Ranking Tennessee football seasons with 4th-year starting QB

2. 2003 – Casey Clausen

10-3 (6-2); Peach Bowl; No. 15 AP; No. 16 Coaches

Although the 2007 team played for the SEC Championship and the 2003 team didn’t, the 2003 team was better. Tennessee football simply benefitted from an easy SEC West schedule in 2007 and no clear powerhouse standouts in the East that year. Casey Clausen was the starter this year, a role he had held since facing the Alabama Crimson Tide as a frehman in 2000.

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Heading into the season, the Vols were looking to rebound from an 8-5 season in which the injury bug bit. Casey Clausen was entering his senior year, and despite great pass protection, he had to carry an offense with no running game, and he had no receivers.

Things started off red-hot. With no help in the passing game, Clausen’s completion percentage dropped, but he was productive, and he got the Vols to 4-0 and in the top 10, highlighted by a 24-10 victory over the South Carolina Gamecocks.

However, with no running game, UT lost 28-21 at the Auburn Tigers, failing in a near-spectacular comeback. Then they lost 41-14 to the Georgia Bulldogs, highlighted by a fumble at the goal line that UGA returned 100 yards the other way at he end of the first half to turn what could have been a 14-13 lead for the Vols into a 20-7 deficit. That play wrecked their momentum.

After a bye, though, Clausen had the team regroup. With no help from anybody else, he willed the offense to a five-overtime win at Alabama. Then he won an ugly came against the Duke Blue Devils before the highlight of the season.

UT the next week shocked the No. 6 ranked Miami Hurricanes for their first home loss in four years 10-6. That win is why this season is better than the 2007 season, as the Vols lost their tough non-conference game that year, which is why they finished 9-3 in the regular season.

With November in full swing, the Vols dominated the Mississippi State Bulldogs and Vanderbilt Commodores, and they finished things off by beating the Kentucky Wildcats to get to 10-2. However, there was a three-way tie with them, the Florida Gators and the Georgia Bulldogs in the East, and Georgia arbitrarily got the nod.

To make matters worse, Tennessee football was stuck playing the unranked Clemson Tigers in the Peach Bowl despite being 10-2 and ranked No. 6. They blew a chance at a top five finish by losing the Peach Bowl in depressing fashion. It was not the way for Clausen to end his career. However, he still won 10 games and had some memorable wins.