OneManGang
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Tennessee vs The Maxims vs Florida
DATE: 16 September 2023
PLACE: Ben Hilll Griffin Stadium, Gainesville, Florida
ATTENDANCE: 90,751
FINAL SCORE: Tennessee 16 Florida 29
In days of yore, the Lord sent Prophets to the Hebrews to keep them on task and try to temper some of their worst proclivities. One of these was named Habbakuk. Ol' Habbakuk's words seem particularly appropriate given the level of vitriol and angst-ridden lunacy gracing the pages of our little sandbox here: “For the vision is a witness for the appointed time, a testimony to the end; it will not disappoint. If it delays, wait for it, it will surely come, it will not be late.”
Or as Gandalf said, “A wizard is never late. Nor is he early. He arrives precisely when he intends to.”
What does this mean for we dwellers of VolNation?
It means, GET A FREAKING GRIP, PEOPLE!!!
The Vols are in the midst of a multi-year rebuilding process from the dumpster fire of 2008-2020. Last year we fans got a glimpse of the Promised land, but we ain't there yet. Even as the Vols rebuild the landscape of college football is shifting and its final form will likely be unrecognizable. HeadVol Heupel and his staff are building -BUILDING - for a future that can only be dimly perceived at this point.
The Vols eked out a thrilling win over Florida last year at Neyland Stadium. Anyone thinking it is ever going to be easy to win in the Swamp is a fool. Do not be swayed by them.
Does this mean we should be satisfied by what happened Saturday? Absolutely not. BUT as I've said before on these pages, if these“farh whoever” types held themselves to the same standard they hold football coaches, Tennessee would have highest proportion of $billionaires on the planet.
Get a grip.
I have been following Tennessee football for well over a half-century now and I can confidently make a prophecy about the Josh Heupel years to come at this point: There are going to be thrilling victories. There are going to be bitterly disappointing losses. That is the nature of college football – or any competitive sport – or free market business.
If you can't accept that, go get a sinecured government job because competition, winning and losing, is not your forte.
The Vols will get to the Promised Land, but not one second before they do.
Be that as it may, Saturday was as near to a complete breakdown as we've seen in a long time. I think we can lay a lot of that on the “eff Tennessee” clock rules instituted this season. In particular, the fact that there is no stoppage on first downs means opposing teams can burn off 20-25seconds between each play. But then there was the fact that the Vol defense simply failed time and again to stop Florida on third down.
OK, let's break this down.
It was clear from the get-go that the Gators intended to milk the clock and keep Joe Milton and Co. off the field.
The Gators got the opening kickoff and promptly incurred a five-yard motion penalty. Now normally this would signal a good day for the defensive troops, but, well …
The Gators not only got out of that hole they were then third-and-one on the Vol 44. A holding call made it third-and-eleven. All the defense needed to do was stop them short.
Alas, no.
Florida finally stopped itself on the Tennessee 29. They lined up for a field goal attempt but big Omari Thomas got a paw up and knocked it off course!
Huzzah!!
Yeah, BUT, taking advantage of the new clock rules, the Gators ate up nearly half the quarter on that one drive alone.
The Vols took over and efficiently moved down the field with Milton hitting Ramel Keyton for an 11-yard touchdown and joy reigned in Vol Land.
Then Florida gashed the Tennessee defense when Travis Etienne ran through a host of arm tackles and raced for a 62-yard touchdown run. Omari Thomas stepped up again and swatted away the point after.
The Vols got a quick first down and then suffered a motion penalty, Unlike the Gators, Tennessee couldn't gain a measly 15 yards and punted.
The Vols still led at the end of the quarter.
That was good.
Time of possession: Florida 10:45 UT 4:15. The Gators ran off 21 plays to the Vols' 11 and out-gained the Boys in Orange with 159 yards to 95.
That was bad.
Then it got ugly.
End of 1st Quarter
Score:Tennessee 7 Florida 6
The second quarter was about as bad a performance as the Vols had put on since the Georgia State disaster during the Beldar regime.
Florida had the ball to begin the quarter and, with no significant interference by the Vol defense, completed a 14-play, 82-yard drive with a 4-yard scoring run. A 2-point conversion try failed.
Oh, and they ran off 5:32 in the process.
Then - catastrophe!
After yet another false start on first down and a short pass, Milton fell victim to a complete breakdown by the offensive line. He was hit as he threw and the bal lwent up like a mortar shell. Not a single Vol receiver reacted to this and Florida not only got the Oskie but returned it 39 yards to the Vol 18. Not satisfied with that, the Vols were guilty of holding (declined) but then Arion Carter got tagged for an unsportsmanlike call and the Lizards were in business on the UT 9.
Florida scored three plays later on a sneak.
Tennessee jumped AGAIN on first down and ten and then compounded that error by going three-and-out.
Alligators can sense blood in the water and the Giant Water Lizards in Blue-and-Orange proved no different as they efficiently moved down the field and capped their drive with an 18-yard touchdown pass.
The Vols did nothing but then the Gators took a knee to end the half and the bloodletting.
Time of possession for the first half: UF 21:42 UT 8:18.
Total offense: UF 281 UT 122.
End of 2nd Quarter
Score:Tennessee 7 Florida 26
By this point most Vol fans realized that coming back from a 19-point deficit in against Swamp Voodoo was virtually impossible given Tennessee's offensive woes in the first half.
But, miraculously, the corpse of the Vol offense twitched and began to rise from its bier.
The Vols drove down to the Gator 24 where they stalled and Charles Campbell hit the field goal. The Tennessee drive was marred by ANOTHER false start and then confusion between the various ears on the sideline resulted the Vols having to call timeout … TWICE. (heavy sigh)
The Tennessee defense finally realized this was an actual game and throttled the Lizards for the rest of the quarter. Unfortunately, the offense, while moving the ball around and eating clock time they didn't really have, couldn't get out of their own way and came up with bupkiss. (rolls eyes)
End of 3rd Quarter
Score:Tennessee 10 Florida 26
Florida drove to the UT 10 and kicked a field goal.
Tennessee's corpse twitched again and Joe Milton engineered a successful 75-yard drive capped by a 55-yard strike to Bru McCoy. The 2-point try failed but the Vols had pulled to within 13 points with over eight minutes to play. Vol fans dared to hope.
The defense had Florida with a fourth-and-one on the Gator 34 when – yep, you guessed it, they jumped and that, as they say was that. Despite forcing a Lizard punt the drive ate over four minutes.
Tennessee ended their possession with four incomplete passes by Milton that sealed Tennessee's fate.
Florida took their own sweet time and on fourth down at their own 36, their quarterback began wandering around to kill clock. Omari Thomas took a bead on him but as soon as he began accelerating into the hit the Gator QB took a knee.
The ensuing fisticuffs ended with suspensions and Tennessee got the ball with four seconds left on the Gator 30.
A defiant shot to the end zone? A Cal-esque hook and ladder play?
Nope.
Milton took a knee and the Vols surrendered.
Final Score
Score:Tennessee 16 Florida 29
*******
John George wasn't born with a rifle in his hands, but he came damned close. Living in a small town in Missouri he borrowed his brother's rifle at age seven and went hunting. He discovered he enjoyed it and that properly fried squirrel was right tasty.
His family moved to Chicago as he started high school. Hunting became a rare treat during visits away from the city but then he found his school (imagine this today!) was equipped with a small-bore rifle range in the basement and sponsored teams. While scoring big with .22s, he discovered there were large-bore teams out there and was soon on championship level teams.
At the Nationals in 1939, the Marine Corps team shot a perfect 800 … at 1,000 yards … over iron sights. One guy standing near George said, “You know, we oughta roll up that target sheet and mail it to Hitler.”
With war clouds on the horizon George joined the Illinois National Guard. In March, 1941, the Guard was federalized and 2nd Lt. George found himself as a machine gun platoon leader in the 132nd Infantry Regiment. The 132nd was sent to Camp Forrest, just east of Tullahoma, for training. After a number of permutations, Camp Forrest became the Arnold Engineering Development Complex which is also home to the UT Space Institute.
After training, the 132nd was assigned to the Pacific Theater and boarded trains for the East Coast. Secrecy was such that FBI agents were assigned to the trains to prevent anyone from saying anything. After getting on the ships, they sailed down the coast and through the Panama Canal. From there they went to Melbourne, Australia,. and then on to their forward bases on New Caledonia.
While on New Caledonia, the 132nd was folded in with the 164th (North Dakota National Guard) and the 182nd (Massachusetts) regiments to form the American Division, New Caledonia, shortened to Americal Division. Later designated the 23rd Infantry Division, it was the only division ever formed outside the United States.
The Americal Division was then ordered to relieve the 1st Marine Division on Guadalcanal, arriving in early December, 1942. The Marines had arrived in August and had suffered some 774 battle deaths and nearly 2,000 wounded. The debilitating nature of the heat, humidity and diseases involved in the jungle fighting combined such that, when relieved, over 75% of the Marines had malaria and most of the rest had other diseases. It would be 1944 before the division was fit for combat again.
George spent most of his early days on the island on the beach helping to unload the transports and move the mountain of supplies they disgorged to where they were needed.
By early January, the 25th Division had joined them and the new American commander, Gen. Alexander M. Patch. decided the time had come to renew the offensive up the coast. The fighting would focus on the slopes of Mt. Austen which was itself a spur off the central hill mass which ran the length of the island. Lt. George and his machine gunners would be involved in this as they found themselves assigned with the rest of the division to reduce a roughly circular area of bunkers and pill boxes manned by several under strength Japanese units. The Japanese were masters of cover and concealment and the men of the Americal usually had no idea where the enemy was until a hidden machine gun opened up on them. George not only led his own unit but was often detached to serve as a sniper for units directly engaged with the Japanese.
The American offensive was slow but it did push the Japanese back. Lt. George took part in all these battles which now focused on some ridges nicknamed “Sea Horse” and“Galloping Horse” due to their appearance on relief maps.
The 2nd Marine Division now began to arrive and scuttlebutt had it that the Americal would soon be pulled out and sent back to train for future operations.
George was just beginning to relax a bit when he was summoned to battalion HQ and told to assemble a 10-man patrol to go investigate some lights seen near a shack on a terrain feature named Gold Ridge. Some bright spark at regimental had decided these were signal lights linked to the near-nightly air raids which bedeviled the Americans.
George and his men drew weapons and rations and prepared to set off toward the objective which was some distance away, It would require most of an exhausting day to get there capped by having to climb that damned ridge to get to the shack.
He had been told there would be two native guides waiting at the jump-off point – there weren't. And so they set off. The path they followed dwindled to a trail and fizzled out all together and the patrol had to hack its way through the jungle using machetes, rotating the point man every so often. They were navigating using compass azimuths. George described the process as “simple as it could be, but difficult as hell.”
They came upon a stream flowing down the slope and followed it upstream. Such a action carried with it an increased chance of an ambush but the saving of time and effort made it worth the risk.
After a break for lunch, they continued the trek. Suddenly, rifle fire came from the rear of the column. Such was the limited visibility that George could not see what was happening and had to halt the men and move toward the sound of the the shooting.
A small party of Japanese had let the Americans pass and then broke cover to continue on the their own way. The guys at the rear of George's unit saw them and opened fire. They may or may not have hit two of them and the rest hurried away. George did the next logical thing and moved out on his own mission putting distance between his patrol and the Japanese.
They soon left the stream and began the long climb to the objective. They had seen a few bare footprints and decided those had to belong to natives and thus no threat. Nearing the summit they found themselves about 100 yards from the shack. George quickly put together a tactical plan and, leaving part of his patrol in an overwatch position, moved in on the objective and found –nothing. There was some indication of recent occupation but nobody was home.
George pulled back and they dug in for the night in positions that would allow a crossfire should anyone show up.
Nobody did,
The patrol moved out at first light to return to base and did so using a slightly different path. On the return trip they met some natives out hunting pigs. Using hunting skills honed over the years, George shot the porker and shared the meat with natives.
The patrol then continued on and eventually made it back to HQ where George gave his report and then retired to his bunk.
He was soon summoned again.
More lights had been seen and HQ wanted George to take a stronger patrol up there and garrison the place.
George could only answer, “Yes, Sir.”
As he was preparing for this second foray he did what he should have done the first time and went to the compound where the coast watchers had set up to manager the native guides. In one of those weird situations of history the site was under a coast watcher named Clemens. Clemens was the man who rescued Jack Kennedy and the survivors of PT-109. Clemens wasn't there that day and George had to deal with a chap named Smythe.
After he explained where he was going and what had happened the first time Smythe exploded, “Ye little whelp! D'ye know ye skeered the divvel outta of one of out outposts?”
“Do you mean to say you've got an outpost in that shack?”
“Damned right we did! They saw ye comin' and ran! Said ye were Nips!" (Japanese)
George returned to HQ and explained that the lights belonged to Allies. The patrol was called off.
After Guadalcanal, George was assigned to the China-Burma-India Theater. There, among other roles, he served as one of the famed Merrill's Marauders. He demobilized in 1947 with the rank of Lt. Col. He then went to Princeton where he graduated in 1949. After Princeton, he was accepted into Oxford and majored in East African Studies. Once back in the States he worked with the State Dept. as an African specialist until his retirement. Lt. Col.John B. George went out on his last patrol on 3 January 2009. He is buried in Arlington.
********
So ,how did the Vols do against The Maxims?
1. The team that makes the fewest mistakes will win.
The Vols were outscored 20-0 in the second quarter. The Gators were aided immeasurably by stupid UT penalties and what can only be called “The Incredible Disappearing Vol Offense™.” How bad was it, you ask? Tennessee had 27, two-seven, yards of total offense in the quarter.
That's pretty bad.
Worse?The Vols had 19 penalty yards. Simple math yields EIGHT freakin' net yards. You lose to Open Date with crap like that.
2. Play for and make the breaks. When one comes your way … SCORE!
In a just world, the NIL monies paid to the players for last week would be confiscated and the proceeds donated to charity. Hell, throw the coaches' salaries in there as well. General Patton once noted that if you hit 'em in the wallet, you get their attention. Bear Bryant used to feed his team baloney sandwiches at the training table after they stunk up the joint. Steak and 'taters, he explained, were for winners.
3. If at first the game – or the breaks – go against you, don't let up… PUT ON MORE STEAM!
CharterVol once pointed out that a huge problem with far too many of the the younger generation is they have been wrapped in cotton wool and protected from adversity since birth. If things start to go bad they just go into a funk and shut down. 20 is the new 12.
4. Protect our kickers, our quarterback, our lead and our ballgame.
SEC Shorts nailed it. For whatever reason, Our Beloved Vols honestly seem to believe in “Swamp Voodoo.”
5. Ball! Oskie! Cover, block, cut and slice, pursue and gang tackle … THIS IS THE WINNING EDGE.
The entire team seemed listless. To this observer they seemed to be waiting on Somebody Else to step up and make the play. The question was asked in these discussions sometime back: Does pride still matter?
6. Press the kicking game. Here is where the breaks are made.
Other than a third quarter field goal, one can be forgiven for stating that the kicking game had absolutely no impact on the outcome. There were tremors recorded in Oak Hill, WV, as George Cafego spun in his grave.
7. Carry the fight to Florida and keep it there for sixty minutes,
From last week: I don't know if Tennessee took the fight to them, but they sure as hell took it to the Vols.
I can't think of anything to add to that.
Next up is UTSA. During my sojourn in San Antonio in 1980, I attended a party/event there and have fond if somewhat hazy memories of the evening. It was a little drunk out.
Suggested Reading:
Jack Coggins, The Campaign for Guadalcanal. Doubleday, 1972
John B. George, Shots Fired in Anger, Digital History Books,2018 (all quotes are from this book)
Richard B. Frank, Guadalcanal: The Definitive Account of the Landmark Battle. Random House, 1990.
John Miller, Jr., Guadalcanal: The First Campaign. US Army Center for Military History, 1995.
A painting of John B. George done in 1944. (I found this on Goodreads)
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