He was an all SEC QB. His completion pct was low, but in those games you mentioned in 1998, his legs helped us big time in each instance (and you are wrong- he went 16/26 against UGA in 1998. The Florida game, we don't win without Tee's scramble in OT. Against Syracuse, Martin broke a 55 yard run in the 4th quarter that led to a score.
He also won how many SEC Player of the Week awards in 1999 as well as being 1st team All SEC? Against UGA and Bama, both games where we were either barely favored or an underdog, Martin was the best player on the field and carried us. Dude was playing hurt as well his last year after the Florida game. The WRs didn't help at all either that year.
For comparison, in his senior season after our best WRs left, Casey Clausen completed only 56% of his passes. Same thing happened to Tee. It does amuse me how some people praise Clausen for road victories yet Tee doesn't get credit for leaving as the school's all time winningest QB percentage wise.
I'm not saying he's the greatest QB, but looking at raw passing numbers ignores a lot of what made Martin a great football player.
Saying he was All SEC is kind of the point. That's the "rating" aspect. Guys aren't overrated if they aren't rated higher than they should be.
Tee wasn't a bad player. He did some good things, especially with his legs. But he was a below average passer, to say the least.
He had a chance to lead a game winning drive against Arkansas before the stumble and fumble. Go back and watch. We went 4 and out because he missed wide open WRs 3 or 4 plays in a row. When we got the break with the fumble, Cutcliffe took the ball out of his hands. Despite the fact that there wasn't much time, he didn't trust his QB to complete passes.
"Against UGA and Bama, both games where we were either barely favored or an underdog, Martin was the best player on the field and carried us."
He was good in those games, but not the best player on the field and he didn't carry us. The defense held Alabama to 7 points in 1999. A QB who leads his team to 21 points doesn't "carry" at team that held its opponent to 7.
"The Florida game, we don't win without Tee's scramble in OT."
If you'll recall (most don't), that scramble was required because 2 plays earlier, Tee didn't see a WIDE OPEN WR (Copeland, I think?) in the end zone, then Tennessee got called for a penalty on the next play, pinning us back. If Tee sees that open WR (like an average to good QB would have-the announcers were incredulous), that penalty doesn't happen, the scramble isn't necessary, and we get a TD instead of a FG. Luckily, it worked out.
In the 1999 game that we lost to Arkansas, we missed a ton of open WRs and it cost Tennessee the game. Against Florida in 1999, he was supposed to keep the ball on a bootleg on 4th down, but he instead changed the call to a pitch to Jamal, he got stopped, we lost. The bootleg was there.
Tee had some fine moments. He threw some great deep balls to Peerless (Peerless also made some great plays on those balls). And he did make some plays with his legs. But he wasn't "Great," as he's often credited with being. In fact, he was often frustrating. He's a top 15 all-time QB at UT. He's often credited with being top 5. That's overrating him. Frankly, so is top 10.
(BTW, you're right about Clausen and his lack of good WRs hurting him. But comparing those 2003 WRs to the 1999 group is apples-oranges. The 1999 group had Eric Parker, Cedric Wilson, and Donte Stallworth, all future NFL starters. Tee couldn't hit them. I was in the Swamp that year, watching him consistently overthrow them).
