What a game.
At halftime, Tennessee was down 21-3, and looked about as alive as Hillary Clinton on a “warm” day in New
York City. Their three red zone trips in the first half had resulted in only three
points, and Austin Appleby was playing out of his mind, and looked like Peyton Manning. The receivers looked terrified of catching the ball, like it was covered in arsenic, and the offensive line was, of course, atrocious. But the most concerning thing was Butch, who had the appearance of a man with the weight of the entire state bearing down upon him. The
pressure of 11 years in a row and the magnitude of this game had gotten to the Vols, and they didn't appear to be up for it.
As my father and I sat together in shared
frustration, we started to have the, “Well, maybe it’s time to move on from
Coach Jones” conversation. I’ve not really ever been that much of a Butch supporter, as I’ve
viewed him mostly as just a walking bunch of platitudes and catch phrases. I was tired of hearing “Brick
by brick” and “Team 120” and “We just have to learn how to win” and all that
crap. At some point, you have to come away victorious in games that matter, and Butch
wasn’t great at that. Sure, his teams would beat the Vanderbilts and Kentuckys
of the world, but what about Florida and Alabama? Tennessee led the Crimson
Tide in the fourth quarter last season, and held two score leads in the 4th
quarter of both the‘14 and ’15 contests against the Gators, and yet, incredibly, they lost
all three of games. The recruiting was great, and Tennessee was making it into
bowls and winning all the games that they were expected to, but they definitely
weren’t back yet. And that’s what
really matters. Making an impact on both the conference and the national stage. Beating
Florida and Alabama. Closing out double digit leads in the 4th
quarter.
Clay Travis has a “Dump Truck of Cash” idea that I
really like, which is basically this: a big time program that’s down on their
luck (like Tennessee) puts $5 million in the back of a truck and drives to
a particularly desirable coach’s house, and offers them the cash and
control of the program. Obviously it’s a Ludacris idea, but it’s also a bold one, and it tells the coach that they are trying to woo that the administration is serious about
winning. Plus, IT’S $5 MILLION.
So, as I remembered this, I turned to my dad and said, “I
think it’s time Tennessee loads up a dump truck full of cash, drives all the
way to Texas/Louisville, and says ‘Hey Art Briles/Bobby Petrino, here’s a dump truck full of cash, why don’t you come
coach us?’” In Petrino's case, I might've even been willing to throw in a twenty-something year old attractive blonde to sweeten the deal. I
joked with my friends that I’d purchased the domain name, “firebutchjones.com”,
and I tried to block out what looked like a devastating Tennessee loss by
imagining how nice a Petrino or Briles offense would look in Knoxville. I
was ready to send Butch packing. Everything I’d ever thought about him was
coming true. He was a nice guy who said all the proper cliché’s, but he
wasn’t the right coach to restore the Vols to national prominence.
But then, a funny thing happened; Tennessee started
looking like the team we thought they were. Despite a potentially
back-breaking interception on their first drive, the Volunteers kept coming.
Dobbs played the best game of his career. He was
everything I ever wanted him to be in that second half, as he wore the "vaunted" Gators’ defense down with his legs by rushing for 80 yards and a TD. But, even
more impressively, he murdered them through the air, tossing four touchdowns to
go along with a career-high 319 yards. He erased almost all the doubts about his ability to
be a competent downfield passer, while at the same time demonstrating that he
was capable of being the best player on the field in a big time SEC game, something he’s going to have to continue to do if the Volunteers want to be players on the
national scene the rest of the season.
“Team 120” also got an enormous lift from Jauan
Jennings, the only receiver on the entire roster who wasn’t dealing with an
extreme case of “my hands don’t work”. He made two ridiculous catches,
including the 67 yard touchdown he hauled in that gave Tennessee its first lead.
And then there’s the defense: despite missing three
of their best players (Cam Sutton, Darrin Kirkland, and Jalen Reeves-Maybin),
they destroyed the Florida offense in second half, keeping them from achieving
a first down until well into the fourth quarter. Todd Kelly Jr. made an
enormous interception on the Gator drive after Jennings’s touchdown, and Derek
Barnett did his best Von Miller impersonation, as he sacked Appleby twice and
blew up multiple plays in the backfield.
Mike Debord has taken a lot of heat from Vol fans this season,
but I thought he called a really good game throughout, particularly in the
second half. Dobbs has to be able to get outside the pocket and take off and
use his feet for Tennessee’s offense to be elite, and he was able to do that in
the 3rd and 4th quarters. Of course, it helps everything
run smoother when the offensive line actually starts to get a push, and when
the wide outs suddenly begin to catch the football.
Obviously, Butch, someone who just bought himself a
ridiculous amount of good will and time with boosters and fans, deserves a ton
of credit. Beating Florida and exorcising ELEVEN YEARS of demons was the final
step for him, at least for me.
It’s funny how certain games completely shape the
narrative, either positively or negatively, for a coach. For example, in 2013,
Auburn won two miracles, the Prayer in Jordan Hare, and the Kick Six. If
they lose both those games (and it’s entirely possible that they would’ve),
then Gus Malzahn finishes Year 1 with three losses, no SEC Title, no life-long
memories, and without the “he’s an offensive genius” narrative. And, during the following two years, when he posted records of 8-5 and 7-6, with no home SEC wins in Year 3,
he definitely would've been fired and not allowed within 300 miles of the state of Alabama ever again. Heck, he’s on the hot seat now, and might've been fired tonight if the Tigers weren't able to beat LSU . But because that 2013 season happened, there’s still
the hope, no matter how miniscule, that he can recapture the magic of that year,
because the fans have seen him do it before. With Butch, we didn’t have that
idea until now, because he’d never done it. But now he has, and he’ll forever be able to
point to this game, the one we all wanted for so long, and it will be hard for
us to say anything against him. He has us all in the palm of his hand. I hope we don't get crushed.
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This game, as big and important as it was, is still
just the beginning of the Vol resurgence. If Tennessee wants to win the conference
and make noise on the national level, going at least 2-1 in their next three
games is extremely important. Georgia got blasted today by Ole Miss, but I’m
sure they’ll have a better effort for the Vols next week in Athens. Traveling
to Texas A&M on October 8th will be a challenge, and there’s no
tougher test in all of college football than Alabama, who they’ll play on
October 15th, even though they do benefit by having that game in
Knoxville. Tennessee can’t let this highest of highs, no matter how amazing it
feels, prevent them from showing up and competing next week. I’d like to see
this team, who has trailed by double digits in the first half of three of their
four games, actually come out of the locker room firing on all cylinders in the first quarter. These first half deficits have already taken like 15
years off my life; if they keep this up, I’ll be dead in three weeks.
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I’m so glad the streak is over, and I’m really happy
that no matter how old you are, as a Tennessee fan, you’ve seen the Vols beat
the Gators.
I guess a duck can pull a truck.
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