2001 vs 1999 teams, who was better?

[Pruitt Will Do It]

they were. but that 01 TN team could have gone toe to toe with them, i'm convinced of that.

i think the best teams i've ever seen were probably 1990, 1992, 1995, 1997, 2001. the three latter teams, all could have won national titles. and the first two, just had situations occurr that prevented more, though the 90 team did win the SEC. 92 will forever be the season that never was....that season had potential.

and that doesn't mean i think 98 and 99 weren't good. duh. 98 is what it is obviously....but just as things fell in to place, and some things happened to help allow than 98 season happen, in those other seasons, we had some things happen that just prevented them from being "bigger" than they were.

95 we had FL dead to rights in the swamp. and were a half of football way from being undefeated, playing for the SEC title and most likley a natty.

92, Johnny/Phil fiasco derailed the 2nd half of the season.

97 lost to FL again, but still won the SEC and still had a legit shot in the Orange bowl at a share of a natty.

2001...crapped the bed against LSU in the SEC title game...but again, a half of football away for playing for another one.

1990, we freaking tied 2 top 5 teams, and lost to Bama by 3 freaking points, and was an andy kelly INT away from beating #1 ND.

i'd put the 96 team on this list, but htey lost to Memphis. and you have no shot at making this list when you lose to Memphis. lol.

but yeah, some of those teams were really, really good....lotta fun to watch...remember it all very fondly!!!

Tennessee was screwed by the referees in the 1996 Tiger High game. The Memphis kick returner's knee was down.

 

[jakez4ut]

Tennessee was screwed by the referees in the 1996 Tiger High game. The Memphis kick returner's knee was down.

who cares. should've never gotten to the point a call like that should matter. if that's why you lose THAT game, then you deserved to lose it.

that was by far the worst coaching job of the Fulmer era. no way we should have ever, evah evah, lost that game...regardless of a bad call.

 

[Pruitt Will Do It]

who cares. should've never gotten to the point a call like that should matter. if that's why you lose THAT game, then you deserved to lose it.

that was by far the worst coaching job of the Fulmer era. no way we should have ever, evah evah, lost that game...regardless of a bad call.

Yeah and Memphis almost beat a sleep walking Tennessee team in 1999.

 

[HoptownVol]

The 2001 team was the best squad we've ever had, and criminally misused in Atlanta.

 

[05_never_again]

Miami had strong teams in the 1960s with players like FB Pete Banazak and NFL Hall Of Famer DE-LB Ted Hendricks.View attachment 163911 Ted Hendricks chasing Steve Spurrier in 1966

The pinnacle of the 60s teams appears to be 1966, where they went 8-2-1, won the Liberty Bowl, and finished #9 in the AP. If it wasn't for their two very brief championship runs, it is likely that would be the peak of their entire program, which is just nuts.

 

[Offset Eye]

Yeah and Memphis almost beat a sleep walking Tennessee team in 1999.

Yep... if not for a late bomb from Tee to Bobby Graham, it's a repeat of '96.

 

[05_never_again]

Yeah and Memphis almost beat a sleep walking Tennessee team in 1999.

For some reason I don't remember nearly losing to Memphis but I pretty clearly remember losing to Arkansas in 1999. I was 12 and just remember being stunned...according to Wiki we entered that game ranked 3rd in the country. We wouldn't have gone to the SECCG anyway...if we beat Arkansas we would have finished conference play 7-1, same as Florida, but they held the tiebreaker because they beat us.

 

[Pruitt Will Do It]

For some reason I don't remember nearly losing to Memphis but I pretty clearly remember losing to Arkansas in 1999. Arkansas should have beaten us twice too.

If Tennessee would have won that Arkansas game they would have played FSU for the National Title for the 2nd straight season.

 

[05_never_again]

If Tennessee would have won that Arkansas game they would have played FSU for the National Title for the 2nd straight season.

Maybe, maybe not. Especially in those days, I bet the voters would have had a real hard time picking a national title winner who didn't win their own conference. Even if we won that game we wouldn't have even won our division, much less the SEC. There was no playoff or even a "national title game" to decide it.

 

[Backwards K]

I"m not sure the 95 team wasn't the most talented team of that era. Only lost one game and that was when Jay Graham fumbled twice to start the second half setting off an avalanche that the defense couldn't stop. Pretty much rolled through the rest of the season and beat an Ohio State team that had the Heisman, Lombardi, Butkus, and Biletnikoff winners (and had been ranked #1 most of year) in the Citrus Bowl.

 

[YankeeVol]

who cares. should've never gotten to the point a call like that should matter. if that's why you lose THAT game, then you deserved to lose it.

that was by far the worst coaching job of the Fulmer era. no way we should have ever, evah evah, lost that game...regardless of a bad call.

Wyoming was worse IMO

 

[jakez4ut]

Wyoming was worse IMO

nah, you have that team in 96 with virtually the same personnel that just finished #2 in the country the year before and go to the liberty bowl and lose?

there's not a worse loss in fulmer's tenure. the vast majority of the games he lost when we were good were to other good teams, ie FL in the 90s' or we were a terrible team ie 05, 08.

we were at the top of the mountain for all intents and purposes in 96. no way we should've lost that game.

 

[AboveAllNations]

If Tennessee would have won that Arkansas game they would have played FSU for the National Title for the 2nd straight season.

Does anyone know why we played Arkansas in consecutive years (1998 and 1999)? How long have we been rotating against the non-Alabama Western teams?

 

[jakez4ut]

Does anyone know why we played Arkansas in consecutive years (1998 and 1999)? How long have we been rotating against the non-Alabama Western teams?

prior to the SEC expansion we had 2 permenant cross division rivals and 1 rotating west game. Ark was our other permeant rival. we played them and Bama every year.

 

[jakez4ut]

another interesting thing about that 99 Ark game. the score of that game was the exact same as the 98 game. jsut different winner.

 

[jasonvols2.2]

Can you imagine what kind of year 1990 would have been if Reggie Cobb hadn't been thrown off the team and Chuck Webb hadn't gotten hurt? I think they would have been playing Georgia Tech,Colorado or Miami for the National Championship.

I meant 99. Oops.