1999 team.....

#51
#51
Five things stand out to me looking back at '99.

1) Tee Martin no longer had Cutcliffe to work with on his mechanics which deteriorated. His passes were too high all season long and he missed having Peerless Price as a deep threat.

2) The coaching staff's failure to make adjustments to block Alex Brown. He never looked as good against anyone else as he did against us.

3) The coaching staff's failure to make adjustments to cover Anthony Lucas for the 2nd year in a row. He never looked as good against anyone else as he did against us.

4) Even though we came back late and won (God Bless You, Bobby Graham) the '99 Memphis game would be the worst UT performance of the 90's if it wasn't for the '96 Memphis game.

5) Georgia stomped on the T before the game...and we stomped all over them during the game.
 
#52
#52
TrueOrange said:
We lost by 10 points (31-21).

Are you sure you're not thinking of the Orange Bowl after the 1997 season (when we lost 42-17)? Because it kind of looks like we did better in this one.
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ajvol01 said:
I watched the game beginning to end.

It wasn't as close as the score.
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Exactly! Don't look at the score and think that game was close.
 
#54
#54
VolsSportsFan said:
Oh, the days when our team finishes the regular season 9-2, lost both games by 2 and 4 points, and played in the Fiesta Bowl, and that year was considered a disappointing year.
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All in favor of returning to disappointing years move your left mouse!
 
#55
#55
It WAS a disappointing year. Most talented Vol team in at least 50 years--had at least six NFL players on that team. Losing Cutcliffe hurt, and there was some guys who were a bit lackadaisical. We choked the florida game--as we ALWAYS do! I was there and saw it. Don't remember what happened at arkansas--but we surely had twice their talent, we know that. You have to blame it on coaching.
 
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#56
#56
It is true that you need breaks to go undefeated, and you also need great coaching. I will never think of Fulmer as a great coach. He was a great recruiter for 10 years, and had a great OC in Cutcliffe, but he was not an great coach, and I say that as someone who greatly respects Fulmer and all he accomplished, including winning a national title. Let's also remember--who could forget?--that in addition to the razor thin wins at Syracuse and against Arkansas in '98, we pulled the florida victory out of our a$$. Florida gave us that game with 5 turnovers--including a fumble at our goal line--and the missed FG. They played that game like we usually play against them. When you have as much talent as we did in '98 and '99, you need to be in the championship game or win the national title--that's how much talent we had. We were loaded.
 
#57
#57
huskyvol said:
Fulmer at least got us to bowl games. Since Fulmer left we have been to 2 bowls in 6 seasons. Hopefully Butch has us back on track.
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Fulmer went to a bowl 2 of his last 4 seasons, losing to Penn St and winning againt Wisconsin. We have been to 4 bowl games the last 10 years under 4 coaches, PATHETIC.

Butch is doing something fans have not seen since Majors did it in the 1980's, tuning the University of Tennessee Football Program into a national power.
 
#58
#58
Volosaurus rex said:
Actually, you could say that Nebraska had a roughly 35-year, 11-win streak over the SEC. After losing to Alabama 34-7 in the 1967 Sugar Bowl, they won the following bowl games in succession over SEC opponents:


1969 Sun Bowl vs. Georgia. W 45-6.

1971 Orange Bowl vs. LSU. W 17-12.

1972 Orange Bowl vs. Alabama. W 38-6.

1974 Sugar Bowl vs. Florida. W 13-10.

1980 Sun Bowl vs. Mississippi St. W 31-17.

1983 Orange Bowl vs. LSU. W 21-20.

1985 Sugar Bowl vs. LSU. W 28-10.

1987 Sugar Bowl vs. LSU. W 30-15.

1996 Fiesta Bowl vs. Florida. W 62-24.

1998 Orange Bowl vs. Tennessee. W 42-17.

2000 Fiesta Bowl vs. Tennessee. W 31-21.

2002 Independence Bowl vs. Ole Miss. L 24-27.

In short, we had a lot of company among SEC schools losing to Nebraska. Nebraska's Bowl History - Huskers.com - Nebraska Athletics Official Web Site
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Dang.
 
#59
#59
armchair said:
It is true that you need breaks to go undefeated, and you also need great coaching. I will never think of Fulmer as a great coach. He was a great recruiter for 10 years, and had a great OC in Cutcliffe, but he was not an great coach, and I say that as someone who greatly respects Fulmer and all he accomplished, including winning a national title. Let's also remember--who could forget?--that in addition to the razor thin wins at Syracuse and against Arkansas in '98, we pulled the florida victory out of our a$$. Florida gave us that game with 5 turnovers--including a fumble at our goal line--and the missed FG. They played that game like we usually play against them. When you have as much talent as we did in '98 and '99, you need to be in the championship game or win the national title--that's how much talent we had. We were loaded.
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Recruiting IS college coaching. It is not separate in any form or fashion. That's what coaches are responsible for.

Thus, Fulmer was a great coachin that period.
 
#60
#60
livefaith said:
Recruiting IS college coaching. It is not separate in any form or fashion. That's what coaches are responsible for.

Thus, Fulmer was a great coachin that period.
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I disagree. Recruiting is only part of the equation. It's what you do with them once they're on campus that really matters.

Look at Oregon's, Mizzou's, TCU's, & Baylor's recruiting rankings vs their production on the field. Gameday coaching matters!
 
#61
#61
Because Fulmer was their coach. You are only as good as your leadership.

Al Wilson basically coached the team the previous years from a motivation standpoint.
 
#63
#63
ManchesterV said:
We had some serious debacles in bowl games under Fulmer. Penn State, Nebraska, Clemson, and KState all embarrassed us during Fulmers tenure. With the exception of the 98 NC game and the Michigan beat down, bowl games were not our strong points. Seems like Majors always won his bowl games. Beat Miami, Virginia, Arkansas, and even Minnesota in the lowly Liberty Bowl. It always seemed Majors went to win a game and Fulmer viewed it as a reward to the players. JMO
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Don't forget aTm in 2006 and Wisconsin in 07.
 
#65
#65
livefaith said:
Recruiting IS college coaching. It is not separate in any form or fashion. That's what coaches are responsible for.

Thus, Fulmer was a great coachin that period.
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Not true at all! Recruiting gets them there and Fulmer's team that year was LOADED with talent he and his staff recruited.

He got the talent there, he just couldn't COACH them up or develop them.

He did have great coaches on his staff like coach Cutt and Dan Brooks though...............
 
#66
#66
Brave Volunteer said:
Don't forget aTm in 2006 and Wisconsin in 07.
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How about the win over Ohio St in the '96 Citrus Bowl? They were 10-1 and had Eddie George (Heisman winner), Orlando Pace (Outland winner), Terry Glenn, Rickey Dudley, Shawn Springs and Mike Vrabel. The 2003 team should have been in a better bowl than the Chik fil a and he wasn't able to motivate them against Clemson but for the most part he did okay when we weren't playing Nebraska or Penn St.
 
#67
#67
armchair said:
It is true that you need breaks to go undefeated, and you also need great coaching. I will never think of Fulmer as a great coach. He was a great recruiter for 10 years, and had a great OC in Cutcliffe, but he was not an great coach, and I say that as someone who greatly respects Fulmer and all he accomplished, including winning a national title. Let's also remember--who could forget?--that in addition to the razor thin wins at Syracuse and against Arkansas in '98, we pulled the florida victory out of our a$$. Florida gave us that game with 5 turnovers--including a fumble at our goal line--and the missed FG. They played that game like we usually play against them. When you have as much talent as we did in '98 and '99, you need to be in the championship game or win the national title--that's how much talent we had. We were loaded.
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Do you think great staffs make great coaches? He surrounded himself with great assistants.
 
#68
#68
armchair said:
I will never think of Fulmer as a great coach. He was a great recruiter for 10 years, and had a great OC in Cutcliffe, but he was not an great coach....
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livefaith said:
Recruiting IS college coaching. It is not separate in any form or fashion. That's what coaches are responsible for....
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Boca Vol said:
I disagree. Recruiting is only part of the equation. It's what you do with them once they're on campus that really matters....
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Head Coach = CEO of the program. Recruiting? Yes. Playbook? Yes. Strategy? Yes. Playcalling on Saturday? Yes. Financial well-being of the program? Yes. Community relations? Yes. Compliance? Yes. Hiring and firing of coaching talent? Yes. Training those coaches and developing them professionallly? Yes. Management of the staff (strength & conditioning, nutrition, etc.)? Yes. Facilities maintenance and improvements? Yes.

Does the HC do any of that on his own? No. He delegates a LOT of it, in every one of those fields. But at the end of the day, he's directly responsible for success in every area.

So if you're willing to break out the 25-by-5 matrix to score the head coach, area by area, then come up with a composite grade, more power to you. You can dive deep into the weeds and figure it out.

On the other hand, you could just do what most folks do and judge the Head Coach purely based on his bottom line: wins, losses, championships. Results.

According to the results, Phil Fulmer has been, thus far, the second best coach in Tennessee history (hoping Butch passes him up one day). Hugely successful, hugely valuable to our program. Tennessee fans owe a great debt of gratitude to Phil, even those who jumped on the 'Fahr Phil' bandwagon in '05-'08 and now feel guilt about it.

Doesn't matter how you break him down, results matter. Phil was a world-class college football coach.
 
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#69
#69
For everyone that thinks 99 wasn't a let down let's do a thought experiment. Pretend UT goes 11-1 this year, wins the SEC, misses the playoffs but crushes a good Notre Dame team in the Sugar Bowl to go 13-1. All the juniors stay and we come into 2016 loaded. In 2016 we go 9-3 and come in 2nd in the East. End up losing to Ohio State in the Outback Bowl going 9-4. Would you consider 2016 to be a good year?
 
#70
#70
I think about this often. I know it is "its and buts" but Fulmer easily could have played for 3 bcs titles in 4 years. They were on track before that Ark loss in 99. That was a killer. I don't get too down on that team. They had a good year. They lost some pretty huge pieces. Still had a ton of talent and should have won the east, but I am not sure they "lost drive". You could argue Florida and Arkansas had " more drive" that year given the losses in 98.
 
#71
#71
08Vol said:
For everyone that thinks 99 wasn't a let down let's do a thought experiment. Pretend UT goes 11-1 this year, wins the SEC, misses the playoffs but crushes a good Notre Dame team in the Sugar Bowl to go 13-1. All the juniors stay and we come into 2016 loaded. In 2016 we go 9-3 and come in 2nd in the East. End up losing to Ohio State in the Outback Bowl going 9-4. Would you consider 2016 to be a good year?
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Oh it was indeed a let down. 2002 was as well considering the returning players and how Zook was at Fla, etc. I am just not sure I would say 99 team lost it's fire. Although, All Wilson's are not easily replaced .
 
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#72
#72
OrangeInKy said:
I think about this often. I know it is "its and buts" but Fulmer easily could have played for 3 bcs titles in 4 years. They were on track before that Ark loss in 99. That was a killer. I don't get too down on that team. They had a good year. They lost some pretty huge pieces. Still had a ton of talent and should have won the east, but I am not sure they "lost drive". You could argue Florida and Arkansas had " more drive" that year given the losses in 98.
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I was in Fayetteville in 99. Hogs blew our doors off in the first half. We were NOT ready to play. Still had a chance to win at the end, but couldn't get it done in the red zone.

Should have definitely won the game based on talent. Very disappointing loss and ended any shot at rematch vs FSU in BCS championship.
 
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