OneManGang
Senior Member
- Joined
- Sep 7, 2004
- Messages
- 1,932
- Likes
- 8,945
Tennessee vs The Maxims vs North Carolina State
DATE: 7 September 2024
PLACE: Bank of America Stadium, Charlotte, NC
ATTENDANCE: 72,730
FINAL SCORE: Tennessee 51 NC State 10
“Good stuff, Pat! I just love how you hook 'em with football, and then sit 'em down for some history.”
- Dr. Chris Magra, Director, UT Center for the Study of Tennesseans and War
Damn, my secret is out.
Last week I referred to the Vols' thrashing of UTC as “a puppy getting smacked by a truck."
In that same theme, Saturday's whuppin' of the NC State Wolfpack could be described as a wolf getting hit by a speeding semi, leaving patches of fur and body parts all over I-85.
Tennessee's wunderkind, Nico Iamaleava, had an off day – for him. He was 16 of 23 for 211yards and two TDs, 65 yards rushing with another TD and there were two interceptions, only one of which was his fault.
Ladies and Germs, there were guys playing just this last Sunday who would gladly cut a deal with Mephistopheles hisownself for those kinds of numbers.
Then there was running back Dylan Sampson whose 132 net yards came close to matching State's ENTIRE total offense yardage. His two touchdowns far exceeded the opponent who had cough none cough.
Indeed, the Vol defense has been so dominant that they have not allowed a touchdown in the last three games.
Good Lord.
At this rate, HeadVol Josh Heupel has the potential to build Our Beloved Vols into the kind of dominant program not seen on The Hill since Bob Neyland prowled the sidelines.
We ain't there yet, but, by The Almighty we can see it from here!
Let's get right into the football action.
State's strategy was clear from the outset: play ball control, slow the game down and keep #8 and company in Orange #PMS151 off the field. And it worked – for the first series. The Wolfpack ate up nearly seven minutes of game clock to move the ball a total of 29 yards. No, that is NOT a mis-print.
A set of offsetting penalties stymied the Vols and they punted. NC State did nothing and punted it back.
Viewers across the Fruited Plain then got to see the curtain come up on the Nico and Dylan show. The Vols' drive was capped by Sampson running through a giant hole 9 yards to pay dirt.
End of 1st Quarter
Score: Tennessee 7 NC State 0
NC State did absolutely nothing and punted.
Nico overthrew his receiver and the interception set State up on Tennessee's side of the fifty. Their drive stalled but they nailed the field goal.
The Vols responded with a Max Gilbert field goal.
The Wolfpack rode a couple of big plays deep into Vol territory when Will Brooks stepped in from of a Grayson McCall pass and set sail for an 85-yard score.
Tennessee's DEFENSE outscored NC State's offense.
NC State punted and the Vols added another field goal as the half expired.
End of 2nd Quarter
Score: Tennessee 20 NC State 3
The Vols took the kickoff and scored on a 15-yard strike to the tight end.
McCall fumbled and set the Vols up in scoring position but settled for yet another field goal.
NC State turned the ball over on downs deep in their territory and Nico took advantage and shot 31 yards for a touchdown.
McCall fumbled yet again.Tennessee was in great position but Nico was hit as he threw. The ball went up like a Falcon-9 but it came down like Starlink. A gleeful defender caught it and was next seen 87 yards away in the end zone.
NC State's defense outscored their offense.
End of 3rd Quarter
Score: Tennessee 37 NC State 10
That particular miscue seemed to tick off the Vol offense and they added two more touchdowns before Gaston Moor came in to administer Last Rites to the 'Pack.
Final Score
Tennessee 51 NC State 10
********
“For everything there is a first time.” - Mr. Spock (Star Trek: The Wrath of Kahn)
It is an iconic scene from the movie Patton. The title character, Lt. General George Smith Patton, Jr., is portrayed observing his troops taking apart German panzer units and exulting, “Rommel! You magnificent b*stard! I read your BOOK!”
Great movie-making, but as to historically accurate – well, erm, no.
When America declared war, the U.S. Army had been preparing for war for nearly two years, developing new weapons and doctrine, and struggling to work a massive number of new draftees into the force. They were also working to absorb what they had been able to discern from the German victories in Poland and France using the blitzkrieg tactics of rapid movements by tank-heavy Panzer divisions.
The first American offensive action against the Germans would be a series of amphibious landings in French North Africa. It was code-named Operation TORCH. TORCH would consist of simultaneous landings at three beaches in French Morocco and at Oran and Algiers in French Algeria. In a nod to the future this was the largest and most complex amphibious operation in history to that point, involving 100,000 troops from Britain and America and over 850 ships of various sizes from carriers and battleships to landing craft.
The landings in Morocco fell under “Western Task Force” under Patton. Naturally, the passwords on the beaches were “George” and the counter-sign “Patton.” Beyond that, confusion was the rule of the day.
Gen.Lucien Truscott came ashore and was sitting watching the confusion as darkness fell. A strange figure wandered up to him and asked for a cigarette in a strange accent. Two of the general's aides stepped in and jabbed their Thompsons in the man's belly and challenged him,“George!”
The man snorted, “George? George, hell! Me no George. My name Lee, Cook, Company C, 540th Engineers!”
Once they got everything sorted, the U.S. Army swung into action against … the French.
Eventually enough Frenchmen died to satisfy Gallic honor and resistance ceased.
The units from the various beaches came together and US II Corps, under Lloyd Fredendall, moved east toward Tunisia with an eye toward cutting off Rommel and his Afrika Korps currently stymieing British 8th Army and Gen. Bernard Montgomery.
Having disposed of the French the Americans were looking forward to coming to grips with the Germans for the first time.
Unfortunately for the Yanks, school was about to come into session. The instructors would be Rommel's veterans and the lessons would be expensive … in blood.
After the French quit, American II Corps pushed across Algeria to the Tunisian border. Along the way, rains fell, turning the desert roads into bottomless mud and slowing the advance. Finally, as 1942 turned into 1943, they reached the border. The border is marked by a change from flat desert to jagged ridges and hills cut by passes that lead into a series of open valleys that eventually lead to the east coast facing the Mediterranean Sea. Should II Corps make it that far, the German Army to the south would be cut off.
Then the supply situation went critical. The new boss in the theater, one Dwight Eisenhower decided to slow the move and let the supplies catch up. Meanwhile the Americans had learned some hard lessons. They learned the army needed more spare parts, that driving tanks hundreds of miles on their tracks wore out both tracks and vehicles and there weren't enough of either available and that they needed those spares to be what they needed - not what the “book” said should be sent, amongst many other things.
By mid-February the Yanks had seized a fly-blown road and rail junction at Tebessa, a few miles west of one of the passes that terminated at the village of Kasserine.
On 14 February, elements of the crack 10th and 21st Panzer Divisions attacked and surrounded the village of Sidi Bou Zid. Among the prisoners taken was LTC John Waters, Patton's son-in-law. In response to the attack, Combat Command A of the 1st Armored Division tried to slow them down and lost 44 tanks for its trouble. The next day was Combat Command C's turn. 2nd Battalion, 1st Armored Regiment, was detailed to eject the Germans.
It was a scene from another century. 52 M-4 Shermans moved out in line abreast like a cavalry charge during the Civil War with clouds of dust in their wake. The only things missing were guidons snapping in the wind, bugles blowing “Charge!” and tank commanders waving sabres. The Germans patiently waited then opened up with dug-in anti-tank guns while panzers rolled down both flanks, their experienced gunners smoothly engaging target after target. Four M-4s had been held as a reserve awaiting the return of their comrades but, as the battalion war diary noted,“None returned.” Total American losses were 103 tanks and over 2,000 men.
School was in session.
The Germans eventually stopped, through no fault of the Americans, but because the British were beginning their offensive to the south against stout German defenses.
The next lesson plan was already being written.
Gen. Fredendall had installed himself in a headquarters on a rock outcrop miles behind the lines. He dithered and ordered the pass to be held by a mishmash of units. On the 19th, German advance units probed those defenses and found them to be weak. The next day, 10th Panzer supported the bulk of the Afrika Korps slammed into the pass. The Americans me;ted before the onslaught. By the time the Germans withdrew due to overextended supply lines, American casualties totaled well over 6,000 men, nearly 200 tanks,104 half-tracks, 200+ artillery pieces, not to mention belts, buckles, boots, GI socks etc.
Like Rosecrans at Chattanooga it was time for Fredendall go. He was replaced by one George Patton.
Patton took II Corps by the scruff of the neck, shook it, and restored its pride and fighting spirit.
He set up his HQ much closer at Gafsa, while still behind the lines, it was roughly equidistant between his two strongest units: 1st Armored and the 1st Infantry Division under the colorful MG Terry de la Mesa Allen.
Terry de la Mesa Allen (NARA)
Allen had a reputation as giving his superiors peptic ulcers with his independence and was beloved by his men for refusing to waste their lives on useless objectives.
On March 15th, intel got wind of an coming attack by the 10th Panzer. The problem was there was no indication where the blow would land. Patton decided the Germans would come after the 1st Armored then near Macknassy and went to be there.
On 16 March he got a hurried message that the panzers were on their way to el Guettar in the Big Red One's area. Allen had discerned what was coming and deployed his division in a sideways “U”shape – just like in the movie. 10th Panzer came behind a hurricane of artillery fire but Allen's men stood firm and let them move into the kill zone. Allen had access not only to his own divisional artillery by also the big guns of II Corps artillery and air cover. Combined with determined infantry, a battalion of tanks and another of tank destroyers they stopped the Germans cold and the panzers fell back.
Upon learning of the attack, Patton left his HQ and headed to el Guettar. He arrived at Allen's command post, just after the Germans withdrew,in a cloud of whale sh** with the press and photogs from LIFE magazine in tow. To be fair, he WAS there when 10th Panzer made a half-hearted effort that afternoon and the LIFE guys got pictures of a scowling Patton looking out over the battlefield like it was HIS victory.
Terry Allen likely never read Infanterie Greift an and it certainly wouldn't have been his style to taunt Rommel.
*******
So, how did the Vols do against The Maxims?
1. The team that makes the fewest mistakes will win.
Other than Nico's two interceptions, a missed field goal in the 4th quarter, and some penalties, the Vols were simply dominant over a top-25 team.
2. Play for and make the breaks. When one comes your way … SCORE!
See: Brooks, Will
3. If at first the game – or the breaks – go against you, don't let up… PUT ON MORE STEAM!
Tennessee overcame State's attempt to play “keep away”and administered a shellacking.
4. Protect our kickers, our quarterback, our lead and our ballgame.
Nico did get some dirt on his jersey but that came from his eight rushing attempts.
5. Ball! Oskie! Cover, block, cut and slice, pursue and gang tackle … THIS IS THE WINNING EDGE.
It all starts on the offensive and defensive lines and - well – we graybeards have seen greats on both sides but struggle to recall a time of such excellence as a group.
6. Press the kicking game. Here is where the breaks are made.
All three of the Vol kickers: Gilbert, Turbyville, and Ross are WEAPONS.
7. Carry the fight to the opponent and keep it there for sixty minutes,
Tennessee carried it there, planted a flag and set up camp.
Suggested Reading
Charles R. Anderson, Tunisia,The U.S. Army's Campaigns of World War II
Gerald Astor, Terrible Terry Allen
Rick Atkinson, An Army at Dawn:The War in North Africa, 1942-1943, The Liberation Trilogy, Vol. One
Carlo d'Este, Patton: A Genius for War
George F. Howe, Northwest Africa: Seizing the Initiative in the West,U.S. Army in World War II
Ralph G. Martin, The GI War: 1941-1945
The cost of learning: three M3 halftrack tank destroyers knocked out at el Guettar. (NARA)
Last edited:
