University of Tennessee Athletics
2003 Football Season Holds Significant Milestones
July 19, 2003 | Football
July 19, 2003
Tennessee's 2003 football season is fast approaching. Before the pads start popping in a few weeks, let's take a look back at several interesting milestones of UT football for the upcoming campaign. From the 50th anniversary of the school's mascot to the 70th anniversary of the Southeastern Conference, 2003 points back to several significant milestones.
50th Anniversary of Smokey
It was Sept. 26, 50 years ago, that a Tennessee tradition was born at the Vols'
season opener against Mississippi State. While the Maroons won 26-0, a bluetick
coonhound named "Brooks' Blue Smokey" stole the show and there
has been a "Smokey," eight in all, on the Vols' sideline ever since.
Rev. W. C. Brooks and the Hudson family of Knoxville have supplied the Smokeys
over the years and have joined the brothers of Alpha Gamma Rho fraternity
in contributing mightily to the Tennessee tradition. The selection was part
of a campaign by the UT Pep Club to choose a mascot. "This can't be
an ordinary hound," read the publicity flyers the Pep Club put out. "He
must be a 'Houn Dawg' in the best sense."
70th Anniversary of the SEC
When the Vols kicked off the 1933 season, they were involved for the first
time in a new 12-team league called the Southeastern Conference. The Vols'
previous conference affiliations were with the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic
Association (1896-1920) and the Southern Conference (1921-32). The original
members of the SEC were Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Georgia Tech,
Kentucky, Louisiana State, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Tennessee, Tulane,
Vanderbilt, Georgia Tech and Tulane dropped out of the league in 1964 and
1966, respectively, and the conference added South Carolina and Arkansas
in 1991 for all sports except football and in 1992 for football, complete
with a divisional format. The Vols' first SEC game was a 20-0 win over Mississippi
State Oct. 7 in Knoxville and Tennessee has a 281-140-19 (.661) record against
the league and has 13 league championships.
Two New Teams on Vols' Slate; Duke and Mississippi State Return
to Knoxville
The Vols will open the season with back-to-back games against first-time opponents
Fresno State and Marshall, with both games being played in the friendly confines
of Neyland Stadium. Duke comes to Neyland Stadium for the first time since
1993 (a 52-19 Vols win Oct. 2), while Mississippi State heads to Knoxville
for the first time since 1995 (a 52-14 Vols win Sept. 23).
First Appearance at Orange Bowl Since Jan. 1, 1968
When the Vols and Miami square off Nov. 8 at Miami's Orange Bowl, it will mark
the Vols' first appearance in that famed venue since the 1968 Orange Bowl
classic, a 26-24 loss to Oklahoma. The Vols played in the Orange Bowl stadium
twice previously, defeating Oklahoma 17-0 in the 1939 Orange Bowl and losing
to Rice 8-0 in the 1947 New Year's Day game. While the Vols also played in
the Orange Bowl game in January 1998, that game was played up the road a
bit at Pro Player Stadium.
Vols Close Regular Season at Kentucky for First Time Since 1944
The Vols close the regular season at Kentucky for the first time since 1944.
Finishing at Kentucky was a Tennessee tradition in the early years, including
1899, 1911, 1913, 1914, 1915, 1916, 1921, 1922, 1923, 1924, 1927, 1931 and
1935. This year also marks the 30th anniversary of the first time the Vols
and Wildcats squared off at Commonwealth Stadium after many years at Stoll
Field. The Vols won that day 16-14, and own a 13-2 record at Commonwealth.
1943: The Team that Never Was
When Knoxville's O.C. Lloyd was named captain of the 1943 Tennessee squad that
spring, he didn't know that he would never make it to midfield for a coin
toss and that there would not even be a season 60 years ago. With Gen. Neyland
already in Calcutta and things intensifying in Europe and Japan, the call-up
of military personnel, including Lloyd, caused the 1943 season at UT, and
at many other colleges for that matter, to be canceled. Football was resumed
at UT in 1944 on a limited scale and things got back to normal in 1946 when
the war ended.
75th Anniversary of Flaming Sophs and McEver's Run against Alabama
Most observers pinpoint 1928 as the year Tennessee made it into the big time
of college football. The specific date was Oct. 20 as the Vols played heavily
favored Alabama at Tuscaloosa. The Tide was such a prohibitive favorite that
Capt. Neyland, in a neat bit of gamesmanship, went to Alabama coach Wallace
Wade and requested the game be shortened if the Tide garnered a prohibitive
lead. When Gene McEver returned the opening kickoff 98 yards for a score
and the Vols eventually won 15-13, Tennessee became a major player in college
football and has been so ever since. The sophomore class that season, which
included McEver and Bobby Dodd, both members of the College Football Hall
of Fame, became known as the "Flaming Sophs" and were part of Neyland's
first great era at Tennessee (1926-34) in which the Vols were 76-7-5.
