Pennington: Something to remember or forget

A couple of nights ago I went digging through my sports memorabilia collection. “Sports memorabilia collection” is a fancy way of saying, “my room full of all the stuff that I’ve ever bought that had anything to do with sports, none of which I can force myself to get rid of.”

I climbed past boxes of old sports cards. Past the shoebox full of used tickets. I dug past the folder filled with autographed photos. There were towels and programs, keychains and schedule magnets. There was even an autographed whiskey bottle from an Ohio State-Michigan football game (don’t ask).

I searched behind the rolled up Dale Murphy poster. I looked under the 1978 Pat Patriot helmet, the kind that Stanley Morgan wore. I even moved the autographed number 33 Indiana State basketball jersey to see what was behind it.

After about 30 minutes of hunting, I found what I was looking for. In the back of a closet was a stack of old Sports Illustrated issues.

The ones I’d saved were all there … Patriots, Celtics, Braves, Vols. All were covers that had meant something to me as a kid. Finally, at the absolute bottom of the stack was the magazine I’d set out to find.

October 7, 1985.

“The Tennessee Waltz.”

“Tony Robinson Buries Auburn,” was the subhead. Number 10 was scrambling on the cover, eyes staring downfield.

Why did I want to look up that old magazine? Because today, 22 years later, the Vols have an opportunity to re-create history.

In 1985, the Auburn Tigers rolled into Neyland Stadium ranked No. 1 by both the AP and UPI polls. (I bet a lot of young folks just said, “what’s a UPI poll?”)

Pat Dye’s team featured a tailback for the ages. Bo Jackson was the odds-on, hands-down favorite for the Heisman Trophy. Two games into his season, Jackson was averaging 248 rushing yards per game. You read that right, 248.

The Vols? They were pretty much no-names on defense. Chris White had gotten some recognition for his three interception performance against UCLA in the Vols’ opener, but to that point, he and his teammates hadn’t yet become folk heroes.

No one outside of Knoxville really expected the Vols to slow down Jackson and the Auburn ground game. Few people watching on ABC expected the Big Orange offense to outshine the Tigers, either.

But, as you know, that’s exactly what happened and the game wasn’t nearly as close as the 38-20 score suggested.

Robinson stole the show from Jackson with a couple of long scrambles and four touchdown bombs. Tim McGee hauled in six passes for 163 yards and a touchdown.

“Robinson throws, McGee catches. It was there all the way.” John Ward’s call still echoes through the Volunteer history vaults.

As for Jackson, he finished with a pedestrian 80 yards on 17 carries and removed himself in the third quarter because of a bruised knee. His pride was probably just as bruised as his knee.

That win set the tone for Tennessee’s magical, championship season in 1985. McGee did an excellent job after the game of summarizing the importance of the game.

“We had nothing to lose. This is Auburn, the No. 1 team with the No. 1 Heisman guy. We could’ve lost 50 to nothing and everybody would have said, ‘Typical Tennessee team.’ Now, we’ve got Tennessee back on the map.”

Fast forward a couple of decades. Tennessee isn’t playing the No. 1 team in the country today, but they are facing a Heisman candidate in Darren McFadden who knows what Bo used to know … how to run the football. (Auburn finished 8-4 in 1985, so the comparison to this year’s Arkansas team is actually a pretty good one.)

Today, the Vols are expected, with their defense, to give up yards by the bushel and points by the barrel. In ’07 there have been no Dale Jones, Terry McDaniels, or Kelly Zeiglers pop up for the Big Orange D.

But on the other side of the ball, Tennessee’s offense is averaging more than 30 points per game. The opportunity exists for Erik Ainge and his teammates to upstage Arkansas just as Robinson and crew did to Auburn in ’85.

One way or the other, this is a big game for the UT program, just as the Auburn game was in 1985. If Tennessee gets run over and run through, some will say, “Typical Tennessee team.” At least typical of the program’s championships the past few seasons.

But if the defense can muster one great effort (or at least force a couple of turnovers), or if the offense can cover their backsides for them, Tennessee will keep their SEC championship hopes alive.

If they do that … if they find a way to shut down McFadden and Felix Jones and Marcus Monk … or if they find a way to win in a shootout … then someone in 2029 might wind up digging through THEIR sports collection to find a program or a used ticket that they’ve saved from today’s game.

Tennessee had a championship team in 1985. They let everyone know about it against Bo Jackson and Auburn. Today, presented with yet another opportunity to “control their destiny,” we’ll find out if the 2007 Vols share some of their magic.

Will this be a “typical Tennessee team” or will this game put Tennessee back on the championship map?

© 2007, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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