by Tom Mattingly | May 24, 2021 | Columnist, Mattingly
By Tom Mattingly No Vol fan woke up in a good humor the morning of Sunday, Sept. 28, 1958, after the season opener at Legion Field in Birmingham, AL. The day before, Sept. 27, will long live-in infamy in the history of Tennessee football. The Vols are likely to be in...
by Tom Mattingly | May 16, 2021 | Columnist, Mattingly, Stories In This Week's Focus:
By Tom Mattingly When the Football Writers Association of America selected a Quarter Century All-SEC team for the years 1950-74 in December 1975, the only unanimous selection was Douglas Leon Atkins of Humboldt, Tenn., a legendary Vol from the years 1950 -52....
by Tom Mattingly | May 10, 2021 | Columnist, Mattingly
By Tom Mattingly Before the 1972 season, night games were not part of the Tennessee football experience. There were no lights at Shields-Watkins Field/Neyland Stadium, and the Vols played sparingly under the lights on the road or in bowl games. There were night...
by Tom Mattingly | May 2, 2021 | Columnist, Mattingly, Stories In This Week's Focus:
By Tom Mattingly There are times the game-by-game scores in the Tennessee Football Media Guide, pp. 280- 296 in the 1919 version, are just a mind-numbing array of numbers, stretching from that first game in 1891, Sewanee 24, Tennessee 0, through the more recent years....
by Tom Mattingly | Apr 26, 2021 | Columnist, Mattingly
By Tom Mattingly A great many interesting things go on in the visiting team’s locker room area after the game is over. Tennessee fans see visiting teams trot onto the field to a scattered chorus of boos, but that’s just part of the story. There’s drama underneath the...