Back to the Future Day: If a 1985 Tennessee Vols Fan Traveled to Today

By Caleb Calhoun | Oct 21, 2015

In Back to the Future Part II, the characters travel from Oct. 26, 1985 to Oct. 21, 2015. What would happen if a 1985 Tennessee Volunteers fan traveled to today?

It’s Oct. 26, 1985. You are a hardcore Tennessee Vols fan. Your team has a night game at home scheduled on ESPN against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets that day.

But first you evaluate the state of the program.

Head coach Johnny Majors is in his ninth season on the job, and quite honestly, he has been a disappointment so far.

Majors has had no Top 25 finishes, two losing seasons, three non-winning seasons overall, and no championships. Your team hasn’t had an SEC Championship since 1969, 16 years.

But this year was different. After tying No. 10 UCLA in the opener, thumping No. 1 Auburn the next week, and coming off of a 16-14 win over Alabama the week before, your fourth straight in the series, your team is in prime position to compete for an SEC title at 3-1-1 and ranked No. 16 in the country. The only problem is Heisman Trophy winner Tony Robinson has just been lost for the year, and your backup quarterback Daryl Dickey will have to lead the Vols the rest of the way.

At this point, it seems the program is cursed. So what do you do? You contact the Doc. You get in the DeLorean and travel to Oct. 21, 2015.

And ironically, you find nothing different about Tennessee football.

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The Vols fans are still frustrated. They have Alabama this week. But they are 3-3 after high expectations to start the year. They have a third-year head coach in Butch Jones and have not had a Top 25 finish in eight years.

Worse, while the Vols had a 16-year SEC title drought in 1985, they are in the midst of a 17-year SEC Title drought.

And you find out that Alabama is in the midst of an eight-game winning streak over your team. But there is even something crazier. You find out Tennessee is in the midst of an 11-game losing streak to the Florida Gators.

“Wait, we play Florida every year?” You ask.

“Yes,” a Vols fan in the future says to you. “Not only do we play them every year, they become our most hated team.”

This is shocking to you. Florida surpasses Alabama as the biggest game for the Vols? At that point, you do some research and learn that the Gators became a national power beginning in 1990 under Steve Spurrier.

You: The quarterback from Tennessee who won the Heisman at Florida in the 1960s?

VF: Yep.

You realize the SEC split into two divisions in 1992 by adding Arkansas and South Carolina.

But that’s not the only thing you learn about this year. You find out Tennessee lost to Oklahoma in overtime earlier this year.

You: Overtime? There are no more ties in college football?

VF: Nope. That ended in 1996. Now, each team gets a possession on their opponents’ 25-yard line, and whoever has the most points after both teams had a chance wins. If it’s tied, they play on.

But let’s go back to the state of the program for a minute. So Tennessee is 3-3, unranked, and in the midst of the worst stretch in the program’s history.

You would have thought the same thing about your Vols before the 1985 season. But what you did not realize is the year you came from would launch one of the most glorious eras in Tennessee football history between now and the time before that year.

Out of curiosity, the first thing you realize is that there are a lot of shirts advertising the 1998 national championship.

You: We won the national title in 1998?

VF: Yep.

You: So Johnny Majors came through finally.

VF: Actually, not really. Majors was forced out midway through the 1992 season, replaced by offensive coordinator Phillip Fulmer.

You: Wait, our offensive line coach? The guy who played o-line in the early 1970s? He becomes head coach?

At this point, you do some more research and realize Fulmer had taken over for Majors in 1992 when he was in the hospital and made a lasting impression with some early season success. Then you realize that Fulmer had a 16-year career with two SEC titles and a national title, and he also had a winning record against Alabama.

Even crazier, he got the Tide in trouble through the Albert Means scandal, and you realize that Alabama fans hate Tennessee even more, despite their recent winning streak against the Vols.

But then you realize he was forced out after a 5-7 2008 campaign, and you learn about the Lane Kiffin stint before Derek Dooley comes on.

You: Dooley? The son of Vince Dooley?

VF: Yep. And he was a protege of Nick Saban, whom you will learn is another successful Alabama coach that has reached Bear Bryant’s status with the program.

But of course, you realize that Dooley was a failure.

Still, you go back, and you learn that in 1985 Tennessee would go on to win the SEC title and stun Miami in the Sugar Bowl. You would learn that they would go onto win four more SEC titles in 1989, 1990, 1997, and 1998 along with the national title.

After all of this, you look at Vols in the professional ranks. You learn about the Reggie Whites, the Al Wilsons, the Peerless Prices. But one jersey sticks out to you.

Peyton Manning.

You: Is that Archie Manning’s kid?

VF: Yep.

You: The Ole Miss legend?

VF: Yep. His son committed to Tennessee and is now widely regarded as one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time.

The you learn about the legend of Manning and then his brother Eli Manning going back to Ole Miss.

Speaking of professional legends, you also learn that the Ernie and Bernie show is revered as part of Tennessee history in basketball now, which brings you to that sport.

You learn about CJ Watson, Chris Lofton, and the success of the basketball program under this guy named Bruce Pearl.

You: We were No. 1 in basketball at one point? And we made the Elite Eight?

VF: Yep. It happened under Bruce Pearl.

You: Where is he now?

VF: He’s at Auburn. Pearl was fired for a very minor recruiting violation that is no longer even a violation.

At this point, you realize that nothing has changed about Tennessee basketball. Remembering that Ray Mears was forced into retirement due to illness, the fact that the men’s program is cursed remains true.

But moving over to women’s basketball, this odd phenomenon in the mid-1980s, you learn something new. And Pat Summitt memorabilia comes up.

You: She coaches the women’s basketball program now. The sport is now part of the NCAA, and while the Vols have no national titles, they’ve made the Sweet Sixteen all four years, two Final Fours, and one title game.

VF: It gets way better.

You: What do you mean?

At this point, you research women’s basketball and realize Tennessee becomes the epicenter for the sport, with Summitt becoming one of the most legendary coaches in any sport. Then you read about the tragedy of her illness forcing her into retirement while Geno Auriemma takes UCONN to even further heights, but not before she won eight national titles and produced superstars such as Candace Parker and Chamique Holdsclaw.

And then they went on to be stars in…the WNBA? There’s a WNBA?

Anyway, at this point, you have seen enough. You learn everything you need to know and head back to 1985.

That night, Tennessee ties Georgia Tech 6-6.

But no matter. You realize you are in for 25 years of the greatest sports run in the school’s history, and it will start with the rest of that football season, leaving a lot to be excited about.

However, you also know it will come crashing down during the 2010s. Still, that’s 25 years of fun. To you in 1985…get ready.

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