LSU was very talented but also a very young team in 2001. Tennessee had beaten them earlier in the year with Kelly Washington having a record breaking game. They were not that good defensively and they were down to their backup QB in that game. It's hard not to think of the 2001 SEC Championship Game as a choke on Tennessee's part. We looked down at what all was at stake for us and we psyched ourselves out.At least that was a loss to a decent team that turned out to be a future national champion. I can at least rationalize that one.
...and their starting RB got hurt. It was nuts that we just couldn’t get Matt Mauk on the ground in the 2nd half.LSU was very talented but also a very young team in 2001. Tennessee had beaten them earlier in the year with Kelly Washington having a record breaking game. They were not that good defensively and they were down to their backup QB in that game. It's hard not to think of the 2001 SEC Championship Game as a choke on Tennessee's part. We looked down at what all was at stake for us and we psyched ourselves out.
As a young kid in junior high, the only time I have ever cried when a sports team of mine lost was when Ken Stabler through that wounded duck pass in the back of the end zone to Clarence Davis to beat my Miami Dolphins in the AFC playoffs in 1974. Final Score 28-27, IIRC.
Went with my Dad to the Dayton game in Chicago. My first UT game in person. Boerwinkle was a brute. Dayton ended up forfeiting the game because Don May was illegal in that game.For older Vol fans, my dad is 78 and in his opinion the two most heartbreaking losses in Tennessee's sports history are:
1) Losing 53-52 to Dayton in the 1967 NCAA Tournament (he remembers the score to this day)
and...
2) Losing to Syracuse in OT in the 1977 NCAA Tournament
Both teams are historically better. Disappointing perhaps, but somewhat to be expected IMOFor older Vol fans, my dad is 78 and in his opinion the two most heartbreaking losses in Tennessee's sports history are:
1) Losing 53-52 to Dayton in the 1967 NCAA Tournament (he remembers the score to this day)
and...
2) Losing to Syracuse in OT in the 1977 NCAA Tournament
Losing to Vandy to blow the Sugar Bowl took part of my soul. Never been the same since. But I was there for that Oklahoma game and that loss hit me pretty damn hard. Up until the tail end of the fourth quarter, that was the best game we have played since 2008Id say the overtime loss to oklahoma a few years ago at home. We win that i think its a whole different season. After the 07 season theres been alot of moments.
No, the Dayton loss was not expected at all. Tennessee entered the 1967 NCAA Tournament as the 8th ranked team in the country. Tennessee had a bye in the 1967 NCAA Tournament and Dayton did not. You are correct that Dayton did go on to lose to UCLA in the 1967 NCAA Tournament Championship Game, but they were a little like Butler in 2010 - they got hot at the right time and won close games.Both teams are historically better. Disappointing perhaps, but somewhat to be expected IMO
Dayton actually lost the NC game that year as well.