No Vol fan woke up in a good humor 51 years ago today - Sept. 28, 1958. That day will long live in infamy in the history of Tennessee football. The Vols are likely to be in the record books forever on this one.
It wasn't because the score was No. 3 Auburn 13, Tennessee 0.
It wasn't because Auburn scored all its points in the fourth quarter to break open a tenacious defensive struggle.
One statistic tells the story.
First downs: Auburn 11, Tennessee 0.
You read that one right, a full 60 minutes of football, without the Vols making a first down, not by rushing, not by passing, not even by a penalty.
It hasn't happened since in the annals of major college football.
Red Grange and Lindsey Nelson were there for NBC. Nelson knew this drill well. He had been on the air for NBC in 1953, also in Birmingham, with Mel Allen. Tennessee and Alabama fought to a scoreless tie. It didn't exactly advance the cause of televised college football.
Bowden Wyatt had compiled a 24-7-1 record in his first three years back in Knoxville, with the SEC title being a big prize two years earlier. As always, Tennessee fans were looking for big things from their team. As it turned out, the Vols were playing with a short stick.
Russ Bebb wrote that "there was a glaring weakness, and it was at the worst possible position, the sensitive tailback post." There was no shortage of candidates, Carroll Young, the No. 3 tailback who had seen little action a year earlier, George Wright, and three sophomores, Bill Majors, Gene Etter, and Bobby Finley. Those names did not, however, seem to strike fear in the hearts of Vol opponents.
Russ called it an "all-time low" for the Vols and the single wing. The Vols had minus-49 yards rushing and 19 passing. Wyatt searched for the right words to explain how the afternoon developed.
"The only thing we can do now is start from scratch and try to get an offense going," Wyatt, described as "dejected," said. "The ball carriers didn't have a chance. The blocking wasn't there. As everybody could see, we simply couldn't move the ball. So we had to kick and scratch, and that's what we did."
For at least a day, Auburn held the upper hand. There were no "Auburn jokes" this day. Sportswriters had a field day in the Sunday papers.
One writer opined that an Auburn lineman "almost intercepted a center snap to the quarterback."
"It looked at times like UT center Ray Brann was snapping the ball with one hand - and an Auburn guard with the other."
Then came this classic: "Several beautiful broken-field runs enabled Tennessee tailbacks to get back to within two or three yards of the line of scrimmage."
This was in the early days of television timeouts, something that was so new that it occasionally got in the way of the flow of the game.
In the "Auburn Football Vault," David Housel reports one comment by Auburn center Jackie Burkett, who was stopped from snapping the ball because the game was in a commercial break. He was not happy about this turn of events
"Listen here, mister," Burkett said. "We came here to beat Tennessee and ain't no dad-blamed TV commercial is going to stop us."
It was an up and down season. The Vols defeated Mississippi State at Crump Stadium in Memphis 13-8. Murray Armstrong scored both Vol touchdowns, one on an interception return, the other on a 15-yard TD pass from Majors, with only 61 seconds to go.
The Vols lost to Georgia Tech and defeated Alabama, in Bear Bryant's debut on the Alabama bench on the west side of Shields-Watkins Field. Then came losses to Florida State, a real downer, North Carolina, and, of all people, Chattanooga. That led to a major fracas on the field after the game.
That put the Vols at 2-5, with powerful Ole Miss coming into town for Homecoming. A crowd of 27,100 showed up to see a major upset. Tennessee was a 14-point underdog, yet somehow won 18-16.
Etter had a classic 76-yard run for the go-ahead score in the fourth quarter, despite leaving his shoe at midfield after escaping the grasp of a tackler. Bob Khayat, a future University of Mississippi Chancellor, missed a gimme field goal at the south end.
The season ended 4-6, with a loss to Kentucky and a win over Vanderbilt.
In the bright light of recollection, however, the Auburn game that season will probably be the grist for bar bets and other reasoned discussions of Vol football.
When was the last time Tennessee didn't make a first down?
Now you know the answer.
Sept. 27, 1958, Legion Field, Birmingham, Ala.
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."
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Comments » 5
CalPoly_Vol_Fan writes:
WHO CARES ABOUT 1958???????????
DownTheField writes:
Fans? (Strange thing to explain to such an educated, "CalPoly," Vol fan.)
newtonrail writes:
First game I saw was in '56, but '58 is when, as a 13 year started selling programs to get in game and make money. The Ole Miss game that year or '60 had one heck of a brawl. In some ways you could see the game better walking and setting in different areas, than tied to student seats years later. You could get down on field on North end zone in front of bleachers in those days. Out of field of play of course.
jrichas#214845 writes:
Tom, you might confirm this from Gene Etter, but he can confirm two things re that 76 yd run vs Ole Miss. First he was stopped but his right shoe came off and he broke loose for the TD run with one shoe on. Second when he came to the sideline he went stright into the tunnel. Why? Because he crapped in his pants on the run. He had diarrhea before and during the game. :-) Gene and I are good friends and although 51 years ago, think both are true. Also I was in the middle of the riot after the Chattanooga game which was my frosh year and my picture was on the front page of the News Sentinel the next morning. Luckily I escaped unharmed and unarrested!! :-) Some great stories about all that from an eyewitness on the ground- me!! :-)
chl1958 writes:
I was a Cheerleader that year. Not only did we not have much to cheer about at the Auburn game,it became worse. We were eating dinner,still in uniform,at the old Tutwiler Hotel in Birmingham,when a drunk Auburn fan came to our table to yell War Eagle. He collapsed on our table with our food,causing it to collapse also. We politely covered him with our napkins ,and left the room. Obviously,he had no encore!
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