OneManGang
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Tennessee vs The Maxims vs Kentucky
On page 145 of the 2014 UT Media Guide is an asterisk which informs the reader that erstwhile Offensive Coordinator Jim Chaney had filled in for fired Head Vol Derek Dooley for Kentucky's last visit to Neyland Stadium in 2012. A dispirited bunch of Vols managed a 27-14 win over an even more despondent collection of MildKats. Chaney is noteworthy in that his win percentage is the highest of any Vol head coach.
Further perusal of this document shows that the 2010 campaign was the last time that Our Beloved Vols managed to win two SEC games in a row. *shudders*
Saturday night's matchup with Kentucky was nothing short of a beatdown by the Vols. It was time for a trip in the Wayback Machine to see what was said about a similar victory against a hapless foe. "Sherman, set the controls for 2003. The date, November 15th, the Place is Neyland Stadium. The opponent for the day was Mississippi State."
Fast forward to November 15, 2014 and enjoy the fact that after four looooonngg seasons, we long-suffering fans FINALLY got to see some Tennessee football.
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The Marines in and around Henderson Field on Guadalcanal in November of 1942 had been on the receiving end of a series of near knockout blows from fast moving Japanese task forces of battleships and cruisers which seemed to show up every night. Shells of every size from 5" destroyer guns up to the mammoth 14" naval rifles on board the battleships would hammer the Marines for hours and the US Navy was powerless to do anything about it. One grizzled Marine Gunnery Sergeant was heard to say, "If any man tells me he wasn't scared sh**less last night, I'm going to shake his hand for being the bravest man I've ever met. Then I'm going to punch him in the nose for being a damned liar!"
The US Navy, though, had not been idle. Two brand-new battleships, USS South Dakota and USS Washington, had arrived in the theater and were promptly dispatched along with four destroyers for escort to the waters off Guadalcanal, arriving on the evening of 14 November. They were under the command of the Navy's leading battleship tactician, Admiral Willis A. Lee. He was a 1908 graduate of the US Naval Academy, where his Chinese-sounding last named earned him the nickname "Ching." Unlike other high-ranking members of the "Gun Club," Lee had embraced new technologies and became an expert at using radar fire-control systems. He was also a crack shot and won a record seven Gold Medals in shooting sports the 1920 Olympics, a mark that stood until it was tied by Mark Spitz in 1972 and broken by Michael Phelps in 2008.
As the two American battleships closed on the island, Lee's radiomen in his flagship Washington picked up some chatter between patrolling PT boats about "a couple of big ones but we don't know whose they are!" Lee got on the radio himself to Marine headquarters, "Tell your Big Boss (Marine General Archie Vandergriff - a close personal friend) that 'Ching' Lee is here! Call off your boys!" The "boys" were duly called off and Lee's force was allowed through.
Lee knew the Japanese were coming in force that night and sailed up the coast of Guadalcanal arriving west of Cape Esperance, the northernmost point on the island, at 2045 Hours (8:15pm). Lee sailed west of nearby Savo Island then cut east to pass north of Savo then south. All the while his radar searched for the elusive Japanese. At 2300 the radar found them. It was a task force under Admiral Nobutake Kondo consisting of two light cruisers, two heavy cruisers, nine destroyers and the battleship Kirishima. Fortunately for the Americans, Kondo had divided his force into three columns and those were not in position to help each other.
At 2317, Lee opened fire. A battleship firing at night is like seeing a moving volcano. Each gun unleashes an enormous blast of flame that reaches several hundred feet into the air. The guns themselves are so powerful that despite massive hydraulic cylinders, the recoil actually moves the ship ten feet or so. Japanese searchlights stabbed through the darkness looking for the Americans. Lee kept his ships darkened, using his superior radar to guide his guns. Both fleets were closing to near point-blank range.
Disaster loomed at 2330 when South Dakota suffered a total failure of her electrical system. The battlewagon veered off course, blind as a bat, and straight into the guns of Kirishima and the two heavy cruisers. She took hit after hit but her thick steel hide prevented serious damage.
Lee was watching all this on radar and calmly waited until South Dakota wandered out of the way and then quietly told his gunners to open fire again. Washington's nine 16" guns roared again and again and soon found the range to Kirishima. The repeated impact of the 2700 lb shells rocked the Japanese ship and she rapidly lost power and began to list. At 14 minutes past midnight, Kirishima rolled over and sank. Kondo, horrified at losing the centerpiece of his force so quickly, withdrew. The boys at Henderson Field got some much-needed sleep.
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HeadKat Mark Stoops brought his blue-bellied felines into Neyland Stadium on another 15 November some 72 years after Lee took apart Kondo looking to make a statement that MildKat football was now a force to be reckoned with in the SEC. By 2000 Hours on that Saturday, those dreams lay in wreckage. The big guns of Joshua Dobbs and Jalen Hurd bolstered by a steel-hided defense featuring A.J. Johnson and Jalen Reeves-Maybin saw to that.
So how did the team do compared to the Maxims?
1. The team that makes the fewest mistakes will win.
It can be argued that the Mildkats' critical error was boarding the buses in Lexington on Friday. Several years ago it was pointed out that I-75 South to Knoxville has become something of a Via Dolorosa for Kentucky football. It still is.
2. Play for and make the breaks. When one comes your way SCORE!
The Vols got their first "pick six" versus an SEC opponent in many a day. Then, minus a botched field goal attempt, was near-perfect when in scoring position. Having a CONFIDENT offense makes all the difference. Dobbs' 1-yard plus 51 scoring toss to Jason Croom at the start the second half settled the Kitties' hash.
3. If at first the game or the breaks go against you, dont let up PUT ON MORE STEAM!
Vol faithful from Memphis to Mountain City muttered a collective "uh,oh!" when the Kitties took the opening kickoff and marched down the greensward of Shields-Watkins field meeting no significant opposition until they got close to the goal line. Those fans forgot that at the end of the day they are still Kentucky and the Tennessee defense stiffened and forced a field goal. After that, Tennessee ran, Tennessee threw and The Mighty Vols scored at will until HeadVol Jones called off the dogs at the end of the third Canto.
4. Protect our kickers, our quarterback, our lead and our ballgame.
Verily. Dobbs got hit a couple of times but, compared to the shellackings leveled on Justin Worley, was unscathed. The defense, as noted earlier, stood tall.
5. Ball! Oskie! Cover, block, cut and slice, pursue and gang tackle THIS IS THE WINNING EDGE.
Total.
Team.
Effort.
6. Press the kicking game. Here is where the breaks are made.
The best tribute to the Vols' offensive prowess is that three of Matt Darr's four punts Saturday came in the fourth quarter as the subs came in to get some experience.
7. Carry the fight to Kentucky and keep it there for sixty minutes.
More like 45, but that all that was necessary.
Kentiucky's fundamental problem is that they think their school's prowess on the hardwood should easily transfer to the football program. In the same breath they will tell you that the main job of a Kat football coach is to do nothing to get the basketball team in trouble.
And there you go.
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]From last week after South Carolina lit up the defense for over 600 yards: "Vol fans from Dyersburg to Ducktown are still waiting for a total team effort in a win. It seems that now that the offense is well on the way to being 'fixed' the defense has regressed."[/FONT]
This week: The defense held the Kittens to 262 total yards and 16 points. The offense lit up the felines for 511 yards and 50 points.
Total.
Team.
Effort.
Brick by Brick, Baby!
MAXOMG
Suggested Reading:
Jack Coggins, The Campaign for Guadalcanal
Paul S. Dull, A Battle History of the Imperial Japanese Navy
Richard B. Frank, Guadalcanal
Samuel Eliot Morrison, The Struggle for Guadalcanal (History of US Naval Operations in WWII)
© 2014
Keeping Your Stories Alive
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