Game Review: Kentucky v Tennessee November 27, 2010

Tennessee needed a miracle to extend their three game winning streak into a post-season bowl invitation. Miracles, however, are the terrain of gullible children reading their first fairy tales. Tennessee gave itself a gift better than any miracle. Their unflinching grit, gumption, and guts against the circumstances that placed them in a 2-6 start make a better story than anything out of Mother Goose.

They endured three coaching changes in as many years-- not that that directly affected a team attritioned to mostly true freshman and sophomores. Many were Kiffin's recruits, comitted to him days before he fled cloak-and-dagger style to the false allure of the West Coast. They slowly beganto trust a whole new staff, in many ways as young and inexperienced as them. They heard the whispered criticisms mocking them as the least talented squad in the SEC. They survived a pounding by the eventual #1 team in the nation in only their first contest against an FBS oponnent. They learned the hard way giving up never wins games. They also learned any mistake, however small, can strip your most prized victory from you. They came to trust every home week they'd have 100k+ fans cheering them on every down. They perservered through one straight month of Top Ten opponents, challenging themselves to keep the pride the bearers of Orange deserve. And, slowly as respect for the program had been lost, they gained it back, culminating in a victory during the most important Vol game of this young century.

This team could have been the Shame of the Southland. If they gave up on themselves when the rest of the country did, they could have broken the longest active win streak against one team in the nation. They could have left Michigan as the sole remaining program to never have lost more than five games in a season. They could have spent the holiday season alone, licking their wounds, and causing woes among the fanbase-- next year in Jerusalem.

Instead, they followed Dooley's inspirational leadership straight into the post-season. We will never know how deep their pain, how great their sacrifice, or how intense thier dedication over the course of this emotional season. We can only thank them by continuing to support our players.

That's not to promise any championships next year. Remember, we rejected miracle elixirs and deals with Lucifer. There will still be growing pains. But our boys have refused to be the Lost, tilled a hopeless season into the fertile ground of promise, and earned the right to our fervid support for better or worse, in sickness and in health, as long as Rocky Top is home sweet home.