20 years...

I don't think we would've beaten Miami in '01 so that's a bit consoling.

 

That '01 Miami team is perhaps the best team in history.

 

Possibly, but they only beat BC by 11 and VT by 2. They were beatable and we'd have given them a better game than anyone else that year. We had the advantage at QB and we had a better D-line than anything they'd faced all year.

 

Clausen over Dorsey?

 

Yeah. If I remember correctly, Clausen had an almost 10% higher completion rating that year.

 

Everyone in their best Bob Seger voice, Twenty years, where’d they go...........

 

They were a fluke deflection away from losing that BC game.

 

We would have had a much, much better chance than Nebraska.

 

Absolutely. I think Miami had gone the entire season without surrendering a sack...Vols would have been far and away the most disruptive front 7 they’d faced all season.

And we had several big playmakers and were balanced offensively...would have found a way to maintain possession and score some points.

That UT team was an 18-point dog in Gainesville and didn’t bat an eye in the swamp. They would have expected to win against Miami.

I’d still have taken the Canes, but in a back and forth battle.

 

It would have been a push at best. They had the edge at probably every other position.

 

That Miami defense was sick. Absolutely sick.

 

If we played like we did against Florida, which happened very infrequently that season. If we played like we did against UGA, LSU, or UK, it’s a blowout.

 

Actually, no. I don’t think Travis Stephens could have carried the offense on his back against Miami.

 

No - but Washington, Stallworth, Witten, Graham, Parker should have provided enough options to spread the field and keep Miami honest defensively.

I think our skill guys offensively could match their skill guys defensively.

Problem is, when Miami had the ball, I don’t think our d-backdield could hang with their dudes.

 

Witten seldom did anything like that his entire college career. Those same guys didn’t free up Clausen to do anything against Florida.

 

It was definitely the Washington and Stallworth show...those guys combined for nearly 2000 yards.

But Graham and Witten both made big plays over the course of the year, each catching 30 balls or so for 300ish yards.

You combine all that with Stephens being a 1400 yard back, I just think the Vols had enough options offensively to pick up first downs and grind that TOP like Fulmer liked to do.

 

Since we'll never actually know how it would have turned out, I choose to believe the Vols would have thrashed Miami on their way to a blowout win with Keith Jackson again trying to steal the show from the Vols while doing play by play.

 

The defensive line was also a push.

 

Who did Miami have at DT? Was Wilfork there yet?

 

He was a freshman. They were elite, but so was Tennessee.

Miami's DBs and LBs were all future All Pros