dduncan4163
Have at it Hoss
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https://www.saturdaydownsouth.com/s...he-best-program-in-sec-history-but-whos-no-2/
The Case for Tennessee
Greetings your honor and members of the jury. Given the last few years, many of you may be wondering how we made it here today. Well, forasmuch discord and disappointment as there has been in Knoxville, Tennessee, recently, if you wipe the decade of dust off of our program, you will uncover a history of winning and a team robust with tradition and pride.
Names like Johnny Majors, Peyton Manning, Reggie White, Eric Berry, Jamal Lewis, Al Wilson and General Robert Neyland immediately come to mind when you think about Tennessee. Though Alabama was gathering a bouquet of Pasadena roses and sending the Yellow Jackets to a watery grave, we were every bit as much the gold standard in the SEC until the 1960s. To that end, we might mention that when Bryant arrived at Alabama in 1958, Tennessee had won 6 conference championships to Alabama’s 5! (Even after Bryant arrived, it still took him 3 years to beat us!)
Though our tradition began in 1891 and flourished before the war, in many ways, the 1950s were our decade. During that stretch, we brought home the school’s first national title in 1951, and coach Neyland also guided his teams to 10-win seasons in 1950 and 1956, including 2 SEC crowns.
“But who cares about the 1950s?” you say.
OK, fine. Let’s talk about Tennessee of the 1990s, without question our best decade. Included were 4 10-win seasons, a national title in 1998 with a perfect 13-0 record, and the biggest bowl win in school history: a 23-16 victory over Florida State in the Fiesta Bowl. And though Florida dominated us in head-to-head matchups, we won 98 games, 6 bowls and had 6 top 10 finishes. Not too shabby.
Head-to-head, we hold an overall edge with most SEC schools, including LSU (20-10-3) and Arkansas (13-5), and overall we are tied with Georgia at a 23-23-2 mark. Outside of the SEC, we have defeated the illustrious programs of Ohio State, Michigan, Florida State, Oklahoma, Texas, Nebraska and Penn State, among others.
We recognize that our current demise has rendered us the laughingstock of the SEC to many fans, and rival schools revel in the implosion that’s occurred in Knoxville. But why?
Peel back the layers of this hilarity and you will discover that we have been good — very good — in the past. Had our program have been mediocre all these years, no one would feel the need to comment or laugh at our decline. So in ways it’s actually a testament to how good we have been.
Consider this: We claim 6 national titles — 1938, 1940, 1950, 1951, 1967, 1998 — overall and 2 AP. We are tied with Georgia for second in overall Southeastern Conference (SEC) championships with 13. Out of the 5 schools vying for second place, we have the most overall wins with 838, most Consensus All-Americans (40) and most members of the College Football Hall of Fame (24). Our 28 bowl wins and 6 SEC East division titles are more than a subtle nod to our great football heritage.
Laugh at that.
I can dig it.
The Case for Tennessee
Greetings your honor and members of the jury. Given the last few years, many of you may be wondering how we made it here today. Well, forasmuch discord and disappointment as there has been in Knoxville, Tennessee, recently, if you wipe the decade of dust off of our program, you will uncover a history of winning and a team robust with tradition and pride.
Names like Johnny Majors, Peyton Manning, Reggie White, Eric Berry, Jamal Lewis, Al Wilson and General Robert Neyland immediately come to mind when you think about Tennessee. Though Alabama was gathering a bouquet of Pasadena roses and sending the Yellow Jackets to a watery grave, we were every bit as much the gold standard in the SEC until the 1960s. To that end, we might mention that when Bryant arrived at Alabama in 1958, Tennessee had won 6 conference championships to Alabama’s 5! (Even after Bryant arrived, it still took him 3 years to beat us!)
Though our tradition began in 1891 and flourished before the war, in many ways, the 1950s were our decade. During that stretch, we brought home the school’s first national title in 1951, and coach Neyland also guided his teams to 10-win seasons in 1950 and 1956, including 2 SEC crowns.
“But who cares about the 1950s?” you say.
OK, fine. Let’s talk about Tennessee of the 1990s, without question our best decade. Included were 4 10-win seasons, a national title in 1998 with a perfect 13-0 record, and the biggest bowl win in school history: a 23-16 victory over Florida State in the Fiesta Bowl. And though Florida dominated us in head-to-head matchups, we won 98 games, 6 bowls and had 6 top 10 finishes. Not too shabby.
Head-to-head, we hold an overall edge with most SEC schools, including LSU (20-10-3) and Arkansas (13-5), and overall we are tied with Georgia at a 23-23-2 mark. Outside of the SEC, we have defeated the illustrious programs of Ohio State, Michigan, Florida State, Oklahoma, Texas, Nebraska and Penn State, among others.
We recognize that our current demise has rendered us the laughingstock of the SEC to many fans, and rival schools revel in the implosion that’s occurred in Knoxville. But why?
Peel back the layers of this hilarity and you will discover that we have been good — very good — in the past. Had our program have been mediocre all these years, no one would feel the need to comment or laugh at our decline. So in ways it’s actually a testament to how good we have been.
Consider this: We claim 6 national titles — 1938, 1940, 1950, 1951, 1967, 1998 — overall and 2 AP. We are tied with Georgia for second in overall Southeastern Conference (SEC) championships with 13. Out of the 5 schools vying for second place, we have the most overall wins with 838, most Consensus All-Americans (40) and most members of the College Football Hall of Fame (24). Our 28 bowl wins and 6 SEC East division titles are more than a subtle nod to our great football heritage.
Laugh at that.
I can dig it.
