Tennessee vs. Florida 1970

#26
#26
I have a Conrad Graham story. Back in 2000 or 2001 I was working at the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island as a fore-caddie. It was a late afternoon group and as I'm introducing myself to each one of the foursome I noticed "Conrad" had some UT stuff on his bag. It turns out to be Conrad Graham. He was before my time but I must have watched "Cheers to 100 Years" at least 100 times and knew all about him and those D's he played with.

Great afternoon!
 
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#31
#31
My Freshman year at UT.

So many great names:
Bobby Majors
David Allen
Tim Priest
Conrad Graham
Jackie Walker
Ray Nettles
Jamie Rotella
Lester McClain
Curt Watson
Bobby Scott


Scott to Trott was the thing in 1970. Trott came from the same high school as Richmond Flowers, Montgomery Sidney Lanier.


Forgot that Majors was both our punter and punt returner.

Dickey lied to the Tennessee faithful and left right after the Gator Bowl game, which Tennessee lost to Florida, 13-14. In January 1970 I read an article by a columnist in the Montgomery Advertiser, named Jack Doane, who stated that the game of the year in the SEC for 1970 would be Florida at Tennessee. He also stated that Neyland could be loud and that is one place he would not want to be if he were Doug Dickey. Neyland Stadium lived up to its reputation that day.

People talk about how difficult our schedule is now. This team beat Bama 24-0 the previous Saturday by forcing Scott Hunter to throw 8 interceptions. Really made Paul Bryant look like a very average coach that day.

Tennessee bowed to no one then and expected to win every game regardless of who and where it was played. I cringe when I hear fans talk about not being able to win games. They are setting their own expectations.

IIRC the 11th game was added for the first time that off season and we scheduled UCLA at home at the end of the season. Great game with Curt Watson scoring with a couple of minutes to go to win the game. SEC football was good in those days but did not receive the media attention that the Big 10 or PAC 12 did. Alabama was the only SEC media darling because of Bear Bryant.
 
#33
#33
onevol74 said:
My Freshman year at UT.

So many great names:
Bobby Majors
David Allen
Tim Priest
Conrad Graham
Jackie Walker
Ray Nettles
Jamie Rotella
Lester McClain
Curt Watson
Bobby Scott


Scott to Trott was the thing in 1970. Trott came from the same high school as Richmond Flowers, Montgomery Sidney Lanier.


Forgot that Majors was both our punter and punt returner.

Dickey lied to the Tennessee faithful and left right after the Gator Bowl game, which Tennessee lost to Florida, 13-14. In January 1970 I read an article by a columnist in the Montgomery Advertiser, named Jack Doane, who stated that the game of the year in the SEC for 1970 would be Florida at Tennessee. He also stated that Neyland could be loud and that is one place he would not want to be if he were Doug Dickey. Neyland Stadium lived up to its reputation that day.

People talk about how difficult our schedule is now. This team beat Bama 24-0 the previous Saturday by forcing Scott Hunter to throw 8 interceptions. Really made Paul Bryant look like a very average coach that day.

Tennessee bowed to no one then and expected to win every game regardless of who and where it was played. I cringe when I hear fans talk about not being able to win games. They are setting their own expectations.

IIRC the 11th game was added for the first time that off season and we scheduled UCLA at home at the end of the season. Great game with Curt Watson scoring with a couple of minutes to go to win the game. SEC football was good in those days but did not receive the media attention that the Big 10 or PAC 12 did. Alabama was the only SEC media darling because of Bear Bryant.
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My Freshman year was 1967. We did expect to beat everybody when you and I were in school. If I'm not mistaken, we only lost 1 home game while I was there from 1967-1971 seasons(5 seasons). That was 10-9 to Auburn. We also tied Georgia 17-17...…..barely.
 
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#34
#34
esarmstrong said:
Enjoy. Doug Dickey's return to Knoxville is a bad one.

1970 Tennessee 38 Florida 7 - YouTube

Watching our defense, even allowing for the different eras, was truly impressive to watch.

Jackie Walker and Conrad Graham ran interceptions back for TD's, something this particular team had a penchant for doing on a regular basis.
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Love it.

"He was racked and racked good by Jackie Walker..."
 
#35
#35
1972 Grad said:
My Freshman year was 1967. We did expect to beat everybody when you and I were in school. If I'm not mistaken, we only lost 1 home game while I was there from 1967-1971 seasons(5 seasons). That was 10-9 to Auburn. We also tied Georgia 17-17...…..barely.
Click to expand...
Yes, Pat Sullivan to Terry Beasley near the end of the game.
 
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#36
#36
I remember a time when we were beating Bama consistently in the 90’s and there was a song called “Digging up Bear” sung to the Randy Travis song Digging up Bones. Would love to find that one.
 
#37
#37
onevol74 said:
Yes, Pat Sullivan to Terry Beasley near the end of the game.
Click to expand...
The funny thing that I remember about that game is that with future Heisman winner Sullivan coming to town, and how good the teams both were, is that my roommate and I had to sit in temporary seats , down on the field close to the Auburn bench (on the East sideline, across from the press box, maybe 25 yard line). They had to add I believe 4 rows of bleachers to meet demand, and when we got student tickets, that is where they were.

The cheerleaders were there with that damn eagle on a perch about 20 feet from us. When we later played Auburn in the SEC Championship game ( maybe 15-20 years ago??), I got a life size brass eagle, put an orange and white bow around his neck, and put him on top of the tv. I invited my roommate up from Nashville to watch the game at my house, and he got a serious kick out of it when he walked in the room.
 
#38
#38
onevol74 said:
Yes, Pat Sullivan to Terry Beasley near the end of the game.
Click to expand...
The funny thing that I remember about that game is that with future Heisman winner Sullivan coming to town, and how good the teams both were, is that my roommate and I had to sit in temporary seats , down on the field close to the Auburn bench (on the East sideline, across from the press box, maybe 25 yard line). They had to add I believe 4 rows of bleachers to meet demand, and when we got student tickets, that is where they were.

The cheerleaders were there with that damn eagle on a perch about 20 feet from us. When we later played Auburn in the SEC Championship game ( maybe 20 years ago??), I got a life size brass eagle, put an orange and white bow around his neck, and put him on top of the tv. I invited my roommate up from Nashville to watch the game at my house, and he got a serious kick out of it when he walked in the room.
 
#40
#40
I was born during the early part of Battle's tenure. Question for you guys that were around: what kind of coach was Battle? Obviously he wasn't a great recruiter and yes he won with Doug's players, but I've always wondered/thought he must have been a halfway decent X & O guy to win 31 games his first 3 years. But, was way before my time. Thoughts? Just a bad recruiter? Or was he a Larry Coker?
 
#41
#41
MurphyVol said:
I was born during the early part of Battle's tenure. Question for you guys that were around: what kind of coach was Battle? Obviously he wasn't a great recruiter and yes he won with Doug's players, but I've always wondered/thought he must have been a halfway decent X & O guy to win 31 games his first 3 years. But, was way before my time. Thoughts? Just a bad recruiter? Or was he a Larry Coker?
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Battle was the youngest head coach in college football when he assumed the reins of Tennessee’s program at the tender age of 28. Over the course of his career, it became abundantly clear that he simply was not an outstanding recruiter. He inherited a wealth of talent from Dickey, particularly on defense.

Bobby Scott, starting quarterback for the 1970 team, has gone on record as saying that he regrets not having taken a redshirt early in his career. The '71 team had an extraordinary defense, one that set NCAA records for turnovers caused, but struggled all season to find any continuity at quarterback. Bobby didn't pat himself on the back but he felt that that team, with a senior quarterback, would have been a serious national championship contender.
 
#42
#42
I was there for that game as a young Vol fan. I remember walking the streets to the game and
hearing the "Tricky Dickey" song coming from the shops. There was such hype and build-up to
that game, as was expected. It was great to be a Vol fan in that stadium that day.
 
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#43
#43
1972 Grad said:
My Freshman year was 1967. We did expect to beat everybody when you and I were in school. If I'm not mistaken, we only lost 1 home game while I was there from 1967-1971 seasons(5 seasons). That was 10-9 to Auburn. We also tied Georgia 17-17...…..barely.
Click to expand...

That Auburn game broke my heart. To this day, I was seated on the 5 yard line and I still swear he was NOT offsides on that extra point attempt. Refs jobbed us.
 
#44
#44
I was there as well as a freshman. I remember kids selling oranges outside the stadium to throw at Dickey. I don't recall seeing any oranges thrown, but Dickey received a standing ovation at the end of the game as he left the field.
 
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