KP wrote: Thanks KP... The 3rd Saturday in October (most years) is special to me win or lose. Not a jab but the picture I remember most of Johnny Majors, is of him on the shoulders of the Tennessee players carrying him over to shake the Bear's hand after Bryant lost his last game in Neyland stadium.
That picture is here: https://247sports.com/college/tenne...ls-leaders-tabbed-for-game-vs-Alaba-109162459
Nope, but the 1985 win was the year that Tennessee went to the sugar bowl as a 7 td underdog to Miami. Miami jumped out to a 7 - 0 lead followed by 35 unanswered Tennessee points! :wink: :wink: :wink: Vinny Testaverde spent more time on his back than a hooker at Mardi gras :shock: Tennessee barely beat Alabama after our star qb mangled his knee and Daryl Dickey (Doug Dickey's son) finished out the game and the season.
I was just kidding Tom. Alabama has won quite a few games against Tennessee in a row but not that many. It was a joke, I guess a bad one.
I'm still recovering from that drubbing and how the Vols shared the game tape with Penn State who one year later did another mugging of Vinny...The famous camo fatigue season for the championship PS - That's alright there's always a Waffle House nearby http://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/21067022/college-football-saturday-sec-country-waffle-house
KP,I did not take it badly. All that I posted was memories sparked by that one link when I searched for a copy of that Majors picture.
Ralph, that victory was not that memorable because it was against Miami... it was memorable because it was against the media. ... the media that claimed Tennessee had no business being there and would be shamefully driven out of the stadium. The media that rated Daryl Dickey, the replacement for Tony Robinson, as a noodle arm not capable of holding Testaverde's jock strap. Tennessee fans endured the barrage of insults from the media and still made the pilgrimage to the Sugar Bowl. It was burned into our psyche that we were going to be sobbing on our way out of the stadium after the 1st quarter. It was refreshing that the opposite occurred.
Tom, that was how Alabama was treated prior to the 1993 Sugar Bowl. Everyone thought that Miami had too much speed and talent for Alabama to handle. 34-13 was the final score. We just celebrated that 1992 team and that National Championship this past weekend. Coach Stallings was there as was Dabo Sweeney along with about 90 of his former teammates. Sweeney flew in on Saturday after losing to Syracuse the night before. I remember that game in 1993 like it was yesterday.
I think the moral of this story is Miami should never play in the Sugar Bowl.. and of course the media is normally wrong
I think that many ND fans remember the '92 Sugar Bowl very fondly as like the other bowls that have been mentioned in this thread for Tenn, the Irish were big underdogs and had not finished the season esp well, even though we had a lot of future NFL'ers on the team. One waiter in New Orleans famously asked Lou Holtz whats the difference between Cheerios and Notre Dame...answer was Cheerios belong in a bowl. Of course the Irish came out and ran all over the Gators with Jerome Bettis and won handily. That felt really good. Of course not as good as winning the Nat'l Title in the Fiesta Bowl in 1988 or the Cotton Bowl in 1977 or the Sugar Bowl in 1973...but still pretty darn good...vindication!
My son was on the team that went to two consecutive Cotton Bowls following the '92 and '93 seasons. I recall in '92 that TX A&M fans and players were upset that their undefeated team was "forced" to play a 9-1-1 ND team that in their minds wouldn't be a quality enough win to propel them to the national championship. The disrespectful public comments gave us a huge pile of locker room material. We kicked their butts and ended up ranked higher at the end. I gained immense respect for the A&M fans - the storied 12th man - when we attended the game. The unified cheers were loud and constant throughout the game, even when they were hopelessly behind. I've never seen that level of enthusiasm at an ND game aside from the student body. Non-student ND fans cheer as loud as anyone when the game's on the line and the team is playing well, but when we're not playing up to expectations, they can turn sour in an instant. P.S. The next year we beat A&M again handily. Unfortunately, in the minds of the pollsters it was not enough to overcome the BC upset in the final game of the regular season, and FSU won the NC after defeating Nebraska. I also was at that Cotton Bowl game.
KP, I don't remember if I have ever posted this on the Skybox. In the 1999 Fiesta Bowl, Peerless Price had just intercepted a ball from the rooster and was running it back when this group was walking up the steps blocking my view. I had to do a double take follow that group to their seats. The leader of that group was none other than Gene Stallings. I asked him to autograph my ticket and he did. He also commented: " Mighty fine defense I just witnessed. Reminds me of several of mine!" Why he was there, I have no idea but he was a very nice man with which to converse. I will pm you a picture of the ticket
Tom, that's cool. Stallings is still very popular around here. As the coach of a national championship team, he has a statue on the Walk of Champions at Bryant Denny. 8)
Sid, I'm trying to figure out where you heard all of that negative stuff from A&M fans? I remember those games very well, and none of us were underwhelmed by ND. The 93 game... our defense was built for speed, and NOT for stopping a big running game, which is what we got... all OVER us. The 94 game was a slugfest that ended up 24 - 21 for ND. And very likely could have gone our way when our hook and lateral play that was set up beautifully for a score went awry on the pitch. Not quite as "handily" as you remember. Great game that we came up just a little short.
Scott, I can't recall specifics, except for the sports talk shows and the papers. I can't tell you who the speakers or the writers were. I heard and read about it in the midwest and in Dallas. We drove down for the 93 and 94 games. For the 93 game, when we were in Oklahoma and north Texas, we were listening to whatever sports radio talk shows we could find. I recall hearing and reading that A&M was disappointed in the matchup. That's all I can tell you. I definitely recall that we went into the '93 game with a chip on our shoulder, feeling disrespect from A&M. The '94 game was different, and if I remembered that we "handily" beat you, I was wrong. I apologize for that. I don't recall any trash talk in either direction prior to the game. I only recall that we were staying at the team's hotel, which had an atrium lobby. After the game, we believed that we had done what we needed to do to recover and win the NC. Coach Holtz gave a stirring speech in the lobby while we watched and listened from our balcony. Then everyone went to their rooms and watched the bowl game between FSU and Nebraska, cheering for Nebraska. The rest is history. FWIW, I became big fan of A&M because of those two games. Every Aggie we met was nice and respectful. I wrote above how impressed I was with the in-game Aggie enthusiasm to the last whistle. I'm sorry I riled you. For consolation,you can go back to the Cotton Bowl following the '87 season, when we were no match for you, and in which our Heisman Trophy winner, Tim Brown, did not play well. He even had his towel stolen by a member of your kickoff team.
No apologies needed. I wasn't upset, just very curious. The Dallas media rarely gives A&M the time of day much less any credit for being "better" than an opponent. I remember we thought we could win but also knew we would struggle against your style of offense. Our DLine was not big. You did say what I wanted to hear: that the fans were good hosts. That's what I really care about.
We took the kids to the '88 Cotton Bowl when we were again matched up with aTm. I recall we stayed in an Embassy Suites that appeared to be half Irish and half Aggie. There was a lot of good natured ribbing that went on and I recall the fans from both schools singing school songs in the atrium. We really enjoyed the Aggie fans but they ended up taking it to us in the game.
Wow, Oklahoma State is playing for OT. They got the ball with about 1:30 left threw 1 pass that was almost picked then just ran the ball and punted with about 23 seconds left. They are one of top offenses in college with a Sr Qb who is a great Passer... If I'm an OSU fan I am pissed. Even more so if they lose in OT