According to Volunteer fans, Rocky Block wasn't even among the top ten most heartbreaking losses for Tennessee over the past two decades. Thats from the excellent SB Nation's website covering all things Vol, Rocky Top Talk where they are counting down the 20 most painful defeats for UT in the past 20 years. They've posted a roundup of 20-11 this week but will have individual posts for the top ten over the next month.
Thus far the Third Saturday in October has come in 20th (1994), 15th (2005) and surprisingly, last season's loss came in 11th. The argument they are offering is that the Vols never led and weren't expecting to win in Tuscaloosa anyway. I can't say I'm convinced of that logic but what I do know is that the bar is set pretty damn high going into the top ten.
about 2 years ago
kleph
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Idiots...
Had they won it sure would be #1 on their top 20 wins over the last 20 years now wouldn’t it?!
well, they have the bad fortune to be vols fans...
but one thing i’m damned sure of – rocky top talk ain’t made up of idiots. they do good analysis and know their football. you might not agree with their assessment, but you better believe they’ll have a good reasons for making it.
and i think it’s important to understand that what is a transcendent win for one side may not be reciprocally felt by the other side. it’s almost impossible for a partisan fan to accurately judge the sentiment on the other side of the fence after a big win.
case in point, the 2008 SECCG. florida overlooked how hard alabama took that loss due to the national championship. their focus going into 2009 was tennessee, not alabama. and they paid for it in the georgia dome.
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Ah.. that is true...
I agree w you. The “idiots” comment shld have been directed towards the typical fanbase that I usually encounter!
You’re right… the folks at Rocky Top Talk do good work, and seem to be pretty good folks.
I just really hate Tenn!
Question: where does the rocky block win rate for us in our 14 wins last season… let alone the last 20 years!? (Meant to be rhetorical!)
Probably not, but it might have been up there. I’d guess the 1995 win over us would be up there too. They do have a BCS championship of course, so there’s some competition.
What you're seeing is team spirit. It's like the Holy Spirit, but more powerful.
-Hank Hill
Last year
when we did our countdown of the Top 50 wins of the Fulmer Era, ’95 Bama was #3 behind only the Florida/FSU wins in our BCS title year.
Good points made by several, here and at our site, on how winning and losing fans perceive things differently. I was in Tuscaloosa for the five overtime game in ‘03, and even I felt a little sympathy for you guys then. But last year, with so much on the line for you guys, I doubt anyone returned the favor. This’ll be an interesting conversation to come back and have when we get to our other two Bama games on the list.
And don’t worry – Bama still has a couple of appearances left on our worst loss countdown in the Top 10.
by Will Shelton on Apr 30, 2010 2:01 PM CDT up reply actions
I can only hope that 1989 is #1.
;-)
It's not what you've done but what you are doing that matters.
And the roses in this grand ol' stadium are once again Crimson. - Eli Gold, CTSN Broadcast of the BCS Championship Game at the Rose Bowl, 1-7-2010
by AlabamaJammer on Apr 30, 2010 2:10 PM CDT up reply actions
1990...
…has to rank top three….
"High standards come from passion within...." --Coach Nick Saban
by NiceLittleSaturday on Apr 30, 2010 3:34 PM CDT up reply actions
1993
The year the tie happened….
"High standards come from passion within...." --Coach Nick Saban
by NiceLittleSaturday on Apr 30, 2010 4:00 PM CDT up reply actions
Well, technically the tie was forefitted so they can claim a win there.
It's not what you've done but what you are doing that matters.
And the roses in this grand ol' stadium are once again Crimson. - Eli Gold, CTSN Broadcast of the BCS Championship Game at the Rose Bowl, 1-7-2010
by AlabamaJammer on Apr 30, 2010 7:32 PM CDT up reply actions
Not even...
…January 1, 1993?
"High standards come from passion within...." --Coach Nick Saban
by NiceLittleSaturday on May 1, 2010 3:09 PM CDT up reply actions
15th (2005)
was 5 years, and what feels like a lifetime ago.
I'm in no condition to drive...wait! I shouldn't listen to myself, I'm drunk.
by That Other Dave on Apr 30, 2010 1:51 PM CDT reply actions
so much has changed since then
"You stay bought into it when you see your opponent sucking air and physically failing and you're still fit and ready and you know you own his ass."- Corey Reamer speaking about Coach Cochran
Actually, the 2005 game and last year were pretty similar: at Bryant Denny, Alabama ranked in the top3 nationally with an incredible defense, Tennessee had the better of the second half, looking good to win late in the game.
The differences: in 2009 UT has a late series of breaks to get back in the game, only to come up short on a blocked kick. In 2005 they’ve worn us down, gashing us with the running game pretty good, and are driving to take the lead late. Then they fumble through the end zone. No problem, right? It’s still tied and we haven’t moved the ball the entire second half. UT might get one more chance, or if not, they still look like a pretty safe bet to win in OT. 1st down, Brodie throws a bomb to DJ Hall putting us on the edge of FG range. OK, they’re getting a little nervous but this should still be OK, right? Shula’s the coach, he’s sure to sit on it and play for the long FG which will inevitably be missed. Only thing is, this is the one season Shula has a kicker that somehow makes every clutch kick all year, though half of them make wounded ducks look graceful. FG is good, 9-6, ball game. A few years later UT gets yet another chance, but the NCAA makes us vacate the win rather than forfeit. UT still doesn’t get the W.
I would have thought the 2005 game would have been harder to take than last years.
loved that 2005 game!
it was my birthday, bamavicki and i were in belize and after the Money kick, i jumped in the pool at the bar where we were watching. FANTABULOUS WIN!
"You have to create 6 seconds of hell each play..."
Coach Nick Saban
that was a hell of a game.....
one of the toughest fought between the 2 sides I have ever seen! That was the one Roman Harper was immortalized for, no? The 2 defenses on that field were something else that day. Could have gone either way.
FYI...
ESPN College Football Live just did a quick special on Alabama’s 2010 schedule facing the 6 bye dates. They noted from ’07 to ’10 Bama will have faced 16 teams coming off byes…. next most? LSU with 5!!!
I’m curious to know what the Rocky Top Talk folks think about it???
They love it....
"High standards come from passion within...." --Coach Nick Saban
by NiceLittleSaturday on Apr 30, 2010 4:17 PM CDT up reply actions
I imagine 1990 would have to be up there...
"Underlying most arguments against the free market is a lack of belief in freedom itself." -- Milton Friedman
by outsidethesidelines on Apr 30, 2010 2:12 PM CDT reply actions
Of course...
Of course, number one probably has to be the 2001 SEC Championship Game. I would hate to fathom they could get more heartbreaking than that.
For them, that game would be the equivalent of us meeting South Carolina in the 2009 SEC Championship Game and getting our asses handed to us on the way to the Cotton Bowl. And then following it up with a decade of decline. Ouch.
"Underlying most arguments against the free market is a lack of belief in freedom itself." -- Milton Friedman
by outsidethesidelines on Apr 30, 2010 2:15 PM CDT reply actions
boom! Roasted.
What you're seeing is team spirit. It's like the Holy Spirit, but more powerful.
-Hank Hill
DAMMIT!
www.RollBamaRoll.com - Our logo has more championships than you
by BamaReturns07 on Apr 30, 2010 3:57 PM CDT up reply actions
man... if you look at the talent on the roster...
there is no reason that 01 vol squad shouldn’t have won the national championship.
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thats what happens when you got
FULMERIZED!
"You stay bought into it when you see your opponent sucking air and physically failing and you're still fit and ready and you know you own his ass."- Corey Reamer speaking about Coach Cochran
There's one very good reason...
…and he’s living in Tuscaloosa now….
"High standards come from passion within...." --Coach Nick Saban
by NiceLittleSaturday on Apr 30, 2010 3:36 PM CDT up reply actions
i remember being in a dive bar in san diego...
and watching this game with some louisiana natives stuck on the west coast. i really wasn’t planning to watch it but it was on we hit this hole of a place because they had a big tv and cheap beer. we idly watched the first half between games of pool but the second half was something else. it kept getting worse and worse for tennessee and we kept getting more and more excited. nobody else in the place really cared about the teams but by the end of it we had that whole place whoopin’ it up. it ended up being one hell of a good time.
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Man Kiffin screwed the UT faithful more than we thought...
Im thinking their hatred for Kiffin has forced them to forget the ’09 season all together.
In these games records dont matter…expectations don’t matter….when you lose at the end like they did…thats something that hurts deep DEEP inside. Kinda like 03 (not sure if the year is correct). 4th and a billion…we let em get the 1st down and UT ends up winning. Regardless of our record or UT’s for that matter…That loss goes down as one of the worst ones I can remember…
So having your most hated rival (who’s#1 at the time) on the ropes and just secs away from ruining their season….just to have your heart yanked out….if thats not a top ten loss then those boys have gone and lost it..
"You stay bought into it when you see your opponent sucking air and physically failing and you're still fit and ready and you know you own his ass."- Corey Reamer speaking about Coach Cochran
well, read his explanation...
putting it at no. 11 isn’t saying the loss didn’t matter. but given the conditions they set, it falls short of other losses where more was at stake and/or the ending seemed assured until a disastrous finish. and, most importantly, our perception of the loss certainly isn’t what defines it for them.
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im not expecting it to be #1 or anything...
of course losing when you have more on the line will cause other loses to mean more…but i still think the fact that Kiffin stabbed them in the back plays at least some part in how they rate this loss.
"You stay bought into it when you see your opponent sucking air and physically failing and you're still fit and ready and you know you own his ass."- Corey Reamer speaking about Coach Cochran
i went back and rewatched the tennessee game last night
and i have to say, i’m much more in agreement with will’s argument about the impact of the loss. tennessee never held the lead and, for most of the contest, didn’t really threaten to. kiffin bellyached after halftime about how they “should be winning” but conveniently overlooked his team’s misfiring in the red zone was matched by our misfiring in the red zone.
every time tennessee seemed to get something going, they kept shooting themselves in the foot with penalties and dumb errors. partly this has to be due to the bama defense but, in retrospect, this is also likely due to a lack of discipline. whatever the reason, it regularly killed any sense of hope on the part of the underdogs. but, probably because it was the third saturday in october, the vols simply never gave up.
the game is already remembered for the final three minutes which followed one of the rarest of rare incidents – an ingram fumble. until that point the endgame seemed set, grind it out on the ground and watch the clock wither away. there was really no reason for a tennessee fan to get their hopes up past the point of “oh my god, maybe we can actually pull this off” into the realm of “we got this.”
the comeback mounted by the vols was certainly inspired and, if they had won, would have gone down as one for the ages (and, almost certainly, would have made the top five of alabama’s “most heartbreaking losses of the last 20 years”). but it was amazing in it’s improbability – and that dampens the sting of the loss significantly.
what this game demonstrates is that an amazing victory isn’t necessarily accompanied by an equivalent loss. there is a rough parallel, yes, but it’s not always exactly symmetrical.
the tennessee game was a watershed for the tide because everything hung completely in the balance on one single play that came about due to an abundance of errors on our part. and it took a heroic effort on the part of the defense to come up with the block that saved the season. in this respect, rocky block, completely defined our season but the loss was just one of many disappointments to tennessee over the course of a difficult campaign (capped with the context of kiffin bolting on them).
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it's also worth noting that even after all that...
it’s still at number 11 out of 240-some-odd games.
Roll 'Bama Roll: The Champagne of 'Bama Blogs.
That explosion of noise when the kick gets blocked is awesome
I was in the stadium for it and that’s pretty much what it sounded like – an explosion………I was also in the stadium for the only other cheer that ever reached that level of noise…………Langham’s pick six in the 92 SEC Championship game was the loudest thing I had ever heard at that time……….I was in Legion Field in the upper deck on the opposite side of the field from the play and the upper deck itself was shaking and LITERALLY swaying back and forth like a damn jungle gym………it was insane………and Maximum Block may have been louder……..
i love that video also
because you do get a sense of how bonkers that place went. can’t really tell that from the cbs broadcast. i also love the 2 chubby guys on the track hugging.
by EZ on Apr 30, 2010 4:43 PM CDT up reply actions
as i posted before...
kiffin’s dead sprint off the field is what put it completely over the top for me.
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Great video.
If you look back you see so many Bama-UT games that were heart breakers both ways. In the 1990 game I think UT was favored by 15 pts. or more and they had been just killing people. The week before they had beaten UF 45-3!! They were ranked #3, undefeated (but with a tie.) To lose to a 2-3 Alabama team who had already lost to UF was a huge upset. And it was in K-ville to boot.
If isn’t on their list yet I think the 1995 UF game where they lost 62-37 will be up there. It was their only loss that year and it cost them everything.
I hate the NCAA more than UT & AU combined. At least with UT & AU you got a fighting chance.
2005 was a fantastic year.
It was my first year at Bama (for Grad school) and the first game I went to was the Southern Miss game (aka “The Catch”). The second game I went to, I dropped $125 on a ticket to the Tennessee game. It was worth every penny.
Does anyone else hate...
…the border option around YouTubes? Just looks weird….
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Eh, not that big a deal to me
especially if your full-screening it
by billycthulhu on Apr 30, 2010 11:47 PM CDT up reply actions
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