*Niche Topic: 2001 SEC Title Game For Nostalgic Fans Only

[bluevols27]

I often think about this game for many reasons. It marked a turning point in my life. I was at the game with my dad, who passed away about two years later. I was 16 at the time. For me, it was both a turning point and the beginning of UT football’s long decline into irrelevance. In so many ways, it parallels my own life.

I’m 40 now, and the game still comes to mind during make-or-break moments. What went wrong that night? We were the better team. LSU’s quarterback got hurt, and it felt impossible that we could lose. Then, suddenly, we started making mistakes. I remember the Stevens fumble as an absolute gut punch — something we didn’t deserve, but that the universe seemed determined to deal us anyway. We should never have lost that game. I remember the look on Savana face as if his body language was saying “I stole that one, and I know I stole that one”. It marked Saban’s true ascendency and Fulmer’s actual decline. We still should have never lost that game.

To me, it was a sliding-doors moment in the history of our program. That game became symbolic of life itself: bad things will happen to you beyond your control, and you’ll have no choice but to endure them. From there, we drifted into twenty years of doldrums. I’ve often felt bitter about that night, still believing that if we had won, we would have gone on to the Rose Bowl and claimed our second national title in three years. But fate wouldn’t allow it.

Being in that stadium during the fourth quarter, I had never felt so powerless and defeated. The worst part was how inevitable it all felt, as if destiny had already been written.

Hopefully we now have cleared out karmic debt, and can get back to the level we were at on that night. We were the best team in the land. Don’t let anyone ever tell you otherwise. We are close to it now.

Go Vols

 

[UTwild82]

The only thing that has taken a little bit of the sting off that game was now we know Saban was the best to ever do it. Plus I doubt we would have beaten Miami. We would have played them better than Nebraska did, though.

I agree, Fulmer never felt the same after that game. SEC got better. His recruiting slid. I hate Kiffin did what he did to put us in the dark ages, but moving on from PF was the right move. This has been argued many times on here and will be again, but the game had passed him by. I'll always be thankful for everything he did here as a player and coach though.

Im just thankful we have a coach that has gotten us much closer to where we belong. There will be ups and downs, but I forgot how good it feels to be part of a program that matters. And we certainly matter now.

And thank you for sharing a part of your personal story. That's not always easy to do.

 

[Voltopia]

We were the best team in the land.

Man, the best team in the land wouldn't have lost to Matt Mauck running delayed QB draws all half. Or to a backup running back. UT had all the talent, but didn't have the discipline or focus to use it well. Not a totally unfamiliar story back in those days, not to those of us who were fans back then.

I always heard that a lot of the UT players were out partying super late the night before the game, including some of our best skill players. I recall reading that we had starting WRs and more out at 3 or 4 AM and didn't really take the game seriously. That may not be the truth - but it was one of the rumors that whole offseason.

Frankly, that parade around the track the night of the UT-FLA game the week before, with the UT players flaunting roses and waving to the crowd after getting back from Gainesville, will haunt any of us who saw it for the rest of our lives. I was too young to realize the danger at the time.

Saban's team didn't have our talent that year, but we saw them twice, and both times you could tell they were incredibly disciplined and very well coached. Even when they came to Knoxville, our talent didn't overwhelm their coaching. They lost 26-18 in our house, and it wasn't for a lack of effort. They kept coming that whole game. Never quit. And they were hungry for payback in Atlanta.

 

[vol94fan]

The QB's mother put a voodoo curse on us, which lasted 20 years. I'm usually not superstitious but I will never cross a cajun witch.

 

[PEPPERJAX]

Probably the worst loss during Fulmer’s tenure. There was so much riding on that game.

 

[PEPPERJAX]

Rohan Davey was knocked out of the game and Labrandon Toefield iirc.

 

[dillyo51]

Thanks for the memories.

 

[adam.vol]

Man, the best team in the land wouldn't have lost to Matt Mauck running delayed QB draws all half. Or to a backup running back. UT had all the talent, but didn't have the discipline or focus to use it well. Not a totally unfamiliar story back in those days, not to those of us who were fans back then.

I always heard that a lot of the UT players were out partying super late the night before the game, including some of our best skill players. I recall reading that we had starting WRs and more out at 3 or 4 AM and didn't really take the game seriously. That may not be the truth - but it was one of the rumors that whole offseaosn.

Frankly, that parade around the track the night of the UT-FLA game the week before, with the UT players flaunting roses and waving to the crowd after getting back from Gainesville, will haunt any of us who saw it for the rest of our lives. I was too young to realize the danger at the time.

Saban's team didn't have our talent that year, but we saw them twice, and both times you could tell they were incredibly disciplined and very well coached. Even when they came to Knoxville, our talent didn't overwhelm their coaching. They lost 26-18 in our house, and it wasn't for a lack of effort. They kept coming that whole game. Never quit. And they were hungry for payback in Atlanta.

We never seemed to have a QB who could take over a game after Cutcliff left. We had everything else going for us in 2001, aside from Cutcliff.

Since you brought up the players who paraded with roses after the Florida win, I remember a sinking feeling that we were about to blow it after that game. I had not forgotten the Nebraska game from 1998 and the “we’re just better than them” attitude reminded me of the month leading up to the Orange Bowl.

It’s important to live in the moment and enjoy success, but reality sets fast when you abandon the work and the focus that got you there. That’s what I remember in the 2 weeks leading up to the 2001 SEC championship. Not enough people were concerned about the next opponent.

 

[kcvols1]

 

[Chad F]

Oh, I remember watching this game at a bar in Hinesville, GA and being totally at a loss at home unready we were to play in the 2nd half. Fulmer’s downslide kicked into full gear at this game.

That was just a massive blown opportunity. Might have been one of Fulmer’s most talented teams with everything to play for … and, well, they just laid down and died.

 

[Swiftybaby]

I don’t want to remember this. On a great natural high after that Florida game then this game was like a come down off a bad trip

 

[Rocky Top T]

The only thing that has taken a little bit of the sting off that game was now we know Saban was the best to ever do it. Plus I doubt we would have beaten Miami. We would have played them better than Nebraska did, though.

I agree, Fulmer never felt the same after that game. SEC got better. His recruiting slid. I hate Kiffin did what he did to put us in the dark ages, but moving on from PF was the right move. This has been argued many times on here and will be again, but the game had passed him by. I'll always be thankful for everything he did here as a player and coach though.

Im just thankful we have a coach that has gotten us much closer to where we belong., There will be ups and downs, but I forgot how good it feels to be part of a program that matters. And we certainly matter now.

And thank you for sharing a part of your personal story. That's not always easy to do.

Firing Fulmer was the right move I agree. If Kiffen stayed, he would have been just fine , he has always regretted that. Hiring the next 3 goof balls where the problem, thanks a lot Fulmer for Cornbread!

 

[IndianaVol]

2001 I was newly married...well 6 months in...and had not yet fully converted my wife to be a.Volunteer.

She did not understand the tears that ran down my face and the depression that sank in that winter...she does now though.

I agree, in terms of sheer talent that was probably the best team Fulmer ever put on a field. The problem is there was zero discipline...zero.

Would we have beat Miami, doubt it.
That 2001 Miami team has to hold a record for the number of players put in the draft.

 

[vol94]

I was at the game in Atlanta thinking there was no way we’d lose the game, esp at the half. LSU fans were congratulating me.

My wife and I were a young 30yrs old and had tickets lined for the natty vs Miami in rose bowl.

Miami was an incredible team but TN making the title game twice in 4 yrs would have brought our program to the next level.

Fulmer was mentioned by the media as a possible candidate for the Panthers NFL job. Then the 2nd half occurred and the decline began.

 

[Boston Vol]

Something that has always bugged me, and that many people have forgotten, is that with a little over 10 minutes left in the fourth quarter, and trailing by a touchdown, Tennessee had the ball first and goal on the LSU four yard line. Despite having one of the best offensive lines in the country and an All American running back, Tennessee threw the ball three straight times. After failing to score a touchdown, they had to settle for a field goal, which cut the lead to 24–20. I know Tennessee stopped LSU on the ensuing drive, and had a chance to take the lead before Stallworth fumbled the ball, but I’ve always felt that if they had tied the game at 24–24, they would have found a way to win.

 

[BernardKingGOAT]

I often think about this game for many reasons. It marked a turning point in my life. I was at the game with my dad, who passed away about two years later. I was 16 at the time. For me, it was both a turning point and the beginning of UT football’s long decline into irrelevance. In so many ways, it parallels my own life.

I’m 40 now, and the game still comes to mind during make-or-break moments. What went wrong that night? We were the better team. LSU’s quarterback got hurt, and it felt impossible that we could lose. Then, suddenly, we started making mistakes. I remember the Stevens fumble as an absolute gut punch — something we didn’t deserve, but that the universe seemed determined to deal us anyway. We should never have lost that game. I remember the look on Savana face as if his body language was saying “I stole that one, and I know I stole that one”. It marked Saban’s true ascendency and Fulmer’s actual decline. We still should have never lost that game.

To me, it was a sliding-doors moment in the history of our program. That game became symbolic of life itself: bad things will happen to you beyond your control, and you’ll have no choice but to endure them. From there, we drifted into twenty years of doldrums. I’ve often felt bitter about that night, still believing that if we had won, we would have gone on to the Rose Bowl and claimed our second national title in three years. But fate wouldn’t allow it.

Being in that stadium during the fourth quarter, I had never felt so powerless and defeated. The worst part was how inevitable it all felt, as if destiny had already been written.

Hopefully we now have cleared out karmic debt, and can get back to the level we were at on that night. We were the best team in the land. Don’t let anyone ever tell you otherwise. We are close to it now.

Go Vols

It's unlikely we would have beat that Miami team

 

[apevol]

this isn't nostalgia, its masochism

 

[dduncan4163]

this isn't nostalgia, its masochism

No Sh*t, It was the beginning of the downfall. The most brutal loss of my lifetime

 

[MOOOOONEY]

Win and go play for a national championship in the rose bowl and it was fulmered away.

 

[ETV]

Thanks for the reminder. Fulmer and his awe shucks look after the game was unbearable.

 

[Titans4Vols]

The semi-pro team that was the 2001 Miami Hurricanes would have kicked our teeth in, so the gut punch was inevitable.

If you want to take anything good from it, at least it allowed the team to end the year with a W over Michigan.

I also don't view this as the downfall of the Fulmer era. That's 2005. Losing to LSU sucked, but that Tennessee team still played like a top 5-6 team all year long. The 05 Vols were one of the most talented in the country and should have done great things. Oh well, I suppose.

 

[RNvolfan]

The semi-pro team that was the 2001 Miami Hurricanes would have kicked our teeth in, so the gut punch was inevitable.

If you want to take anything good from it, at least it allowed the team to end the year with a W over Michigan.

I also don't view this as the downfall of the Fulmer era. That's 2005. Losing to LSU sucked, but that Tennessee team still played like a top 5-6 team all year long. The 05 Vols were one of the most talented in the country and should have done great things. Oh well, I suppose.

Didn't that team lose to Wyoming?

 

[oz615]

Didn't that team lose to Wyoming?

That was 2008 a week after Fulmer was fired. They (the team) didn't ever bother to show up for that game.

 

[vik]

We had more talent than LSU, yet we lost that game. But on the flip side, so many people say Miami had more talent than us so we would have lost the Rose Bowl.

Look. Miami had more talent than us on January 1st, 1986 in the Sugar Bowl, yet we won.
Miami had more talent than us on November 8th, 2003 in the Orange Bowl, yet we won.

As LSU taught us in the 2001 SECCG, they don't play this game on paper.

 

[JohnnyD123]

2001 I was newly married...well 6 months in...and had not yet fully converted my wife to be a.Volunteer.

She did not understand the tears that ran down my face and the depression that sank in that winter...she does now though.

I agree, in terms of sheer talent that was probably the best team Fulmer ever put on a field. The problem is there was zero discipline...zero.

Would we have beat Miami, doubt it.
That 2001 Miami team has to hold a record for the number of players put in the draft.

They had 14 or 18 first rounders lol