All for Tennessee
Fansided

Where Tennessee baseball’s 2022 season ranks among all-time Vols choke jobs

By Caleb Calhoun

The Tennessee dugout after their loss to Notre Dame in the NCAA baseball Super Regional championship game in Knoxville, Tenn. on Sunday, June 12, 2022.Kns Ut Baseball Notre Dame
The Tennessee dugout after their loss to Notre Dame in the NCAA baseball Super Regional championship game in Knoxville, Tenn. on Sunday, June 12, 2022.Kns Ut Baseball Notre Dame /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
7 of 10
Next
Albert Haynesworth (92) and Donte’ Stallworth (4) agonize over Tennessee’s 31-20 loss to LSU in the SEC Championship game in Atlanta Dec. 8, 2001.120801 Ut
Albert Haynesworth (92) and Donte’ Stallworth (4) agonize over Tennessee’s 31-20 loss to LSU in the SEC Championship game in Atlanta Dec. 8, 2001.120801 Ut /

4. 2001 Tennessee football

It’s hard to overstate just how wide a range of emotions Tennessee football fans felt in a week’s time back in December of 2001. The Vols faced the Florida Gators on Dec. 1 in what turned out to be Steve Spurrier’s final home game. This was a makeup game from September, as it was cancelled originally due to Sept. 11.

A watershed moment for the rivalry that dominated the 1990s, UT and Florida were both 9-1 and in the top five. The winner would play for the SEC Championship and have a shot at the national championship. The Vols won, arguably their greatest road win in school history, beating UF in The Swamp for the first time in 30 years as 18-point underdogs.

They were No. 2 and just had to beat a three-loss LSU Tigers team in the SEC Championship to play for the title. LSU, led by this guy named Nick Saban, had already lost to the Vols earlier in the year, and the SEC West was highly mediocre at the time. The Vols built a 17-7 lead in the title game, and LSU then lost its quarterback, Rohan Davey, and its running back, LaBrandon Toefield.

Enter an unknown guy named Matt Mauck at quarterback. Mauck ran it down the throats of the best interior defensive line in history and took over the game. Compound that with second-half fumbles by Travis Stephens and Donte Stallworth and the Vols suffered a shocking loss.

Rocky Top fell 31-20 and has never gotten close to sniffing the national title since. It was a loss that signaled the turning points of two programs, Tennessee and LSU. That’s more significant than anything related to Tennessee baseball’s 2022 season. This is the worst loss in school history.

Home/Vols Baseball