Tennessee football: 10 Vols games vs. South Carolina that dramatically altered history
3. 2008 – South Carolina: 27 Tennessee: 6
The tragic end of an era happened here. Steve Spurrier had the South Carolina Gamecocks playing solid as a program. But Tennessee football was in serious trouble with Phillip Fulmer at the helm, and his time had almost run out.
This game’s events were actually tied to the 2005 game. Remember the significance of Randy Sanders’s resignation in 2005? Well it brought in David Cutcliffe, and Cutcliffe left to take another head coaching job with the Duke Blue Devils in 2008. So Fulmer brought in Dave Clawson as offensive coordinator.
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It was a disaster. Clawson is actually a good coach, but his offense is very complex and takes years to get going. As a result, the Vols’ offense was a disaster this year, just like 2005. It may have even been worse. The departure of Erik Ainge made it worse, as Jonathan Crompton and Nick Stephens both looked horrible running the offense.
Heading into this match-up, the Vols were 3-5. Fulmer’s seat was hotter than ever. However, their season closed out with the Wyoming Cowboys, Vanderbilt Commodores and Kentucky Wildcats. And with a good recruiting class on the horizon for 2009, they had a chance to turn things around. A win at South Carolina would be huge toward doing that.
It didn’t happen. At 5-3, South Carolina was looking for a strong finish to the year. And they flat-out overwhelmed this horrible Tennessee football offense, winning in a blowout 27-6. The result was Mike Hamilton firing Fulmer the following Monday. There was no coming back from that loss.
If the Vols had won this game, things might have been different. They certainly wouldn’t have lost to Wyoming the next week, so they would have finished 7-5, and they maybe could have won a bowl game. At 8-5, Fulmer stays on and keeps things going with a good recruiting class. But with the loss, the Vols made the decision to fire him, and a series of disastrous decisions sent them down a destructive path.