Sometimes the journey is the thing. The destination is, by contrast, an anticlimax.

That definitely was not the story of Tennessee football in 1985.

It was a good story in September, a better one in October, a pure joyride by November.

But for once, the best was saved for last: New Year's evening in New Orleans.

"The most orange I have ever seen in one place,'' former player Jeff Smith recalled recently.

And perhaps the most-unbridled jubilation.

Twenty years have passed and still the images of '85 are so vivid to those who live and die with Tennessee football.

Tony Robinson on the cover of Sports Illustrated, a "Tennessee Waltz'' thrashing of No. 1-ranked Auburn.

Dale Jones virtually snatching that pass out of Mike Shula's hands at Legion Field.

The sugar cubes raining down at Neyland Stadium after the SEC title-clinching win over Vanderbilt.

Jeff Powell racing to the end zone through a shell-shocked Miami defense, punctuating both the Sugar Bowl rout and the splendid season.

"When we won that game, it wasn't just for us, it was for everybody,'' said Terry McDaniel, a cornerback who later starred in the NFL.

The 1985 season remains on a pedestal. But why? There have been other SEC titles, other bowl triumphs.

To recap:

Tennessee began the season unranked, but a dominating upset of No. 1-ranked Auburn on Sept. 28 served notice that the Vols might be worth watching.

Previously unknown players rose to the forefront and played like champions - Chris White, Carlos Reveiz, Keith Davis, Mark Hovanic, to name a few.

One, Daryl Dickey, stepped in at quarterback and helped the team survive the midseason loss of Robinson, its most identifiable star.

Regrouped behind Dickey on offense and proving virtually unmovable on defense, the Vols stormed to UT's first SEC title since 1969.

"I've never been around a team that got better like that one did,'' said Dale Jones, the emotional leader of the defense and now a coach at Appalachian State.

And then, given virtually no chance against No. 2-ranked Miami in the Sugar Bowl, the Vols shocked the brash Hurricanes 35-7.

"All we heard,'' said cornerback Terry Brown, now an SEC official, "was it wasn't a matter of Miami beating Tennessee, it was how bad they were going to beat Tennessee.''

The Vols finished 9-1-2, ranked No. 4 in the nation.

At last, it was vindication for coach Johnny Majors, who had come home in 1977 to sky-high expectations.

It took longer than expected, but the Vols were finally back on top.

"Growing up a Tennessee fan all my life,'' said offensive lineman David Douglas, "I can truly remember thinking how happy I was for coach Majors.

"There was a lot of pressure on him coming back here and everybody expecting miracles.''

A locker-room vow Since that breakthrough season, the Vols have won more games than any SEC program (186 to Florida's 180) over the ensuing two decades.

Nobody saw it coming, either. There weren't a bunch of starters back from '84. The schedule was forbidding.

When Carmen Tegano arrived that summer as the new academic adviser, so many players were on shaky ground he briefly considered going back to his old job at Virginia Tech.

But somehow it all came together. The stars aligned.

"The whole season we were almost in awe,'' said Brown, "most of us playing above our expectations.''

To identify a turning point, several Vols pointed not to the dramatic win at Alabama, the game in which Robinson was injured, but one week earlier, to the only loss.

Following a 26-26 tie with No. 10 UCLA and the upset of Auburn - in which the Vols knocked Heisman Trophy-winner Bo Jackson out of the game - UT squeezed past lowly Wake Forest, 31-29.

The first road trip was Florida. The seventh-ranked Gators prevailed 17-10 on a sweltering day.

In the locker room after the game, an angry Jones challenged his teammates. He told them they would not lose another game.

He was right.

"We played our hearts out that day,'' Jones said. "I really believe that was when we became a team.

"There comes a time when it's a defining moment.''

Jones' vow was tested a week later against Alabama, then unquestioned as Tennessee's top rival.

UT led 13-7 after three quarters, but on the first snap of the fourth, disaster struck.

Robinson, the gifted senior quarterback, was sacked trying to scramble. His knee was ruined. He was done for the season.

"It was second-and-1,'' recalled lineman Bruce Wilkerson. "When we came into the huddle, we told him, 'These guys are trying to hurt you. If you don't have anything, throw it away.'

"But Tony thought he was a scat-back.''

Dickey, a sixth-year senior with little experience, rushed into the huddle as Robinson was helped to the bench.

"This is the first time I've been out there in a major game,'' said Dickey, who is the quarterbacks coach at Florida State. "I was not prepared for it.

"The intensity level was shocking. The speed of the game was incredible, and I use that today to prepare our quarterbacks to get ready to play.''

The Vols hung on for a 16-14 win, thanks in part to Jones' interception of a Mike Shula pass with 7:43 to play.

Dickey would guide the team the rest of the season, growing in confidence with each game. He would be the MVP of the Sugar Bowl and set a UT record that still stands for completion percentage in a season.

But things might have been very different had he not gotten a lucky break.

In the third quarter at Alabama, Robinson was briefly shaken up and Dickey went in for one play. His ill-advised pass hit an Alabama defender square in the hands. The defensive back, however, dropped the ball. A game-changing interception became a harmless incompletion.

"Had he caught that ball,'' Dickey said, "I would have never played again, I'm certain of it.

"(Offensive coordinator) Walt Harris would never have run me back out on the field.''

A defensive guru The Vols had scored a huge win but the enormity of losing Robinson sank in.

"What did Tony mean to us?'' said Smith. "Everything.

"Tony was able to do things that I think would have revolutionized the quarterback position.

"When Tony went out, that took away, at least initially, some of the big-play capability we had as far as stretching the field.''

Some of his teammates are convinced the injury led to Robinson's eventual conviction for drug trafficking. He was busted shortly after the Sugar Bowl and went to prison.

"It was a tragedy,'' said Brown. "He went from being a projected first-round draft pick and being on the cover of Sports Illustrated to prison. I think it was because of depression.''

Without Robinson, the onus shifted to the defense.

For years Ken Donahue had directed Alabama's great defenses for Paul "Bear" Bryant. But he was cast aside after Bryant's death. In '85, Majors brought the Knox County native back to his alma mater.

Donahue took over a unit with only five returning starters and transformed it.

"I'll bet we had seven or eight guys who had never stepped on the field,'' said Hovanic, a defensive tackle. "We were befuddled we were actually getting to play.''

Donahue's preparation for his unit was rigorous to say the least. They ran the stadium steps. He demanded perfection on the practice field. He grilled them mentally.

"There was never a game we didn't feel like we were in better condition than the other team,'' said linebacker Bryan Kimbro.

"We had so many schemes,'' added Hovanic. "I remember filling out defensive form sheets until I was blue in the face.''

Said Brown, "He was definitely old school. He didn't just talk the talk, he walked the walk. He ran those stadium steps with us.''

What Dickey did for the offense in November, safety White did all year for the defense.

White had done little to distinguish himself until '85, but intercepted three passes on opening day against UCLA and never let up.

He led the nation with nine for the season. As a unit, the Vols led the nation with 1.9 turnovers per game.

Over the final seven games, UT's defense allowed only three touchdowns.

"He was a guru,'' Jones said of Donahue. "He put us in the right places and he seemed to know how to attack an offense's weaknesses.''

The offense went into a shell for Dickey's first start, a 6-6 tie against a good Georgia Tech team. Reveiz provided the only scoring, kicking field goals of 55 and 51 yards.

Reveiz, another unknown on opening day, was succeeding a legend - his brother Fuad.

"It was awesome to follow Fuad because he helped prepare me mentally,'' Reveiz said. "I knew I could do it physically.''

Reveiz, who was nervous around Majors going into the opener, hit his first six field goals, finished 24 of 28 and broke his brother's season scoring record.

"Carlos was probably the MVP of that team,'' said Hovanic. "If we got the ball to the 35, we knew we were getting three points. That's gigantic.''

The run to New Orleans After Georgia Tech, it was a downhill run.

Following a 17-7 win at Memphis on Nov. 9, the mission was defined.

"After that game,'' recalled center Johnny Hibbett, "instead of getting on the bus, we were all standing around the parking lot listening to a radio.''

They were listening to the final minutes of a 14-14 tie between Alabama and LSU. With Florida ineligible for the SEC title, the tie put Tennessee in the driver's seat.

"We knew we could control our own destiny,'' Hibbett said.

They did, blasting past Ole Miss, Kentucky and Vanderbilt. The final two wins were by a combined 72-0.

Dickey turned out to be more than a caretaker. He didn't have an interception in his final 106 pass attempts and UT's receiving corps of McGee, Joey Clinkscales, Eric Swanson and Smith came back into play.

"Daryl and the coaches did an excellent job of making us believe we still had the talent to win those games,'' said Wilkerson.

For Dickey, the timing couldn't have been better. His father, Doug, had been named athletic director at the start of the season.

"It was a very gratifying time for our family,'' Daryl Dickey said, "the way all that came together.''

The running game, meanwhile, was by committee.

Freshman Davis was the leader but six backs gained more than 100 yards. Much of the credit went to Wilkerson and the other guys up front. Harry Galbreath, John Bruhin, David Douglas and Daryle Smith would all go on to play in the NFL.

"Probably, that was the best unit I coached as a position coach,'' said Phillip Fulmer, their offensive line coach.

Despite their SEC title, the Vols were given little chance against Miami. The pre-game hype concerned whether the 'Canes would win convincingly enough to vault No. 1 Oklahoma in the polls.

The Vols were offended, for themselves and for their coach. Majors had given Miami coach Jimmy Johnson his big coaching break, hiring him as defensive coordinator at Iowa State.

"Coach Majors,'' said Douglas, "I can remember him telling us, 'Dadgumit, I hired him and gave him his first job.'

"He was smart enough to use that as motivation and I'm sure it kind of ticked him off, too.''

The orange-clad legions poured into New Orleans, more each day.

"I remember the fans in the hotel lobby,'' said Reveiz. "The love they showed us was overwhelming. ''

In the Superdome, it was more of the same.

"I've played in the Super Bowl,'' said Douglas, "and I've never played in a game where the fans dominated the game like that.''

Privately, the Vols were brimming with confidence.

"On the bus ride from the hotel, I told Jeff Smith the exact score, that it would be 35-7,'' said David Cutcliffe, who was then an assistant coach.

The Vols made a prophet of Cutcliffe.

Vinny Testaverde, Miami's quarterback, never knew what hit him. UT recorded four interceptions, two fumble recoveries and sevens sacks.

Powell's 60-yard TD sprint made it 28-7 in the third quarter. Fittingly, White provided the season's final score, returning a Testaverde interception 68 yards for a touchdown.

"They were so good," McDaniel said, "people were scared to challenge their speed.

"We challenged their speed.''

"Miami,'' said Cutcliffe, "was no mistake. At the end of the season, we were the best college football team in America.''

A band of brothers Jones, McGee, Reveiz, White and Wilkerson made first-team All-SEC. McGee was an AP All-American and White made the Scripps-Howard team.

Donahue was named assistant coach of the year by the Birmingham Touchdown Club.

Majors swept SEC coach-of-the=year honors.

"Coach Majors taught me so much,'' said Jones. "It carries over to the way I coach.

"He was always consistent. If he told you something this week, he'd tell you the same thing next year.''

Fifteen players from that team would be drafted into the NFL over the next four years. Four of Majors' assistants - Harris, Cutcliffe, Fulmer and Ron Zook - went on to become college head coaches.

And 20 years later, Tennessee fans still revere the 1985 Vols.

"They feel like that was the group that brought Tennessee back to where it should be,'' said Jones.

It wasn't just what they accomplished, though. It was also how they went about it.

"The thing that made that team special,'' said Hovanic, "was mutual respect.

"We just had so much confidence in the coaches and the fact that could get us in position to win. And they enjoyed going to practice and being around us. They respected us as much as we respected them.''

"Everything,'' said Brown, "was done in the team spirit. No one took on the role as star player.''

"The kind of team we had in '85,'' said Smith, "we had guys that when opportunity called, they stepped up and everything just fell in place.''

Mike Strange may be reached at 865-342-6276.