coaching staff had bought that line. Coach Fulmer addressed it in his pregame locker room speech:

"I can stand up here and scream and yell, Johnny can go around and scream and yell, but I'm telling you, it comes from your heart. Now, what do you want? You want another team meeting after the game? Or do we wanna be in here singing in the locker room, like a Tennessee football team is supposed to. I'm not trying to motivate you, it's a fact. All you guys that haven't stepped up yet, to play Tennessee football, now's the time. Now is the time, if I'm looking you in the eye, I'm talking to you. Now is the time. Believe it. Go take what you want."

Didn't seem to have much effect early. In a game that the CBS halftime studio crew called "unwatchable", Alabama got a field goal to end the first quarter, and the defenses dominated while the offenses played sloppy football for most of the first half. Alabama drove down to 1st and goal at the 2 late in the second quarter, but were denied three straight times, twice on tremendous individual efforts by Robert Peace, making a last-ditch solo tackle on Shaud Williams on second down, and sacking Brodie Croyle on third. When Bama went for the field goal, Jason Allen blocked it to erase the scoring threat. Casey Clausen finally got uncorked, hitting James Banks down the right sideline to set up a James Wilhoit field goal that looked like it would send the game to the locker room tied 3-3. But Brodie Croyle went long to put Brian Bostick in range, and his kick gave Bama the lead back, 6-3 at the break.

But Tennessee's offensive ineptitude wouldn't last forever. Driving to the Bama 25 on the opening possession of the second half, and facing 3rd down, Randy Sanders went into the playbook and inserted James Banks at quarterback in the shotgun, calling a QB draw that shredded the Alabama defense and gave the Vols a 10-6 lead. When Brodie Croyle immediately fired an interception to Corey Campbell, it looked like the floodgates were about to open. The Vols would get only three points, however, and on the very next Alabama drive, Croyle found Triandous Luke behind two Vol defenders for a 41 yard TD strike to tie the game at 13-13.

Midway through the 4th, Alabama moved to a first and goal situation again, this time from the five. After Shaud Williams was stuffed and Croyle fired incomplete, Williams pushed the ball to the one yard line with under 8:00 to play. On 4th and goal from the one, the Tide went for it, and Shaud Williams met Parys Haralson one on one. Haralson won, and Alabama had been turned away from the one yard line twice.

But again, just as it seemed Tennessee had seized all the momentum, the Vols fumbled (one of three on the day) and Alabama had the ball right back in great field position. So when Ray Hudson finally plunged in from the five, the Bryant-Denney Stadium crowd released three and a half quarters of frustration. Alabama led 20-13 with 4:47 left, then increased the fury by stopping the Vols 3 and out. Fulmer had no choice but to punt it away and put the game in the hands of the Vol defense.

Alabama got the ball at their own 27 yard line with 3:00 to play, and after a penalty had a 1st and 2 situation that seemed to doom the Vols. But again, Alabama could not pick up the short yardage, and when Dominique Stevenson popped Shaud Williams on 3rd and 2 (and Alabama got a bad spot), Bama faced 4th and inches with 2:00 to play. Given the past success in that situation, Mike Shula chose to punt the ball back to Tennessee, where the Vols took over from the 13 yard line.

Witness the greatness of Casey Clausen. On first down, Clausen went to James Banks for 14 yards and a first down. Next play, Clausen goes to Chris Hannon upfield into Alabama territory. Then Clausen found Troy Fleming wide open down the Alabama sideline, inside the 25 yard line. Then Clausen went on the quick out to Mark Jones, who broke multiple tackles in moving the ball to the Alabama 2. 85 yards in 7 plays, in the most hostile of environments, and less than one minute off the clock. For the final two yards, the Vols faked Jabari Davis over the top and flipped it to a wide open Troy Fleming.

But the quickness and efficiency of the drive almost came back to bite the Vols, when Tyrone Prothro returned the kickoff 38 yards and then got another 15 on a facemask to give Brian Bostick a 45 yard attempt with :04 left. The Alabama fans sitting in front of us in the upper deck turned around and said, "you've got nothing to worry about." He was right - the kick was partially blocked, and the game went to overtime.

In the first stanza, Clausen hit Derrick Tinsley, who held on to the ball in traffic for the score. The momentum meter was just getting warmed up, because just when the Vols forced a 4th and goal at the 6 and all signs pointed to victory, Croyle found Dre Fulgham, who made a great catch, and the score was tied 27-27.

With players on both sides sucking wind, Alabama rotated Tim Castille into the backfield, who went 15 yards into the Vol D for a score to give the Tide all the energy and a 34-27 lead. Then, when the Tide sacked Clausen and then forced an incompletion, the Vols had 4th and 19 at the 34 yard line. During the timeout, the Rammer Jammer was going strong and I was thinking about the coaching staff casualties of three straight losses, and how this 3-5 Alabama team had found a way to beat the Vols the way Gene Stallings used to get it done.

But - like far too many Vol fans - we forgot about Clausen. And apparently no one watches enough film to know that we're going to spread the field and then send the slot receiver dragging across the middle at about 15 yards on these 4th and long plays, because we do it all the time and it works with alarming frequency. CJ Fayton was way, way too open for 4th and 19, and got the first down and then some. Momentum: swing.

Clausen then fired a pass for Mark Jones that was tipped by an Alabama linebacker, tipped by Jones, and caught by James Banks in the back of the end zone. 34-34, we play on. Another film that opposing teams might want to pop in is any UT overtime game, because you'll often see the tendency to go for the throat on the first play of a possession once we've gotten past the second overtime. On this night, Clausen went to Banks down the left side for a score on the first play of the 3rd OT. The Vols could not convert the two, and Shaud Williams returned to the Alabama lineup much faster than the Vol defense, slashing in from 15 yards out untouched. On the night, the Bama workhorse ran 40 times for 167 yards. And much like the winning streaks in this great rivalry, the momentum went back and forth again; after the Vols had gone through all that in the second overtime, Alabama was one two point conversion away from victory. But Jabari Greer stepped in front of one for an end zone pick...and away we went to the 4th OT.

One of my favorite memories, by the way, started happening at this point. With Kory, Amy and myself sitting high above the field in the upper deck, Bobbitt had moved from his ticketed seat there in the Tennessee section, down onto the concourse above the Alabama student section. But we could see each other, and during the breaks between overtimes, we'd kinda give each other a look and then a shrug of the shoulders, like "well, I guess we'll just keep playing..."

Two almost-blocked field goals rang true for both teams in the 4th OT, sending the game to #5 tied at 43-43. The Vols had the ball first, and finally decided to go into their own stable of running backs, calling on Corey Larkins who made three big runs to the Alabama 5. From there, Clausen tried to bootleg and dove for the pylon, and came dangerously close to fumbling the ball through the end zone...which, as Corey Anderson found out in 2005, is not what you want to do at the Alabama one yard line with the game on the line. But Clausen would get his due on the next play, sneaking in for the TD. This time, the Vols got the two on the fade to James Banks in the corner of the end zone. Banks had a sensational night, with 7 catches for 103 yards to go along with his 25 yard TD run. Most importantly, the Vols grabbed the elusive eight point overtime lead, meaning that the best Alabama's offense could do was send the game to a sixth overtime. And you could feel the air start to go out of the balloon, as the drained Bama faithful got a little bit quieter...

Alabama ran three times to open its 5th OT possession, but was still two yards short of a first down. You cannot say enough about Tennessee's short yardage defense in this game, simply outstanding for sixty minutes and another five overtimes. Facing 4th and 2, and with the Vols stacking eight in the box, Brodie Croyle tried to go back to Dre Fulgham on the fade. It didn't really matter that Jason Allen knocked it away, as Croyle put too much on it and Fulgham was forced out of bounds to even try to make the play. And just like that, it was over. Five overtimes, lots of emotion, 94 combined points - easily the highest scoring game in this rivalry - but in the end, Tennessee had won the longest Third Saturday, 51-43.

Casey Clausen finished 23 of 43, 283 yards with 4 TDs and 0 INTs. Brodie Croyle was equally impressive, 21 of 38 for 215 and 2 TDs. Alabama ran the ball 61 times for 258 yards, but could never convert the short yardage when they needed it the most. This was a draining, trying loss for Alabama to take, as the Tide fell to 3-6, and Mike Shula - and many Bama fans, to their credit - could only commend the effort of both teams. Tennessee, meanwhile, had really saved their season in a memorable way, something that would carry them along the way to victory at Miami two weeks later. The Vols would go on to finish the regular season 10-2 and rose to #6 in the polls before losing to Clemson in the Peach Bowl.

Regardless of the outcome of either season, this game will forever be written in the history of the Third Saturday of October as a true classic. The Arkansas game had more overtimes and arguably more drama, but this was simply better because it was them and us, the Vols and Tide, waging war regardless of the records to the very end, the way it's supposed to be. I remember giving Bobbitt a big hug as soon as I saw him in the postgame, because it felt like Alabama deserved one. And that's what makes this rivalry most special - because you'll never see me with enough respect to hug a Florida fan - but there's only one Alabama. There's only one Third Saturday.

Bruce Pearl - Year Two

The Vols released their 2006-07 Basketball schedule today, and my what a difference a year makes. Last year the Vols were MIA on television for most of the campaign. This year, how about 18 televised contests. That's great news for those of us no longer living in K-Town. The Vols will play the always-difficult 16 game SEC slate, but they get LSU and Alabama in Knoxville from the Western Division this year. The schedule also sends the Vols to Lexington and Gainesville in a seven day span, with a midweek home date against Georgia sandwiched in between. The Vols will catch both UK and UF in Knoxville on the second of the two regular season contests, which I always enjoy more. TBA will also be rocking in the non-conference world this year, as both Memphis and Texas come to Knoxville. The Vols return the neutral-site favor with Oklahoma State in Nashville, travel to Columbus to take on Ohio State, and play in the Preseason NIT in a loaded field with UNC, Gonzaga, Indiana, and Notre Dame among others. The SEC Tournament is in Atlanta this year - coincidentally, so is the Final Four.

So here's a basketball breath of fresh air before we get back into full football mode:

note: JP Sports is now Lincoln Financial (LF)

2006-07 Tennessee Basketball Schedule
11/10 - MTSU
11/13 - Fordham (Preseason NIT - Nashville, TN) (ESPNU)
11/14 - Belmont or UNC-Wilmington (Preseason NIT - Nashville, TN)
11/19 - Coppin State
11/22 - Preseason NIT Semifinals (New York, NY) (ESPN)
11/24 - Preseason NIT Championship/Consolation (New York, NY) (ESPN)
11/27 - at Louisiana-Lafayette
12/01 - Murray State
12/06 - Memphis (ESPN2)
12/16 - Western Kentucky
12/18 - Oklahoma State (Nashville, TN) (ESPN2)
12/23 - Texas (ESPN)
12/28 - Tennessee Tech
12/30 - ETSU
01/07 - Mississippi State (LF)
01/10 - at Vanderbilt
01/13 - at Ohio State (CBS)
01/17 - at Auburn (LF)
01/20 - South Carolina
01/24 - at Ole Miss
01/28 - at Kentucky (CBS)
01/31 - Georgia
02/03 - at Florida (LF)
02/06 - LSU (ESPN)
02/10 - Vanderbilt (LF)
02/13 - Kentucky (ESPN)
02/17 - at South Carolina (CBS)
02/21 - Alabama (LF)
02/24 - at Arkansas (LF)
02/27 - Florida (ESPN)
03/03 - at Georgia
03/08 - SEC Tournament begins (Atlanta, GA)
03/15 - NCAA Tournament begnis

The 50 Best Vol Games 1989-2005: 20-16

(Note: So I had typed up this whole big thing for all five of these games, went to copy and paste it, and accidentally deleted the entire thing and couldn't recover it on here. So, in my anger, you'll get an abbreviated version today. Sorry.)

20. 1998: #4 Tennessee 22 - #7 Georgia 3 (Athens, GA)
The undefeated Vols were six point underdogs at Georgia, without Jamal Lewis and facing young Quincy Carter, who was 34 of 37 the previous week in a win at LSU. The Vols forced 4 turnovers, held Carter to 14 of 37 passing, held Georgia to 59 yards rushing, got 160 yards from Travis Henry & Travis Stephens in their first real playing time, and used second half TDs to Cedrick Wilson and Peerless Price for a dominating victory, which moved the Vols from lucky to good in the national perspective in 1998.

19. 1998: #10 Tennessee 34 - #17 Syracuse 33 (Syracuse, NY)
In the season opener, what would become one of Tennessee's best all-time defenses was dominated by Donovan McNabb (22 of 28, 300 yards). The Vols led 24-13 early in the 4th, then watched Syracuse rally to take a 27-24 lead. When Tee Martin, in his first start, responded with a 55 yard scramble on 3rd and 10, then found Peerless Price, the Vols would retake the lead. Syracuse added two field goals - one after a Martin fumle - to make it 33-31. The Vols needed a pass interference call - which was the correct call, only sometimes officials hesitate in such a bang-bang situation - to keep the final drive alive, which culminated in Jeff Hall's 27 yard field goal. The beginning.

18. 2003: #18 Tennessee 10 - #6 Miami 6 (Coral Gables, FL)
Given no chance, the Vols forced three turnovers from Brock Berlin, including two in the 4th quarter. Tennessee scored the game's only touchdown on 4th and goal from the 2 late in the second quarter by going to Derrick Tinsley on the end around, then held on thanks to a Jason Mitchell strip, a Gibril Wilson interception, and Tinsley recovering a fumbled punt to hand Miami its first home loss of the millenium.

17. 1990: #10 Tennessee 23 - Virginia 22 (Sugar Bowl)
With the Sugar Bowl as the promised land in 1990, the SEC Champion Vols faced a Virginia team that was 7-0 in late October, then saw QB Shawn Moore get hurt and lose three of their final four. Moore returned for the Sugar Bowl to join RB Terry Kirby and WR Herman Moore for an explosive offense that led 16-0 at halftime and 16-3 going to the 4th quarter. Floyd Miley got an interception at the UT 9 to spark the 4th quarter rally. Andy Kelly etched his name in stone in UT history, going 14 of 18 in the 4th quarter and leading three touchdown drives, trading off with UVA field goals. The final drive came with 2:31 on the clock and went 75 yards, culminating in Tony Thompson going over the top for the win.

16. 2002: #10 Tennessee 41 - Arkansas 38 (6 OT) (Knoxville, TN)
Jabari Davis broke off a 58 yard run to give the Vols a 17-3 lead in the 3rd quarter, but Arkansas scored two late touchdowns - including a 92 yard pass on busted coverage - to force OT. After trading field goals in the first extra period, Vol kicker Phillip Newman had his second OT kick partially deflected, but it still limped over the crossbar. In the 3rd OT, the Vols again tried to give it away when Derrick Tinsley fumbled, but the Hogs missed a 38 yarder and we played on. In both the 4th and 5th OTs, both teams scored touchdowns but could not convert the two. Finally, well after midnight, after Arkansas settled for a field goal in its sixth overtime, Casey Clausen hit Jason Witten on play number one to end it. The longest game in Tennessee Football history.

The 50 Best Vol Games 1989-2005: 25-21

Here we go with the Top 25...

25. 2001: #8 Tennessee 45 - #17 Michigan 17 (Citrus Bowl)
Under any other circumstances, this matchup would've been ridiculously anticipated and sold out from Knoxville to Ann Arbor. In reality, the Vols had just been from the top of the mountain to the bottom of the valley in seven days, from beating Florida in The Swamp for the first time in 30 years to move to #2 in the polls, to losing their shot at the National Championship to a battered LSU team in the second half in Atlanta in only seven days. So even this mouth-watering matchup with Charles Woodson's alma mater didn't seem like much reward. Even on the morning of January 1, I can remember thinking about the upcoming Miami-Nebraska Rose Bowl, or thinking about watching LSU in the Sugar Bowl, and felt sick. Then the telecast came on, and ABC opened with a shot of a Michigan fan holding up a sign that said something to the effect of "WOODSON: BETTER THEN, BETTER NOW." And I was ready. And good grief, so were the Vols. After taking a 3-0 lead on the opening drive, John Henderson recovered a John Navarre fumble, and the Casey Clausen tour de force was on. He tossed his first of two TDs to Kelley Washington to make it 10-0. Next drive, Clausen to Donte' Stallworth to the one yard line, where #7 snuck it in on the following play. When Michigan scored to make it 17-7, the Vols squashed the momentum with another Stallworth catch at the one and another Clausen TD run to make it 24-7. If the Wolverines wanted momentum after halftime, a 64 yard TD to Jason Witten killed it. Next drive, Clausen to Kelley Washington on a screen pass, and K-Dub went 37 yards to make it 38-7. Next Michigan drive, Navarre is picked off by Jabari Greer, Travis Stephens scores, and the Vols lead 45-7 in the third quarter. Dogs were called off, Michigan scored 10 points on the scrubs for the final score - but sweet Lord, this was the ultimate woodshed job. And it only gets more satisfying with time. Clausen went 26 of 34 for 393 yards - statistically, the best game of his UT career. This being the only meeting between these two proud institutions, the bragging rights are 110% in Knoxville. Hail to the victors.

24. 1995: #8 Tennessee 30 - Georgia 27 (Knoxville, TN)
If this list were highlighting the most exciting, closest or well played (on both sides) games since 1989, this one would be in the Top 5 easily. With Peyton Manning entering his first season as the definitive Vol starting quarterback, Georgia came to Knoxville with a very talented, very hungry football team, featuring young Mike Bobo at quarterback, Robert Edwards at tailback, and an underrated defense. Georgia took the opening kickoff and went 80 yards against the Vol defense for a 7-0 lead. Tennessee went 80 yards on their opening drive, capped by an 8 yard scramble from Manning (the longest eight yards in the history of Tennessee football). Manning's first TD pass put the Vols on top 14-7 in the second quarter, but the first half story was Robert Edwards. The Georgia tailback dominated the Vol D in a way I haven't seen any opposing running back do, and it's not even close. Edwards had 125+ yards in the first half...then broke his leg and was lost for the rest of the game and the season. And with that, everything changed. The Vol D had open season on Mike Bobo for the second half, and Georgia was slowed. Still, the Dawgs had managed - thanks to an untimely Manning interception - a 24-20 lead late in the 3rd quarter. Manning hit Joey Kent from 21 yards out with :30 left in the third to put the Vols back ahead 27-24. Another Vol turnover gave Georgia's offense one more chance - the Dawgs drove into the red zone but could not punch it in, settling for a tying field goal at 27-27 with just over 2:00 to play. In 1995, there was no such thing as overtime, so the downfield march of the Vols was absolutely critical. With 90 seconds to play from their own 30, David Cutcliffe called the screen pass, and Jay Graham picked up 35 yards to get closer. Tennessee would eventually move to the 15, with :15 to play and faced with 4th down. At this point, the greatest kicker in Tennessee history was arguably John Becksvoort, who'd just graduated. So on marches true freshman Jeff Hall, from 32 yards out, to save a win. And Hall couldn't have hit it more true.

23. 1992: #20 Tennessee 34 - #14 Georgia 31 (Athens, GA)
One better in the exciting games list was this contest, the first SEC contest under the new divisional format in 1992, meaning the Tennessee-Georgia game/rivalry had become tremendously important overnight. Andy Kelly had graduated, leaving the reigns to Heath Shuler. Johnny Majors had been in the hospital, leaving Phil Fulmer to lead the troops in the interim. With or without Majors, this was supposed to be a rebuilding year. Traveling to Athens for game two (and unveiling the all-white road uniforms for the first time), the Vols were heavy, heavy underdogs (two touchdowns) against an absolutely loaded Georgia team that featured Eric Zeier, Garrison Hearst, and Andre Hastings. Georgia fumbled the opening kickoff, the Vols recovered but could not get a TD, settling for a field goal. The two teams then traded kicks before Georgia scored to make it 10-6. When the Vols got a late second quarter touchdown and what looked like momentum, Hastings hauled in a bomb from Zeier to put Georgia on top 17-13 going to the locker room, and it looked like any chance of stealing a win just went out the door. Instead, the Vols opened the second half with fire, scoring two third quarter touchdowns and opening up a 27-17 lead. Back came Georgia's high powered offense, with two Hearst TDs, and the Dawgs were back in front 31-27. Heath Shuler had been running and passing, and had taken some licks from the UGA defense already. He would finish the day as the team's leading rusher - quite a feat on a team with James Stewart, Aaron Hayden, Charlier Garner and Mose Phillips - but it would be his young arm that needed to come through on 4th and 13 at the UGA 40 with 2:15 to play. Shuler found Ronald Davis for 18 yards and the first down, and would run it in himself for the go ahead a few plays later. Georgia wasn't finished - with time outs and two first downs, they needed a field goal to tie. But the Dawgs fumbled and Tennessee recovered, sealing the victory and gaining national respect for Shuler, the team, and Fulmer.

22. 1990: #5 Tennessee 45 - #9 Florida 3 (Knoxville, TN)
For those of you who might be too young to remember, or weren't following back then, I'm truly sorry for you - because I doubt you'll ever get this kind of chance with the Gators again. In year one of the Steve Spurrier administration in Gainesville, the Gators came to Knoxville to face a Tennessee team that had, in five previous games, played eventual National Champion and then #5 Colorado to a 31-31 tie in the first ever Pigskin Classic, then won three straight, then tied #3 Auburn on The Plains 26-26. So the Vols were in the Top 5 and had a record of 3-0-2 - very strange to say the least. The Auburn game had ended poorly, with the Vols blowing a 26-9 4th quarter lead and then missing a game-winning field goal. Bad tastes abounded. So after an off week, and with ESPN in town on my 9th birthday, the Vols needed to feel better about themselves. The first half didn't really do it - the Vols led 7-3 at halftime. But Dale Carter changed all that on the second half kickoff, racing it back 90 yards. Floodgates: open. On the next UT drive, Tony Thompson ran it in from 23 yards out. On the next UT drive, the Vols ran a trick play, using a tight end on the end around who passed to a wide open Carl Pickens. On the next Florida drive, the Vols intercepted Shane Matthews and ran it back for a TD. Bang, bang, bang, bang, 28 points in the 3rd quarter, and suddenly it was 35-3. Dale Carter also netted two interceptions, and the Vols even ran up the score a little bit - something that Spurrier was fond of reminding people of in years to come - en route to 38 straight points in the second half and a 45-3 victory. Happy Birthday to me.

21. 1998: #3 Tennessee 35 - Alabama 18 (Knoxville, TN)
The National Championship season included a memorable victory over the Crimson Tide in Knoxville. Bama was struggling in 98 but had a young running back named Shaun Alexander who was making some noise. Tennessee opened a 14-3 lead behind Tee Martin and Travis Henry early, but couldn't pull away. In the third quarter, Alexander went right through the middle of the Tennessee defense for a long TD, Bama got the two, and suddenly it was 14-11. And if there was anybody who wanted to end Tennessee's undefeated season, it was these guys. Enter Peerless Price. Returning kicks for the first time all year, Price raced 100 yards back down the sideline to end the threat. Tennessee scored on its next two drives, again behind Martin and Henry, and put the Tide away 35-18. Always fond to look back on beating Alabama in your most memorable season.

The 50 Best Vol Games 1989-2005: 30-26

Today, we keep it old school for three in a row (read on for some history if you weren't following back then), then close with something more recent as we finish the first half of the countdown and move towards the Top 25...

(note: pictures are not working on Blogger right now, so I went ahead and posted it - will try to add later)

30. 1989: Tennessee 24 - #6 UCLA 6 (Pasadena, CA)
If you're looking for the genesis of the "modern era", here it is. Some background information: when Johnny Majors took over the Vol program in 1977, the Vols hadn't won the SEC since 1969, and hadn't fielded a 9+ win team since 1972 (those were back in the Phil Fulmer/Gaylon Hill offensive line days). Majors came in and suffered through a 4-7 campaign in his first season, the worst record in Tennessee football history. In his early tenure, the Vols continued a losing streak to Alabama which eventually mounted to 11 consecutive defeats, and the Vols had two separate four year periods of not being ranked at all. The beloved 1985 season is compared by many to Bruce Pearl's first year, because it was completely unexpected and came on the heels of all of this. After winning the SEC in 1985, the Vols also posted 10 wins in 1987 and won the Peach Bowl. But in 1988, the team started the season ranked 18th...and then lost its first six games. The Vols would rebound to finish 5-6, but outside of the miracle 85 season, any glimmer of hope of building a nationally competitive program in Knoxville seemed lost. So when the Vols opened the 1989 season, expectations were low and the Vols were unranked. In the season opener, the Vols beat Colorado State 17-14 thanks to a failed 4th down conversion on CSU's final drive. You get the idea. So the following week, Tennessee travels to #6 UCLA. It's a pay per view contest and a west coast night game, meaning the kickoff in Knoxville falls around 10:30 PM. I had to beg my parents to let me stay awake, and I remember my dad's sentiment being something like "we'll let him stay awake until UCLA opens up a big enough lead." And what happened next started all the success we enjoy. On the Bruins' opening drive, they had a 4th and inches at midfield, decided to go for it, and didn't make it...and everything changed. With Sterling Henton playing quarterback and Reggie Cobb out for the game, a young freshman named Chuck Webb was given the reigns. He responded with touchdowns on the Vols' first two possessions, and Tennessee would never look back. Webb finished with 134 yards and would begin to write his name into UT lore. Sterling Henton - who would lose his job to Andy Kelly's passing abilities in the coming weeks - played his best game as a Vol and ran for a score. The Vol defense simply dominated UCLA's offense, which fell behind and couldn't rely on the ground attack. The game wasn't over until after 1:00 AM, but when it was finished, the Vols had shocked UCLA 24-6, and suddenly Tennessee was making national noise. This is where it started, after midnight in the Rose Bowl.

29. 1989: #12 Tennessee 21 - #4 Auburn 14 (Knoxville, TN)
And this is where you knew it was real. A win over Duke and an open date after beating UCLA, and the Vols were suddenly ranked 12th. And back in these days, let me tell you, Auburn was a big, big deal. There was no Florida, there was no Georgia - the Vols didn't play those teams every year. Alabama has always been the crown jewel, but Auburn was the red-headed stepchild rivalry for both schools. You can still find t-shirts that read "The Only Thing Alabama & Auburn Fans Agree On: Nothing Sucks Like a Big Orange." The rivalry had been kicked up another notch in 1985 when Auburn was #1 and came to Knoxville with Bo Jackson, only to be throttled by the unranked Vols 38-20. Since then, Auburn won in 86, we tied in 87, and Auburn smoked the Vols 38-6 in 1988. In a downpour at Neyland Stadium, Tennessee got 14 points the hard way early: twice, the Auburn punter mishandled the snap deep in his own territory for two safeties. A field goal and touchdown later, the Vols were in business. The CobbWebb attack was born on this day. With Reggie Cobb fully healthy (and playing in what would be his next to last game as a Vol before being kicked off for substance abuse), he led the charge with some of the most impressive highlight reel runs I've ever seen. Cobb finished the day with 225 yards against a great Auburn defense. Auburn's QB was Reggie Slack - and so the chant of "RE-GGIE! RE-GGIE!" RE-GGIE!" alternated between Vol and Tiger sections throughout the game. When Reggie Slack fired a bomb to tie the score in the 4th quarter at 14, Andy Kelly responded by launching one to freshman Carl Pickens. The win moved Tennessee into the Top 10, where they would peak at #6 before losing to Alabama (when playing without Reggie Cobb for the first time). The Vols wouldn't lose again, finishing the season 11-1, SEC Champions, and ranked 5th.

28. 1991: #5 Tennessee 30 - #13 Auburn 21 (Knoxville, TN)
Two years later, and imagine if they suddenly said "hey, Tennessee and Florida, you're not going to play each other every year anymore. In fact, you'll only see each other twice in a decade from now on." That's what this was like back in 91, when the upcoming divisional format was announced, meaning the Vols and Tigers wouldn't play again until 1998 (or so we thought at the time; the two schools would meet a year earlier in Atlanta). So everyone in the stadium wanted this one badly, especially after the 26-26 tie on The Plains the year earlier. This game was the Andy Kelly and Carl Pickens show. Kelly would finish with 355 yards and 3 TDs, with 172 yards and 2 of them going to Pickens, who - as perhaps the most effective trash talker in UT history - pointed at the Auburn DBs three steps behind him all game long. Every time Auburn would get close in the second half, the Vols scored again. A tremendous, taking-it-away-from-the-receiver interception by Dale Carter helped keep the Vols ahead. The feeling of celebration and closure at the end of this one was incredible, and I would've hated to lose this game. Auburn still stands as the only other SEC school besides Alabama to own a winning record over Tennessee. I miss these guys.

27. 2004: #15 Tennessee 38 - #22 Texas A&M 7 (Cotton Bowl)
The wild ride of the 2004 season had taken a late turn southward, between Erik Ainge's injury and the subsequent loss to Notre Dame, and a hard fought loss in the SEC Championship to the undefeated Auburn Tigers. Having lost two consecutive Peach Bowls before this one, this program badly needed a good taste in its mouth. With Rick Clausen at the helm, no one was expecting much more than a grind it out performance against an explosive A&M offense, and the hope that we could pull it out with defense and the running game. What happened instead was the last time in a long time that the Vols have simply dominated a good opponent. Everybody played well, sparked by the Vol defense that created turnovers from Reggie McNeal and others, early and often. Justin Harrell's work would earn him the Defensive MVP honors, and while Gerald Riggs ran for 102 yards, it would be Clausen who earned Offensive MVP awards for leading this team to victory. Beating Dennis Franchoine was an added bonus, but this win made everybody feel good about the 04 season, and drove expectations to new hights for the 05 campaign...

26. 2003: #12 Tennessee 24 - #17 Florida 10 (Gainesville, FL)
The wild ride of the Vols-Gators rivalry had seen some classic moments since the Vols turned the series around in 1998. Since then, Tennessee had picked up its only additional victory in 2001, its first in Gainesville in 30 years. When it looked like the Vols were ready to take control of the series in the post-Spurrier era, Florida shocked Tennessee 30-13 in a Knoxville downpour in Ron Zook's first year. So returning to The Swamp in 2003, the Florida fans were eager to take a bite out of Casey Clausen and the Vols, still rebounding from a shaky 8-5 2002 season. Many Florida players expressed their displeasure at "Mr. Clausen directing the band" after the 01 win at The Swamp. But Florida's early bite was reduced, thanks to a heartbreaking loss to Miami to open the season. The Vols were 2-0, but that was against Fresno State and Marshall, and those weren't all that pretty. So at high noon from Gainesville, no one really knew what to expect. In watching the 03 DVD again this morning, the sweat was working on Fulmer in the pregame speech. Casey Clausen was 10-0 on the road at this point, but both defenses would make all the plays in the first half. The largest crowd in Florida history witnessed physical football early as the Gators rotated quarterbacks Ingle Martin and Chris Leak and took a 3-0 lead. Chris Leak was baptized by fire by the Vol D early on, sacked by Kevin Simon in the first quarter. Mark Jones made a diving interception on an out pattern with the Gators approaching the red zone to end another drive. Brandon Johnson stripped the ball loose on another drive in the second quarter. In the first half, the Gators moved the ball inside the Tennessee 35 4 times, and got only 3 points. Tennessee took over at their own 40 with :16 left in the first half, got 15 yards from Cedric Houston on the screen pass, and then went to the roseary. You see the hail mary work sometimes on SportsCenter, but never with the Vols...until this. A teardrop into a crowd of 8 people was tipped once and fell right into the hands of James Banks, changing everything about the game. Parys Haralson picked up a sack to end Florida's first drive of the half. Playing now without an injured Cedric Houston, more pressure fell to Clausen, who picked up a first on a 4th and 1 QB sneak, then scrambled for 11 yards ("He runs like a gazelle!" - Bobbitt) on 3rd and 2 for another first down. This set up James Wilhoit from 51 yards to push the lead to 10-3. Florida stalled again (this drive featuring Rashad Baker doing pushups on field after dropping an INT), setting up Clausen to freshman Bret Smith for 55 yards to the one. Jabari Davis (6 TDs in The Swamp in 2 games) punched it in from there, and suddenly the Vols were up 14 with only a minute left in the 3rd. Florida scored early in the 4th to make it 17-10. With James Banks, Tony Brown, and Mark Jones drawing most of the heat from Florida DBs, Clausen found the then-young Jayson Swain and Chris Hannon to move the drive into Gator territory. Jabari Davis scored once more from the 9 to make it 24-10 with 8:40 remaining. Florida moved inside the 35 again, and Jason Allen got away with a bigtime pass interference no-call to score an interception. When the Vols turned it back over, the defense held on 4th down to secure the victory. An outstanding team victory.

Up next...the Top 25.

The 50 Best Vol Games 1989-2005: 35-31

35. 2001: #7 Tennessee 28 - Notre Dame 18 (South Bend, IN)
2001 might rank second behind 1998 as the most memorable individual season, as it simply seemed like the Vols played a big game every single week. For this list, both 1998 and 2001 have seven games in the Top 50, and you'll see 3 from '01 today. This one, the trip to South Bend, was coming on the heels of two hard fought SEC battles, and fans worried about a letdown. In ankle-deep grass on a November day in Indiana, it seemed like Touchdown Jesus was again smiling on the Vols early on. In the first quarter alone, Constantin Ritzmann recovered an Arnaz Battle fumble on the one yard line going in, and then Julian Battle converted a fumble on a great play and rumbled 81 yards for a defensive touchdown. That would be all the Vols could manage in the first half, taking a 7-3 lead into the locker room. 90 seconds into the second half, the Irish D struck back, tipping and intercepting a Clausen pass and racing it back to the house for a 10-7 lead. Notre Dame's defense also effectively ended the the dark horse Heisman campaign of Travis Stephens, holding the Vol senior to 63 yards on 24 carries. But Stephens' punch into the end zone in the third quarter gave Tennessee the lead back. With the Vols leading 21-10 in the 4th, Notre Dame scored and converted the two, and we had a ballgame. But Casey Clausen refused to be denied, and led a gritty drive downfield, capping it off himself with a John Elway-esque dive for the score. On Notre Dame's ensuing drive, John Henderson got a hand on the football and Dominique Stevenson was there to intercept and secure the victory, 28-18. It was Tennessee's 4th victory over the Irish, in a series that today stands tied at 4 apiece.

34. 1999: #6 Tennessee 37 - #10 Georgia 20 (Knoxville, TN)
Here we go again: Georgia is undefeated, people are talking, this is there year, and Tennessee is in their way. The Vols had lost to Florida but had rebounded well in a shutout over Auburn, but Georgia was not Auburn. This one had all the makings of a classic...right up until kickoff. Then the Vols got nasty. The offense shared the wealth, with everyone making big play after big play. In what seemed like the blink of an eye, the Vols had opened a 30-7 lead on Georgia, behind touchdowns from Tee Martin, Jamal Lewis, Travis Henry, and Cedrick Wilson. The defense made life miserable on Quincy Carter, sacking him six times and cutting the life out of the Georgia offense. When the Vols put in the second team in the 4th, Georgia scored a TD, got a turnover, and scored again, and suddenly the lead was 30-20, and there was barking. Enter Leonard Scott. Scott - who, to my surprise, ranks second all-time in kick return yardage behind the great Willie Gault in UT history - became the 4th Vol in history to take a kickoff back 100 yards for the backbreaker. ESPN's Ron Franklin: "Tennessee didn't just beat Georgia in 1999, they humiliated them." This was the final chapter of eleven great years of dominace over the Dawgs, and the third time in three tries that Tennessee had not only ended Georgia's unbeaten season, but left no doubts about it in the process.

33. 1996: #2 Tennessee 35 - UCLA 20 (Knoxville, TN)
Following the 11-1 1995 campaign, the Vols opened the 96 season ranked #2 in the nation, on the cover of Sports Illustrated, picked #1 by several preseason publications, and seemed poised to take the precious final steps to the top of the mountain. CBS had just been awarded the SEC telecast rights, and this was their debut game in primetime. Neyland Stadium had just been expanded by adding the upper deck in the north end zone. So while the Vols' season opening dismantling of UNLV was nice, this was the first big game in the newly-renovated stadium with the Vols ready for a magical season. And while all of that would come crashing down the following week against Florida, this one was fun. Peyton Manning vs. Cade McNown on a muggy night in Knoxville, and the Vols were hot early, opening up a 14-3 lead and then getting a key interception before halftime to help stretch the lead to 21-3. Manning returned the favor with an INT of his own to spark a Bruins rally, and late in the 3rd UCLA had cut the lead to 21-13 with the ball. When the defense held, UCLA was forced to punt, and Terry Fair took over, racing the kick back for a score. When McNown and the UCLA offense answered in the 4th to cut the lead to 28-20, Peyton Manning made one of the best plays of his career on the ensuing drive, executing the hitch-and-go to Joey Kent, and watching the defensive back bite and leave Kent open by almost 20 yards. That was enough to end the threat, and the Vols took the victory 35-20. The national excitement in the air on that night was tangible, and it wouldn't return - with a victory - for another two years.

32. 2001: #6 Tennessee 38 - Kentucky 35 (Lexington, KY)
"We can't be falling behind 21-0 to these guys." - Me. And right on cue, Jared Lorenzen hit tight end Chase Harp for a score, and midway through the second quarter, the Wildcats were unstoppable. Tennessee got a critical TD late in the half to Donte' Stallworth to cut the halftime lead to 21-7. In the second half, it was full go for 30 minutes for both passing attacks, as both defensive coordinators could only watch. First Casey Clausen and Kelley Washington connected from 49 yards out to make it 21-14. On the ensuing drive, J-Lo had a pass tipped at the line, picked off by DT Rashad Moore, who fumbled falling into the end zone, but Constantin Ritzmann recovered to tie the game. Kentucky came right back, as Lorenzen found Derek Abney (10 catches, 118 yards) to retake the lead 28-21. The 4th quarter was the Donte' Stallworth show, as the Vol junior simply ran past the tired Kentucky DBs for TDs of 23 and 38 yards, finally giving Tennessee the lead at 35-28. Not to be outdone, Lorenzen fired a 62 yard bomb, and the score was tied again with just over four minutes to play. For once in the second half, Tennessee could not find the end zone, and settled for an Alex Walls field goal from 44 yards with 2:49 remaining, giving the Vols a 38-35 lead...but everyone, including me, was thinking, "...that's way too much time." And we might've been right - Kentucky picked up back to back first downs and was another first down away from field goal range, when Chase Harp made a catch over the middle, moved inside the Vol 30, and then was stripped, and the Vols fell on the ball, breathing a gigantic sigh of relief along with everyone else in orange. What was tremendous about this game, aside from the offense, was the way that word spread around Lexington about Kentucky's 21-0 lead, and people started showing up to the game (especially students) just before halftime. Alas, it only made the heartbreak that much greater. That's okay, they're just a basketball school, right?

31. 2001: #7 Tennessee 26 - #14 LSU 18 (Knoxville, TN)
If not for the return engagement in December between these two teams - which stands uncontested as the most heartbreaking loss in Tennessee history in my opinion - this game would be much, much higher on the list. After both teams posted victories on September 8, the Vols were looking forward to the Gators and the Tigers to Auburn, which were to be the season-defining games for both teams. Three days later, everything changed. In the aftermath of September 11, the SEC played "will they or won't they" for 48 hours before finally deciding to reschedule the games of September 15. With both the Vols and Tigers having open dates the following week, and with both teams at 2-0 and fielding championship-caliber teams, this date was circled and built up for a fortnight, with everyone simply ready to get back to life and play football. The Tiger fans came from Baton Rouge en masse, and the National Anthem with both teams on the field was special on this night. When the game started, it looked like Tennessee was twice as rusty as the Tigers: first, Rohan "when did you get so big?" Davey found Michael Clayton 15 yards behind the Vol secondary for a 67 yard first quarter touchdown. When Casey Clausen was intercepted on the ensuing drive, LSU smelled blood. But Rashad Baker ended the threat with a red zone interception. The rest of the first half dragged out, with the Vols managing only two field goals to make it 7-6 at the break. And then, I truly believe the opening drive of the third quarter changed the course of the entire season for the Vols. At this point, Tennessee's offense was struggling, having scored only 13 in a downpour at Arkansas the previous game, without Donte' Stallworth, and trailing here. On the opening drive, the Vols benched Travis Stephens and went to Troy Fleming. And Fleming's one shining moment as a Vol was here, as the workhorse behind a 16 play, 82 yard, 9 minute drive that totally deflated the LSU defense and the visiting fans. Fleming carried 8 times for 42 yards on the drive, converting big third downs repeatedly. When Casey Clausen bootlegged in for the score, the Vols had a 12-7 lead. When Tennessee got the ball back the next time, two things had changed. One, Travis Stephens was re-inserted with a new outlook on the situation and pressure to perform - and perform he would, finishing with 94 yards on the day and going on to have the most productive season in Tennessee rushing history. And two, LSU's defense was now focused on stopping the run, freeing up a little-known elder statesman freshman wide receiver named Kelley Washington. Now, all the negative thoughts you have about K-Dub today, in 2006, I'll probably agree with. But on this night, "The Future" was just that, and I have rarely seen something like this. He was having a good night already when Clausen hit him across the middle, and he split the defense for a 70 yard touchdown. With a 19-7 lead there, the Kelley Washington show didn't stop. From that point on, Clausen locked in on #15, and there was nothing LSU could do about it. Washington finished with 11 catches for 256 yards (a school record that still stands), but his last one was most impressive. After the Vols went ahead 26-7, LSU got a touchdown, the 2 point conversion, then kicked a field goal with 3:12 remaining to make it a one possession game. The Vols needed to pick up first downs and run the clock out. LSU called a timeout on 3rd and long. And you, me, and everyone in the stadium knew exactly where the ball was going. And it simply didn't matter. Clausen hit Washington for 30 yards and a critical first down - 9 of Washington's 11 catches went for first downs - and the clocked ticked away. By the time the Tigers slowed the drive, there would be only :30 left and a failed hail mary to show for it, giving the Vols a hard fought victory. Forgotten as well is that the Vol defense held LaBrandon Toefield to 20 yards. With the Florida game postponed, this win here kept the Vols undefeated and moving up the polls - the Georgia game the following week, and the subsequent SEC Championship loss have made many people forget about this game, but it was certainly a big night in Knoxville.

Place Your Bets

The betting lines for college football are officially open...where you'll find the Vols as two-point favorites against California on opening night. Tennessee is ranked #23 in the preseason coaches poll, with the Golden Bears ranked #12, but both the fact that the Vols - coming off the 5-6 debacle - are ranked at all, and this opening line proves that this university still commands respect in the national picture, which is good. You can find the other opening-week lines in today's USA Today. The Vols will practice in pads for the first time today, and will scrimmage thrice before the Sept. 2 season opener.

25 days...

The Introspective Light of MySpace

This morning, the Knoxville News-Sentinel ran a story about Tennessee and other college athletes and their MySpace/Facebook pages. There is some noteworthy news here, when it deals with potential future recruting violations and other things of improper contact. However, some of the story deals with the content on the players' MySpace pages. What you'll find there, as you'd imagine, is a wide variety - and probably many of the same things you'll find on your own MySpace page, or among your friends'. There's some profanity, "inappropriate" jokes and/or videos from YouTube or others, some pictures of attractive women that leave little to the imagination, pop culture references (Scarface aplenty), you name it.

MySpace, of course, is essentially a method of personal expression. It's your page, you can do whatever you want with it. Short of pornography, anything goes. And I've never been convinced that that's a bad thing. This is America, we love our freedom of speech and expression, and it's your own page. You can put whatever you want on there.

Where the Knoxville News-Sentinel approached crossing a line is when they ran a list on their website of 44 Vol players' MySpace pages, with direct links to each individual personal page. Is it totally within their rights as a newspaper to do that? Probably. Was it right? Well, that's a whole lot of gray...

(In the interest of "journalistic integrity", here's the link)

Would many of the 44 University of Tennessee football players who had their MySpace pages posted this morning have done something differently on there if they had known the News-Sentinel was going to do that? Without question. But again, what you find is a slice of reality. What you see on someone's MySpace page - especially in the case of a student-athlete at a major university in a high profile sport - is probably a better representation, if not the best representation, of who that person really is that any casual fan will ever get to see.

Some of the comments on the newspaper's website have Vol fans - many of them older with no experience with MySpace at all - shocked at what they find, upset that something like this is allowed, and thinking that the players should know better. Are they more out of touch than they are right?

This is the continuing price you pay to wear the orange and white...or any colors of a university where football or basketball is god. When you, by your own choosing, sign up for MySpace and then represent/express yourself however you choose to, you're out there, wide open for anyone to see. MySpace does offer a feature where your profile cannot be viewed unless you choose to add that person as your friend first - an option I'm sure many of those 44 Vols wish they had chosen earlier. But reality is, you're still putting yourself out there, a digital representation of who you are.

When I was younger, people used to tease me about my undying allegiance to Peyton Manning. And along with the belief that he was the greatest quarterback in the history of college football was the notion I wanted to hold that Peyton was (and is) an outstanding, near-perfect individual. In my mind, he never got drunk. He never did drugs. He never cheated on his girlfriend. I needed him to be everything I wanted the starting quarterback at the University of Tennessee to be. When later Vol quarterbacks came around, and we were students at the university at the same time and you would hear rumors of who was at what party doing what, I still wanted to shrug that off and pretend I didn't hear it or even begin to entertain believing it.

Now, that's certainly not reality. Everybody is a human being, we all do incredibly stupid things. Often. That's real, that's life, that's okay. But I did think back to those Peyton Manning days this morning, wondering that if I was in middle school now with access to MySpace, wouldn't I be searching out for my favorite Vol players (or I could just use the News-Sentinel's handy list...)? And wouldn't I be surprised at what I saw? And a little bit disappointed?

Whether or not Little Jimmy from Sweetwater is looking up his favorite UT Vol on MySpace is a concern each player has to address with themselves individually. But I do know this: Charles Barkley - the potential future governor of the great state of Alabama - once said that he was not a role model. And that's another statement with a lot of gray. But the reality is that, when you choose to place yourself up there, when you choose to put on that jersey, you also (perhaps unknowingly) choose to put yourself in the spotlight. Everything is fair game, apparently. Even MySpace, a place for personal expression with no limitations, can become the headline story on a Monday morning. Whether that's right or wrong, that's reality.

And it's not just college athletes. People have been fired from their jobs because of something they posted in their own personal blog. In ministry, we share a spotlight of a different kind. Much like college athletics, teaching, or many other professions, when you choose to walk down this road, there are simply certain things that go with it that you cannot avoid, certain pedastals that you will stand on whether you want to be a role model or not. I've had ministry friends who've blogged on their own personal sites in direct opposition to the practices and teachings of the denomination that employs them. Having an opinion and passionate beliefs is one thing. Being smart about it is something else.

Even for me - and I enjoy MySpace - on my blog there, I wrote that something "really pisses me off" a few weeks ago. And on this blog, I posted yesterday about a "BS call" by a referee. Those are my words, that's a representation of who I am. And at the same time, as a pastor, if my phone rang this morning, and it was someone in the administration of my denomination saying "listen, we need to talk about some of the words in your blog", I wouldn't be 100% surprised.

We are who we are - those in ministry, college football players, whatever. And we represent ourselves as we choose to be represented. We put ourselves out there and show the world who we are. There's nothing wrong with MySpace, there's nothing wrong with personal expression. But the reality of life puts college athletes, and everyone, in the same penetrating light every day. And ultimately the choices we make become the people we are to the world.

The 50 Best Vol Games 1989-2005: 40-36

40. 1997: #3 Tennessee 17 - Vanderbilt 10 (Knoxville, TN)
Vanderbilt sighting! The final hurdle before the Vols could make their first trip to Atlanta was one of Woody Widenhoffer's best Commodore teams. Woody frustrated Peyton Manning better than any other defensive coordinator, and the Vols stuck to Jamal Lewis and his 196 yards for most of the day. It would still take another Manning bootleg late in the 4th to put the Vols ahead for good. Though we used to take wins over the Dores for granted, once the Vols finally put this game away, the celebration was on, giving Tennessee its first SEC Eastern Division title in six tries. Most of the memories here come from Manning leading the band after the game, and then random on-field interviews with Leonard Little and Manning over the PA. Peyton Manning: "We just wanna say thank you from the bottom of our hearts for coming out here and supporting us, now let's go to Atlanta and get Auburn, let's go baby!" Crowd: HUGE pop.

39. 2001: #11 Tennessee 35 - Alabama 24 (Tuscaloosa, AL)
There was a sick feeling in the gut of Vol nation that started from the last :44 of the Georgia game and carried over for another 13 days. But nothing cures what ails ya like beating Alabama. And when it's the seventh consecutive victory, and no one has ever done that before, it's that much sweeter. As Donte' Stallworth returned to the Vol lineup after breaking his wrist in the season opener, he took the Vol offense to another level, catching a TD pass on the opening drive. Leading 7-3 in the second quarter, Travis Stephens broke off a sick 60 yard TD run on a 3rd and 1. But the story of this game was Casey Clausen. I've never seen a quarterback play like this in a competitive game with Alabama: 21 of 28, 293 yards, 2 TDs. Clausen shared the wealth, hitting Stallworth with 5 for 80, Kelley Washington with 4 for 93, and Jason Witten with 7 for 91, dragging Alabama's defense along the way. The Vols piled up a ridiculous 480 yards of offense, but the game still wasn't on ice until the 4th. Alabama also had a solid offensive day, with Santonio Beard busting the Vol D for 141 yards. His TD on the final play of the third quarter gave Alabama a 24-21 lead. From there, Tennessee dominated the 4th quarter to perfection. Taking the kickoff, the Vols went on a 17 play, 84 yard drive, finishing with a Clausen TD. On Alabama's next drive, the Tide went three and out. After the punt, the Vols went 72 yards in 10 plays for another score. On Alabama's next drive, the Tide went three and out. The Alabama offense ran six plays in the 4th quarter. The Vols owned the last fifteen minutes, took the game, and capped off seven great Third Saturdays, something we'll probably never see again.

38. 1999: #5 Tennessee 21 - #10 Alabama 7 (Tuscaloosa, AL)
The last nationally meaningful Tennessee-Alabama game. The first time the game had been moved to Tuscaloosa from Birmingham, played on the campus of the University of Alabama. The Tide had suffered disappointing seasons in 1997 and 1998, but behind Shaun Alexander, Bama was national news and poised to make a run to the BCS. Alexander was a legitimate Heisman candidate, going against a Vol defense that was yet to allow a rushing touchdown. In front of the largest crowd to ever see a football game in the state of Alabama, Alexander got his TD early on a screen pass to put Alabama up 7-0. From there, Tennessee took over. Tee Martin, playing in front of friends and family, scored on a QB draw in the second quarter, but suffered a knee injury on the play. As the game went to halftime in a 7-7 draw, Vol fans wondered if Martin would return. In fact, Joey Matthews played one series in this game before Tee was able to return. When he did, he torched the Bama secondary on a bomb to give the Vols the lead. Late in the third quarter, the play that defined the day saw Andrew Zow escape pressure and find a wide, wide, wide open Shaun Alexander downfield...and the ball glanced off his fingertips, dropping the game-tying touchdown. In the 4th, Martin scored again on a QB draw and put the game away, 21-7. This secured the fifth straight victory over the Tide, ended Alexander's Heisman candidacy, and put the Vols in contention for the National Championship. In the coming weeks, the Vols would be upset by Arkansas, Alabama would win the West, and then the Tide destroyed Florida in the SEC Championship to win the conference.

37. 1999: #4 Tennessee 38 - #24 Notre Dame 14 (Knoxville, TN)
...but before losing that game to Arkansas, the Vols hosted the Irish on a November Saturday night in Knoxville. ESPN GameDay returned to Knoxville for the first time since 1996 for this contest. At this point, Tennessee had vaulted undefeated Virginia Tech in the BCS to move to #2 in the standings, in line for a rematch with Florida State to defend the National Championship. This game marked the final Saturday of the Vols being in the national title picture every week, somewhere they had been since the latter parts of the 1997 season. And it was a great way to end, dominating a cocky Notre Dame team in the teams' first meeting since The Miracle at South Bend in 1991. Irish QB Jarious Jackson led Notre Dame into Vol territory on the opening drive, but Raynoch Thompson got a pick off a deflection to end the threat. Leading 3-0 in the second quarter, Martin found Donte' Stallworth to make it a two score game. After the Irish broke the plane for the first rushing touchdown allowed by UT's defense all year, Tee Martin ran the two minute drill to perfection, and fired an absolute laser into traffic to Eric Parker with :09 left in the half to give the Vols a 17-7 advantage (in watching the highlights again, I totally forgot about Will Overstreet murdering Jackson when Notre Dame tried to run a hail mary at the end of the half). In the third quarter, Tee Martin again showed why he has the best deep ball of all UT quarterbacks, finding Leonard Scott, who beat two defensive backs and came to a stop nine yards deep in the end zone to haul in the TD on a teardrop from heaven, almost 70 yards in the air. After the Irish tried to run the option on a fake punt and were denied, Travis Henry went 40 yards into the heart of the Irish defense for a score. This game also featured one of the biggest BS calls I've ever seen in person, awarding an ND wideout a TD on a reverse when he was out of bounds at almost the three yard line. Notre Dame used that momentum to drive to the Vol 9 on their next drive, but were denied on 4th and 2. From there, the Vols went the length of the field and Tee Martin bootlegged for the final score. Absolute dominance, 38-14.

36. 1997: #9 Tennessee 38 - #13 Georgia 13 (Knoxville, TN)
You know it's good if they make a painting of it. By this time in Manning's career, the second biggest game on the Vols' slate was Georgia, not Alabama. After falling to the Gators, the Vols had unleashed Jamal Lewis on Ole Miss the previous week with 155 yards. But that was only the warm up. This was the "Give the Ball to Jamal" game, and against his home state, Lewis uncorked a staggering 232 yards, which still ranks 7th all time at UT. Jamal made the Georgia defense look like little boys, though he was probably younger than all of them. Manning was equal to the task, in what could be deemed his last great home game. Peyton put up 343 yards against Georgia, and this contest was never close. This was the first of three consecutive seasons that Georgia was undefeated coming into the Tennessee game, and the first of three consecutive losses of at least three possessions. This one became more memorable as Manning passed for a final TD in the 4th quarter to put the Vols ahead 38-13, which then-Georgia coach Jim Donnan didn't agree with. He cussed Fulmer in the worst way at the postgame handshake, in front of his daughter. The next year, without Manning, on the road, and again facing an undefeated Georgia team, this time as underdogs, Fulmer wouldn't forget that...stay tuned.

The 50 Best Vol Games 1989-2005: 45-41

We continue today with a pair of SEC East rivalries, and the bowl game that set the tone for the entire decade...

45. 1996: #7 Tennessee 29 - Georgia 17 (Athens, GA)
The Peyton Manning one-man highlight reel game. Manning made so many once-in-a-lifetime plays in this one game, it's hard to imagine. Plays like him tripping over an offensive lineman and firing a strike to Jermaine Copeland down the sideline whilst two inches off the ground were overshadowed by the most memorable single play of Manning's career: running a QB sneak that was stuffed, falling back, then having the poise and awareness to roll out, direct Marcus Nash to the corner of the end zone, and fire a strike for a touchdown. Peyton finished with 371 yards on the night, and if you were a Georgia fan, you had to simply wonder what you could do to stop this guy. The Vol D also made life tough, pounding Georgia QB Mike Bobo and sending the Vols to their sixth straight win in the series.

44. 2001: #9 Tennessee 17 - #12 South Carolina 10 (Knoxville, TN)
The pinnacle of South Carolina's success under Lou Holtz came here, with the Cocks ranked #12 and, having not yet played Florida, in control of their own destiny in the SEC East. If Carolina could come into Knoxville and upset the Vols, they could set up a one game showdown with the Gators to win the division at home. With Phil Petty and Derek Watson, this was a Carolina team to be taken very seriously, and just as they have every year this millenium, the Cocks gave the Vols all they could handle. On a cold night at Neyland Stadium, Travis Stephens gutted out 120 yards. Casey Clausen had a rought night courtesy of the SC defense, sacking him five times. When the Vols scored the game's first points late in the first half, South Carolina answered with a TD right before halftime to tie the game at 7. Trailing 10-7 late in the 3rd, South Carolina had 2nd and goal at the Tennessee 1, but was denied twice, the second time with Albert Haynesworth stuffing Andrew Pinnock at the one inch line, forcing the Cocks to kick a field goal to tie it. The offensive hero for the Vols was Bobby Graham, catching a 32 yard 3rd down pass from Clausen to move the ball inside the five, where Stephens would punch it in two plays later. Phil Petty moved the Cocks to the Tennessee 43 on their final drive, but would get no closer, as the Vols closed out the hard fought victory by forcing 3 straight Petty incompletions.

43. 1993: #6 Tennessee 38 - #22 Georgia 6 (Knoxville, TN)
The night that Tennessee went from an annual above average SEC team to an annual national championship contender. Heath Shuler and the Vols were believed to be pretty good, but in this week two matchup against a loaded Georgia team, Tennessee simply dominated on both sides of the ball, serving notice to everyone in the stands and in the nation that they had taken the next step on the ladder. Leading 7-6 in the second quarter, the Vols watched Georgia drive into the red zone. The Dawgs were led by Eric Zeier and the two headed monster of Robert Edwards and Terrell Davis. With Georgia looking to take the lead, Zeier was intercepted in the corner of the end zone on a leaping play by DeRon Jenkins. Tennessee owned the game from there, scoring two bang-bang touchdowns before halftime and rolling in the second half. The much-publicized battle between Shuler and Zeier never happened thanks to the Vol D, which held Georgia to an astounding 114 yards passing. Charlie Garner ran for 107 yards, and Cory Fleming was the big target, pulling in 105 yards and 2 TDs. When the dust had settled, everybody knew things were going to be different. The following week, the Vols fell 41-34 in Gainesville, their only regular season loss. This team still ranks, statistically, as the best offense in Tennessee history; this is the night that started.

42. 2000: Tennessee 17 - #17 South Carolina 14 (Columbia, SC)
In the 2001 game, the Vols stopped Carolina at the peak of their success story. The year before, in this game, South Carolina was just getting started, having shocked Georgia and riding Lou Holtz to a Top 25 ranking, facing a Vol team that was 3-3 at this point, with true freshman Casey Clausen making only his second start. In front of the largest crowd in South Carolina history, with Carolina again still controlling their own SEC destiny and the Vols out of the race, Tennessee got some special teams grace when Derek Watson fumbled a punt inside the five, allowing Travis Henry to plunge in for the early lead. South Carolina's points came in grand fashion, with an 81 yard interception return on a pass that went off Cedrick Wilson's hands and into Kalimba Edwards', and a long bomb from Phil Petty to Ryan Brewer. Until that play, the Vol defense had dominated - the usual "that's another South Carolina first down!" cheer if you've ever been to Columbia was held largely in check for 3 quarters - but that pass helped Petty finish with 268 yards when all was said and done. Down 14-10 midway through the 4th, Casey Clausen grew up fast, directing an impressive 16 play, 68 yard drive that ate up 6:30 off the clock. The drive included a 3rd and 14 completion to Donte' Stallworth, and finished with Travis Henry leaping over the top. Petty tried to bring the Cocks within field goal range to force OT, but was sacked by John Henderson, and the clock ticked to zero. South Carolina's dream season was over, and the Vols would win out to finish the regular season. A tough heartbreaker for Gamecock fans, but, true story: the first time I went to Columbia in 1996, the fans thanked my dad and I for letting them in the SEC (we said "you're welcome.") As we were leaving this time in 2000, the fans - who had opened the game with the great "Who let the Cocks out? Lou, Lou, Lou Lou..." chant, asked us as we were leaving if now, we would at least respect them. Now that Spurrier is there, they'll never be that nice or naieve again...

41. 1989: #8 Tennessee 31 - #10 Arkansas 27 (Cotton Bowl)
The 89 Vols finished the regular season 10-1, and split the SEC Championship three ways (Vols beat Auburn, Bama beat the Vols, Auburn beat Bama). Auburn's late victory over Alabama propelled them to the coveted Sugar Bowl, leaving the Vols to head to Dallas to take on the SWC Champions, the pre-SEC Arkansas Razorbacks. This is the pinnacle of the brief UT career of Chuck Webb. Against one of the nation's best defenses, Tennessee simply had too much speed, and you could see it in a tangible way that doesn't exist nowdays, too much parity. But on this day, the Vols were visibly two or three steps quicker than the Pigs - and if the Andy Kelly to Anthony Morgan 84 yard bomb (still the 5th longest pass play in UT history) didn't prove it, then Chuck Webb's 250 yards rushing did. That number is still the second largest in UT history, and the opponent was much more stout than the Ole Miss team that Webb ran for 297 yards against a few weeks before. And he was a freshman. The Razorbacks hung around the entire game, but the Vols finally got a key defensive stop late to hang on for the victory. Carl Pickens was still playing both ways at this point, and he claimed the defensive MVP award, thanks in large part to a one-handed first half end zone interception. But the day belonged to Chuck Webb, who would play only two more games for the Vols. The perfect way to end one of the most memorable seasons in Vol history.

To be continued...by the way, for clarification, if it's a home game on this list, that means I was there. Of all the road games listed so far, the only one I was actually present for was the 2000 South Carolina game, with Kory & Ryan, high above the earth in the third upper deck end zone at Williams-Bryce Stadium. Good times...

Where the wind comes sweeping down the plains...

Uh-oh.

Oklahoma's starting quarterback, Rhett Bomar, has been kicked off the team - at least for this season - after scoring a sweet job at a Norman car dealership for about $69.23 an hour. Bomar was filing for full-time work, but in fact worked only approx. 5 hours per week and was paid around 18 grand. Well done. Starting offensive guard (and Bomar's roomie) JD Quinn was also removed.

So, your options at quarterback for the Sooners this year are a juco transfer, a true freshman, a walk-on, and Paul Thompson, the guy who was 11 for 26 against TCU last year and was instantly moved to wide receiver.

The thud you just heard was Adrian Peterson's Heisman Trophy campaign. I'm sure he'll like nine in the box about as much as he enjoyed it last year. And it looks like Texas is going to be around for awhile in the Big 12 title game...if the Longhorns win their home date with Ohio State on September 9, now who's going to beat them?

The 50 Best Vol Games 1989-2005: 50-46 & Honorable Mention (with Introduction)

Between now and kickoff on September 2, I'll be unveiling my picks for the 50 Best Tennessee Football Games from 1989-2005 - a period I've refered to before as the "modern era", but it really also covers the period of time I've been attending UT football games, old enough to remember them, with many apologies to the 5-6 forgettable 1988 season.

This is my list, of course, so there will be some personal biases in here. This is a list of the most memorable, my favorite games - not the ones with the greatest individual performances, not limited to only the ones I've seen live, not a list of the most important wins, and not a ranking of the best actual games played on the field. So while the 41-14 win over Alabama in 1995 certainly wasn't a down-to-the-wire affair, you'll find it quite high on this list. And while the five and six overtime games will be making an appearance in the Top 50, they won't be numbers one and two, respectively, simply because of their length and the roller coaster of emotions that went along with them. The list is also slightly weighted towards a game's impact on the rest of that particular season, which is why a game like last year's LSU contest isn't as high as you might think it should be.

We'll go five at a time over the course of the next four weeks - along the way, share some stories if you remember where you were or what you thought/felt during each of these games, leave some comments.

It should be noted that usually I do a Top 10 of one of these lists every year, but we've been doing this so long that the list could easily become a Top 20 without me breaking a sweat. So in researching this piece yesterday, a flood of memories came in with other games, and the proposed Top 20 became a Top 25...and then it got too difficult to narrow the field, so we're just going with all of them.

All stats and information comes from the University of Tennessee media guide. Vol Network home videos - most notably Decade of Dominance - were also consulted to help visualize the experience.

To begin, when I was initially making the list for a proposed Top 25, 56 games were considered from 1989-2005. As the list grew to Top 50, here are the six also-noteworthy games that just missed the cut, in chronological order:

Honorable Mention
- The 1991 season opener, first-ever ESPN Thursday Night game, at Louisville. Carl Pickens becomes a Heisman candidate, the Vols break QB Jeff Brohm's leg, and fans are introduced to James Stewart and Aaron Hayden for the first time, as both true freshmen run for over 100 yards in a 28-11 win.

- Two years later in Knoxville, the return bout, as the #13 Cardinals come to Neyland Stadium looking to make a national name for themselves against the #7 Vols. Final score: 45-10. Oops.

- One of the lone bright spots from the 1994 season, a 10-9 victory over Washington State that may've saved the season, as Nilo Silvan scores the game's only touchdown on a long reverse.

- The 1995 Kentucky game that saw the #4 Vols fall behind 31-13 in the third quarter in Lexington before rallying to a 34-31 win.

- A 30-24 victory in Pasadena over UCLA in 1997 with the Vols ranked #3 that came down to the wire.

- The 23-20 overtime victory over South Carolina in Knoxville in 2003, finished with a Casey Clausen to James Banks connection in the first OT for instant victory.

Without further ado, I present my absolute favorite blog to write:

The 50 Best Vol Games 1989-2005
50. 1993: #8 Tennessee 55 - South Carolina 3 (Knoxville, TN)
The Steve Tanneyhill revenge game. If you're old enough to remember the roller coaster of 1992, when the Vols were ranked #22 in the preseason, then vaulted all the way to #4 by mid-October and had locked up the SEC East by stunning Georgia and Florida (you'll hear about those games as we go), then the team lost a heartbreaker to Arkansas and lost to eventual national champion Alabama by a touchdown. The Vols could still win the East, all they had to do was win at South Carolina. Instead, the Gamecocks won 24-23, led by a mulletted quarterback named Steve Tanneyhill, who is still one of the five biggest trash talkers I've ever seen. The loss was the final nail in Johnny Majors' coffin. One year later, the Vols had just tied Alabama in another gut wrencher, then had an off week, giving them 14 days to think about it. And there was no better medicine than another shot at Tanneyhill and the Cocks. South Carolina took the opening kickoff and drove the length of the field against a Vol defense that wasn't awake. With the ball at the one yard line, Tanneyhill tried to run a QB draw...when he dove for the end zone, he was absolutely leveled by two Vol defenders and did a 270-degree spin in mid air, never crossing the plain. Carolina settled for a field goal, which was promptly blocked, and the rout was on. Once Charlie Garner had ran for 105 yards, they put in James "Little Man" Stewart, who picked up an additional 113. One of the most enjoyable blowouts I've ever experienced.

49. 1994: Tennessee 45 - #17 Virginia Tech 23 (Gator Bowl)
Tennessee had struggled in 1994, but by the time this bowl game rolled around on December 30, the offense had confidence in true freshman Peyton Manning. On the Vols' first drive, Manning hit Joey Kent on a tremendous diving catch, and later fired a touchdown pass. On Tech's first drive, Jim Druckenmiller threw an interception. Tech was never close again. What I've gained a larger appreciation for, now living in Virginia Tech territory, is what a big deal this game was to the fans back then. Even with the Vols at 7-4 and unranked at the time, this was VT's big chance to make national noise, finish in the Top 15 and knock off the program to their west that they live in constant fear of, that the Vols will steal their fan base as soon as Tech has an off year. This game meant the world to Virginia Tech - that's why they want to play us in Bristol so badly - and the Vols smoked the Hokies without a second thought; beating Virginia Tech was no big deal to us. I enjoy reminding people here of that fact when they get a little too loud. Playing the game in The Swamp while Jacksonville's new stadium was being built, James Stewart ran for 3 TDs in his final game as a Vol and was named MVP, Tennessee scored 35 points in the first half, and so begins and ends the only chapter in the modern day Tennessee-Virginia Tech story.

48. 1994: #19 Tennessee 41 - #23 Georgia 23 (Athens, GA)
Of all the times we beat Georgia from 1989-1999, this is the one that never should've happened. Having just lost Jerry Colquitt to a knee injury and the game to UCLA the week before, the season was in serious jeopardy, and Georgia was smelling blood, playing at home. The starting quarterback for this game was Todd Helton. But there was simply no need to pass, as James Stewart and the offensive line took over the game and dominated from start to finish. Little Man ran for 211 yards, 4 TDs (ties the UT record), and a 71 yard tackle-breaking affair that still ranks as one of the five best runs I've ever seen by a Tennessee back. The Vols were totally one dimentional and it made no difference, pounding Georgia and proving that they were still going to contend in 1994. Despite losing to Florida and Mississippi State in the weeks ahead, this game gave fans hope that the Vols could still fight without Colquitt.

47. 1996: #9 Tennessee 48 - #11 Northwestern 28 (Citrus Bowl)
It what the majority believed to be Peyton Manning's final game, the Vols had fully recovered from the Memphis hangover in time to dominate the Big 10 co-champions and win their second straight Citrus Bowl. The Vols came out firing, jumping to a 21-0 lead behind a 43 yard TD to Peerless Price, and one of Manning's signature naked bootlegs - this one covering a massive 10 yards. When the Vols let up, Northwestern rolled to 21 straight points of its own to tie the game in the second quarter behind the legs of Darnell Autry. When the Vols woke up for good, the game was over. From the 21-21 tie, the Vols outscored the Wildcats 27-7 the rest of the way, with Manning hitting senior Joey Kent for one last TD. Kent finished with 122 yards, but Manning led the charge by throwing for 408 yards, which still stands as the third best total (and third best personal total for Manning) in Tennessee history. As Manning was relieved and the game drew to a close, fans in the stands chanted for "one more year!" Manning played along, and the best news was yet to come just three months later.

46. 1999: #7 Tennessee 24 - Auburn 0 (Knoxville, TN)
The Vols lost their unbeaten streak at Florida and played terribly the following week against Memphis. So here comes your old rival Auburn, in K-Town for the first time since 1991, for a night game. Nobody really knows what to expect. First play: Deon Grant intercepts an out pattern and races it back for a touchdown for the throat-slasher. And it would in fact end up being enough, but it was only the first of three interceptions for Grant in one of the best individual defensive performances I've ever seen. His three picks ties a UT record, and he would finish the season with an NCAA-leading 9. This is also the game where Cedrick Wilson emerged as Tee Martin's go-to guy for the rest of the season, picking up 112 yards. This also marked the beginning of the transition from Jamal Lewis to Travis Henry. All in all a dominate performance from the Vols, and our first truly memorable experience in the UT student section.

More to come, stay tuned...again, feel free to share stories, memories, or anything else in the comments.

The Other Side of the Trade Deadline

Over the weekend, the New York Mets made a statement. They came to Atlanta and made the Braves' starting pitchers look like AA ball. After sweeping the Braves, New York can confidently say that the NL East is theirs. And the once-hot Braves have now lost 4 straight, two straight series, and again find themselves with nine teams in front of them in the wild card race, though still only 6.5 out. The Braves added bullpen strength over the last few weeks, most notably Bob Wickman, while trading away Wilson Betemit and Jorge Sosa and watching Chipper Jones land on the DL. Atlanta, simply, must win games and not worry about the standings. Nothing is over as far as the wild card goes, but they have to win.

The big deals at the trade deadline never materialized, though you can read lots of "almost" dream stories this morning about Roger Clemens in Boston or Andruw Jones going to either of the Sox. But what fascinates me about the last minute deals is the flip side of the coin.

You're Xavier Nady. You've been in the league five years and had moderate success with the Padres. Now you're with the New York Mets. You're playing for the best team in the National League. You're hitting .264 with 14 home runs and 40 RBIs - you're not killing the ball, but you're a player. You've sacrificed for the ballclub, done what the manager has asked, and so far this year you've played first base, third base, left and center. Granted, you had a poor defensive series at Turner Field, but your boys swept the series, and your team is sitting on top of the world. One of your pitchers has an unfortunate automobile accident where he wasn't even driving, and gets hurt. Now your ballclub needs to shore up the bullpen.

Congratulations, just like that, you've been traded. And where are you going, away from the big city lights in New York and a guaranteed playoff spot?

To Pittsburgh. In one move, you've been traded as a starter for the best team in the NL, to a starter for the worst team in the NL.

People talk - in professional sports and in all walks of life - about some jobs being easy and others being hard. And it's true, professional athletes make more money than any of us will ever see, and live a charmed life. I have people tell me my job must be difficult all the time, and it is. But "difficult" is something we all live, no matter our profession. And I promise you, professional athlete or not, Xavier Nady is having a bad day today.