There have been several "lost weekends" over the course of Tennessee athletics over the years, where everything that could seemingly go wrong did. Last weekend was one of them. Such a series of events tends to shatter fans' confidence, overheat the phone lines to the talk shows, and bring the message boards to a boil.
The Tennessee men's basketball team lost a close one to Oklahoma State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. It was a No. 8 versus a No. 9 game, the teams supposedly equally matched, but Vol fans still thought the game was winnable. And it was.
The women's team lost a not-so-close contest to Ball State University, of Muncie, Ind., also in the first round, the first time ever that the Lady Vols had lost in the first round in the NCAAs. Given it was an "upset," Lady Vol fans certainly were. Defending national champions were not supposed to go out this way, youthful or not. Former Lady Vol Kara Lawson evaluated the game on the ESPN post-game show with her version of Pat Summitt's famed stare. Her analysis - how teams perform during the season is how they perform during the tournament - was right on the money.
The Vol baseball team was swept in a series in Gainesville, as was the Lady Vol softball team. Losses to the Gators, particularly those three-game sweeps, are always troublesome.
If you're counting, that's 0-for-8 between last Friday and Sunday nights. Somehow, the sun still rose Monday morning, and life as we know it went on.
Historically, there have been games Tennessee teams lost when, perhaps, the Vols should have won. Likewise, Vol squads have won, when everything suggested the team should have lost. That's part of the ebb and flow of sports.
There have also been days on the gridiron you'd like to forget, most recently Vanderbilt in 2005 and/or Wyoming in 2008.
There aren't many such circumstances, maybe one or so a decade, but they are memorable in a strange sort of way.
Consider the ultimate "Lost Weekend," again in football. There was a Saturday to remember, Nov. 15, 1969, at Mississippi Memorial Stadium in Jackson. That was the day the Rebels, led by a junior quarterback named Archie Manning, vanquished an undefeated Tennessee squad 38-0.
Tennessee had defeated Ole Miss a year earlier in Knoxville by 31-0, intercepting Manning seven times. Vol fans wore orange and white "Archie Who?" buttons to the game that day and lived to regret it.
It's popularly called the "Jackson Massacre."
It was so bad that Haywood Harris had the shortest quote ever in Sports Illustrated. After a Rebel field goal before the half hit the crossbar and bounced over to extend the lead to 24-0, all Haywood could say was: "Dang." Not "Gosh-dang," but "Dang."
"As I recall, there was no '69 Ole Miss game," former News Sentinel sports editor Marvin West said Thursday. "The Rebels appeared, ran up and down the field a few times, and went away to celebrate their version of mule day. To the best of my knowledge, Tennessee was not a part of the festivities."
Rarely has a weekend been so bleak across Big Orange Country. The Alabama freshmen had routed an undefeated Vol rookie squad 35-0 at Neyland Stadium the day before. You couldn't imagine a worse 48 or so hours. The sun did, however, rise Sunday morning back then, too. The "Doug Dickey Show" appeared on Channel 6 at 1 p.m., just as was scheduled.
There weren't Internet chat boards that season, with no radio talk shows, either, at least in Knoxville. You couldn't hear the callers' voices on "Hold That Line," but there was considerable discussion all over town and across the state.
It didn't get better immediately. The Vols won the final two games of the season against Kentucky and Vanderbilt, but struggled doing so. The SEC title came to Knoxville, but the post-season prize was a trip to Jacksonville to play Florida.
The Gators won 14-13. Afterwards, Doug Dickey decided to go to Florida as head coach, leaving behind a 46-15-4 record in Knoxville.
The hangover didn't last into the 1970 season. That Bill Battle-coached bunch went 11-1, won the Sugar Bowl over Air Force, and finished No. 4 in the nation. It was one of the most memorable seasons in Tennessee history.
The last two months of the 1969 season are now but a blur in the memory banks. Many Vol fans of today hadn't been born when the Vols and Ole Miss squared off nearly 40 years ago.
From the perspective of those of us who were alive back then, if the Vol program could survive the months of November and December in 1969, it can survive what happened last weekend.
It just takes some patience and perseverance.
Tom Mattingly is the author of "The Tennessee Football Vault: The Story of the Tennessee Volunteers, 1891-2006" (2006), to be published in second edition in 2009, and "Tennessee Football: The Peyton Manning Years" (1998). His E-mail is tjmshm@comcast.net. His News Sentinel blog is called "The Vol Historian."
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Comments » 12
movol53 writes:
Last weekend was rough on many of us - - players, fans and coaches. It could have been worse; we could have been playing Fla in all of those events and lost them all!!!
I've been a VOL FAN for over 40 years and have we've had many a peak and valley during that time. I say it is time to get up and kick some azz. Any time any place (any sport) to parphase Ray Mears!!! The one I truly hurt for is Pat. She never thinks that we are rebuilding -- just reloading.
She did not plan on having a team full of freshmen and sophomores but that's how things turned out. I KNOW we will be better next year. IN ALL SPORTS
From cold and windy Springfield, Mo.
Thank God for the Lady Vol Track Team!
Way to go Girls!!!!
richvol writes:
I was in the stands that day in Jackson 40 years ago...DANG!
kiddtigger#228291 writes:
I was only 8 years old but I have a vivid memory of that day. I had an older cousin who was an Archie/Ole Miss fan. We had to go over to their house for some reason after the game. My dad's brother just laughed as my cousin paraded around in her Ole Miss colors pouring it on about the game to my dad who said nothing. I remember that laughing to this day. My dad never did like Ole Miss to the day he died, unfortunately, the summer before UT won the National Championship in '98.
gslaton#227127 writes:
I was in the Air Force and stationed in Korea during the 1969 season. We could only hear one college game per week on Armed Forces Radio. I was pumped...bragging about the Vols. Needless to say, I took some grief that day..and for days after that. But, I was discharged in 1970 and enrolled at UT in the fall. Sure enjoyed that first season back, and the next two. Bobby Scott, Condredge Hollaway, Jackie Walker, Conrad Graham, Bobby Majors, Chip Kell, etc.etc.
JWilly writes:
UT was likely headed for a Natl. Champ. in 69 if they had won that game. If I recall correctly, UT was ranked #2 at the time and most of the "sports talkers" believed UT to truly be the best team in the country. After that game UT totally disappeared from the scene like no other time I can remember. Fans were so heartbroken many did not even know the outcome of the remaining games that season. UT was the butt of many jokes and I cannot remember a lower point in UT football history. Within the borders of the great state of Tennessee, no one, I mean no one, was more hated than Archie Manning. As I have said before, if anyone would have said back then that Archie's son would be the most revered player in UT history, he likely would have been institutionalized (if he survived).
calvolfromkingsport writes:
I agree with you Jwilly. I remember how my loathing of the lizards was developed at 10 years old what with the accusations that D Dickey threw that gator bowl game as he was to take over the reins of coaching the lizards the next year. Heartbreaking day in November when not even "Scott to Trot" would work in Jackson.
mattingly writes:
Stan Trott lettered from 1970 through 1972, according to the UT Football Guide. He might have been in Jackson as a redshirt, but was not a part of the offense that day in 1969. The way the Rebels played, it wouldn't have mattered anyway.
calvolfromkingsport writes:
I stand corrected. Unfortunately, it was a sad day in E TN. Please forgive the mind of a then 9 year old who was playing with his lincoln logs that day!Lol!
Volumnus writes:
I can't remember if it was Kiner or Reynolds who came out with the famous "Archie who?" response, but that made for a long afternoon in Jackson that Saturday. It made for an even longer drive home. Then the Dickey debacle with his exit. I remember showing up at Neyland in 1970 with two bags of oranges for the then FlA coach Dickey. I never appreciated the University hiring him back. But 1970 was a very good year to be a UT Vol. The weather in New Orleans was just good enough and the game day weather was wonderful(the sun was too bright for the hangover) in The old sugar bowl/Tulane stadium. And that drive home went so very nice. So maybe 2009/2010 will be better. Good article as the sun did indeed come up.
Ralph_Crampton writes:
Yeah, but when Dickey left the Vols to coach Florida...he left a pile of top recruits that lasted Bill Battle the new coach for three years...never, in the era after Neyland did the Vols have super players like they had in 70,71,72, they began to taper off after the super recruits graduated and became just an ordinary team...they could have won two two national titles in a row with that talent...and really should have...Vols never had a recruiter like Dickey, perhaps, ever. Oh well life goes on.
Madkels writes:
Having been in elemetary school back then, why couldn't we keep Dickey? Did he just wish to return to his alma mater or did we not have the funds to pay the salary?
Ralph_Crampton writes:
Makedels...We'll never know for sure, but it was rumored that Dickey's wife had always wanted to live in Florida..her beloved home state. When former Vol great Ray Graves, who was the Florida coach retired after 69 season, he was aware of the bitter upset win to Ole Miss..and hoped that he could snare Dickey to replace him at Florida as Vol fans raved and ranted over the upset loss. It was a confounding upset, as most Vol fans saw the Vols headed toward the national championship. At the time Dickey, perhaps one the top recruiters ever in the SEC had recruited a host of top flight talent...That the famed "Bear" Bryant of Alabama was left in the recruiting "dust". Enraged, Bryant redoubled Alabama's efforts because Dickey was grabbing talented players the Tide had sought. After all, The Vols under Dickey had beaten Bama three straight years...something that had happened only once before...Bryant had ,lost three games in a row to Gen. Neyland...years before...but not to any other coach until Dickey came along. If Dickey had stayed at Tennessee, he might have dominated the SEC in the 70's instead of the "Bear"....we'll never know, but Dickey's success kicked off great Alabama recruiting throughout the 70's...whereby the Tide were three to four deep at every position...and winning several more National titles. I'm sure Dickey kicked himself every morning for years for leaving the Vols with such awesome talent at the time.
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