Could Majors have won a NC here?

Would Majors have eventually won a NC here?

  • Yes

    Votes: 80 41.9%

  • No

    Votes: 111 58.1%
  • Total voters
    191
  • This poll will close: .
#76
#76
OrangeInKy said:
89 team was close. Pickens was added in 90 as was Carter, both made huge difference. Better/healthier backfield in 89 imo.
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Yes Cobb and Webb no question about it the back field was great. But Jonnie suspended Cobb the week of the Bama game for smoking a dobee. Pretty typical of the way the the program was ran. My way or the highway.
 
#80
#80
GAVol said:
That game did it for a lot of people. 1990 was just the complete opposite of 1998 as far as things falling the right way . . .

Andy Kelly picked in the endzone late against ND;
Greg Burke gags on a 35 yard FG attempt at the end against Auburn
Lost to Bama in the screwiest way possible
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Ohhfff!...That Bama game..I was sitting in section GG and when they blocked that fieldgoal I damn near fell screaming at the ball rolling and rolling and rolling down the field into Tennessee territory...I have never seen a ball roll like that before after a blocked kick...Was unbelieveable....Damn Now i'm mad lol
 
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#81
#81
HarderKnox59 said:
Oh make not doubt about it. He did rebuild the program. But IMO his 1990 team was loaded on both sides of the ball. A very tough schedule plus Two ties plus losing to bama and ND just not going to get it done in the SEC.
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That’s your assumption. I attended all of those games. 1990 was a fantastic season and that schedule was extremely difficult any of those games easily could’ve gone the other direction. Think about 1998 and how many of those games we narrowly won, not just Arkansas. It was not like those teams were crushing people. And PF could beat Bama but not Florida. It’s so funny to me how people ripped Johnny, (I did too at times) but not rip PF for similar flaws in coaching.
 
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#82
#82
Johnny's inconsistency was maddening. Like in 1985 we beat #1 Auburn, barely beat a 4-7 Wake Forest at home then lose to UF and only score 10 points.
 
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#83
#83
HarderKnox59 said:
Oh make not doubt about it. He did rebuild the program. But IMO his 1990 team was loaded on both sides of the ball. A very tough schedule plus Two ties plus losing to bama and ND just not going to get it done in the SEC.
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The Webb injury was also devastating. Thompson filled in well, but Webb would’ve made a difference in the Bama loss, the Auburn tie, and probably the ND loss. Thompson disappeared against Alabama.
 
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#84
#84
MurphyVol said:
Johnny's inconsistency was maddening. Like in 1985 we beat #1 Auburn, barely beat a 4-7 Wake Forest at home then lose to UF and only score 10 points.
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That Florida team was arguably the best team in America that year. But they were on probation and ineligible for a championship or postseason. UT lost that game in a brutally hot swamp to a loaded Gator team. I’m not sure how that makes UT “inconsistent.” We lost to a great team in a tough environment that few if any teams would have won in that year.

You know that Miami team we were all so excited about beating in the Sugar Bowl that year? They only had one other loss. It was to Florida. By 2 TDs. AT Miami.
 
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#86
#86
VOLnMiami said:
Ohhfff!...That Bama game..I was sitting in section GG and when they blocked that fieldgoal I damn near fell screaming at the ball rolling and rolling and rolling down the field into Tennessee territory...I have never seen a ball roll like that before after a blocked kick...Was unbelieveable....Damn Now i'm mad lol
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I was 16 and sitting 1 row from the top in the south end zone. It was the craziest bounce I’ve ever seen. The ball must have squirted backwards 25 yards after the block.

I’ll bet Bama didn’t have 150 yards of offense all night long. No way they were going to get in position for a game winner without something crazy happening.
 
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#87
#87
NighthawkVol said:
That Florida team was arguably the best team in America that year. But they were on probation and ineligible for a championship or postseason. UT lost that game in a brutally hot swamp to a loaded Gator team. I’m not sure how that makes UT “inconsistent.” We lost to a great team in a tough environment that few if any teams would have won in that year.

You know that Miami team we were all so excited about beating in the Sugar Bowl that year? They only had one other loss. It was to Florida. By 2 TDs. AT Miami.
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Tying GA Tech 6-6 on a last second FG was not good.
 
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#88
#88
GAVol said:
Tying GA Tech 6-6 on a last second FG was not good.
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No, but that was the first game after Robinson’s injury and Dickey was nowhere near the QB he eventually became (which was really just serviceable). The offense did nothing that day because they had no passing game and Majors/Harris didn’t want to risk an INT. Dickey eventually got better.

Regardless, I was addressing his use of the Florida loss as an example of being inconsistent. It wasn’t.
 
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#89
#89
NighthawkVol said:
No, but that was the first game after Robinson’s injury and Dickey was nowhere near the QB he eventually became (which was really just serviceable). The offense did nothing that day because they had no passing game and Majors/Harris didn’t want to risk an INT. Dickey eventually got better.

Regardless, I was addressing his use of the Florida loss as an example of being inconsistent. It wasn’t.
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I remember Darryl Dickey being a struggle in last half of the year. What I had forgotten until I just looked it up… GT actually went 9-2-1 that year and finished in the top 20?!
 
#90
#90
OldVol said:
I get a kick out of people who think they knew how much John drank.
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Yeah, ppl that dont like somebody they start a rumor and it becomes a convenient truth for the ppl trying to push their agenda. Then it becomes, can you get the media to buy in and help sell it. Because everyone believes what they see on the news😉. Happens even more now with social media running amuck.
 
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#91
#91
NighthawkVol said:
That Florida team was arguably the best team in America that year. But they were on probation and ineligible for a championship or postseason. UT lost that game in a brutally hot swamp to a loaded Gator team. I’m not sure how that makes UT “inconsistent.” We lost to a great team in a tough environment that few if any teams would have won in that year.

You know that Miami team we were all so excited about beating in the Sugar Bowl that year? They only had one other loss. It was to Florida. By 2 TDs. AT Miami.
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They were good, but they tied Rutgers and lost to UGA by 3 TDs.

I could understand the loss but the offensive output was dismal.

Any thoughts on the Wake game? The Ga Tech tie? Johnny was the picture of inconsistency.
 
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#93
#93
NighthawkVol said:
No, John Majors gave up a dynasty at Pitt to sacrifice his own legacy to take on the daunting rebuilding of this program. He didn't stab ANYONE in the gut. He sacrificed a lot for Tennessee and if he hadn't, there is no Phillip Fulmer and no 1998 NC. God knows where this program would be. John Majors, on the other hand, would be in the college football HOF as a coach and would probably have won about 3 NCs at Pitt. He'd have been in the Bobby Bowden realm. He gave that up for Tennessee. For our fans to revile him the way SOME of them do is disgusting.
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He gave his all for Tennessee, certainly. He should have stayed home in 1992. That is the truth.
 
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#94
#94
OldVol said:
I get a kick out of people who think they knew how much John drank.
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Ok so somebody tell me I imagined this because I can't find the clip and I swear I remember it....did Majors say this in the presser before the 1991 Sugar Bowl "Well, if there are no more questions then it's back to Bourbon Street"
 
#95
#95
I had the good fortune to chat with majors in a donors kitchen one night. I ask him about winning a Natl championship. He said it was four things. 1. You had to have a few real difference makers like a Dorsett or Webb; 2 they had stay healthy (lost Robinson, Webb and others), 3 your schedule has to be laid out so your biggest opponents come to you with some breathers in between as you can’t get a team up every week and 4 you need some luck….sometimes the ball bounces and goes sideways and sometimes it bounces right back into your gut and you keep running! I don’t think he wins the Natty at Tenn but he sure gave me some great memories…,the comeback at ND, the Sugar Bowl, beating the Bear….,
 
#96
#96
Im410ec said:
I had the good fortune to chat with majors in a donors kitchen one night. I ask him about winning a Natl championship. He said it was four things. 1. You had to have a few real difference makers like a Dorsett or Webb; 2 they had stay healthy (lost Robinson, Webb and others), 3 your schedule has to be laid out so your biggest opponents come to you with some breathers in between as you can’t get a team up every week and 4 you need some luck….sometimes the ball bounces and goes sideways and sometimes it bounces right back into your gut and you keep running! I don’t think he wins the Natty at Tenn but he sure gave me some great memories…,the comeback at ND, the Sugar Bowl, beating the Bear….,
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I always thought Johnny underachieved at UT but I will say this, that Pitt team he had was a beast. That whole season they had one game was within a touchdown. I don't believe there was a single game that was a fluke or even a nailbiter.
 
#97
#97
MurphyVol said:
I always thought Johnny underachieved at UT but I will say this, that Pitt team he had was a beast. That whole season they had one game was within a touchdown. I don't believe there was a single game that was a fluke or even a nailbiter.
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Pitt also played a very favorable schedule that year.

The only teams they played during the regular season that finished with winning records were Notre Dame and Penn State
 
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#99
#99
Totally agree that Majors' best chances to win a national championship were in the early 1970s if he had succeeded Dickey rather than Battle. That is the tragedy of Vol football history. One of the top young coaches in the nation - a famous alumnus - and up and comer was passed over for a 28 year old tight ends coach from Alabama of all places. For Shame For Shame - Johnny had to win a NC at Pitt to get the UT job and it was too late to salvage the wreckage. I voted Yes on the question due to loyalty to Johnny but I do not think he could have matched the Fulmer production in the 1990s. He had used many of his best years to overcome the Battle folly and too much drama existed in the athletic department and John's health suffered. Both Majors and Fulmer deserve credit for 35 years or so of terrific effort and winning SEC football for the most part and both were terrific Vol players themselves. The coaching carnage following the Fulmer firing and the decade of insane work required to rebuild Tennessee following the Battle blunder show the price to be exacted for ineptitude in the Athletic Director position.
 
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