OneManGang
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Tennessee vs The Maxims vs Oklahoma
DATE: 21 September 2024
PLACE: Gaylord Family - Oklahoma Memorial Stadium, Norman, Oklahoma
ATTENDANCE: 84,701
FINAL SCORE: Tennessee 25 Oklahoma 15
You have to give Brent Hubbs some props. He said very early in the Vol Network broadcast when asked for his key stat of game, “150 yards rushing.” The Vols ended with 151.
Later on, Pat Ryan described that laser to Thornton saying, “Man, you could've hung laundry on that one!” Snickered at that, I did!
I don't turn down the networks the way I did with Ward and Anderson but I do listen to the Vol Network broadcast with one ear bud. The commentary is worth the effort.
Let's get right into the football action.
OU got the ball to start the game.
It became apparent that the overall speed and aggressiveness of both defenses caught the respective offenses by surprise.
Finally, on the Sooners' third possession, quarterback Jackson Arnold threw a strike to a wide-open Jermond McCoy – of the Volunteers.
The Tennessee's ensuing drive then stalled on the OU 8 and the Vols settled for a field goal.
The Sooners took their drive down to the UT 20 before settling for a field goal as well.
Nico Iamaleava then lived up to his billing by firing a frozen rope to Dont'e Thornton that hit him in stride and he shot into the end zone.
End of 1st Quarter
Score: Tennessee 10 Oklahoma 3
This quarter was a tale of woe for the Sooner offense.
Tennessee's first possession of the 2nd stanza ended with Nico getting blindsided and fumbling. Fortunately, Jackson Arnold couldn't handle such largess and promptly fumbled the ball back to Tennessee.
The Vols couldn't do anything either but the redoubtable Mr. Ross boomed a 57-yard punt that pinned OU on their own 4. A penalty sent them back to the 2 and then Jayson Jennings stormed through and stopped the Sooner running back in the end zone for a safety.
Tennessee's third drive ended in another near disaster as Nico was again sacked and fumbled deep in Vol territory. Once again, Arnold fumbled yet again on the very next play.
Head Vol Heupel then fed the Sooners a steady diet of Dylan Sampson. It was an epic 8-play 66-yard drive and Sampson carried the ball on every down ending in a touchdown from the one. Well done, young man!
End of 2nd Quarter
Score: Tennessee 19 Oklahoma 3
The third canto was marked by what I call a “Red Sovine” (Phantom 309) holding call that negated a 50-yard dime from Nico.
Tennessee did add another field goal later.
End of 3rd Quarter
Score: Tennessee 22 Oklahoma 3
HeadVol Heupel now went into a ball-control offense to protect the lead and Nico.
The Vols got another field goal.
More importantly, OU had benched the error-prone Arnold for freshman Michael Hawkins at half. He finally found his feet in the 4th and engineered a pair of scoring drives but they were too little, too late.
Final Score
Tennessee 25 Oklahoma 15
********
Outpost Kelly
Outpost Kelly
American foreign and defense policy in the years after the end of World War II can be summed up in one sentence: “We have The Bomb and you don't.”
The USAF, created in 1947, but in reality a separate service since mid-1944, was ecstatic. As the sole service proven to able to deliver The Bomb they got whatever they wanted.
Meanwhile, America's “conventional” forces were allowed wither.
Then three events turned all those “enjoying a Schlitz beer in a commie-free world courtesy of the USAF and the B-36” fantasies into so much bovine scatology.
In February, 1949, the Chinese Communist Army defeated the Nationalists and China became a communist dictatorship. (BTW, it still is.) High-ranking Truman administration officials were dragged before Congressional committees and slow-roasted to answer the question, “Which of you jokers lost China?” None of them had a good answer.
Then, on 3 September 1949 an American recon plane picked up traces of radioactive fallout coming from the Soviet Union. The damned Russkies now had The Bomb!
Finally, on 25 June 1950, the North Korean People's Army (NKPA) stormed across the 38th Parallel, which separated the two Koreas, into South Korea.
America took advantage of a Soviet boycott of UN proceedings to convince the Security Council to authorize military force to repel the NKPA offensive. Since the US had most of the armed forces needed for this, there would be a massive commitment of US manpower to this effort. General Douglas MacArthur was named UN commander.
President Harry Truman described the commitment of American combat troops to stem the North Korean invasion of South Korea in 1950 as a “police action” as though the US Army was sending a detachment of MPs to arrest the North Korean soldiers and impound their T-34 tanks.
The first Americans hurled into combat were two rifle companies and a battery of 105mm howitzers dubbed Task Force Smith.Those roughly 400 men dug in on a ridge near Osan. To give an idea of just how unprepared they were, the best anti-tank weapons they had were the howitzers which had a total of six AT rounds. It was a fiasco. 400 men went in and only about a dozen made it out.
A/n Thanks to member @horseman! TF Smith will be the subject of a future Maxim essay. Suffice to say it was a fiasco.
The fighting surged up and down the Korean peninsula until late 1951 when the lines more or less stabilized along the 38th parallel. Peace talks then began.
The talks would drag on for another 18 months.
The Chinese were too well dug in for the UN forces to move them without inordinate casualties. The UN had too much firepower for any Chinese offensive to have any chance of success and thus the war settled into a stalemate.
There constant probes and limited attacks by both sides, bloody struggles over nameless ridges and hills.
It was in this environment that Lt. Jack Siewert got new orders on 13 July 1952. Jack was already a seasoned veteran, he had been a tank platoon commander in C (Charlie) Co., 64th Tank Battalion, since the Fall of 1951. His platoon consisted of five M-46 tanks and a few support troops. His tanks were numbered “21” to“25” with the 21 tank being his personal mount.
The M-46 was an improvement on the M-26 Pershing tank of WWII. It weighed in at around 48 tons with thick frontal armor and a 90mm main gun. Two .30 cal and one .50 machine guns completed the tanks armament. The main improvement over the older Pershing was a new and more powerful engine which came in real handy in the rugged and mountainous terrain of the Korean peninsula. It was officially nicknamed “Patton” but nobody other than the media ever used that moniker.
By the time Siewert arrived in Korea, the war of maneuver, a tank's strong suit, was over and for the rest of the war tanks were used as support weapons for the infantry. Their cannon could provide direct fire support out to about 2,000 yards while the machine guns could supplement the ones used by the dug-in infantry. His orders reflected that. His platoon was to travel up to support the 2nd Battalion, 7th Infantry, whose Main Line of Resistance (MLR) was centered on Hill 199 overlooking a bend in the Imjin River and the Chinese positions beyond. There were a series of outposts beyond the MLR to watch for Chinese incursions and to let the Chinese know the US Army was still there. The outposts were all named. Outpost “Kelly” was the one the 2nd Battalion was most concerned about. Each of these postage-stamp outposts were considered important as “bargaining chips” in the peace talks. Good men died for this nonsense.
Siewert brings his platoon up and reports to the Battalion CP. He then conducts a ground reconnaissance of the positions he would be occupying. To his dismay there is only room on Hill 199 for two of his tanks and the hill top could only be approached by a narrow and steep dirt road. Oh, and the two tanks already there from the platoon he was replacing had both broken down and would have to be winched down the hill by a tank recovery unit before he could come up. The good news is that there were revetments for the tanks that protected the hulls without impeding the traverse of the turret. Also there bunkers behind the positions so they wouldn't have to sleep in the tanks.
Battalion had told him it would be four days before the original tanks would be available to come back up and relieve him, “Glad to have you, and good luck.”
Siewert decided to bring up his 21 tank and also 22 and leave the other three encamped at the bottom of the hill to be available if needed. They spent their first day on 199 sighting in their guns on “suspected” enemy positions” and establishing contact with their neighboring units. The range to Outpost Kelly was marked at 1600 yards, well within range of the big '90s. They also worked with their “gunner's quadrants” which were vital for firing at night or other limited visibility.
Day two started with more of the same.
Then it started to rain. This was no passing shower, this was the start of the monsoon and soon everything turned to mud, including the access road to the top of Hill 199. Soon it became apparent that there was no way any tanks could get to the hill top. 21 and 22 tank were stuck there.
Near the end of July, the 15th Infantry replaced the 7th but Siewert and his tanks had to remain. The Chinese got wind of the change in regiments and launched a battalion-sized attack on Kelly. Siewert provided what support he could but there were too many of them and the outpost fell. One issue Siewert was having was that the heavy rain, falling on the 90mm gun barrels which got very hot with repeated firing, created a fog of steam that blocked the gun sights. He solved that problem by placing tarps over the guns to cut down on the steam. Another was that his 22 tank suffered a thrown track as it repositioned itself by backing out of its revetment and was out of position. His 21 tank was the only one able to shoot at Kelly.
There were several abortive attempts to retake Kelly. Finally, UN Command made the retaking of Kelly a priority. On 31 July the rain had abated at least enough so Siewert could see the Chinese trenches at Kelly. As the 15th Infantry companies and platoons moved up the hill he was able to rake those trenches and machine gun positions and this time they took Kelly back.
The access road was finally stabilized shortly thereafter and Siewert was able to get back down the hill and rejoin his platoon and company.
Outpost Kelly would fall again in September. This time the 65th Infantry was there and took heavy casualties in repeated efforts to retake it. They all failed. But that is another story. Kelly is still on the North Korean side of the DMZ.
An armistice was signed on 27 July 1953. Peace talks still go on. South Korea is now a prosperous free country. North Korea remains a “workers paradise” of poverty and starvation butt he Communists, as is their habit, don't care and rule with an iron fist. They also continue to threaten their southern neighbor and everyone else in the region.
Jack came home at the end of his tour and lived out his years in York, PA.
Jack passed away on 13 September 2019.
*******
So, how did the Vols do against The Maxims?
1. The team that makes the fewest mistakes will win.
OU made the same mistake that Auburn has made. The have good but not elite quarterbacks. Other than that, everything was in their favor: wet field that they had the proper cleats for and the Vols didn't; a stadium packed with rabid, and loud Sooner fans; a very good and aggressive defense; and a friendly officiating crew.
Mrs. OMG once said that when SEC refs see a team wearing red playing Tennessee they immediately assume they are Alabama and can do no wrong. The zebras penalized the Vols 10 times and OU 3 times on Saturday which did nothing to contradict her.
2. Play for and make the breaks. When one comes your way … SCORE!
OU had five total turnovers but the Vols only scored 10 points off those. This is something to be addressed over the next two weeks. Tennessee lost two fumbles but OU failed to convert either. 10 points was the margin of victory, so maybe I should just shut up about it?
3. If at first the game – or the breaks – go against you, don't let up… PUT ON MORE STEAM!
All-in-all Saturday was one of those gritty, workmanlike wins that elite teams have to get on the road to stay elite. That safety was one helluva defensive play!
4. Protect our kickers, our quarterback, our lead and our ball game.
There has been a lot of commentary on the HeadVol's conservative play-calling in the second half. The things that stood out to this writer were that the Sooner pass rush was getting to Nico and the Vols had a comfortable lead. Also the OU offense was showing few signs of life. The decisive factor, though, would seem to be when Nico was noticeably limping coming off the field after one series in the 3rd quarter. He is the Vols' franchise player right now and Tennessee doesn't have another elite QB on the bench. Heupel relied on the defense to protect the lead and used his play calls to protect his quarterback. The Genrul smiled.
5. Ball! Oskie! Cover, block, cut and slice, pursue and gang tackle … THIS IS THE WINNING EDGE.
Late in the 2nd half, the Vol defense went into mere “Beast” mode. This was a step back from the enraged, slathering, with blood dripping from fang and claw, über-Beastmode earlier in the game. Jaxson Moi to the contrary!
6. Press the kicking game. Here is where the breaks are made.
After grousing about being bored last week Jackson Ross got a workout, punting eight times for a 48.4 yard average.
7. Carry the fight to the Oklahoma and keep it therefor sixty minutes,
In the locker room after the game, am emotional Josh Heupel spoke to his team. He told them of their great effort. His whole demeanor showed how much this victory meant to him. And he then told them they have so much more to accomplish. As he started to join them for a prayer, he was interrupted by his men.
Nico stepped forward and gave his coach the game ball. I cannot recall that happening any other time inVol history.
These guys, and this coach, are special and this Old Vol is damned proud of them.
It's great! To be! A Tennessee Vol-un-teer!
I say, it's great! To Be! A Tennessee Volunteer!
Suggested Reading
Clay Blair, The Forgotten War: America in Korea, 1950-1953
T.R. Feherenbach, This Kind of War: A Study in Unpreparedness
Joseph C. Goulden, Korea: The Untold Story of the War
Jack R, Siewert, Outpost Kelly: A Tanker's War
The view from the turret of an M-46 in a typical hill top position. (US Army)
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