Success revisited: Sugar Vols were smart and lucky

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Knox TN Today

Success revisited: Sugar Vols were smart and lucky​

Posted by Marvin West | Oct 8, 2025 | westwords | 0
Success revisited: Sugar Vols were smart and lucky

Ken Donahue (Alabama Athletics Photography). Legendary VFL Ken Donahue, Bear Bryant's DC, is credited for Alabama's great defenses during the Bryant era.
 
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#2
#2
Played and coached for UT. He gave his all for UT.

Following his tenure at Alabama, Donahue was hired as the defensive coordinator for Tennessee. He is best remembered for the 1985 season, when his defense held the Vols' final seven opponents to just four touchdowns, and provided a major catalyst for the team's 35–7 upset of Miami in the Sugar Bowl.[1]

Donahue died on March 21, 2001, at the age of 76.[2]
 
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unfrozencvmanvol said:
Most of all we were lucky that Florida was on probation because otherwise they'd have been champs and would have went to the Sugar Bowl. Great team though, and it played one of the best games any Vol team ever has against Miami.
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We won two SEC titles when Florida was on probation in 85 and 90. Recently Spurrier was trying to get Florida recognized for the 90 SEC title to share with us. Of course we beat them that year convincingly but tied Auburn and lost to Bama.
 
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#6
#6
Big Orange Captain said:
We won two SEC titles when Florida was on probation in 85 and 90. Recently Spurrier was trying to get Florida recognized for the 90 SEC title to share with us. Of course we beat them that year convincingly but tied Auburn and lost to Bama.
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Embarrassing loss to Bama. Gotta be one of the worst losses in UT history.
 
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#7
#7
unfrozencvmanvol said:
Most of all we were lucky that Florida was on probation because otherwise they'd have been champs and would have went to the Sugar Bowl. Great team though, and it played one of the best games any Vol team ever has against Miami.
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Drove down to Gainesville for Gators game from Knoxville w/ college buds. Sat in gators student section in blazing heat. Fun time, but not a good day. Much better in New Orleans!
 
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That game was the most fun I’ve ever had watching the Vols on TV. Seeing Vinny get pummeled was solid gold, and Jeff Powell blowing past Benny Blades and his “world class speed” on the way to the end zone was the icing on a delicious hurricane cake. Overconfidence is a desert best served cold, and the big orange 🍊 did it in every facet of the game. Come to think of it, I’m gonna watch that game on YouTube right now…😎🍊🏈😎
 
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#12
#12
unfrozencvmanvol said:
Most of all we were lucky that Florida was on probation because otherwise they'd have been champs and would have went to the Sugar Bowl. Great team though, and it played one of the best games any Vol team ever has against Miami.
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Actually, college football was lucky that Tony Robinson went down with an injury or we would have won the national title.
 
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#15
#15
njvols said:
Drove down to Gainesville for Gators game from Knoxville w/ college buds. Sat in gators student section in blazing heat. Fun time, but not a good day. Much better in New Orleans!
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12:30 kickoff. Coke vendors couldn't make it to our section as they ran out so fast. Hottest damn game I have ever attended.
 
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VOLtaism said:
Actually, college football was lucky that Tony Robinson went down with an injury or we would have won the national title.
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Still would have won the natty that year more than likely if we hadn’t let UCLA score 16 points in the last 6 minutes of the game in the opener. We were up 26-10 and had whipped them all day. Johnny got super conservative at the end of the game as well.
 
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To me, this is why Tennessee sometimes gets disrespect by media. They tend to be top 10 program but never the program. Even in 1998, they got lucky. We don't do things like our rivals were they go through seasons winning major games by 3 TDs and looking dominate. Florida looked that way with Meyer and Spurrier, Alabama with Saban, and Georgia with Smart.
 
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volbound1700 said:
To me, this is why Tennessee sometimes gets disrespect by media. They tend to be top 10 program but never the program. Even in 1998, they got lucky. We don't do things like our rivals were they go through seasons winning major games by 3 TDs and looking dominate. Florida looked that way with Meyer and Spurrier, Alabama with Saban, and Georgia with Smart.
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Right. Except for the losses they had while our 98 team was undefeated. Florida never went undefeated with Meyer or Spurrier and neither has UGA with Smart. Saban did twice with Bama but he’s also the GOAT and that 2009 team of his certainly had some close games and luck, including beating us. Out of those names you gave, 2020 Bama was literally the only example of an undefeated team that truly did steamroll pretty much everyone. They had 1 close game.
 
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#19
#19
hUTch2002 said:
Right. Except for the losses they had while our 98 team was undefeated. Florida never went undefeated with Meyer or Spurrier and neither has UGA with Smart. Saban did twice with Bama but he’s also the GOAT and that 2009 team of his certainly had some close games and luck, including beating us. Out of those names you gave, 2020 Bama was literally the only example of an undefeated team that truly did steamroll pretty much everyone. They had 1 close game.
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UGA went undefeated in 2022.
 
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unfrozencvmanvol said:
UGA went undefeated in 2022.
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Did I miss one? My bad. They certainly didn’t steamroll everyone. Wasn’t that the year they were only up like 1 score in the 4th against Kent State? And Ohio State certainly should’ve beaten them. The point is, basically no one just flattens everyone and very few run the table. It’s unrealistic to expect it or to try and say our title was somehow lesser because we didn’t do what almost never happens. Nebraska 94 (I think that’s the right year) beat everyone handily. Maybe a Miami team did around 2001 but I’d have look. Most champs have close games or a loss.
 
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#21
volbound1700 said:
To me, this is why Tennessee sometimes gets disrespect by media. They tend to be top 10 program but never the program. Even in 1998, they got lucky. We don't do things like our rivals were they go through seasons winning major games by 3 TDs and looking dominate. Florida looked that way with Meyer and Spurrier, Alabama with Saban, and Georgia with Smart.
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I think the "respect" think is more due to the fact that we've been irrelevant more years than not the last 2 decades. Thankfully, under Heupel we are having a resurgence of relevance but it's going to take more sustained success than we've had to get back 90's/early 00's levels of respect.
 
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#22
#22
unfrozencvmanvol said:
I think the "respect" think is more due to the fact that we've been irrelevant more years than not the last 2 decades. Thankfully, under Heupel we are having a resurgence of relevance but it's going to take more sustained success than we've had to get back 90's/early 00's levels of success.
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Even in Fulmer era it happened. Tennessee hasn't sprung off a set where we won several SEC Championships in a spurt like our rivals since the Neyland era.
 
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hUTch2002 said:
Did I miss one? My bad. They certainly didn’t steamroll everyone. Wasn’t that the year they were only up like 1 score in the 4th against Kent State? And Ohio State certainly should’ve beaten them. The point is, basically no one just flattens everyone and very few run the table. It’s unrealistic to expect it or to try and say our title was somehow lesser because we didn’t do what almost never happens. Nebraska 94 (I think that’s the right year) beat everyone handily. Maybe a Miami team did around 2001 but I’d have look. Most champs have close games or a loss.
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Here is their record. They won most games handily that year. For the record, I disagree with the other poster also (see my response to him), but Georgia did go totally undefeated 1 time under Smart. Meyer or Spurrier never did.

Screenshot_20251009_121841_Chrome.jpg
 
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unfrozencvmanvol said:
Here is their record. They won most games handily that year. For the record, I disagree with the other poster also (see my response to him), but Georgia did go totally undefeated 1 time under Smart. Meyer or Spurrier never did.

View attachment 780054
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Yep, Smart did that one year, I forgot they ran it that year. But that Kent State game was a 10 point game with 10 minutes to go (that was a 5-7 Kent State team too), Mizzou took a late drive to win, UK was a ten point game and Ohio State should’ve beaten them. Kudos to UGA for pulling those out but that sure doesn’t seem different than our close games to Arkansas, Florida, Syracuse and Auburn. Sounds similar to me.
 
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