OneManGang
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Tennessee vs The Maxims vs South Carolina
Photo By Andrew Bruckse/Tennessee Athletics
"SPURRIER! You magnificent b*stard! I read your BOOK!"
Leadership.
It is perhaps the most discussed topic during a young officer's training in any of the branches of the armed services. At Annapolis and West Point, at the Air Force Academy, at Quantico, and in ROTC departments across the Fruited Plain seminars are given and books are studied outlining the properties that make an effective leader.
In the end, though, all that leads to one conclusion: Either you have "it" or you don't.
There have been forty-four Presidents of the United States. The ones regarded by History as "great leaders" can be numbered on one hand with a digit or two to spare.
Saturday we may just have witnessed the emergence of a Vol Legend. To update what was written last week: Staring at a 14-point hole, our Steely-eyed Missile Man took the team on his shoulders and achieved ... redemption!
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The campaign code-named TORCH had started well. The Army had gotten ashore in North Africa and was making slow but steady progress against, admittedly, second-tier opposition. The French in Morocco had fought back, but their heart wasn't in it and the scattered Germans to the north and east were too isolated to form a coherent defense. However, even in the early successes, there were troubling trends. Tank commanders learned that you don't charge M-4 Shermans at the Germans like cavalry of old. Foot soldiers learned that you always, always. always have the last man in your outfit turn around every so often and look behind. Airmen learned that you ignored the adage "look for the Hun in the Sun" with often fatal results.
Lloyd Fredendall had waited his turn. Now he was a Major General, commanding the main American force in North Africa, II Corps. In photos he made sure he was jutting his jaw and squinting off into the distance, as if taking the measure of the enemy and planning his next victory. To use a Gilbert and Sullivan phrase he was "the very model of a modern Major General."
Except in action he proved to be indecisive, hesitant and isolated from events at the front. Entire books have been devoted to the command failures of one Lloyd Fredendall.
Nobody, except those near him in his custom-built command bunker miles behind the front suspected the truth until the German varsity showed up.
On 19 February 1943, American troops were deployed in defensive positions around a pass in the Tunisian mountains called Kasserine. To the east they heard the squeak and rattle of approaching tanks. German artillery swept their positions and then the much-feared Afrika Korps in the form of the 10th and 21st Panzer Divisions slammed into the Yanks and blasted through them in one of the worst defeats for American arms in history. Frdendall's response was much like William Rosecrans' at Chickamauga 80 years earlier. He sat there, disbelieving, "stunned, like a duck hit on the head."
To rescue the disaster, Supreme Commander Dwight Eisenhower turned to an old friend of his. On 6 March 1943 the new II Corps commander arrived. His name was George Smith Patton, Jr.
You may have heard of him.
Patton grabbed II Corps by the scruff of the neck and in less than three weeks turned the command around. The proof came on 23 March when yet another Afrika Korps attack fell on troops of the 1st Infantry Division at el Guettar. This time the Americans fought back ferociously and Patton himself went to the fighting to oversee things. No posh command bunker for him. Over the course of the next three days, II Corps not only stopped the Germans but counter-attacked and pushed them back. From that point on, the American Army never looked back. The Germans never looked up.
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With 4:52 left in the fourth canto, Tennessee trailed the Chickens 42-28. Vol faithful can be forgiven if they thought, having seen this movie before, the fat lady was warbling.
But not this day!
It seemed that yet another valiant effort by Our Boys in Orange PMS151 would fall short and Head Vol Jones would be be employing Coachspeak to explain the disaster.
But not this day!
Joshua Dobbs, God love him, took not only the ball game, not only the Incredible Disappearing Vol Defense, not only an offense that had struggled to run against Chattanooga(!), but the collected weight of five seasons of football mediocrity on his shoulders and WILLED the Vols to victory.
The Force is strong in this one.
Better days are ahead.
So how did the team do compared to the Maxims?
1. The team that makes the fewest mistakes will win.
Head Rooster Steve Spurrier told the media his team was prepared for Josh Dobbs and would shut him down. Less talking and more coaching might have served South Carolina better.
2. Play for and make the breaks. When one comes your way SCORE!
Like many a Vol fan, when Tennessee went 0-for-3 for points on trips inside the Chickens 30-yard line in the third canto, your Humble Scribe despaired. Then ...
3. If at first the game or the breaks go against you, dont let up PUT ON MORE STEAM!
Joshua Dobbs.
Honorable Mention to the defensive line that sacked Dylan Thompson on consecutive plays in overtime to put the Chickens out of reasonable field goal range in OT. Neyland and Cafego high-fived as that last Carolina attempt fluttered to the turf to seal the deal.
4. Protect our kickers, our quarterback, our lead and our ballgame.
Last week: Playing offensive line is all about attitude and confidence. This week: 344, three-four-four, THREE HUNDRED and frickin' FORTY FOUR net rushing yards! And ZERO sacks! Feed 'em up, Coach, the Big Eaters earned this one.
5. Ball! Oskie! Cover, block, cut and slice, pursue and gang tackle THIS IS THE WINNING EDGE.
Dobbs and Jalen Hurd ran like men possessed. It's called leadership by example.
6. Press the kicking game. Here is where the breaks are made.
After missing two field goal attempts, Aaron Medley nailed the one that mattered.
7. Carry the fight to South Carolina and keep it there for sixty minutes.
On the dot, plus some.
Vol fans from Dyersburg to Ducktown are still waiting for a total team effort in a win. It seems that now that the offense is well on the way to being "fixed" the defense has regressed. Depressing stat of the night: USC lit up A.J. and the boys for 625 yards total offense and 42 points.
I would offer that Tennessee's defense has yet to recover from the onslaught by Ole Miss and then by Bama in the first quarter last week. That being said, they stood tall at the end. Dare we hope they can regain the mojo?
As the ball bounced to the ground in OT, this writer was reminded of the 1997 game against Kentucky when the Chief's troops decided to mail it in and the MildKats were scoring at will. Sir Peyton of New Orleans looked at Hal Mumme and Timmy Couch on the Kats' sideline and seemingly said, "OK, Kitties, you want a track meet? You got one." He proceeded to shred the MildKats for 545 passing yards. Tennessee won in a walk, 59-24.
At that 4:52 mark mentioned earlier, we Vol fans may be pardoned for imagining Josh Dobbs looking to all the smug Poultry behind Steve Spurrier then looking to his men and saying, "A day may come when the courage of Volunteers may fail. But it is not this day! This day we fight! This day we WIN!"*
Brick by Brick, Baby!
MAXOMG
Suggested Reading:
Rick Atkinson, An Army at Dawn
Martin Blumenson, The Patton Papers: Volume II, 1940-1945
Martin Blumenson, Kasserine Pass
Gordon F. Howe, Northwest Africa: Seizing the Initiative (US Army in WWII)
* With apologies to J.R.R. Tolkien
© 2014
Keeping Your Stories Alive
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