OneManGang
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Tennessee vs The Maxims vs Alabama
DATE: 21 October 2023
PLACE: Bryant-Denney Stadium
ATTENDANCE: 100,777
FINAL SCORE: Tennessee 20 Alabama 34
Well, it was fun while it lasted. We Vol fans got to imagine beating the Tide two years straight for about 30 minutes of game time. Then the Vols kicked off to start the 2nd half …
It took Alabama two plays and 41 seconds off the clock to completely change the momentum of the game and essentially take Tennessee completely out of it. After that it was only a matter of time.
Stray voltage:
ONE penalty against the Tide for THE WHOLE GAME?!?! Hell, Vanderbilt could run the table with covering fire like that.
If Saban didn't give Ken Williamson a game ball he's an ungrateful punk.
If any of that officiating crew EVER calls a Tennessee game again, AD Danny White needs to be fired.
I have noted this before on these pages, but let's amplify the point. The first time the SEC signed a multi-hundred $Million TV contract, the time for part-time officials was OVER. Yes, NFL refs still blow calls – they are human after all. However, if an NFL officiating crew displayed that level of incompetence or corruption – take your pick – there would be investigations and sanctions. (Paging the 2019 Saints.)
Bazooka Joe was putting on a clinic in the first half. Then, somewhere in the locker room at half, the bell rang and class was dismissed. The Vols apparently forgot that there are TWO halves in a football game and up against a wounded Alabama, you'd better be ready to go.
HeadVol Heupel needs to learn that while riverboat gambling can yield big results, there are times to pull in the fangs and play the percentages. Going for it on fourth down on your own side of the fifty is NOT a high percentage play. You've got a good punter and excellent coverage teams: punt the damned ball. Spotting the opponent 50+ yards in a hostile environment puts your defense in a bad spot. Try not to do that.
Oh, and by the way, running up the middle on second and long AND third and long is tantamount to surrender.
OK, let's get to the football action.
Tennessee got the opening kick and suddenly, we Vol faithful were transported back to 2022.
On this eight play drive Joe Milton was perfect on his throws and the Vols ran enough to keep the Tide honest. It was capped by a 39-yard strike to a diving Squirrel White at the pylon.
The teams exchanged punts until the Vols' third possession. This one was not quite so crisp and Tennessee stalled on the Bama 6 with a tackle for loss and two incomplete passes. Campbell nailed the field goal.
On Bama's subsequent drive, James Pearce stripped Bama quarterback Jalen Milroe of the ball and Norman-Lott fell on it on the Tide 23. However the Vols stalled once again on the Tide 8 and Mr. Campbell was called on once again.
If your Humble Scribe can be allowed a bit of editorializing, this was a key play in the Vols' demise. Had Tennessee gotten the touchdown, this game more than likely would have turned into a rout,.
As it was, not knowing what was to come, we fans were shocked. Tennessee was ahead and making it look easy with 187 yards of total offense and 13 points.
End of 1st Quarter
Score: Tennessee 13 Alabama 0
The teams exchanged punts and Bama took over on their own 41. The Elephant's offense seemed to gain its feet and their efforts were rewarded by a Milroe touchdown pass.
Uh, oh.
Tennessee then went for it on 4th-and-1 at the Vol 34 and Milton was stuffed – at least according to the refs - and it was their opinion that counted. Replay be damned.
Uh, oh. X 2 BUT …
Redemption! Jaylen McCullough intercepted in the end zone!
The Vol's mojo appeared to return as they drove 80 yards and scored on a 6-yard pass to McCallen Castles.
Vol fans began to breathe easier, thinking Our Boys had survived the storm.
End of 2nd Quarter
Score: Tennessee 20 Alabama 7
When hunting elephants, one uses the biggest rifle one can find. The calibers speak for themselves: .45-70, .416 Rigby, .460 Weatherby Magnum, etc., These are used because the last thing you want to do is to wound an elephant. All that does is p*ss them off.
So, did the Vols storm out of the locker room and smite the Bammers? Well, erm, no.
Alabama took the 2nd half kick and blew through Tennessee's defense like it wasn't there. A 29-yard run followed by a 46-yard touchdown pass pretty much did the Vols in. We just didn't know it yet.
Uh,oh. X 3
Now was the time for Tennessee to respond. Their response was a 3-and-out.
Bama then added a field goal.
The Vols responded by failing once again on 4th down, once again on the Vol side of the 50.
Bama scored on a 5-yard run.
Tennessee punted before the quarter ended.
TheVols amassed 47 yards of total offense in the quarter.
I'll take “Embarrassing” for $1000, Alex.
End of 3rd Quarter
Score: Tennessee 20 Alabama 24
Alabama hit a field goal.
Tennessee responded with a Joe Milton fumble and a Bama “scoop and score.”
The Vols went 3-and-out.
Alabama punted.
Tennessee made it to the Bama 9 when a false start penalty and a subsequent Milton incomplete pass on 4th down settled the Vols' hash for good.
Final Score:
Tennessee 20 Alabama 34
*******
Charles Lee was born in Cheshire, England on 26 February 1731. He attended military school and in 1747 his family purchased him a commission in the British Army. His father was already a colonel. Lee served in the French and Indian War. He gained a reputation as a capable and proficient officer.
He married the daughter of a Mohawk chief. His mercurial nature led to the Mohawk naming him “Boiling Water.”
After serving in Europe for the balance of the Seven Years War, he returned to the Colonies. He sold his commission and settled in Virginia. In 1775, he sided with the Colonial rebels and offered his services to Congress. With some justification he felt that his prior service should qualify him to be commanding general of the Colonial Army. He was greatly disappointed when that post went to George Washington. He would resent Washington for the rest of his life..
He was however, appointed Second-in-Command and detailed to command the southern theater. He was in Charleston when a force under British General Clinton sailed in to take the town. The rebels centered their defenses on Fort Moultrie. As the Royal Navy closed in, Lee ordered Moultrie abandoned. South Carolina Governor John Rutledge overruled Lee and Moultrie withstood the British onslaught. Despite this, Lee was hailed as the “Savior of Charleston.”
He made his way to New York to join Washington's forces there. He almost immediately began writing letters to prominent friends decrying Washington's leadership and agitating to be named his successor.
The New York campaign was a disaster for the Colonials and as they retreated to New Jersey Lee was sitting writing yet another missive criticizing Washington when a British cavalry detachment captured him at his desk.
Washington, meanwhile, rallied his army and won the battles of Trenton and Princeton. The rest of 1777 was at best uneven, culminating in the British capture of Philadelphia. However, on the plus side, the Colonial victory at Saratoga (19 September to 7 October) convinced the French to enter the war fully on the American side which they formally did in the Spring of 1778.
Eventually, Washington led his army to winter quarters in Valley Forge, PA. That particular Purgatory is beyond the scope of this work. Suffice to say, though, that despite privation and suffering, the Army learned to be an army at Valley Forge. It had been trained by several European officers including von Steuben. The Army that emerged for the 1778 campaign was a fully professional force capable of taking on the British regulars in the open field.
The British decided to concentrate their forces in New York and General Clinton was ordered to abandon Philadelphia. He set off with his army of close to 20,000 and crossed the Delaware River into New Jersey in mid-June.
Washington got word of this and determined to strike at Clinton's extended column. He held a council of war to plan the operation. A recently paroled Charles Lee resumed his post as second-in-command and was there. He argued against any action. Ignoring the progress made by the Colonial regulars, he believed the American should adopt a guerrilla strategy, striking at isolated British units and avoiding a set piece battle. Several of the more junior officers echoed his concerns and a second meeting was held.
The decision, though, was Washington's and he ordered 1500 men under Lafayette to strike the British rear guard. He knew instinctively that he had to do something for both political and strategic reasons.
Lee had been offered the command but stuffily turned it down as too small for an officer of his stature. Lee had also picked up where he left off in his criticism of Washington even referring to him as, “not fit to command a sergeant's guard.”
The inexperienced Lafayette pushed his men to exhaustion and outran his supplies. Washington sent Lee to sort out the situation. He brought more troops with him and the numbers swelled to some 4500.
By this time the British rear guard under Lord Cornwallis was encamped around Monmouth Courthouse. Washington issued an attack order but it was poorly written and left entirely too much wiggle room for Lee, who still felt that this was not the correct course. Lee himself issued vague orders as the Continentals moved out over a series of ravines toward the British.
On 28 June, the battle was joined. Lee quickly lost control of situation particularly when Cornwallis, bolstered by reinforcements from Clinton's main body, including some of the Grenadier Guards, counterattacked. The wings of Lee's force were in the dark as to his intentions and began to give ground.
Fortunately, Washington was following with the balance of his 10,000 man force. He soon began to run into retreating Americans. Enraged, he spurred his horse forward, and rallied the troops as he arrived. He confronted Lee who had no ready answers as to why his attack was failing. Washington relieved him on the spot.
Washington now issued clear and concise orders and in fifteen minutes, arguably the most important quarter-hour of the war, got the situation stabilized and as dusk approached on that blazing hot day, his regulars stopped the Grenadiers cold.
Darkness forced an end to the day's fighting. Clinton pulled out during the night and made his way back to New York.
The results of the fighting were at best a draw. However, the Continental regulars proved to be a match for the British and that was the most important outcome.
Tradition holds that Mary Hays, carrying water for her husband's American artillery battery, helped serve her husband's gun after one of the cannoneers fell. Her name comes down to us as “Molly Pitcher.”
Clinton reported 65 dead, however, Washington reported finding some 249 British corpses on the field.
Lee took his relief as a personal affront and demanded a trial by court martial. Washington obliged him.
He was convicted on three separate counts. He continued to rage and gripe to anyone who would listen. Finally von Steuben and another officer, LTC John Laurens, had had enough of his bile and challenged him to duels. Only Laurens' duel actually took place and he wounded Lee in the side. Lee left the Army in 1778 but retained his rank.
In 1780, Congress terminated him and Lee retired to his farm. He died in1782.
George Washington went on to defeat Cornwallis at Yorktown and effectively end the Revolutionary War. On 30 April 1789, George Washington was sworn in as the first President of the United States. He was, in many ways, the “Indispensable Man.”
A wounded veteran of the Monmouth fight, Solomon Parsons, passed away in 1831. His monument notes that he suffered for 53 years, “from a wound received at Monmouth Battle, where he bled for his Country. Reader, pause, recollect what it cost to gain your liberty.”
Indeed.
********
So, how did the Vols do against The Maxims?
1. The team that makes the fewest mistakes will win.
The SEC's top officiating crew ruled that the Tide only committed one infraction during the game. The fact that not even the most rabid Bama fan believes that matters not a whit.
Tennessee came out flat to start the second half. How that happens against a bitter foe in a bitter rivalry dating back to the Southern Conference days, I don't have a clue. It does seem obvious that that initial Bama score to start the half decided the game. Then the Tennessee offense went back to its Austin Peay play set: Stumble, Bumble, Fumble, Fiddle, F*rt, Fall and punt.
2 .Playfor and make the breaks. When one comes your way … SCORE!
One-fer in the red zone (no, those three-point booby prizes don't count) ain't gonna get it done against Alabama.
3.If at first the game – or the breaks – go against you, don't let up… PUT ON MORE STEAM!
When the Vols failed to respond to that drive, failing on 4th and 1 at the Vol 47, it was over and we all knew it.
4. Protect our kickers, our quarterback, our lead andour ballgame.
Somewhere along the line, the 2022 edition of Joe Milton seems to have been replaced by the 2021 version.
5. Ball! Oskie! Cover, block, cut and slice, pursue and gang tackle … THIS IS THE WINNING EDGE.
The Vols had 47 yards of total offense in the third canto, the Tide gained 171. Need more be said?
6. Press the kicking game. Here is where the breaks are made.
Alabama kept Dee Williams bottled up the whole game. That said, the phantom “fair catch” call was beyond ludicrous.
7. Carry the fight to Alabama and keep it there for sixty minutes,
Note to Josh Heupel and the Vols: thirty does NOT equal sixty.
Thank you.
I've said before that learning to win big games is a process. It seemed after last year that the Vols had crossed that hurdle. Saturday proved there is still much work to do on that front.
Tennessee now travels to Lexington to face off with the KatPeople.
Does pride still matter?
Suggested Reading:
Henry B. Carrington, Battles of the American Revolution 1775-1781. Promontory Press, 1974.
R. Ernest DuPuy and Trevor N. DuPuy, The Compact History of the Revolutionary War. Hawthorn Books, 1963.
John Ferling, Whirlwind: The American Revolution and the War that Won It. Bloomsbury Press, 2015.
Don Higginbotham, The War of American Independence. The MacMillan Co., 1971.
General George Washington rallies the Colonial troops at Monmouth.(NARA)
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