Looking back at 1989 and a similar beginning to a season.

[JacketVol]

Perspective this morning on UT football. I was there last night. It's a W. But, many things to correct. I was at the opener in 1989 as well. Lets look at this fact. That 1989 opener vs Colorado State was a hard fought 17-14 win that UT barely slipped by the Rams. The Rams ended up 5-5-1 and were ranked 56th out of 106 by season end. The 1989 Volunteers ended up 11-1 and 6-1 in the SEC and ended up Sec co- champions and defeated Arky in the Cotton Bowl. History could repeat itself.

Thoughts?

 

[ejvols4]

My mind jumped back to 2005 when a Top-5 Vols team squeaked by a mediocre UAB team on the way to a disappointing 5-7 season. Poor QB and offensive line play outweighed an impressive defense.

Let's hope you're right and I'm wrong.

 

[FEARinSEC]

I kept having flashbacks of the opening game vs. Syracuse in '98. Except that Syracuse was ranked No. 17. The season is not over, but we do have a lot of work to do! It'll be interesting to see how Appy St. finishes the season.

 

[volpreacher]

I kept having flashbacks of the opening game vs. Syracuse in '98. Except that Syracuse was ranked No. 17. The season is not over, but we do have a lot of work to do! It'll be interesting to see how Appy St. finishes the season.

I don't see Appalachian St. losing another game if they play like they did last night. Now even playing like they did last night, UT still should have beaten them by 2 scores. It hurt dramatically when JRM got kicked out, the botched UT touchdown disallowed, and I think the biggest factor, the guys had been reading press clippings and people on volnation saying blowout etc. Anyway, it is a long season and 10 days to prepare for VA. Tech.

 

[Face]

They got upset last night, but pulled out the W. Upsets happen every year in college football. Their name was called last night, but found a way to win instead.

Hoping it was a fluke and not systematic.

 

[StarRaider]

Perspective this morning on UT football. I was there last night. It's a W. But, many things to correct. I was at the opener in 1989 as well. Lets look at this fact. That 1989 opener vs Colorado State was a hard fought 17-14 win that UT barely slipped by the Rams. The Rams ended up 5-5-1 and were ranked 56th out of 106 by season end. The 1989 Volunteers ended up 11-1 and 6-1 in the SEC and ended up Sec co- champions and defeated Arky in the Cotton Bowl. History could repeat itself.

Thoughts?

I was going to post this exact same thing. The next week UT upset #6 UCLA in the Rose Bowl 24-6. The sky is probably not falling.

I was at that '89 Colorado State game too (first season that I had season tickets for).

 

[MeanOrange]

Got to give App. St. some credit. 11-2 last year with a bowl victory. Team came back almost intact this year. Well coached and most important prepared. Looked at the Vols
weaknesses and exploited them. Namely: stack the line, bring the DBs up to cover short routes and make Dobbs beat you throwing. It did not help that our O-line looked like a high school line all night and that made everything else look bad. I liked shoops defense. A few mistakes but held a pretty good offensive team in check.

 

[Backwards K]

Ha. We were talking about that 1989 Colorado State game last night after the game. Tennessee went for a 4th down around midfield on their last drive to avoid giving the ball back to the Rams because they didn't think they could stop their option offense that late in the game. Narrowly converted the first down and ran out the clock.......then absolutely manhandled a top 10 ranked UCLA team in Pasadena (24-6) and were on their way to a great season.

However, I'd feel better about that analogy if this year's team had Antone Davis and Charles McRae as their two offensive tackles.