A miserably cold and rainy day at Dudley Field in Nashville

By Tom Mattingly

Here’s a moment in Tennessee football history that deserves another look. It was a tie game that helped the Vols escape a loss to their mid-state rivals.

The “experts” say tie games are not memorable, to the point that the powers-that-be at the NCAA abolished the tie as a legitimate ending to a game in 1996. As was the case with the NFL, the game is awarded to the last man standing. The pros have overtime, so someone, we know not who, decreed that the college game would also be better off having it. That is a matter for serious debate.

Vol fans remember overtime from a 6-extra period affair against Arkansas in 2002 (Tennessee winning 41-38), a 5-overtime deal at Alabama in 2003 (the Vols winning 51-43), and a 4-extra period tussle at Kentucky in 2007 (the Vols winning 52-50).

In many cases throughout collegiate football history, ties often seemed a better alternative. In Tennessee’s case, for example, consider the 1964 LSU game (3-3), the 1965 Auburn (13-13) and Alabama (7-7) games, and the 1968 Georgia game (17-17). Or, conversely, fans could reflect on the 1985 UCLA game (26-26) or the 1990 Auburn game (also 26-26). What ties give, they also take away.

The Vanderbilt-Tennessee game, played in Nashville on Nov. 30, 1974, was one such occurrence, depending on your team loyalties. Neither side has forgotten this one.

Tennessee and Vanderbilt fought their way to a 21-21 tie on a miserably cold and rainy day at Dudley Field in Nashville, much as you’d expect from a late November contest. These were the days when the Vols actually played games in the early part of the afternoon.

With the stadium’s artificial turf covered with precipitation and the stadium lights beaming at full power, the two teams went at it hot and heavy.

Early in the game, Vol quarterback Condredge Holloway hit an 81-yard pass to tight end Tommy West. This play is still the longest non-scoring pass in Tennessee history. The ensuing touchdown gave the Vols an early 6-0 lead.

Vandy, however, recovered from the early deficit, dominated the game, and led well into the final minutes. Just when you thought the Commodores, leading 21-13, had the game in hand, punter Barry Burton dropped a punt snap, and, in the scramble for the elusive pigskin, the Vols got it at the Vandy 12. Stanley Morgan scored seconds later, and the Vols were faced with a do-or-die two-point conversion to tie the game.

The two-pointer came on a pass under the goal post at the north end from Holloway to All-American end Larry Seivers, the wide receiver from Clinton who could catch anything he could touch. You have to see the game videotape to make an informed judgment.

The question remains: Did he catch it? After all, he touched it.

Here’s what Marvin West wrote in “Legends of the Tennessee Vols:” “Holloway threw the two-pointer, and Seivers went high for the ball in the back of the end zone. Maybe he caught it. Maybe he didn’t. The back judge threw up his hands to signal success. Tie game! Vanderbilters threw up their arms, too. In protest. In amazement. In a plea, as in Heaven help us.”

This was a classic Tennessee and Vanderbilt contest, a “rivalry” game in which all kinds of weird things have happened over the years. Many defy rational explanation. More often than not, the tide of events has turned Tennessee’s way.

Here’s Seivers’ take once things had calmed down.

“The ball hit me right in the hands. It was raining and freezing cold. I couldn’t feel my hands. And the ball rolled down my body that it probably looked like I was tucking it in. But I didn’t catch it. After the play was over, I was on the sidelines with my head down.”

Seivers continued. “I saw the controversy on the field and said to myself, ‘Well, I didn’t catch it, and they caught me.’ The Vanderbilt people were really fussing about it. Meanwhile, Tommy West had started a fight out there, and there’s a lot of commotion. I just figured they were conferring about the catch, but the referee said, ‘It’s good.’ I guess all’s well that ends well.”

During those long-ago days ties seemed plentiful and an intriguing part of the game, sportswriters often wrote about teams “stealing a tie,” coming from behind to knot the count in the waning seconds, helped occasionally (and often immeasurably) by a “bad call,” maybe even a “non-call” here and there.

You might also remember the 1966 Notre Dame-Michigan State game, when the Fighting Irish consciously and much to the chagrin of Alabama and Michigan State fans and much of the sporting public chose to accept a tie. The Fighting Irish was accused in some quarters of not trying to win yet somehow ending up winning a share of the national title.

It’s been nearly 60 years since that rainy day in Nashville, but anyone who was there or within the sound of John Ward’s voice remembers it well. It’s part and parcel of what makes college football so vitally important to those who follow it week-in and week-out.