London Vol
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Sep 27, 2015
- Messages
- 881
- Likes
- 6,912
This view from Big Ben is my personal top 10 most “Wow” moments from the 2019 season.
The criteria for “Wow” are when you see something surprising happen and suddenly your eyes widen, your mouth freezes open and for a couple for seconds you have to process what you have just seen in relation to the game and you go “Wow”.
10 - Maurer against Georgia After such a dreadful start to the season with Georgia State and BYU, I was now wondering if we were ever going to progress again. Guarantano had a bad start to the season and I was now going to have to suffer another drubbing from the team I most dislike. Then Maurer comes in and unleashes a bomb to Callaway, he catches it, no flags and suddenly hope has re-appeared. The Neyland also felt it and the place started rocking again. OK the hope didn’t last 60 minutes but hey hope was back.
9 - Bituli blocks and recovers punt After the win against Miss St and a good performance against Alabama, we actually needed to start winning the back end of our schedule. Next up was South Carolina who had just won at Georgia. This match was probably our best performance of the season and when Bituli blocked the punt and recovered it in the endzone, I actually believed another win was sealed.
8 - Jennings the bulldozer If ever a play epitomised the 2019 season this was it. A team leader simply refusing to be stopped as he ran over defender after defender. Forget the 7 points, this was a crushing statement that the Pruitt train was unstoppable and the finish to the season that we all dreamt of was now possible.
7 - Tua meets Emerson Although the shoots of progress were visible, another hammering from Alabama would have been quite a balloon buster. Tua with his 3 amigo wide receivers were awesome and we would have probably received another beat down if my No7 did not happen. Emerson’s pursuit and tackle (fair not dirty) put Tua out of the match, from this moment I felt the team’s belief grew and grew and now you look back on the match as a missed opportunity. But if Tua had of played 60 minutes ……….
6 - 4th & goal on the 1 We started so slowly against Kentucky and couldn’t really stop Bowden, then having finally got in control of the match Chandler fumbles and they are 4th & goal on our 1. But just like the Jennings touchdown in my No8 this team didn’t buckle and as you all know it was Blakely & Bituli that delivered.
5 - Trey “Im coming back for my senior year” The headline says it all from a true legend
4 – 3rd & goal on the 1 This to me was even better than my No6. The 230llb running back was charging to the line and victory then a true freshman stood his ground and on his own stopped him dead in his tracks, take a bow Henry To`o To`o. This to me was higher than 4th & goal as without stating the obvious, if Henry didn’t come though, the next play was an extra point kick.
3 - The Onside Kick We got one of the two touchdowns back and with over 4 minutes on the clock im thinking kick it long and our D will give us time to finish the comeback. I never ever considered an on-side kick and it looked as if Indiana hadn’t either, so I felt almost disoriented by the on-side kick. What a brilliant call.
2 - Freezing the kicker 3 times This to me was such a huge statement, no time on the clock before half time and Alabama have a kick, Pruitt doesnt use one timeout, not two timeouts but all three to ice the kicker (and he missed). What was special about this was, it was a statement to Alabama that the days of us just rolling over and losing meekly and quietly are OVER. The booing from the fans just proved my point we are now an irritant again.
1 - Guarantano bootlegs the two goal line stops had just happened and all we needed was a first down to put the W in the book. After 2 downs it was 3rd a 6. For years in this situation we have run into the pile on 3rd down just to use up 40 seconds, then we punt and try to hold on. So, my biggest Wow of the season was when Chaney (whom I do like but thought he was very conservative during the season) called a bootleg. I still remember willing Guarantano to get that 1st down with his legs. WOW
The criteria for “Wow” are when you see something surprising happen and suddenly your eyes widen, your mouth freezes open and for a couple for seconds you have to process what you have just seen in relation to the game and you go “Wow”.
10 - Maurer against Georgia After such a dreadful start to the season with Georgia State and BYU, I was now wondering if we were ever going to progress again. Guarantano had a bad start to the season and I was now going to have to suffer another drubbing from the team I most dislike. Then Maurer comes in and unleashes a bomb to Callaway, he catches it, no flags and suddenly hope has re-appeared. The Neyland also felt it and the place started rocking again. OK the hope didn’t last 60 minutes but hey hope was back.
9 - Bituli blocks and recovers punt After the win against Miss St and a good performance against Alabama, we actually needed to start winning the back end of our schedule. Next up was South Carolina who had just won at Georgia. This match was probably our best performance of the season and when Bituli blocked the punt and recovered it in the endzone, I actually believed another win was sealed.
8 - Jennings the bulldozer If ever a play epitomised the 2019 season this was it. A team leader simply refusing to be stopped as he ran over defender after defender. Forget the 7 points, this was a crushing statement that the Pruitt train was unstoppable and the finish to the season that we all dreamt of was now possible.
7 - Tua meets Emerson Although the shoots of progress were visible, another hammering from Alabama would have been quite a balloon buster. Tua with his 3 amigo wide receivers were awesome and we would have probably received another beat down if my No7 did not happen. Emerson’s pursuit and tackle (fair not dirty) put Tua out of the match, from this moment I felt the team’s belief grew and grew and now you look back on the match as a missed opportunity. But if Tua had of played 60 minutes ……….
6 - 4th & goal on the 1 We started so slowly against Kentucky and couldn’t really stop Bowden, then having finally got in control of the match Chandler fumbles and they are 4th & goal on our 1. But just like the Jennings touchdown in my No8 this team didn’t buckle and as you all know it was Blakely & Bituli that delivered.
5 - Trey “Im coming back for my senior year” The headline says it all from a true legend
4 – 3rd & goal on the 1 This to me was even better than my No6. The 230llb running back was charging to the line and victory then a true freshman stood his ground and on his own stopped him dead in his tracks, take a bow Henry To`o To`o. This to me was higher than 4th & goal as without stating the obvious, if Henry didn’t come though, the next play was an extra point kick.
3 - The Onside Kick We got one of the two touchdowns back and with over 4 minutes on the clock im thinking kick it long and our D will give us time to finish the comeback. I never ever considered an on-side kick and it looked as if Indiana hadn’t either, so I felt almost disoriented by the on-side kick. What a brilliant call.
2 - Freezing the kicker 3 times This to me was such a huge statement, no time on the clock before half time and Alabama have a kick, Pruitt doesnt use one timeout, not two timeouts but all three to ice the kicker (and he missed). What was special about this was, it was a statement to Alabama that the days of us just rolling over and losing meekly and quietly are OVER. The booing from the fans just proved my point we are now an irritant again.
1 - Guarantano bootlegs the two goal line stops had just happened and all we needed was a first down to put the W in the book. After 2 downs it was 3rd a 6. For years in this situation we have run into the pile on 3rd down just to use up 40 seconds, then we punt and try to hold on. So, my biggest Wow of the season was when Chaney (whom I do like but thought he was very conservative during the season) called a bootleg. I still remember willing Guarantano to get that 1st down with his legs. WOW
