Vols tired of losing bowl games

Coming off consecutive losses in the Peach Bowl, the Vols have something to prove in the Jan. 1 Cotton Bowl against Texas A&M.

"We're tired of going to bowl games and losing, so we definitely want to win," running back Gerald Riggs said. "We've still got something to prove.

"Tell everybody that Tennessee's been known to be pretty good, but once they step out of the conference or in a bowl game, they kind of shoot themselves in the foot. "We're going to put that tag off of us. We're focused. We're ready to go. I think everybody knows how important this game is to us."

Tennessee has lost four of its last five bowl games since it won the 1998 national championship with a 23-16 victory over Florida State in the Fiesta Bowl.

Since then, the Vols have losses to Nebraska in the 1999 Fiesta Bowl, to Kansas State in the 2000 Cotton Bowl, to Maryland in the 2002 Peach Bowl, and to Clemson in the 2003 Peach Bowl.

They beat Michigan in the 2001 Citrus Bowl.

The two Peach Bowls bring particularly sour memories.

"I was here for the last two Peach Bowl games," sophomore guard Rob Smith said. "They were kind of embarrassing, so this one's pretty important to us, to show we can win a bowl game here. It's for the program, and for the fans, too. I'm sure they're getting tired of seeing us lose in bowl games."

In college football, a team is often remembered more for what it did in the bowl game than for what it did to get there.

Case in point: Tennessee in the last two Peach Bowls.

"In a way, I'm tired of hearing about how much we lose in bowl games and how bad we've done in post-season play," senior linebacker Kevin Burnett said. "Sometimes it takes you to hear the truth to come down to reality and say, 'You know what, we have been getting our butts kicked in postseason play, and we need to win.'

"It's time to win. It's as simple as that."

Burnett said he felt the Vols were ready to play in the 2003 Peach Bowl, a 27-14 loss to Clemson.

That may not have been the case when the Vols lost to Maryland 30-3 in the 2002 Peach Bowl.

Both losses left a lot of Orange faithful grumbling.

"We win, you know, it's quiet," Burnett said. "But either way it goes, I won't be here to hear it. It will be the guys here. Maybe that's what it's going to take for them to realize (if) you lose your last game, you're going hear about it."