Tennessee has won 10 or more games 20 times in 121 or so years. 9 of those where under Fulmer. Yes, they used to play 10 or 11 games. Most of Fulmer's years they played 11 regular season games.
13 SEC Titles. Before 1992, it was based on record. So they actually had ties that each school counted. Fulmer had 2 outright. Had they counted them the same way they did prior to 1992, Fulmer would have had 4 more SEC Titles or 6 total.
In 121 years, Tennessee had, as counted by the same method as most programs, 2 National Titles. Not 6 or whatever.
1938 - CFRA, Dunkel, Billingsley, CFI, Litkenhous,
Boand, Houlgate, Poling, NSFR, Frye, Massy, Koger, McCarty, Libby, Maxwell, Sagarin, Howell (No AP etc) TCU was the actual winner.
1940 - Dunkel, Williamson. Minnesota is the actual Champion.
1950 - National Championship Foundation, Billingley, CFRA, Massy, Dunkel, DeVold, CFI, Frye, Fleming System, Howell, Maxwell, Sorensen. Oklahoma actual champion.
1951 - AP, UPI. Tennessee is the National Champs! Despite losing to Maryland in the bowl game AND only playing one team ranked in the postseason Top 20.
1967 - Litkenhous. Actually USC is the consensus.
1998 - AP, USAToday/ESPN, BCS. The only undisputed, consensus National Title in school history!!
Now the truth is the 1950 team probably got robbed but they are still not National Champs. It averages out as the 1951 team should not have won but because the voters felt that they where robbed in 1950, they voted them in 1951. Either way, 2 is the number.
Prior to Fulmer, Tennessee had 2 NFL Hall of Famers. During the Fulmer era there will have more.
Peyton, Witten. Lewis would have except for his off the filed issues. Eric Berry should be. Jerod Mayo was a lock before he was injured. John Henderson was also close. Either way, there will be more from the 16 years Fulmer era then the entire Tennessee history.
And finally, there is a big difference between the old days and modern football. First the crowds. Tennessee played in front of about 20K most of Neyland's time. No TV. No radio until the 1949. Few actually cared. The biggest change was integration. That changed the game completely. Plus Tennessee's schedule back in the old days was a joke. In fact, Tennessee had a standing agreement with Chattanooga to play the week before the Alabama game and for Chattanooga to run the Alabama plays. This happened many seasons. They also played Maryville College, Emory & Henry, Carson Newman, Tennessee Tech and a host of dogs. What would Neyland's winning % be if he didn't play such a joke of a schedule?? So comparing what Neyland did to any modern day coach is laughable. If you take out all of the Maryville Colleges and Carson Newmans, his winning % would take a serious hit. Plus the SEC did not become the truly dominant conference until later. Just because fans cared, that didn't equate to non conference wins.
Hey guys, try enjoying the games and stop whining. Tennessee is not an elite program that is entitled to some 10 win seasons every year. They do not have anywhere near the recruiting base many of the top programs have and that is why they will never consistently be a top elite program. Just the way it is.
