Recent content by Volosaurus rex

Bama became a fundamentally different beast after adopting the wishbone. I suspect that, if Dickey stayed long-term, the '70s would have evolved into something akin to the 1990s in the SEC east, where two perennial top-10/top-5 programs were battling annually for supremacy. Bryant would have won...

Nope, Condredge stated on film that Bear Bryant told him straight up that he would like Condredge to come to 'bama, but the state of Alabama was not ready yet to accept a black quarterback. Condredge said that he appreciated Bryant's honesty. The Artful Dodger also said that, if the matter was...

You're both correct, depending on the specific time frame you choose to reference. Take a look at the abject lack of productivity at the quarterback position in the 1971 season: 1971 Tennessee Volunteers Stats | College Football at Sports-Reference.com. Bobby Scott later said that he regretted...

Thank you very kindly, Volrocketman!

I agree completely with the essence of what you are saying, but it still does not constitute culture writ large. As a military officer, Neyland would have been a master at building esprit de corps. . His surviving maxims are the seven sacred strategic commandments of Tennessee football, but...

As a cultural anthropologist by training, I must confess that these arguments drive me up a tree. There is not a football coach in the country that has a clue what culture truly is. The concepts to which they allude barely even scratch the surface, let alone the breadth, of what culture entails...

Excellent analysis of the potential that our offense holds in 2024. See https://atozsports.com/nashville/college-football-news-tennessee-vols-offense-in-2024-nico/

There is a viable alternative interpretation for this outcome. During the Saban era, the Tidy Bowl boys should have occupied EACH of the top 5 positions. The fact that they aren't ranked at all could be an anticipatory harbinger of a tsunami-sized exodus of bandwagon fans, one rivaled in...

...which raises a fascinating rhetorical question. How many teams have had two All-American caliber players who played at the same time and both averaged more than 20 points per game for their entire careers?

Knecht is an extraordinary shooter, who can absolutely take over a game single-handed, but the final career averages still clearly indicate that Bernard King stands alone at the top of the mountain: 25.8 points and 13.2 rebounds per game. See Bernard King - Men's Basketball - University of...

Yes, the three of them combined for 3 touchdown passes and 15 interceptions, perhaps 40% completion percentage, and less than 1,000 yards passing. We struggled mightily at the most important position on the field. Hence, Scott's observation. The running game was decent (+ 200 ypg), despite the...

...which reminds me that a similar question could be posed with respect to Bobby Scott. He once said that he always regretted having not taken a redshirt season. If he had done so, he explained, we could have seriously competed for a national championship in 1971. Looking at the stats, he's not...

I couldn't care less about his abject lack of success with the Reptilian Horde. The more important questions are: (1) What was his record at Tennessee? and (2) What was his record against Bear Bryant and Alabama? By any standard, he did an excellent job of rebuilding our program, and he did so...

According to Chris Low, "The reality is Spurrier grew up cheering for the Vols. He lived in several small towns in Tennessee while his father, a Presbyterian minister, moved around to different churches, and then Spurrier went to high school in Johnson City, Tennessee. He told ESPN.com a few...

Yes, that is the natural extension of the first question. Furthermore, would Spurrier have won a Heisman at Tennessee? It's not inconceivable. Remember that, in only the third year removed from the single-wing, Dickey's revolutionized T-formation offense produced the nation's leader in passing...