by design | Oct 9, 2023 | Columnist, Mattingly
‘I feel confident we are now building a good program’ By Tom Mattingly You may not remember it, but there was once a 9-3 Tennessee team that was not ranked by The Associated Press (AP) during the entire season. (In a major contradiction, the Vols did finish No. 17 in...
by design | Oct 2, 2023 | Columnist, Mattingly
By Tom Mattingly Here’s another important question for your consideration. Does it matter which side of the field your team stands on? If your team’s bench is on the east side, your team is in the sun, regardless of the time of year. If your team is on the west, or...
by design | Sep 25, 2023 | Columnist, Mattingly
Keeping fans breathless until the game ended By Tom Mattingly There were 53 tie games across the history of the Tennessee football program. The tie game went out of fashion after the 1995 football season. In 1955, Bowden Wyatt’s first season, Tennessee and Georgia...
by design | Sep 18, 2023 | Columnist, Mattingly
Going from ‘them’ to ‘us’ By Tom Mattingly Here’s an interesting question for all the armchair historians out there. Name an opposing quarterback who helped upset Tennessee in a bowl game and later became a Vol assistant coach. The quarterback in question is Bob...
by design | Sep 11, 2023 | Columnist, Mattingly
The way things appeared 19 years ago this month By Tom Mattingly AUTHOR’S PREFACE: Last Monday morning (Sept. 4) and into most of Tuesday (Sept. 5), the announcement of the new Smokey Grey uniforms honoring former Vol quarterback Condredge Holloway dominated our...
by design | Sep 5, 2023 | Columnist, Mattingly
‘He wanted to report the games and the people involved’ By Tom Mattingly During Ben Byrd’s career at the Knoxville Journal and in his other published works, there were precious few wasted words. He made his point clearly and moved on. He was a tenacious defender of...