I watched the 1989 Tennessee-Auburn full game on YouTube

[NighthawkVol]

I haven't seen that game since it happened, other than the highlights (mostly Cobb's 79-yard run). I was 12 and remember how it made me feel like Tennessee was back nationally. We were. We had beaten #6 UCLA in the Rose Bowl week 2, then came home and beat a Duke team coached by Steve Spurrier, 28-6. We didn't know it at the time, but Duke would be ACC co-champs. Auburn was ranked #4 at the time.

A few thoughts I had:

1) Neyland looked really dumpy. Just concrete and chain link fence. That's the Neyland I grew up attending, but man, it looks so much better now.
2) The game of college football has gotten so much better since then. Reggie Slack was a star QB at the time for Auburn, but he wouldn't start in today's SEC. Players were smaller and slower then. The passing game was meh.
3) The score ticker showed Duke upsetting #7 Clemson. That was the first sign that Duke was about to go on a run. And Spurrier would leave after the season to become a legend. And a pain in our butts.
4) Sterling Henton (aka, Sterl The Pearl) was absolutely terrible. I remember that he wasn't an effective passer and was eventually replaced by Andy Kelly, but he was much worse than I remembered. He just dropped back every play and ran around before getting sacked. There was no chance he was actually going to throw the ball to an open receiver. On one play, he had Von Reeves WIDE OPEN in the end zone on a busted coverage directly in his vision and still didn't see him. Ray Charles could have seen him. Instead, he ran around and got sacked. That team might have had more WR talent than anyone in America (Harper, Woods, Pickens, Morgan, Moore, Cleveland), but it was wasted by a guy who wouldn't be on a DII team today. I was blown away by how bad he was.
5) Man, that Oline was good. They could tell the defense they were running the ball and it didn't matter. You weren't going to stop it. Against a great Auburn defense, no less. And Cobb and Webb....just special.

 

[Backwards K]

Things I remember about that game:
--It rained like Noah
--Auburn snapped the ball over their punter's head thru the end zone for a safety......twice
--Charles McRae absolutely buried an Auburn LB on Cobb's 79 yd TD
--Tennessee was clearly better but in true Majors' form, they kept Auburn in the game and made it a one possession win.
--After the game in the locker room, either Hobby or Heywood (DEs) made the statement, "THE BIG ORANGE IS BACK!"
--This win put the Vols back in the national picture after the terrible year before but again in true Johnny Majors form......
--The Vols lost to an inferior Alabama team later in the year.

 

[Daniel_Lincolns_Foot]

To be fair, there might not be anyone from the 80s that could compete in today's game. Maybe a legend-like generational talent such a Bo Jackson. Players of today are just so much bigger, stronger and faster. It's almost not fair to even make the comparison. For reference, our starting guards in this game weighed barely weighed 290 pounds--today that's the smallest OLineman on the roster.

Wanted to point out, too: I didn't realize the SEC on CBS music has been around that long.

 

[HarderKnox59]

I remember that game well. Soak to the bone another quagmire game in Vol history.

 

[GAVol]

To be fair, there might not be anyone from the 80s that could compete in today's game. Maybe a legend-like generational talent such a Bo Jackson. Players of today are just so much bigger, stronger and faster. It's almost not fair to even make the comparison. For reference, our starting guards in this game weighed barely weighed 290 pounds--today that's the smallest OLineman on the roster.

Wanted to point out, too: I didn't realize the SEC on CBS music has been around that long.

I don’t know man…. That roster probably had 20 guys that ended up in the NFL. The talent on that offense was so good that we went 11-1 without getting much from the QBs at all. Andy Kelly turned into a decent QB, but ole Sterl was hard to watch.

 

[Daniel_Lincolns_Foot]

I don’t know man…. That roster probably had 20 guys that ended up in the NFL. The talent on that offense was so good that we went 11-1 without getting much from the QBs at all. Andy Kelly turned into a decent QB, but ole Sterl was hard to watch.

They were no doubt great--comparatively to the players of the late 80s. I was most referencing the bullet point that Auburn's QB wouldn't start in the SEC today. Was just saying that's the case for almost all of the players. That 30+ year gap has changed the game.

 

[Volanooga2521]

Things I remember about that game:
--It rained like Noah
--Auburn snapped the ball over their punter's head thru the end zone for a safety......twice
--Charles McRae absolutely buried an Auburn LB on Cobb's 79 yd TD
--Tennessee was clearly better but in true Majors' form, they kept Auburn in the game and made it a one possession win.
--After the game in the locker room, either Hobby or Heywood (DEs) made the statement, "THE BIG ORANGE IS BACK!"
--This win put the Vols back in the national picture after the terrible year before but again in true Johnny Majors form......
--The Vols lost to an inferior Alabama team later in the year.

TN's only loss in 1989 was to Bama, who was 10-1 and played Miami in the de facto national championship games in 1989. That wasn't really a bad loss. TN's sub-par 1989 defense was exposed.

The 1990 loss to Bama is probably the one you are thinking about. TN was like 4-0-2, having tied eventual NC Colorado and #3 ranked Auburn. Then as the #3 ranked team, UT then lost at home to a 3-3 Bama team, which was rebuilding in Stallings first year. That 9-6 loss was crushing when our game winning FGA was blocked and rolled to the Bama 33 yard line to set them up to win.

 

[NighthawkVol]

They were no doubt great--comparatively to the players of the late 80s. I was most referencing the bullet point that Auburn's QB wouldn't start in the SEC today. Was just saying that's the case for almost all of the players. That 30+ year gap has changed the game.

Agree completely.

 

[GAVol]

They were no doubt great--comparatively to the players of the late 80s. I was most referencing the bullet point that Auburn's QB wouldn't start in the SEC today. Was just saying that's the case for almost all of the players. That 30+ year gap has changed the game.

I definitely wouldn't argue with you about the O-linemen or anybody that plays in the front 7 on defense. But I think I might take my chances today plugging in Alvin Harper and Carl Pickens on the outside and Reggie Cobb and Chuck Webb rotating at RB.

 

[ZZ13]

The 47-30 Bama loss triggered the movement of Carl Pickens to replace Jason Julian in the defensive backfield. Julian tried hard but he wasn’t a D1 caliber player.

 

[Smokey X]

Things I remember about that game:
--It rained like Noah
--Auburn snapped the ball over their punter's head thru the end zone for a safety......twice
--Charles McRae absolutely buried an Auburn LB on Cobb's 79 yd TD
--Tennessee was clearly better but in true Majors' form, they kept Auburn in the game and made it a one possession win.
--After the game in the locker room, either Hobby or Heywood (DEs) made the statement, "THE BIG ORANGE IS BACK!"
--This win put the Vols back in the national picture after the terrible year before but again in true Johnny Majors form......
--The Vols lost to an inferior Alabama team later in the year.

Marion Hobby knocked down 5 passes

 

[Vol737]

That was my junior year, I was there, great game, rained buckets and I stormed the field with my Vol brethren. Went out later that night and Marion Hobby and Daryl Hardy were at one of the places we went. Those were some big ole boys.

 

[BernardKingGOAT]

I haven't seen that game since it happened, other than the highlights (mostly Cobb's 79-yard run). I was 12 and remember how it made me feel like Tennessee was back nationally. We were. We had beaten #6 UCLA in the Rose Bowl week 2, then came home and beat a Duke team coached by Steve Spurrier, 28-6. We didn't know it at the time, but Duke would be ACC co-champs. Auburn was ranked #4 at the time.

A few thoughts I had:

1) Neyland looked really dumpy. Just concrete and chain link fence. That's the Neyland I grew up attending, but man, it looks so much better now.
2) The game of college football has gotten so much better since then. Reggie Slack was a star QB at the time for Auburn, but he wouldn't start in today's SEC. Players were smaller and slower then. The passing game was meh.
3) The score ticker showed Duke upsetting #7 Clemson. That was the first sign that Duke was about to go on a run. And Spurrier would leave after the season to become a legend. And a pain in our butts.
4) Sterling Henton (aka, Sterl The Pearl) was absolutely terrible. I remember that he wasn't an effective passer and was eventually replaced by Andy Kelly, but he was much worse than I remembered. He just dropped back every play and ran around before getting sacked. There was no chance he was actually going to throw the ball to an open receiver. On one play, he had Von Reeves WIDE OPEN in the end zone on a busted coverage directly in his vision and still didn't see him. Ray Charles could have seen him. Instead, he ran around and got sacked. That team might have had more WR talent than anyone in America (Harper, Woods, Pickens, Morgan, Moore, Cleveland), but it was wasted by a guy who wouldn't be on a DII team today. I was blown away by how bad he was.
5) Man, that Oline was good. They could tell the defense they were running the ball and it didn't matter. You weren't going to stop it. Against a great Auburn defense, no less. And Cobb and Webb....just special.

Both Reggie Cobb and Chuck Webb had the speed, shiftiness and power of today's RBs. 3 of those O lineman played in the NFL. Two of them for a long time. Lots of NFL guys on that team. 1990 got even more loaded with NFL talent

 

[NorCalVol67]

It was fun to be there in the deluge. Dye said after the game they got completely dominated. Score was not indicative.

 

[livefaith]

I was at the previous AU game in Neyland. Went w my future wife and got free tix from an injured player, who was her HS friend. 20-20 tie iirc. Johnny settled for the tie and it paid off w SEC title due to UF probation I think.

 

[livefaith]

Both Reggie Cobb and Chuck Webb had the speed, shiftiness and power of today's RBs. 3 of those O lineman played in the NFL. Two of them for a long time. Lots of NFL guys on that team. 1990 got even more loaded with NFL talent

Those OLs were some of our best ever. But, man today's OLs are so much bigger.

 

[BernardKingGOAT]

Those OLs were some of our best ever. But, man today's OLs are so much bigger.

Yeah, but those guys were close to 300 and were athletic AF

 

[Old Man Kelsey’s Vols]

TN's only loss in 1989 was to Bama, who was 10-1 and played Miami in the de facto national championship games in 1989. That wasn't really a bad loss. TN's sub-par 1989 defense was exposed.

The 1990 loss to Bama is probably the one you are thinking about. TN was like 4-0-2, having tied eventual NC Colorado and #3 ranked Auburn. Then as the #3 ranked team, UT then lost at home to a 3-3 Bama team, which was rebuilding in Stallings first year. That 9-6 loss was crushing when our game winning FGA was blocked and rolled to the Bama 33 yard line to set them up to win.

I have to disagree with your assessment. Johnny had two young freshman db’s that he contemplated starting in front of his starters that weren’t getting it done. Those two freshman were Carl Pickens and JJ McKlesky. Bama passes all over us.

 

[BACKDOC]

I haven't seen that game since it happened, other than the highlights (mostly Cobb's 79-yard run). I was 12 and remember how it made me feel like Tennessee was back nationally. We were. We had beaten #6 UCLA in the Rose Bowl week 2, then came home and beat a Duke team coached by Steve Spurrier, 28-6. We didn't know it at the time, but Duke would be ACC co-champs. Auburn was ranked #4 at the time.

A few thoughts I had:

1) Neyland looked really dumpy. Just concrete and chain link fence. That's the Neyland I grew up attending, but man, it looks so much better now.
2) The game of college football has gotten so much better since then. Reggie Slack was a star QB at the time for Auburn, but he wouldn't start in today's SEC. Players were smaller and slower then. The passing game was meh.
3) The score ticker showed Duke upsetting #7 Clemson. That was the first sign that Duke was about to go on a run. And Spurrier would leave after the season to become a legend. And a pain in our butts.
4) Sterling Henton (aka, Sterl The Pearl) was absolutely terrible. I remember that he wasn't an effective passer and was eventually replaced by Andy Kelly, but he was much worse than I remembered. He just dropped back every play and ran around before getting sacked. There was no chance he was actually going to throw the ball to an open receiver. On one play, he had Von Reeves WIDE OPEN in the end zone on a busted coverage directly in his vision and still didn't see him. Ray Charles could have seen him. Instead, he ran around and got sacked. That team might have had more WR talent than anyone in America (Harper, Woods, Pickens, Morgan, Moore, Cleveland), but it was wasted by a guy who wouldn't be on a DII team today. I was blown away by how bad he was.
5) Man, that Oline was good. They could tell the defense they were running the ball and it didn't matter. You weren't going to stop it. Against a great Auburn defense, no less. And Cobb and Webb....just special.

Yeah, I was sitting in that corner of the end zone where Cobb scored. Yeah, your not exaggerating about henton.

 

[bleedorange1983]

Sterling henton= justin fields?

 

[Carl Pickens]

Things I remember about that game:
--It rained like Noah
--Auburn snapped the ball over their punter's head thru the end zone for a safety......twice
--Charles McRae absolutely buried an Auburn LB on Cobb's 79 yd TD
--Tennessee was clearly better but in true Majors' form, they kept Auburn in the game and made it a one possession win.
--After the game in the locker room, either Hobby or Heywood (DEs) made the statement, "THE BIG ORANGE IS BACK!"
--This win put the Vols back in the national picture after the terrible year before but again in true Johnny Majors form......
--The Vols lost to an inferior Alabama team later in the year.

He almost went to prison for murder

 

[volsforever27]

McRae had a couple of blocked kicks if I remember correctly.

 

[NighthawkVol]

McRae had a couple of blocked kicks if I remember correctly.

At least one.

 

[GreveHaller]

I had some time today so I watched a majority of the game

- it was interesting to see what OP was speaking of with the chain link fence all around. At the time we didnt think anything of it. Now, it looks so HS

- so funny to hear them talk about the size of the stadium (93k) and the attendance (93k-95k). Now we consider those numbers "going thru a bad season"

- loved hearing the band play trumpet charge. Wish they'd bring it back

- the endzone looks so great being all orange with checkerboard of white

- I'd forgot how fun it was to watch the Cobb-Webb combo. Probably a bigger dose of them due to the weather but by gosh, they were beasts

- Hinton reminding me alot of Joe. Didnt read his progressions and quick to tuck and run. Probably alot to do with weather also

 

[CAVPUT]

For perspective, this is how it looked when I started going. Yeah, those are bleachers in the end zone.