Mattingly: Fans fear Alabama hangover

Over the years, the results of the Tennessee-Alabama game have not been in the rear view mirror very long until a new concern would crop up among skittish Vol fans.

Fans worry endlessly about a great many things, and this one is right near the top of the list.

It's called "The Week After Alabama," termed TWAA for short, manifesting itself by Vol fans expressing concern that the effort against the Tide, home or away, win or loss, causes an inevitable letdown the next week, or maybe even into the rest of the season.

It's not a fatal malady by any means, and generally goes away a week or so later, but it is something really worrisome.

It first showed up in 1946, Gen. Bob Neyland's first year back from World War II, when the No. 4 Volunteers, fresh off a 12-0 win over the No. 7 Harry Gilmer-led Crimson Tide, dropped a 19-6 decision to an unranked Wake Forest squad. That was the only loss in a 9-1 regular season, one in which the Vols won the SEC title.

The post-Alabama blues really didn't appear again until 1958, when the Vols, fresh off a 14-7 victory over Bear Bryant's first Alabama squad a week earlier, dropped a 10-0 decision to a Florida State team that bore no resemblance to the Florida State aggregations we know today. This was the Tennessee squad that finished 4-6, but still managed to beat Alabama and lose to Florida State and Chattanooga.

In 1967, the week after a momentous triumph over Alabama, the No. 4-ranked Vols took on an unranked LSU squad that eventually made it to the Sugar Bowl. The Vols won, 17-14, but it wasn't easy.

In 1973, the Vols defeated TCU 39-7 the week after a 42-21 loss to the Tide, but the really chronic worriers pointed to the wheels falling off two of the next three weeks, losses to Georgia, in the fake punt game, and at Ole Miss.

In 1975, it was North Texas State 21, Tennessee 14, a week after a 30-7 Alabama win and before losses to Ole Miss and Vanderbilt later in the season. The North Texas game is among the most embarrassing losses in Vol history.

The Vols lost to Florida two years in a row after losses to Alabama in 1976 and 1977 and to Mississippi State likewise in 1978.

The Vols survived the week after Alabama in the 1980s and 1990s, with one notable exception that is the stuff of which history is made.

The year was 1982, a modest year by Tennessee standards with a 6-5-1 record, but one of the six was a 35-28 win over Alabama, the first win in the series since 1970, a triumph that enthralled Vol partisans and players alike. It was a magic moment, with but one catch.

Tennessee was required to play Georgia Tech the next week at Grant Field in Atlanta.

Tech had lost 24-0 at Auburn the same day the Vols defeated Alabama, and there seemed to be a belief that lightning would strike twice for the Volunteers.

It didn't.

"That Saturday following that first big win over Alabama was a day that will live in infamy as far as I'm concerned," John Majors said.

Majors did everything he could to get the Vols focused on the Yellow Jackets. He told the team that the Vols had lost five of six in recent years after losing to Alabama, sometimes after open dates, sometimes not.

Sometimes at home, sometimes not.

It was a very persuasive argument, but no one was listening.

Russ Bebb reported that Majors tried a novel approach to help move on after the big win. There was a platform on Hudson Field covered by a sheet the following Monday afternoon.

No one immediately knew what it was when the Vols assembled for practice that day.

"This is Cloud Nine," Majors said, referring to the illusory nature of success. "I want each of you to jump off of it and then we'll be off Cloud Nine, and we'll start getting ready for Georgia Tech."

It didn't work. Tech racked up 451 yards total offense and won 31-21 in a game that wasn't that close.

Tennessee learned its lesson and, a year later, dismantled Tech 37-3 the week after winning at Birmingham. However, the Vols lost to Tech again in 1986 after a 56-28 loss to the Tide a week earlier.

South Carolina and Steve Spurrier did rain on the parade in 2005, winning the night Peyton Manning's No. 16 jersey was retired, and again in 2008, just before the next Monday's announcement that Phillip Fulmer was being let go at the end of the season.

One thing is for certain. The fans still worry, maybe excessively, maybe not. Look for fans to continue to worry this week regardless.

Tom Mattingly is the author of "The Tennessee Football Vault: The Story of the Tennessee Volunteers, 1891-2006" (2006), now available in second edition at fine bookstores everywhere, and "Tennessee Football: The Peyton Manning Years" (1998). Send comments to tjmshm@comcast.net. His News Sentinel blog is called "The Vol Historian."