Games against UCLA hold memories for Vols

They're three time zones and 2,200 miles apart. Culturally, they have little common ground. It's barbecue vs. sushi.

That hasn't stopped Tennessee and UCLA from having a whiz-bang college football series.

When the Vols open the 2008 season in Pasadena on Monday night, it marks the 14th renewal of a long-distance relationship that began with a 1965 barn-burner in Memphis, of all places.

Distance aside, the Bruins have become Tennessee's most frequent non-SEC rival of the modern era with two exceptions: Georgia Tech, whom UT has not played since 1987, and Memphis.

"I do like the series,'' UT head coach Phillip Fulmer said this week.

"It's two traditional rivals. Going to the Rose Bowl is really special. And I just think of all the great players and coaches and from our standpoint, you remember a lot of the plays that were made.''

Fulmer remembers being in high school in Winchester, Tenn., and driving to the highest point in the county to catch the Vol Network broadcast of the games in the 1960s.

He played in a 28-17 win over the Bruins in 1970.

"I wanted to play in the Rose Bowl but they came to Knoxville that year,'' he said.

Tennessee leads the series 7-4-2.

The Vols were 0-2 against the Bruins in the Los Angeles Coliseum, 2-1 since UCLA moved to the Rose Bowl.

Tennessee is 4-1-2 against the Bruins in Knoxville.

The Vols played against a Heisman Trophy winner, quarterback Gary Beban, in 1967. They have also encountered two Outland Trophy winners, Jonathan Ogden and Kris Farris, plus All-Americans such as Kenny Easley, Cade McNown and Mel Farr.

Monday the teams meet for the first time since 1997, when senior Peyton Manning led the Vols to a 30-24 season-opening victory.

Manning's previous trip to Pasadena is more memorable. His collegiate debut came in the 1994 opener, after starting quarterback Jerry Colquitt was injured on the opening possession.

Colquitt was a fifth-year senior from Oak Ridge. Like Jonathan Crompton this season, Colquitt was finally getting his turn after backing up Heath Shuler for two years.

His turn, however, lasted only seven plays. Trying to convert a third-and-7, Colquitt felt his knee pop before he was even hit by a UCLA defender.

It was a torn ACL. That was it.

"It was really sad,'' Fulmer said, "because of what he went through, the loyalty he had shown to us.

"I was excited about his play but also the person he was and his leadership. The team had really rallied around him.''

Manning played only one series. It was future baseball star Todd Helton who rallied the Vols from an 18-0 fourth-quarter deficit, only to fall short, 25-23.

Tennessee's 1989 trip to UCLA bore more parallels to this year than '94 did.

In '89 the Vols had a junior quarterback, Sterling Henton, taking the reins from departed senior Jeff Francis, a three-year starter.

But like the 2008 team, the '89 Vols also had a new offensive coordinator - Fulmer.

Fulmer had been promoted from offensive line coach by head coach Johnny Majors to replace Walt Harris.

Fulmer's debut was a closer-than-expected 17-14 win over Colorado State in Neyland Stadium. Hardly an offensive tour de force.

So the Sept. 9 visit to No. 6-ranked UCLA was a big game for the new coordinator.

Tennessee's first two possessions went nowhere, but on the third, a roughing-the-punter penalty against UCLA was the break the Vols needed. They went on to finish a 15-play, 90-yard drive for a 7-0 lead.

In the third quarter, an 81-yard drive made it 14-0. Four of the nine plays were handoffs to Reggie Cobb, the final three to Chuck Webb.

"That's pretty good play-calling,'' Fulmer said with a laugh.

The unranked Vols scored a convincing 24-6 upset, thanks to 247 rushing yards and efficient passing by Henton, who would eventually lose his job in midseason to Andy Kelly.

"It was a big win for us,'' Fulmer recalled. "I remember we ran the ball very well in that ball game and protected our defense well.

"That was a big victory for a young offensive coordinator at the time.''

© 2008, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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