The game that broke me and gave me PTSD. Here we go again?

[rwemyss]

2001 Georgia and 2001 LSU for me

I was at the Georgia game. What a crapshow

We all were going crazy thinking we had won the game. Then, we hadn't.

Sure made the Dobbs-nail-boot sweet many years later.

 

[Vol in Buckeye Land]

Was it the 04 SECCG the one that was stolen from us with multiple phantom holding calls and a couple bad PI's called against us? I'm never one to blame a loss on officials, except this game and the "Gaffney Gaf".

Peach Bowl vs Clemson. I’ve hated them and their stupid rock ever since.

 

[SonOfGodVolforlife]

Mine was sometime in the Dooley era. It may have been the 2011 Arkansas game but I don’t remember with 100% clarity. It was then that I fully grasped the state of UT football. It was a shell of what it once was and wasn’t coming back anytime soon.

Was that the game arkansas returned a punt and the returner broke like 27 tackles??

 

[ric1958]

The loss to Memphis.... If I hadn't had on underwear, my walk back to the car naked might have ended up with me in jail....

Yep.
And if volnation.com had existed back then we would have witnessed mass suicide.

 

[imw8n4u]

1990 TN vs Colorado did it for me.

#Weird

I was at that game. I recall that being a "good" tie from our perspective. The tie with AU later that season was a bad one.

 

[Doberman]

2015 Florida and Oklahoma was devastating because we had both games won.

That 2015 Florida game stuck with me for a while. I was some kind of pissed off after that one.

 

[Tnslim1]

It pains me to say this but it's Florida till it ain't........and I hope this year is the ain't.

 

[7toejones]

We all had one through that time period though PJ. Mine was definitely 2001 SECCG. I was a freshman at UT and I saw people at the game with orange roses in their mouths before the game, and I got an uneasy feeling... I mean, I guess that game didn't BREAK me, because I still believed for a number of years after. I'm not sure when BVS truly set in.

This is part of what has me uneasy about Saturday. We are (as a fan base) acting way too overconfident imo.

 

[I Love Lamp]

2015 Florida and Oklahoma was devastating because we had both games won.

The double whammy of 2014 and 2015 Florida is why I am the way I am today.

I swore off ever going back to another Florida game again after that 2014 one.

 

[bpalmer28]

There are no similarities but there is one major difference. This time you’re with your son. This memory with him, no matter how it turns out, is something you’ll both cherish for the rest of your lives. Focus on making the most out of the experience and don’t worry about the result. It’s just a game, after all.

 

[BowlBrother85]

2001 Georgia and 2001 LSU for me

I was at the Georgia game. What a crapshow

That squib kick was bone-headed.

 

[08Vol]

We all had one through that time period though PJ. Mine was definitely 2001 SECCG. I was a freshman at UT and I saw people at the game with orange roses in their mouths before the game, and I got an uneasy feeling... I mean, I guess that game didn't BREAK me, because I still believed for a number of years after. I'm not sure when BVS truly set in.

Did you go to Tom Black track to great the team late Saturday night after the UF game? I was there and remember players carrying roses. Fulmer should have ripped a new one for any player he saw carrying a rose. That SEC Championship was the start of Saban’s domination of UT.

 

[VOLfrombama]

That squib kick was bone-headed.

Yep then 3rd and Chavis the rest of the way. I was so mad i would have kicked him in the coin purse if i had seen him.

 

[stolitonic]

Whoa. That was a powerful read.

Been there. I think for me 2014 was my crisis of confidence. After the Kiff fiasco, the Dooley nightmare, and the weird first year of the horn blower-I was done.

I believe that year we played Utah State on a Thursday night for the opener. Didn't care really. I was tired and sleep sounded better than watching the game. First UT game I had not at a minimum watched on TV since the early 90s.

I made myself watch the rest of the games that year, but things were just not the same.

Somewhere in like 2015 I came to peace with my Vol fandom. It is what it is.

 

[DC_Vol]

Was that the game arkansas returned a punt and the returner broke like 27 tackles??

Yes, that was the one.

 

[ETV]

'93 @ Legion Field. Everyone in the stadium, except for the UT defense, knew David Palmer was about to run the ball
'96 @ Neyland. Spurrier ran the E&H formation and Chavis had the deer in the headlights look. He ran it multiple times and it worked.

 

[RDU VOL#14]

2001 LSU. That was a punch in the dick that we are still recovering from.

 

[Arrested Devolopment]

It was a beautiful December day in the ATL circa 2007. Me and my younger brother had grown up in a family that bled orange. We had never missed a Vols game on TV but grew up too poor to attend more then a couple games in our lives but here we were in Atlanta with SEC championship game tickets. We parked our vehicle in Alpharetta where my wife’s parents lived and rode the Marta to the stadium. Anything other then a victory didn’t even register in our minds. We had full confidence in that years team and our beloved coach and I had a strong feeling that this would be the game we would show all of college football that we were back to the form of the 90’s/early 2000’s. As that sure victory slipped away in slow motion in the last quarter, everything went kinda fuzzy. I vaguely remember boarding the Marta train and sitting in the very back with my head down surrounded by purple and gold. The train was rocking with LSU chants. I realized my little brother hadn’t boarded behind me and we were rolling down the track without him. I remember a sense of panic not knowing if he would know how to get back to Alpharetta on his own. He did finally show up and we did finally make it home but I have no memory of anything from the time the game ended to boarding the Marta and between sitting in the back seat to arriving home in Nashville. All I know is before that game there were loses that made me cry but I was always full on fanatical about my Vols and after that game it wasn’t the same. It was a thing I enjoyed watching with my son as he grew up and teaching him about being a fan but the “love” wasn’t there. Fast forward to now, my son is grown himself and I’ve learned to get that love back through him. He himself has been to 11 games in Neyland and the Vols have won all 11. Granted almost all were cupcakes. I tell him he’s the good luck charm and so this year we’re putting that to the test for a Florida game. That said, as much as I want to relax and enjoy everything that comes along with the experience Saturday, I can’t help but think I’m walking him right into what happened 15 years ago in Atlanta, Ga.. It all feels like a trap. Tell me again why this is different…

Dude, I was at the 2001 SEC Championship, and we are going to whip Florida's ass.

 

[Jackcrevol]

2007 seccg is such a weird one to pick

yeah was there, knew exactly how its go down.

fortunately booze mellowed me out

 

[VOL89grad]

hope is a good thing… hoping we don’t need as much hope as we’ve needed in the past

 

[BanditVol]

They also won the National Title that year.

With two losses. They backed into it.

 

[SonOfGodVolforlife]

Yes, that was the one.

View attachment 493016

Why is it Tennessee is notorious for plays like this happening to us?? Just this year in the Pittsburg game, their tight end hurdles our guy like he’s a first round draft choice.. when no offense to him, he’ll probably never do that again in his life.
Then on top of that, how many times has an opposing qb eluded 3 sacks or more to scamper for a first down or td?? BVS is a real thing.

 

[TNnative]

The loss to Memphis.... If I hadn't had on underwear, my walk back to the car naked might have ended up with me in jail....

Doubt anyone noticed. I checked the records. Nobody there that day laughed themselves to death.

 

[RDU VOL#14]

With two losses. They backed into it.

They did, but they still beat Ohio State. I think that was the year that a bad Pitt team upset West Virginia and that’s how they were able to get in.

 

[CAVPUT]

It was a beautiful December day in the ATL circa 2007. Me and my younger brother had grown up in a family that bled orange. We had never missed a Vols game on TV but grew up too poor to attend more then a couple games in our lives but here we were in Atlanta with SEC championship game tickets. We parked our vehicle in Alpharetta where my wife’s parents lived and rode the Marta to the stadium. Anything other then a victory didn’t even register in our minds. We had full confidence in that years team and our beloved coach and I had a strong feeling that this would be the game we would show all of college football that we were back to the form of the 90’s/early 2000’s. As that sure victory slipped away in slow motion in the last quarter, everything went kinda fuzzy. I vaguely remember boarding the Marta train and sitting in the very back with my head down surrounded by purple and gold. The train was rocking with LSU chants. I realized my little brother hadn’t boarded behind me and we were rolling down the track without him. I remember a sense of panic not knowing if he would know how to get back to Alpharetta on his own. He did finally show up and we did finally make it home but I have no memory of anything from the time the game ended to boarding the Marta and between sitting in the back seat to arriving home in Nashville. All I know is before that game there were loses that made me cry but I was always full on fanatical about my Vols and after that game it wasn’t the same. It was a thing I enjoyed watching with my son as he grew up and teaching him about being a fan but the “love” wasn’t there. Fast forward to now, my son is grown himself and I’ve learned to get that love back through him. He himself has been to 11 games in Neyland and the Vols have won all 11. Granted almost all were cupcakes. I tell him he’s the good luck charm and so this year we’re putting that to the test for a Florida game. That said, as much as I want to relax and enjoy everything that comes along with the experience Saturday, I can’t help but think I’m walking him right into what happened 15 years ago in Atlanta, Ga.. It all feels like a trap. Tell me again why this is different…