OneManGang
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Tennessee vs The Maxims vs Appalachian State
As the throng of long-suffering Vol fans dispersed from their crouched positions along the railing of the Gay Street Bridge and the smoke of the post-game celebratory fireworks dissipated on the south bank of the Tennessee River the Vol faithful were left with a VERY bad taste. Your fearless scribe remarked to Elder Son&Heir about half-way through the first half that the cuss-word count among the assembled multitude at Neyland Stadium had probably topped one billion. By the end of the contest, that total was approaching the National Debt.
Make no mistake, Appy State is a VERY good football team. I've had a soft spot for the Mountaineers since one of their former head coaches was a volunteer assistant at Knoxville Catholic during Elder Son&Heir's time with the Irish and later helped coach the line for Younger Son&Heir's Catholic Youth team. Coach Bill Dupes was a fine mentor, a great coach and a better man. He was elected to the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame in 1979 and passed on in 2011.
Given the above, your scribe approached Thursday night's game with more than a bit of trepidation. This was NOT alleviated by the hype videos released seemingly every other day touting Tennessee's 2016 Vols in the weeks before Aaron Medley's foot hit the ball for the opening kickoff. It was too much, way too much, and wayyyy too soon.
****
In 1944 movie-goers in the United States were treated to an Army Air Force hype film called Target for Today. The movie focused on Mission 113 of the 8th Air Force which involved strikes against industrial targets in Anklan and a new Focke-Wulf fighter factory on the outskirts of Marienburg, Germany.
In the film, calm and collected planners plot out the mission and then steely-eyed airmen take in their briefings. Thence a parade of B-17s move into position and take off winging their way to deal death and destruction on the Nazis who started the whole mess that was WWII in Europe.
To a fair extent the film is accurate. In particular the Marienburg raid which caught the Germans with their leiderhosen down and put virtually ever bomb inside the perimeter fence of the factory. After the war, it was learned that the factory was due to open the very next day and Luftwaffe boss Herman Goering was supposed to officiate. The factory never opened.
There were relatively few losses during the Marienburg segment but other losses are noted with sad-faced ground crew scanning the sky for returning ships. The film closes with stirring music and a stentorian voice resolving that the campaign would continue until final victory was won.
The reality was that over the seven days before and after Marienburg, the 8th Air Force came within an eyelash of losing the air war over Germany.
The cold statistics of the 8th Air Force mission chronology tell the story:
Friday, 8 October 1943, Mission 111
1. 105 of 118 B-17's dispatched to the shipyard at Bremen hit the target at 1505-1513 hours; 9 B-17's are lost and 61 damaged; casualties are 2 KIA, 18 WIA and 90 MIA.
2. 53 of 56 B-17's dispatched to the industrial area at Bremen hit the target at 1512-1513 hours; 4 B-17's are lost and 44 damaged; casualties are 1 KIA, 12 WIA and 41 MIA.
3. 43 of 55 B-24's dispatched to the U-boat yards at Vegesack hit the target at 1622-1624 hours; 3 B-24's are lost and 21 damaged; casualties are 1 KIA, 5 WIA and 30 MIA.
4. 156 of 170 B-17's dispatched to the city of Bremen hit the target and targets of opportunity at 1505-1527 hours; they claim 84-12-33 Luftwaffe aircraft; 14 B-17's are lost, 2 damaged beyond repair and 110 damaged; casualties are 21 WIA and 140 MIA
Saturday, 9 October 1943, Mission 113 (Mission 112 was a leaflet drop)
1. 106 of 115 B-17's hit the industrial area in Anklam, Germany at 1142-1146 hours; 18 B-17's are lost, 1 damaged beyond repair and 51 damaged; casualties are 25 WIA and 185 MIA.
2. 96 of 100 B-17's hit the industrial area in Marienburg, Germany at 1253-1302 hours; 2 B-17's are lost and 13 damaged; casualties are 3 WIA and 21 MIA.
3. 41 of 51 B-24's hit the U-boat yards at Danzig and the port area at Gdynia, Poland at 1305 hours; 2 B-24's are lost, 1 is damaged beyond repair and 19 damaged; casualties are 1 WIA and 21 MIA.
4. 109 of 112 B-17's hit the port area at Gdynia, Poland at 1304-1324 hours; 6 B-17's are lost, 1 damaged beyond repair and 62 damaged; casualties are 6 WIA and 60 MIA.
Sunday, 10 October 1943, Mission 114
236 of 274 B-17's hit the railroads and waterways in and around Munster, Germany at 1503-1518 hours plus targets of opportunity at Coesfeld, Germany and Enschede Airfield in the Netherlands; 30 B-17's are lost, 3 damaged beyond repair and 102 damaged; casualties are 2 KIA, 18 WIA and 306 MIA. 39 B-24's fly a diversion without loss or casualties.
Thursday, 14 October 1943, Mission 115
229 of 291 B-17's hit the city area and ball bearing plants at Schweinfurt, Germany in 2 group; the first group bombs at 1439-1445 hours, the second group at 1451-1457 hours; 60 B-17's are lost, 7 damaged beyond repair and 138 damaged; casualties are 5 KIA, 40 WIA and 594 MIA. The attack, which causes great damage and interference with production, results in German reorganization of the bearing industry. Fierce opposition of great numbers of fighters, many of them firing rockets, accounts for the 60 US aircraft shot down. As a result of these heavy losses, daylight bombing against strategic targets deep in Germany is discontinued for a short period.
To sum up, over a seven day period, the 8th Air Force lost 143 B-17s over Europe and a further 14 returned but never flew again due to battle damage. Given that peak production of B-17s was about 60 per week, the scale of these losses is apparent. The statement that, As a result of these heavy losses, daylight bombing against strategic targets deep in Germany is discontinued for a short period, is misleading. The real campaign against targets deep in Germany did not begin again for four months during which the legendary P-51 Mustang fighter began to arrive in theater and could escort bombers all the way to Berlin and back.
In the end, though, the 8th[FONT=Times New Roman, serif] Air Force won its war.[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]****[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]In the end, though, Tennessee won its home opener against Appy State, but it was a VERY near-run thing.[/FONT]
And so the season of Team 120 is now underway. To be kind, it got off to a less than auspicious start but the Vols did manage to pull out a win. Vol fans, having drunk deeply of the hype-aid from pre-season are now left to contemplate if this version can even match last year's performance. The road to football glory is littered with high hopes and the wreckage of good teams who, for whatever reason, just weren't quite there yet.
Your Humble Scribe didn't buy the hype from the get-go. There is still too much baggage of a decade or so of mediocrity dragging on the Tennessee football program. Maybe, just maybe, winning in adversity like they faced Thursday night is a good omen.
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Bristol and a VaTech team nobody really knows anything about (new coaches, etc.) awaits. [/FONT]
So how did the team do compared to the Maxims?
1. The team that makes the fewest mistakes will win.
When even the fossilized Brent Musberger is repeating this Maxim (somewhat gleefully, I might add) after Cam Sutton's muff and the subsequent Appy St. touchdown in the first Canto, you know you are in for a long night. Former Gator QB Jesse Palmer snickering throughout the proceedings didn't help matters.
2. Play for and make the breaks. When one comes your way SCORE!
Great Day, Tennessee must need to replace all the shoes worn by the offense due to self-inflicted bullet holes. As the great Vince Lombardi once stormed during a film session with the Packers' offense, YOU didn't run! YOU didn't block! YOU didn't do a damned thing! His analysis seems apropos nearly fifty years later.
3. If at first the game or the breaks go against you, dont let up PUT ON MORE STEAM!
For most of the game the Vols on both sides of the ball seemed to be of the opinion that more steam was referring to sandwiches at Gus's Deli.
4. Protect our kickers, our quarterback, our lead and our ballgame.
OK, this question has to be asked: Just where was this deep and talented offensive line we fans have been hearing about since the final gun against Northwestern? Fear not, though, this writer has a theory, though. When your Humble Scribe was playing for KCHS back in the age of Great Lizards, we put an agile and quick RUNNING BACK at nose guard and watched opposing centers hit air all season long. As back-up center that year, yours truly took his fair share of abuse and left many a practice session with red face and ears ringing. The Titanotheres who populate modern college offensive and defensive lines are impressive beasts but Appy State proved that quickness can be a leveling factor. Bye-the-bye, legendary Vol lineman and perpetual All-American Chip Kell played at about 250.
5. Ball! Oskie! Cover, block, cut and slice, pursue and gang tackle THIS IS THE WINNING EDGE.
The early loss of Jalen Reeves-Maybin to a targeting foul caused a trip down memory lane to my days in ROTC when, as a normal part of a training exercise, an instructor would stride up in the middle of a mock battle, point at one of the cadets and intone, Your platoon commander is now dead. You are now platoon commander, carry on. I can still recall the whatinthehelldoIdonow look in the eyes of fellow cadets and have worn that look myself. Tennessee's defense came out fired up and motivated in the immediate aftermath of the ejection but then seemed to lose a lot of that edge in the next series and never really got it back. That should not happen.
6. Press the kicking game. Here is where the breaks are made.
In a post-game interview, Aaron Medley noted he could identify with Mountaineer freshman kicker Michael Rubino. If Rubino hits even ONE of his three misses (one PAT and 2 FGA), Tennessee loses. Medley, who had his share of yips during his early days on The Hill WAS Tennessee's offense for most of the game.
7. Carry the fight to Appalachian State and keep it there for sixty minutes.
The Vols were on their heels for virtually the entire game. Perhaps it was once again the ghost of The Gen'rul who deflected the ball into Jalen Hurd's grasp after Dobbs' jump shot fumble in overtime. Glad to see you back, Sir.
So there, now.
At the end of the day a W is far better than an L any day. Tennessee really didn't deserve to win, but they did. Appy State DID deserve to win, but didn't. Napoleon, upon being told of the military prowess of a potential commander asked simply, But is he lucky?
Sometimes it is just that simple.
Brick by Brick, Baby!
MAXOMG
Suggested Reading:
Martin Caidin, Black Thursday
Roger A. Freeman, The Mighty Eighth
Edward Jablonski, Flying Fortress
Col. Budd J. Peaselee, Heritage of Valor
© 2016
Keeping Your Stories Alive
A B-17 of the 94th Bomb Group departs Marienburg, Germany, 9 October 1943. (USAF photo)
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