OneManGang
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Tennessee vs The Maxims vs Florida - 1992
DATE: 19 September 1992
PLACE: Neyland Stadium
ATTENDANCE: 97,137
FINAL SCORE: UT 31 Florida 14
I was once a part of a varsity sport at Old UT. Well, not really. In 1976 or 77 (senior moment, can't recall) one of the officers in the Army ROTC Department decided to resurrect the UT Rifle Team. Somehow, he'd found there was a .22 rifle range under the old Section X and got the Department to fund the team. While I could achieve nail-driving accuracy, I couldn't quite do the pin head driving accuracy needed to make the travel squad. Nevertheless it was fun to spend afternoons putting holes in quarter-sized targets at 50 feet. If you think that's easy, try it.
Our first visit to the range was not promising, The whole place smelled of mold and mildew and there was a water mark about five feet up on all the walls. At some point the whole place had been under water.
A lot of cleaners, brushes and mops, and gallons of paint rendered the range usable and the practices began.
The floors still got wet after heavy rains and many times the coach had to go there in the middle off the night to make sure the Anschutz rifles (that cost a very pre-inflationary $1500 apiece – over $7 grand today) were safe during storms. We asked UT Maintenance what could be done and they shrugged.
Those, of course, were the same people who re-attached the Torchbearer's hand and torch at a completely unnatural angle after the statue was damaged by a gas explosion. The explosion occurred because the torch had been extinguished as a response to the “energy crisis” of the early '70s, UT Maintenance just turned the gas back on and lit it without checking to see if, perhaps, gas fittings might have loosened during the 5-6 years it was out of service. In any case, after the explosion, UT maintenance completely ignored the fact that UT has an Art Department with people who specialize in bronze statuary and would have been proud to help. They just tossed the statue and various pieces from the hand (shattered when the statue tipped over from the force of the explosion) in a UT pick-up truck, took it to their metal shop, and welded it themselves.
Once seen, it cannot be unseen.
Sometimes UT just gotta UT.
The part of Shields-Watkins field closest to Section X was the northwest corner. Any time it rained it became a marsh which fortunately did not usually extend to the playing surface. Thing was it was wet even days after a rain, One of the reasons the Tennessee Walking Horse vanished from the pregame festivities was that several of them slipped and nearly fell at that corner and the owners revolted and refused to risk their $million animals because UT couldn't figure out how to get their drains to work,
Finally, after the 1993 season, UT got rid of the “AstroTurf” and replaced it with grass. The contractor was aware of the drainage problem and investigated. After pumping out thousands of gallons of water they inspected the drain pipe and found that when UT had added the southwest portion of the upper deck, the contractor then had hit a void as they were sinking the pilings to support the structure. They assumed they had hit one of the many caves under the campus (rumors persist that one of them extends under Ft. Loudon Lake and comes out in Vestal) and filled it with truckloads of concrete. What they had actually found was a 48” drain pipe that drained the entire west side of the field. Crews were sent in and jack-hammered the obstruction away and there have been no such problems since.
The weather prognosticators said that there would be showers on gameday but that they didn't expect them until late in the the game. When they do that expect a flood of Biblical proportions.
Bearing in mind the above, Yours Truly broke out a large poncho, wrapped all valuables in plastic and donned some waterproof hiking boots. I honestly expected to see some weird guy in a robe leading pairs of animals up Cumberland Ave.
In other developments, HeadVol John Majors had undergone angioplasty in the Spring but seemed to be in fine health. In August, though, a routine exam revealed major blockages and he underwent a quintuple by-pass that sidelined him for the first four games. Philip Fulmer stepped in as interim head coach.
Third-year LizardKing Steve Spurrier was bringing his 4th ranked Giant Water Lizards into Neyland Stadium. The Gators were tough, they were hot, and they were lucky. The pass-happy Gators were led by 1991 SEC Player of the Year Shane Matthews, a skilled and wily quarterback. Their ground game was anchored by All-SEC running back Errict Rhett.
Interim HeadVol Fulmer's charges were no slouches, though. The Vols had upset Georgia in Athens just the week before.
The offense was defined by the line, and what a line it was, Bubba Miller, Mike Stowall and Jeff Smith led a deep and experienced unit fully capable of opening holes for running backs Little Man Stewart, Aaron Hayden and Charlie Garner and also protecting Sophomore sensation Heath Shuler who could hurt opponents with his arm, throwing to a talented group of receivers featuring Craig Faulkner and Corey Fleming, or his feet. Finally, UT's scoring threat was capped by the “Automatic Toe” John Becksvoort who was merely a perfect 161 of 161 PATs over his four-years on The Hill.
The defense was a hard-hitting outfit featuring Todd Kelly, J.J. Surlas, George Kidd, J.J. McClesky and DeRon Jenkins. Backing up the D-line was a guy with one of the greatest names in football – Horace Morris. Punter Tom Hutton could flip field position or nail the “coffin corner” as needed.
Check the Tennessee record book and find all those guys standing tall.
The festivities got underway under 10/10 cloud cover but no rain – yet. ABC Sports were there with Brent Musburger and Dick Vermiel calling the game.
Florida got the ball first and did nothing and punted to Tennessee who also did nothing. The Gators took the ensuing punt and drove down deep into Vol territory before being stopped and attempted a short field goal which went just barely wide right, the first of many special teams miscues that would plague the Giant Water Lizards this day.
Tennessee still couldn't do much but Tom Hutton pinned the Gators deep. They ended up punting from their own 25 when Tracy Smith came shooting in from the left and blocked it. Vermiel stated, “Normally, you lose when you get a punt blocked.” Vol fans watching on TV looked up and said, “From his mouth to God's ear!”
The Vols took over on the Florida 12. And on 2nd down, Shuler rolled out left, tucked the ball and followed a pancake block by Aaron Hayden into the end zone.
Score: UT 7 UF 0
After an exchange of punts, Florida wound up going backwards and punter Shane Edge shanked the ensuing punt which the Vols returned to the Florida 30. The drive was capped when Little Man Stewart broke loose on a 15-yard draw play and found the checkerboards.
Score: UT 14 UF 0
Time: 4:06 2nd quarter
Stewart's run seemed to incite the Gators who took the ensuing kickoff and drove down capping the drive with a Shane Matthews touchdown pass to the tight end.
Score: UT 14 UF 7
Time: 2:00
The Vols took the kickoff and drove inside the 20 when a holding call forced them back. The drive featured a nifty 31-yard run by Charlie Garner. This game proved to be something of a “coming out party” for the junior college transfer. Garner would wind up with over 2,000 rushing yards over his two-year career on Rocky Top. John Becksvoort did the honors with a 35-yard field goal.
Score: UT 17 UF 7
Time: Half
Punts were exchanged. With about 10 minutes left in the 3rd quarter, the rain began. By the 5 minute mark it had turned into a deluge that would have impressed Noah. It seemed the Deity had taken a huge box cutter and just sliced open the clouds. Your Fearless Scribe was sitting in the stands thinking back to his freshman year at KCHS when the rain came down so hard during a game at Powell Valley that the ref had to put a foot on the ball between plays to keep it from floating away. Indeed, the rain filled up the satellite dishes on top of the ABC trucks and the picture faded out. Before that, though the cameras showed Vol players standing in ankle deep water along the west sideline. The lake in the northwest corner extended to mid-field.
Tennessee got the ball on its own 20 and rode the legs of Charlie Garner during the drive until, with the ball just across mid-field, Shuler flipped the soggy pigskin to Mose Phillips who waded through the flood and Florida defenders to the end zone. John Ward ended his enthusiastic description of Phillips' run with the now immortal, “IT'S A DOWNPOUR!!!”
Score: UT 24 UF 7
Time: somewhere about 3 minutes left in the 3rd.
Florida took the kickoff and did exactly nothing. At this point Steve Spurrier had a brain f*rt to rival Bill Battle against Georgia in '73 or KatHead Hal Mummee in 1998 at Neyland and tried a fake punt deep in Florida territory. As with the others, the ploy failed spectacularly.
The Vols then stuck the game up Florida's collective fundament when Shuler rolled out out on third down and swam into the end zone.
Score: UT 31 UF 7
Time: 13:43 4th quarter,
Florida scored a meaningless touchdown with 30 seconds left and the Gator special teams failed one final time as the Vols recovered the onside kick and jubilation reigned amongst the Vol faithful.
Final Score: UT 31 UF 14
*******
TV audiences in the US in 1979 were treated to a series on PBS named Connections. It was hosted by British TV journalist and author James Burke. Burke's series explored the many, varied, and sometimes random events that culminated in various aspects of modern life. He brought to the series a deep love of science and history leavened with a certain irreverence and dry British wit. It was wildly successful. Colleges and high schools across the Fruited Plain would substitute tapes of Connections for lectures and the students seemed to learn as much or more than they would otherwise. UT played them on the TVs in the Student Center.In 1986, his follow-up series The Day the Universe Changed debuted in the US in 1986 and, once again, people would arrange their schedules to catch the latest episode. Burke went back and looked at moments in history that truly changed the world.
The principle can also be applied to things military.
One such moment that changed how naval wars were fought forever came on 8 March and 9 March 1862.
One of the first things Virginia did after seceding from the Union was to occupy the many Federal military posts in the state including the massive naval base at Norfolk. As Virginia troops moved in on 20 April 1861, the US Navy burned the nine ships stuck at the Gosport section of the naval yard. Largest of the ships was the USS Merrimack, a 40-gun steam frigate. Merrimack was in port to have her dodgy engines repaired or replaced. The frigate burned to near the water line before sinking into the brackish waters of the Elizabeth River.
Confederate Secretary of the Navy Mallory ordered that the hulk be raised and converted into an ironclad. The hull was raised and moved into drydock on 30 May where construction began.
The hull was cut down to undamaged wood and a casement was constructed over it. The casement consisted of two feet of alternating oak and pine timbers and covered by 4 inches of iron all set at a 36º angle. Fourteen gun ports were set with four on each broadside and three at each end of the casemate. Total armament would be ten guns, eight broadside guns (a mixture of 90-pounder Brooke Rifles and 11” Dalhgren smoothbores) and one 100-pounder Brooke Rifle as a pivot gun on either end. A large iron ram projected out underwater from the bow.
The engines were repaired as much as possible after their extended soak and, on 17 February 1862, the CSS Virginia was placed in commission. After initial tests she returned to dock and all work was finally completed on 7 March. She proved to be somewhat unwieldy with a tactical diameter (turning radius) of a mile. The ironclad was also slow and drew 22 feet of draft. She was, however, more powerful than any other ship in any navy on the planet save three. Two of those were one-off ships built for the British and French navies and essentially wooden designs with thin iron plate.
The next morning, 8 March, under the command of Commodore Franklin Buchanan, she set out to confront the Yankee squadron guarding Hampton Roads, the wide part near the mouth of the James River where it empties into Chesapeake Bay and thence on to the Atlantic.
Yankee sailors spotted the iron monster approaching in the early hours of 8 March and quickly moved to shelter under Union shore batteries. Three of them ran aground. The USS Cumberland stood out a bit and Buchanan selected her as his first victim. The Virginia moved in to ram her.
As the Virginia neared an anonymous gunner on board Cumberland pulled the lanyard on his cannon and sent a solid shot into the casement armor of the ironclad. The round hit and ricocheted harmlessly into the air.
At that precise moment every single wooden-hulled warship in the world was rendered obsolete. The age of the wooden warship, which dated back to the ancient Egyptians, was over.
Virginia plowed into Cumberland and her ram ripped a massive hole in the frigate's hull. The ship caught fire and sank.
Virginia now turned her attention to the grounded ships. First up was the 44-gun USS Congress. Buchanan couldn't close with her but turned broadside and pounded her with his powerful broadside guns. In an example of the deep divisions caused by the Civil War, Buchanan's brother was Paymaster aboard USS Congress. Heavily damaged, Congress struck her colors and her crew began to evacuate. As this was going on, Union riflemen in the nearby shore batteries peppered the Confederate monster aiming for the open gun ports. Two of Virginia's crew were killed and Buchanan himself was hit in the thigh. Apalled at this breach of military courtesy, Buchanan ordered “hot shot” fired into Congress which proceeded to burn through the night before sinking.
Buchanan stayed in command and engaged the USS Minnesota at long range. The ship's navigator informed him that the tide was falling and light was fading. Buchanan ordered Virginia back to port where he would report to hospital and command passed to Lt. Catsby Jones. Confederate shipwrights worked through the night to fix what damage the ironclad had sustained and Jones determined to sail at first light on the incoming tide and finish off the Yankees.
As Jones and the Virginia made their way back into Hampton Roads, they spied the oddest looking craft they had ever seen sitting close by the Union ships. She was the USS Monitor.
Monitor was the brain child of Swedish-born engineer John Ericsson. As rumors that the Confederates were building an ironclad reached the Navy Department, a request for ironclad designs was issued.
The clear winner was Ericsson's design of a small ship with a low freeboard and a pair of 11” Dahlgrens in a revolving gun turret. Other than the turret, the only other thing projecting above the waterline was a small pilot house from which the Captain could conn the ship. The admirals running the Navy's construction bureau rejected it, dismissing the entire concept of ironclads as “humbug.” One suspects part of that was because the ship lacked a proper quarterdeck upon which to stand and strike heroic poses during battle.
One of Ericsson's business partners knew Lincoln and lobbied the President on his behalf. Lincoln approved the idea and ordered the Navy to get on with it and build the thing. USS Monitor was commissioned on 25 February 1862.
Just in time.
The two ironclads whanged away at each other for most of 9 March. Neither ship was able to seriously damage the other. Late in the day, though, a lucky shot by one of Virginia's Brookes hit the pilot house of Monitor. While the shot did not penetrate, Captain John Worden was temporarily blinded by splinters and powder burns. Monitor hauled off to treat Worden and Jones decided he had won the day. Once again the combination of the late hour and receding tide forced Virginia to withdraw as well.
The two ships would not meet again.
Both would occasionally sortie to try to lure the other out during April but failed.
In early May, the Union land forces broke through and moved on Norfolk. Virginia could not break out to sea nor retreat further up the James. On 10 May, her guns were removed and she was set on fire that night. In the early hours of 11 May, the flames reached her powder magazine and the ship was ripped apart by a huge explosion.
Monitor did not long survive her opponent. On 31 December, while under tow to Beaufort, NC, she capsized and sank in a storm off Cape Hatteras.
********
So, how did the Vols do against The Maxims?
1. The team that makes the fewest mistakes will win.
Florida just couldn't seem to get out of its own way the whole game. Tennessee played within themselves and came away victorious.
2. Play for and make the breaks. When one comes your way … SCORE!
While Florida didn't make a huge number of errors, their placement and timing proved fatal. As proof, Tennessee's average drive started at the Vol 40, Florida's inside their 20.
3. If at first the game – or the breaks – go against you, don't let up … PUT ON MORE STEAM!
After that failed field goal attempt early, the Vols rocked Florida's world. The Vol defense played lights out.
4. Protect our kickers, our quarterback, our lead and our ballgame.
Heath Shuler had a tremendous game in spite of Tennessee's reliance on the run. Indeed, he didn't complete a pass until well into the 2nd canto. He could maneuver out of trouble and hit just enough passes to keep the Gator defense honest. On the flip side, Todd Kelly had his arms around Shane Matthews so often there was speculation they would announce their betrothal after the game.
5. Ball! Oskie! Cover, block, cut and slice, pursue and gang tackle … THIS IS THE WINNING EDGE.
Tennessee came out determined to play smash-mouth football and stymie Spurrier's pass-happy offense. Until that 4th quarter pass to Phillips, Tennessee had less than 100 yards passing. However, the Vols dominated the rushing stats.
Watching game on video, your Humble Scribe was thrown into wistful reflection. Big shoulder pads, “Rhino Rolls,” cage masks, accelerating into the hit, perfect form tackles … God, how I hate the 21st Century.
6. Press the kicking game. Here is where the breaks are made.
Tennessee's kicking game was the difference maker. From the blocked punt by Tracy Smith to set up Shuler's 1st quarter score to Joey Chapman keeping the Gators backed up on kickoffs to Tom Hutton's excellent punting and finally the Automatic Toe, John Beckvoort with field goals and extra points the Vols dominated. Then there was Tennessee's excellent coverage. On the other side, Florida displayed ineptitude with the blocked punt, missed field goal, muffed punt and poor coverage being the trademarks all day.
7. Carry the fight to Florida and keep it there for sixty minutes,
Indeed.
The fortunes of Tennessee football were certainly looking very bright.
USS Monitor vs CSS Virginia, 9 March 1862 (Library of Congress)
