How Tennessee football QBs who won starting job midseason performed the next year
Junior. 9. Pick Analysis. Randy Wallace. player. 839. Scouting Report. 1975
72-of-145; 1,318 yards; 8 TDs, 11 INTs; 132 carries for 211 yards; 3 rush TDs
Because of injuries to Condredge Holloway, Randy Wallace came in a decent bit during Holloway’s senior season with Tennessee football in 1974. Most notably, Wallace came in and threw a game-winning touchdown pass to Larry Seivers in the Liberty Bowl as the Vols beat the Maryland Terrapins 7-3 that day.
Nobody knew it at the time, but it would be UT’s last bowl appearance until 1979 and last bowl win until 1981. The Vols entered 1975 with high expectations under Wallace, ranked No. 20 and coming off a 7-3-2 season. They beat the Terps again, who were ranked No. 14 at the time, 26-8 and lived up to that excitement.
This got them into the top 10. However, a program slide that Holloway was merely delaying and Bill Battle could not stop was too much to overcome. A week later, UT lost to the No. 12 ranked UCLA Bruins. That didn’t seem like a big deal, as they still beat the Auburn Tigers and LSU Tigers.
After that, the offense sputtered under Wallace. Rocky Top lost 30-7 to the Alabama Crimson Tide and then suffered one of its worse losses ever, 21-14, to the North Texas State Mean Green. The inconsistent offense led to losses to the Ole Miss Rebels and Vanderbilt Commodores as well, and UT finished the year 7-5, missing its first bowl since 1964.