University of Tennessee Athletics
Inside The T -- Big Game Neyland
September 11, 2015 | Football
By Brian Rice
UTSports.com
A week ago, I got a little silly in this space with "The Night Before Volsmas."
No such silliness this week. Where last week was a fun celebration of the opener, the tone all around town this week has been very business-like in preparation for the meeting with Oklahoma.
To say excitement around the game is unprecedented would be incorrect, this is far from Neyland Stadium's first "big" game, but this week serves as a reminder of what things are like on campus when football is at its best. Tennessee fans have been starved for success, there's no doubt about it.
The preseason hype and expectations provided a good look at what the menu of success may look like. Last week's opener against Bowling Green was an appetizer of sorts, with the main course still to come. This week begins the main course.
It reminds me of another Neyland Stadium opener against California in 2006. The Volunteers entered after a 5-6 season in 2005 looking as if they had something to prove. The Vols were ranked No. 23, just as they are this week, against the ninth-ranked Bears. Tennessee jumped out to a 14-0 halftime lead on a day that had Neyland rocking from start to finish.
Halftime had a nervous energy in the stadium, fans happy about what they had seen so far, but still uneasy about what the second half would hold against a team with future NFL players all over the field.
The concerns proved to be unfounded. Before many fans returned to their seats from the restroom, Erik Ainge hit Robert Meachem for an 80-yard touchdown. Less than four minutes later, Ainge found Jayson Swain for a 51-yard score. A short punt and return later, Montario Hardesty went 43 yards for another TD. The Vols led the Bears 35-0 and I can only think of a handful of times that Neyland Stadium has been that loud.
Fans in 2006, myself included, were hungry for success after a lean year. Until last Saturday, the last time Tennessee won a game as a ranked team was Jan. 1, 2008, an Outback Bowl victory over Wisconsin. With what we as fans have experienced since then, we're not just hungry, we're starving.
That is what made wins over South Carolina the last two years so special. That's why we celebrated a dominating win over Iowa in the TaxSlayer Bowl the way we did. We needed that.
But now, the story has changed, he narrative is different. This is not a program that has ever been satisfied with a big win here or there. This is a program that demands excellence, and that is why the excitement is palpable in the air.
During training camp, I made an appearance on an afternoon drive radio show in Gainesvile, Florida hosted by my good friend Adam Schick to talk about the Vols and the expectations. One question he asked really stuck with me. Why is this season different than 2012, when UT was ranked for a nationally-televised game with the Gators.
My answer was simple, and it starts with Butch Jones and the culture he has built. There was hype around that 2012 game after a win over North Carolina State that showed off a high-powered offense. But that team had never had to respond to adversity. A year earlier, any time adversity presented itself, UT hadn't passed the test. When Florida presented adversity, the game crumbled out of the Tennessee's grasp. Three months later, Jones was hired as head coach.
"We were sick," Jones told Bleacher Report's Barrett Sallee of the culture when he too over in an interview on Thursday. "We were ill."
It was a slow recovery, because that is the nature of changing a culture. That is why this year is different. This team was punched several times last year and proved, particularly late in the season, to be able to respond to those moments of adversity. They found plenty of adversity in Nashville last week. They responded in a big way.
And that is how this week and this team are different. Neyland Stadium hosts a big game once again on Saturday. We'll see you there.
Brian Rice is the writer for UTSports.com. You can try to stir him from football bliss on Twitter @briancrice or by email at UTSportsMailbag@gmail.com.
