University of Tennessee Athletics
Inside The T Mailbag: Loving A Rivalry
October 23, 2014 | Football
Each week, UTSports.com's Brian Rice answers questions from Vol fans on a variety of tops in and around Tennessee athletics. Send yours to him on Twitter: @briancrice. On to this week's mailbag:
Steven: What is your excitement level for Alabama week? Where do you stand on the rivalry?
My excitement level is off the charts. As a child of the 1990's, this was always the game I looked most forward to and saw as our biggest rival.
The Florida series became more important as the years went in because it was for SEC East supremacy, but Alabama always felt different. Florida games were always early in the season and had their own story lines, whether it was the teams being undefeated, Fulmer/Spurrier, Manning/Wuerffel, the Leak family, fumbles, dropped passes, etc., it was always something. Part of that was because the series didn't have a lot of history until the 90's.
Alabama was and still is different. The rivalry has a name, and is actually on its second. Once known as "Dixie's Great Football War," it is still the "Third Saturday in October," no matter what week on the calendar it actually falls. It has a legacy that dates back to 1901 and has been played every year since 1928.
The biggest difference to me that makes this THE rivalry is that if you ask any fan over the age of 40 if they have an Alabama memory, one comes forth right away. This game means so much to every Vol fan, because they've seen and felt it every year. General Neyland often said that a player was still a freshman until they had played an Alabama game.
John Majors and Phillip Fulmer were both brought up on the rivalry as players and were famous for wins against the Crimson Tide as coaches. Majors, for snapping an 11-game Alabama winning streak over Tennessee with a 35-28 win over the second-ranked Tide in 1982, in the final game Bear Bryant coached in the rivalry. Fulmer broke a nine-game winless streak against Alabama in 1995 (though the 1993 tie later became a win because of Alabama misdeeds) when Peyton Manning hit Joey Kent on the first play of the game and released years of fan angst in a seven-game UT streak over UA from 1995-01.
I could write about this rivalry and this game literally all day. In summary, Go Vols.
Dan: Are the Vols going to wear Smokey Gray this year? Why has the team gone all-white on the road? Love the orange pants.
The gray uniform remains an option, but it's a little tougher to work into the rotation in even years, because the team plays its traditional rivals, Florida and Alabama at home, and those are games that orange is in order. He's never said it in so many words, but I get the feeling that, under Butch Jones, those two games will always have a traditional look. UT wore all-orange against Alabama several times in the 1970s and 80s, most recently in 1988, so I'm including that in my "traditional" comment. I have no idea what combo we will wear Saturday, but I feel pretty confident it will be one of those.
Obviously, we haven't worn Smokey Gray yet. Traditional is usually the look you want to go for in the season opener and on homecoming. This year, that leaves Arkansas State, Missouri and Kentucky. It didn't come out for ASU, so then you're left with Mizzou and UK. IF you see Smokey Gray this year, my guess would be Missouri, but that's only a guess.
As far as the road uniform, Jones lets the player staff have input on what is worn every week and they've favored the all-white on the road this season. I'm a longtime fan of the orange pants, but every time I see the all-white uniform, I'm just struck by how clean it looks. It's a uniform that would have been sharp 40 years ago, yet it still feels modern. I would be willing to bet that they'll change it up and wear orange pants at Carolina or Vanderbilt.
Karen: Is Chelsea Blaase the best Tennessee cross country runner ever?
I think it's a little early to anoint a junior as the best ever, but I can't find a better start to a season than we have seen out of Blaase in 2014.
The St. Joseph, Illinois native won her first race of the season last weekend behind a career-best, 5K time of 16:37.66 at the Harry Pritchett Running Course in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. That course will host the 2014 SEC Cross Country Championships later this month. In her three prior races this season, Blaase finished second in each.
She has now finished inside the top 10 of each of her last seven competitions dating back to last season. And has twice won SEC Women's Runner of the Week this season.
Ethan: Who had the best Smokey drawing at basketball media days?
Define "best."
All four players and both coaches over the two days in Charlotte were asked to draw Smokey on a marker board for an SEC feature. There were mixed results. Bashaara Graves and Isabelle Harrison turned in decent efforts, Holly Warlick and Donnie Tyndall are better suited for their current careers.
My award goes to Josh Richardson, because between the picture and his comment, I could not stop laughing:
They asked @J_Rich1 to draw @UTSmokey_00. "He's hungry," he said. pic.twitter.com/W7JXeOXSXE
— Brian Rice (@briancrice) October 22, 2014
Miche: Looking at #SECTipoff15 pics, how many times did Holly have to fold Izzy and Bash to get them to fit in that plane?
The UT charter plane is nice and fairly spacious once you're seated. But getting to the seats is a little tough for people of size. Your humble 5'9 author was put in the jump seat in the back, next to the cargo hold. Our box of Chick-Fil-A breakfast was in the cargo right next to me, which made my seat basically first class.
Terry: Not hearing Coach Tyndall talk about Robert Hubbs III. Surprising since he is a 5-star Coach worked hard to keep. Any info?
Hubbs was held out of contact for much of the offseason to continue rehabbing the shoulder that kept him out for much of last season.
Being limited has forced him to be very patient in preparation for the start of the 2014 season. Because his work in full-team situations was limited, so has been Tyndall's praise for him.
Hubbs spoke to the media on Monday before UT's practice and talked about how excited he is for Friday night's Big Orange Madness at Thompson-Boling and for the exhibition opener against Pikeville on Nov. 3.
He will definitely play a huge role for this team this fall, but like Hubbs has had to be with himself, you may have to be patient to see it. I would expect him to get more and more comfortable as the season goes on.
