All for Tennessee
Fansided

Tennessee football’s five worst years with senior QB

By Caleb Calhoun

KNOXVILLE, TN - OCTOBER 08: Quarterback Rick Clausen #16 of the Tennessee Volunteers throws a pass during a game against the Georgia Bulldogs on October 8, 2005 at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tennessee. The Bulldogs defeated the Vols 27-14. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)
KNOXVILLE, TN - OCTOBER 08: Quarterback Rick Clausen #16 of the Tennessee Volunteers throws a pass during a game against the Georgia Bulldogs on October 8, 2005 at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tennessee. The Bulldogs defeated the Vols 27-14. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
4 of 6
Next
Tennessee football
Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images /

3. 1976

Randy Wallace

6-5 (2-4)

*No postseason

After taking over for Condredge Holloway in 1975, Randy Wallace did his best for Tennessee football. However, he did not have Holloway’s magic, so he was not able to stop the inevitable slide of the program into irrelevance under Bill Battle. That year, the Vols went 7-5 and missed a bowl game. Entering his senior year, though, things were only going to get worse.

UT started things off okay, ranked No. 20 and beating the No. 14 ranked Maryland Terrapins. That got them into the top 10, and a 34-28 loss to the No. 12 ranked UCLA Bruins still kept them in the top 20. After getting to 3-1, they remained there, but a 30-7 loss to the No. 6 ranked Alabama Crimson Tide knocked them out of the rankings.

A week later, though, Battle had the lost that likely ended his career, as the Vols lost to North Texas State at home in an upset 21-14. They lost at the Ole Miss Rebels and at home to the Vanderbilt Commodores down the stretch of the season to finish 6-5, so the program had fallen apart after the Holloway years, which is why Johnny Majors replaced Battle the next year.

Wallace completed 52.3 percent of his passes for 1,046 yards, four touchdowns and six interceptions, and he ran for another 249 yards and three touchdowns. So he was productive, but this team was not a good team, and it was a bad season, beginning a very dark stretch for the program that Majors had to rebuild.

Home/Vols Football