by design | Apr 13, 2026 | Columnist, Mattingly
By Tom Mattingly Here’s the question for today. If “The Stop” against LSU in 1959 is the greatest defensive play in Tennessee history, what play comes in second? Here’s one man’s opinion of such game-changing defensive plays, starting with s second look at “The...
by design | Apr 6, 2026 | Columnist, Mattingly
By Tom Mattingly There are times that someone posts something on the internet that just cries out for historic perspective. One thing is certain. You talk about “retiring numbers,” and you get all kinds of reasons to do so… or not do so. You also get an occasional...
by design | Mar 30, 2026 | Columnist, Mattingly
By Tom Mattingly When you think about it, trains have been involved in several memorable moments in the history of Tennessee football, way before the 1972 game at Georgia when Vol fans rode a chartered train from Atlanta to Athens. Three of us—Doug Jones, Jim Gentry,...
by design | Mar 23, 2026 | Columnist, Mattingly
By Tom Mattingly For many years, News-Sentinel Sports Editor Tom Siler carried on a running battle with the UT Athletic Department leadership concerning kickoff times for Tennessee home football games. This came in the days when Ayres Hall and the Krystal on...
by design | Mar 16, 2026 | Columnist, Mattingly
By Tom Mattingly “Tennessee Football… from corner to corner” was published in the preseason of 1966. Head coach Doug Dickey and captains Austin Denney and Paul Naumoff adorned the magazine’s cover. The cover raised the possibility of a trip to Miami during bowl...
by design | Mar 9, 2026 | Columnist, Mattingly
By Tom Mattingly There are times the game-by-game scores in the Tennessee Football Record Book are just a mind-numbing array of numbers, assembled neatly over the years, stretching from that first game in 1891 through the recent years. No one has quite had the...
