OneManGang
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Tennessee vs The Maxims vs Kentucky (1997)
DATE: 22 November 1997
PLACE: Commonwealth Stadium, Lexington, KY
ATTENDANCE: 61,076
FINAL SCORE: Tennessee 59 Kentucky 31
If I-75 South from Lexington to Knoxville can be considered a Via Dolorsa for Kentucky Wildcat football teams due to their repeated losses in Neyland Stadium, then the reverse course for Our Beloved Vols is something of a “Hallelujah Trail.”
By 1997, it had been twelve long and bitter years for the Blue-Bellies since they had last bested the Vols in a 17-12 decision in Knoxville. Anyone who has spent any time in the Land of the KatPeople will attest that this stuck in their collective craws like nothing else.
I had cause to be in the Bluegrass in the late summer and fall that year and the KatPeople were united in their fervent belief that with Hal Mumme's “Air Raid” offense anchored by quarterback Tim Couch, they were assured of putting the Vols to fly come November.
At first, Kentuckian Couch was on his way to Knoxville. However, once word of that became public, miraculously, his father suddenly got a huge promotion from the railroad and God only knows how much money changed hands or where and surprise, surprise, little Timmy wound up wearing Blue. The UK Athletics Dept. began to clear space for SEC and National Champion trophies. Those empty spaces are still there.
After the MildKats upset #20 Alabama, their hopes for a victory over the Vols soared and even the fact that they only won ONE other SEC game, against hapless Vandy, did not deter them. They pointed to the Vols' 13-point loss to Florida as proof.
The match against Tennessee was, per usual, the last game of the season for the MildKats. In addition, this game would determine if they would get to that minimum level of six wins to become bowl eligible.
Yep, they told me, they were just lying in wait and that “Air Raid” offense would seal the deal and prove UK got the better end of the recruiting battle for Couch.
In keeping with the air raid theme, the Kats had procured a surplus air raid siren and placed it it Commonwealth Stadium. They wound it up every time Couch threw a touchdown, or completed a pass, or walked onto the field without tripping, or took a sip of “Gatorade,” or found his way to a scheduled class, or his dog raised its leg. On the scale of annoying, it reigned supreme until the onset of the current mania for PA announcers to screech, “IT'S THIRRDDD DOOWWN!” as though those of us in the stands lack the ability to count to three. Hell, even Kenny Stabler could count to three – he just couldn't count to four!*
In any event, it was into this atmosphere that HeadVol Philip Fulmer brought his 9-1 and #5-ranked Tennessee Vols into Commonwealth Stadium.
It was a typical game in Lexington in late November, chilly (45º) and overcast.
The Kats won the opening coin toss and elected to receive.
They set up on their own 16 and then proceeded, with no significant interference from the Vol defense, to cap an 84-yard drive with a 37-yard touchdown pass from Couch to running back Derek Homer.
The siren wailed and the KatPeople celebrated with something resembling a simultaneous orgasm involving 50,000-plus clad in blue.
The Vols put the ball in play on their own 21 after the kickoff.
There had been a disturbing aspect to the Kat's scoring drive. Vol fans of that era had a tendency to be treated to episodes of The Incredible Disappearing Vol Defense™. Normally this was seen when playing Florida, but could turn up at any given time. The Tennessee defense could shut down an Alabama or Georgia and then just vanish in the next game. This appeared to be one of those times.
Your Humble Scribe was watching the game from the comfort of his living room. The TV camera focused in on Sir Peyton of New Orleans whilst the announcers gushed over Timmy and the Air Raid. Manning looked around his huddle and seemed to think, “Well, OK, if they want a track meet … I've got better track guys!”
Tennessee drove to the Kat 39 where they stalled but the redoubtable Jeff Hall came on and nailed a 49-yard field goal.
Couch drove the Kittens down to the UT 28 where he tossed a ten yard pass … into the hands of Vol defender Terry Fair.
Manning then found track guy Marcus Nash for a 59-yard TD.
UT's defense showed up for a bit aided by a holding call behind the line and the Kat drive stalled. Manning then took over and capped a 68-yard drive with a 17-yard TD strike to track guy Andy McCullough.
End of 1st Quarter
Score: Tennessee 17 Kentucky 7
After an exchange of punts to start the second stanza, Timmy rared back and connected on a 87-yard touchdown pass.
The Vols answered with an three-play, 80-yard drive capped by a 66-yard touchdown pass to Nash.
The subsequent Kat drive featured running back Derek Homer who had runs of 4 and 63 yards to set up a three-yard plunge by Jermaine White.
End of 2nd Quarter
Score: Tennessee 24 Kentucky 21
The Vols essentially put the game away in the third canto with 21 points.
The Vols' first possession was capped by a 50-yard scoring run by Jamal Lewis.
The MildKats then drove down to the UT 11 where they came up short on a fourth-and-two.
The Men in Orange answered with an 88-yard drive which ended with a scoring leap by Lewis.
Kentucky's ensuing drive again ended with fourth down on the Vol 11 and they settled for a field goal.
The Kats tried an onside kick but it failed and Manning and Co. were in business on the UK 43. Manning then hit Nash again for a 31-yard touchdown.
Timmy and the Kittens then made it to the UT 30 whereupon Couch tossed the ball to Terry Fair for his second Oskie.
End of 3rd Quarter
Score: Tennessee 45 Kentucky 24
Tennessee's ensuing drive ended on the Blue-Belly 2 with a fumble by Lewis.
Couch then engineered an 86-yard scoring drive that was saved when Raynoch Thompson stepped in front of a Couch throw but then fumbled on the Kat 24.
The KatPeoples' hearts rose. They had cut the gap to 14 and Surely to Gawd Timmy and the Air Raid could pull this one out. It. Was. Right. There.
Manning and the Vols then played Lucy to Couch's Charlie Brown.
The Kats tried yet another onside kick that UT recovered on the UK 49. The ensuing Vol drive featured a 35-yard reception by track guy and backup qb Jeremain Copeland which set up a 1-yard plunge by Jamal Lewis.
Timmy and the boys made it to the UT 29 where an incompletion on fourth down ended the KatPeople's hopes.
The Vols got in a final shot when Jamal Lewis burst through the left side of the Kat defense and was next seen 21 yards later in the end zone. Lewis ended the day with three touchdowns
Game. Set. Match.
Final Score:
Tennessee 59 Kentucky 31
Crying KatPeople always bring a smile to this Old Vol's face.
********
The ancient Greeks called it hubris. Usually, this is translated as “excessive pride.” The Greeks felt that offended the gods and lead to Nemesis, or downfall. In short it was (and is) a supreme confidence in one's own abilities leading to the neglect of the notion that there may be other elements in play that can lead to disaster. Think of the Vols versus South Carolina just last season.
The British and Americans were riding high in the late Summer and early Fall of 1944. Their armies had finally broken free of the French hedgerows in Normandy and were fanning out towards Germany itself. Advances of 50 to 100 miles in a single day were racked up with tens of thousands of German soldiers being killed, wounded or captured. There was speculation that if this kept up, the war could be over by Christmas. They completely forgot that in war BOTH sides play to win.
One major reason for this optimism was called ULTRA. Allied code-breakers were literally able to read the German's radio messages in near real time. The Germans, for their part, had their own dance with hubris as they thought their cryptographic machines called “Enigma” produced codes that could not be broken.
By late November and early December, the onrushing Allies had slowed and then stalled more or less along the German border due to over-stretched supply lines, worsening weather and stiffening German resistance.
German Furher Adolf Hitler saw an opportunity. Four years earlier, his Panzers had stormed through the Ardennes, a heavily wooded area thought to be impassable for tanks, and caught the British and French by surprise. They stormed through, slashing across France and forcing the Brititsh to evacuate and the French to surrender. Now his maps revealed the Allied armies were bypassing the Ardennes, leaving the woods to be held by only minimal forces. He ordered his 5th and 6th Panzer Armies, mustering over 100,000 men and 1400 tanks to attack along an 80-mile front into the heart of the Ardennes, Mistrusting his own cryptologists, he ordered that none of the operational orders for this assault were to be transmitted by radio.
Unknown to the Allies, by that order ULTRA was blinded.
Reports began to come in of increased German activity near the Ardennes, but Ike's intel troops could find no collaboration through ULTRA and so rated these reports as stray voltage. They could not have been more wrong,
On 16 December some 1500 German artillery pieces opened up catching the Americans completely by surprise. Most of the Ardennes was held by three American infantry divisions. From roughly South to North these were the 28th Division, a veteran unit that had been mauled in the fighting in the Huertgen Forest and was getting itself back up to strength and two “rookie” divisions, the 106th “Golden Lions” and the 99th “Checkerboard.” These divisions were there because the Ardennes was regarded as a “quiet” sector where the 28th could rest and regroup and the new arrivals could learn the deadly arts of combat without risking a major battle. Between them they had roughly 150 tanks and three tank destroyer battalions.
As the Panzers charged out of the gloom the three divisions gave ground. The 28th conducted a fighting withdrawal. The 106th was simply shattered. Two of its infantry regiments were surrounded and surrendered and some 6500 men were marched into captivity. The 99th fought for every road, bridge and crossroad in its sector. They took heavy losses and gave up a lot of ground but they materially delayed the Germans until reinforcements could come up.
One individual stood tall in this fighting. Thomas Vernon McGarity was a Technical Sgt. (T/Sgt) in the 393rd Infantry Regiment. He hailed from Hardin County, TN where he was born on 1 December 1921 in the small town of Right. Right was so small that it no longer exists. He and his wife Etheline had a son who died just as the regiment was shipping out.
After training in England they landed in France and eventually found their way to positions near the town of Kinkelt when the great German barrage cut loose. McGarity was a squad leader in L Company. He and his men found themselves under a massive German attack. He was severly wounded but refused to be evacuated and went back to his men. Ignoring his wounds, he rallied his men and at one point knocked out a German tank with a bazooka.
As ammo ran low he remembered a pit with lots of ammo in it. However it was already in German hands. McGarity went out, and fought off a number of Germans and brought back the ammo. One of his men later recalled, “While under intense fire in securing the ammunition, Sergeant McGarity had the presence of mind to locate several snipers who were subsequently killed by his accurate fire after return to his position.” They repulsed attack after attack until, at last, they were cut off and ran out of ammunition. He and his gallant little band were forced to surrender and he spent the rest of the war in German PoW camp.
After the liberation, word got out about just what he and his men had accomplished and on 18 December 1945, in ceremony at the White House, WWI veteran and President Harry Truman fastened our nation's highest award for valor around now Staff Sgt. McGarity's neck. He was the only member of the 99th Division to be so honored.
T/Sgt McGarity's Medal of Honor Citation:
He was painfully wounded in an artillery barrage that preceded the powerful counteroffensive launched by the Germans near Krinkelt, Belgium, on the morning of 16 December 1944. He made his way to an aid station, received treatment, and then refused to be evacuated, choosing to return to his hard-pressed men, instead. The fury of the enemy's great Western Front offensive swirled about the position held by T/Sgt. McGarity's small force, but so tenaciously did these men fight on orders to stand firm at all costs that they could not be dislodged despite murderous enemy fire and the breakdown of their communications. During the day, the heroic squad leader rescued one of his friends, who had been wounded in a forward position, and throughout the night, he exhorted his comrades to repulse the enemy's attempts at infiltration. When morning came and the Germans attacked with tanks and infantry, he braved heavy fire to run to an advantageous position where he immobilized the enemy's lead tank with a round from a rocket launcher. Fire from his squad drove the attacking infantrymen back, and three supporting tanks withdrew. He rescued, under heavy fire, another wounded American, and then directed devastating fire on a light cannon, which had been brought up by the hostile troops to clear resistance from the area. When ammunition began to run low, T/Sgt. McGarity, remembering an old ammunition hole about 100 yards distant in the general direction of the enemy, braved a concentration of hostile fire to replenish his unit's supply. By a circuitous route, the enemy managed to emplace a machinegun to the rear and flank of the squad's position, cutting off the only escape route. Unhesitatingly, the gallant soldier took it upon himself to destroy this menace single-handedly. He left cover, and while under steady fire from the enemy, killed or wounded all the hostile gunners with deadly accurate rifle fire and prevented all attempts to reman the gun. Only when the squad's last round had been fired was the enemy able to advance and capture the intrepid leader and his men. The extraordinary bravery and extreme devotion to duty of T/Sgt. McGarity supported a remarkable delaying action which provided the time necessary for assembling reserves and forming a line against which the German striking power was shattered
Vernon McGarity left the Army in 1947 but subsequently join the Tennessee Nation Guard and earned a commission, He retired from the Guard in 1974 as a Lt. Colonel.
He and Etheline lived in Memphis where he worked for the VA. They had two more children. His children all taught in the Memphis school system.
On 21 May 2013, LTC McGarity left us to join his comrades, succumbing to cancer. He is buried in the Memorial Park Cemetery in Memphis.
*(bonus points if you get the Classical reference)
********
So, how did the Vols do against The Maxims?
1. The team that makes the fewest mistakes will win.
Kentucky made the classic error of assuming that with Couch at the controls, they didn't need a defense. Future NFL Hall of Famer Peyton Manning, future Pro Bowler Jamal Lewis and a plethora of other future NFL stars on offense proved otherwise.
2. Play for and make the breaks. When one comes your way … SCORE!
This was all on Manning and the offense. Manning summed up his feelings saying, “These are my last couple of days as a college quarterback and I'm trying to savor every win.”
3. If at first the game – or the breaks – go against you, don't let up … PUT ON MORE STEAM!
Marcus Nash said after the game, “We expected them to go out and score from the beginning. Coach Fulmer expected us to go out and execute.” Indeed.
4. Protect our kickers, our quarterback, our lead and our ballgame.
Once the Vols established a lead, they never relinquished it.
5. Ball! Oskie! Cover, block, cut and slice, pursue and gang tackle … THIS IS THE WINNING EDGE.
John Chavis. The Chief. Mention his name to a Vol fan of a certain vintage and watch the conflicting emotions. First is a smile, remembering legendary plays and the players who made them: Ellis. Henderson. Thompson. Wilson. Fair. White and so on. Then their faces will then cloud and at some point they will mutter, “Third and Chavis.” This is a reference to the uncanny way the Vols would have an opponent backed up with third down and forever and then repeatedly give up a big play. It got to the point that Vol fans began to hope for third-and-short as the Vols seemed to have a much better record stopping those. The Chief's achievements out weigh that though. He coached three SEC Championship teams (two with the Vols and one at LSU) a UT national title and then LSU in 21-0 loss in the 2011 BCS Championship game against Alabama. Swear to Heaven, though, at one point the Tigers had the Tide backed up on third and an mile. UT fans watching that night said almost in unison, “Third and Chavis,” and sure enough the Bammers converted on a big play.
(sighs)
6. Press the kicking game. Here is where the breaks are made.
Jeff Hall earned his place in Vol Lore. This day the coverage units kept Timmy and the Kats backed up but the Kats didn't seem to be much bothered.
7. Carry the fight to Kentucky and keep it there for sixty minutes,
The Vol offense gets full credit for this one. Had Lewis and Thomson not fumbled the score would have been even more lopsided. The Incredible Disappearing Vol Defense mattered not at all as the Kats were buried under a tsunami of offensive firepower.
How bad was that defense? Well, for starters, the MildKats piled up 634 yards of offense. Then there was the fact that Vol legends Al Wilson and Shaun Ellis had NO tackles.
The very next week, the Vols squeaked by Vandy 17-10 in Knoxville. Then it was on to Atlanta for a match with Auburn for the SEC crown. The Vols survived 30-29.
Peyton Manning injured his knee in that game and the Vols ended up playing in the Orange Bowl against Nebraska. The Incredible disappearing Vol Defense was no match for the Big Red Thrashing Machine which pummeled the Vols 42-17, winning a share of the National Title.
Suggested Reading:
Rick Atkinson, The Guns at Last Light: The War in Western Europe, 1944-45 (Liberation Trilogy vol. 3)
Hugh M. Cole. The Ardennes: Battle of the Bulge (United States Army in World War II)
Charles B. MacDonald, A Time for Trumpets
President Truman and Vernon McGarity at the White House. Note Gen. Eisenhower in the background. (U,S, Army)
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. When Couch committed to Kentucky they all told me things were about to change, Kentucky was going to dominate the sec for years 
