It seems if they get out of Clemson without committing, you got a shot. Dabo locks you in a room with no AC and demands your allegiance for an hour before he lets you leave.
I wish I’d had it to listen to while in the stadium. I’ve seen some cool stuff and that was right at the top. Sometimes in sports there’s truly a collective energy that I’m not sure can really be quantified, even if our simplest way to explain it is “electric”. Damn sure felt that way to me as a somewhat neutral observer. Only other time I’ve experienced it was the 2013 Iron Bowl. I was sitting with close friends who are Alabama grads. I leaned in to my buddy’s ear right before the kick and said “if there’s a god this kick will go through”. I don’t think god worries himself with sports, but I truly did believe in that moment there’s just no way after the previous 15 years that it would go any other way.
I just mean in terms of recruiting. A go-ahead field goal to snap a long losing streak is best for fans, but waxing Clemson is even more sellable.
You really need them both. Before last year, you could still trot out that can't beat bammer crap easily. It's bad enough that it's only happened once in some of these kids' lives.
What I find enjoyable, is we beat both of the bastages. Each in their own glorious way. I will say being at the night-time Neyland victory over the bammers ... it was pretty special and had to have a positive impact on recruits.
I never pray to God for sports outcomes. I mean not since I was about 11 anyway. But once that game was over I certainly thanked Him.
That was so special. I had a lot of people with no dog in the fight talking to me about that game and ending.
Today I drove a church bus from McKenzie, TN to north Ga and had to pull over so I could play Dixieland Delight (live) and laugh maniacally. [uck fay] me. What a moment.
My favorite was my buds who are UGA fans enjoying it briefly before realizing that Spurrier 2.0 had arrived.
I've been to 200+ games in Neyland, I've been to several road games, I've been to SEC Championship games, I've been to bowl games, and I was in Tempe in 99. Nothing I've ever witnessed in all of those games has touched that moment and nothing is really close.
Yeah. I'm one to point out recency bias but even still.. Cafego, Daugherty, Majors, and Lindsay Nelson would agree that that one tops em all.
I think it was because the celebration wasn't just about beating Bama, it was 15 years of absolute hell finally being over. So many times over the years we'd have a game where it was our chance to make it known that Tennessee was back only to receive a 3 TD beat down on national television. That FG falling through the uprights was our football program finally getting back over the hump. Add in that it was an amazing game with a last second FG against our biggest rival and I'm not sure how anything will ever top it. That night is the kind of thing that makes sports special.
The Bama win was the most satisfying and important win since 1998. However, Clemson's rise has been at the expense of us and they've gotten the kids we should've gotten and used to get. The [uck fay]ing moron impersonating a football coach in Knoxville for five years lost the #1 QB who grew up a super fan of UT to Joel Osteen and crew. Nothing will top beating Bama, but finally pushing back on Clemson is extraordinarily satisfying.
ya I guess I am connecting a pretty straight line between our decline and Clemson's rise and I see the chance to whip them on the field in 4k as being able to shatter any illusion about their relative place in the college football world relative to Tennessee's. Maybe some of y'all don't realize how far Tennessee's star had fallen. People saw Tennessee the same way they saw Kentucky and South Carolina.
For a guy who starting following UT football in the mid-80s as a kid and saw the level we held from 85-01, it was infuriating to see people discount the possibility UT could be a top tier program. The number of people who felt our rightful place was the Kentucky and South Carolina Mendoza line was overwhelming, especially as they did so in a matter of fact manner. When we had an AD even sign on to the notion, I was more angry than resigned. It's hard to have perspective when a young person only experiences a certain thing, but, historically speaking, 2008-2021 was the anomaly. We just needed some swinging [Richards] to fulfill the promise.
