How did the 1999 team not make it back to the National Championship game?

[PlanetVolunteer]

I'm just wanting to pick the brain of some older folks here. I was five then.

I'm watching the Wyoming game and seeing all these NFL players all over the field. Tee Martin dropping dimes. Jamal Lewis and Travis Henry look ridiculous. Defense has unreal speed and talent.

How did we screw that up and lose three games?

 

[thehardknoxlife]

Spurrier, Arkansas had revenge on their mind, and Nebraska was just better, arguably the best team in the country at that time.

The real question is how the 2001 team doesn't win a NC.

 

[unfrozencvmanvol]

Spurrier, Arkansas had revenge on their mind, and Nebraska was just better, arguably the best team in the country at that time.

The real question is how the 2001 team doesn't win a NC.

Yeah, 2001 is the one that gets me. The UGA game was a total fluke loss and LSU well, I will always believe witchcraft was involved there. We were the only team in the country that could have beaten Miami.

 

[Neyland Law Vol]

Arkansas game. Would have still been in the championship chase but for that game despite the early season UF lose. Arkansas got their payback. End thread.

 

[PlanetVolunteer]

Arkansas game. Would have still been in the championship chase but for that game despite the early season UF lose. Arkansas got their payback. End thread.

Yeah, but how could the coaches let that happen?

 

[livefaith]

Revenge.

I give that guy a lot of credit. He had a huge game in 98, minus 1 little mishap. LOL. But, as much crap as he took for 98', he and the Razorbacks screwed our season in 99'. It could a been us and Toothlessville in the seccg too.

 

[Unconditional Surrender]

1. Fulmer took a victory lap.
2. We moved further away from a balanced offense. Tee Martin took 0 steps forward under Randy Sanders.
3. Randy Sanders.

 

[NighthawkVol]

I'm just wanting to pick the brain of some older folks here. I was five then.

I'm watching the Wyoming game and seeing all these NFL players all over the field. Tee Martin dropping dimes. Jamal Lewis and Travis Henry look ridiculous. Defense has unreal speed and talent.

How did we screw that up and lose three games?

Tee Martin was a never a great passer. He overthrew a number of receivers in the Florida game and in the Arkansas game. On the 4th and 3 in The Swamp, he should have bootlegged around the end (which was the call from the booth), but he kept it. Tennessee would have re-matched Alabama in the SECCG, which would have been really fun. Then we would have played FSU again in the National Championship. Winning that one would have been tough.

 

[hndog609]

Winning the title in '01 would have meant beating that Miami team. Obviously it's football and it would have been nice to have had a shot but damn that team was ridiculously talented.

 

[RDU VOL#14]

Reading our own press. Too much interest in the draft. Jamal Lewis has Toss sweep to the short side on 4th down against Florida, plus Alex Brown. Arkansas got theirs back.

That toss sweep to the short side still pisses me off. All we had to do was PA rollout with a run/pass option for Tee, put the FB in the Flat and chances are high that we get a first down. The throws were open that day against the Gators, we didn’t execute very well.

 

[livefaith]

#13 didn't help either. Nor the fact that we took 59:59 of game time to decide to block him. Never heard of him and had to ask fans around me who he was.

 

[Tnphil]

Reading our own press. Too much interest in the draft. Jamal Lewis has Toss sweep to the short side on 4th down against Florida, plus Alex Brown. Arkansas got theirs back.

That toss sweep to the short side still pisses me off. All we had to do was PA rollout with a run/pass option for Tee, put the FB in the Flat and chances are hi that we get a first down. The throws were open that day against the Gators, we didn’t execute very well.

I said the same thing for weeks. One of dumbest play calls in UT history.

 

[PlanetVolunteer]

Seems like too much Fulmer conservatism.

 

[wtmvol]

I was at that '99 Arkansas game. It was senior day. When they announced Stoerner, the entire Tennessee section gave him a standing ovation. Once the game started though, it didn't take long before we knew we were in a dog fight. Felt like we had the ball the entire 1st half, but just couldn't score. Then we couldn't stop Anthony Lucas. After the game, we got swept into the crazy Razorback crowd as they carried the goalposts down the street. We stuck out like a sore thumb with our bright orange. We got teased some, but they were honestly really good sports about it. I've always had a bit of a soft spot for Arkansas since then even though the game itself sucked.

 

[1Volnation]

We lost.?

 

[EZE]

Complacency.

 

[UTalum04]

We were extremely lucky in 98. Last second field goal at Syracuse. Florida missed field goal. Gift from Arkansas. Nebraska embarrassed us in 97 and 99. Thank the good lord for FSU.

 

[dobre_shunka]

Randy Sanders

 

[Illinoisvolfan2]

I said the same thing for weeks. One of dumbest play calls in UT history.

We’ve had a bunch of bad play calls. But you are right about that one. I almost threw a beer bottle at my TV that time. As a rule, I hate short side run plays.

 

[BowlBrother85]

Damn near lost to Memphis... again. Complacency had something to do with it but so did really bad coaching. Failure to in-game adjust to block Alex Brown, failure to put Donte Stallworth in the lineup sooner when we really missed having a deep threat and Jamal Lewis just wasn't the same in '99 coming back from the ACL tear. We should have used Travis Henry more vs Florida. Tee Martin was woefully inaccurate most of the season. His passes were too high and off the mark. When we did have our act together that year (Auburn, Georgia and Alabama), we were pretty darn good.

 

[orangebloodgmc]

We were extremely lucky in 98. Last second field goal at Syracuse. Florida missed field goal. Gift from Arkansas. Nebraska embarrassed us in 97 and 99. Thank the good lord for FSU.

In other words, our players did their jobs; other team failed to do so.

 

[vols 30]

Reading our own press. Too much interest in the draft.

#1 reason.

 

[Jravol78]

#13 didn't help either. Not the fact that we took 59:59 of game time to decide to block him. Never heard of him and had to ask fans around me who he was.
View attachment 276826

Beat me to it . Still pisses me off thinking about it . Didn’t Brown later say that they had some sort of info relative to the snap count that allowed him to run wild over and around the Vols OL?

 

[leeroyphi136]

Spurrier, Arkansas had revenge on their mind, and Nebraska was just better, arguably the best team in the country at that time.

The real question is how the 2001 team doesn't win a NC.

The 2001 Hurricanes would have destroyed anyone they faced in the Championship game.

 

[901 Orange]

Yeah, 2001 is the one that gets me. The UGA game was a total fluke loss and LSU well, I will always believe witchcraft was involved there. We were the only team in the country that could have beaten Miami.

No lie Miami caught a break on that one