‘It was tied when we started’
By Tom Mattingly
The tie game is no longer with us, despite some memorable occurrences in games involving the University of Tenn-essee.
You might not know that it’s been nearly 30 years since tie games on the gridiron went out of fashion. That happened after the 1995 season and was the result of NCAA fiat. The Tennessee Football Record Book explains how that happened in a mere 23 words: “The NCAA established overtime period format, which abolished a tie as a viable conclusion to a game, beginning with the 1996 football season.”
Historically, the Vols have played 53 tie games over the course of the school’s recorded football history. In 1955, 70 years ago in Bowden Wyatt’s first season, Tennessee and Georgia Tech fought to a 7-7 deadlock on Shields-Watkins Field. Wyatt was disappointed after the game. “It was tied when we started. We wanted to win,” he said. Tennessee partisans saw the deadlock as a positive, a building block for future successes.
Early in Doug Dickey’s Tennessee career, there were three ties that helped indicate that Dickey had the Vols on the right combination of vitamins and minerals. A fourth tie, a 17-17 result in the 1968 season opener against Georgia, avoided a killer loss early in the campaign.
In 1964, there was a 3-3 stalemate at LSU that came when the Vols were heavy underdogs on Homecoming Day on NBC, where the Vols somehow escaped without losing. Outland Trophy winner Steve DeLong led a critical goal line stand that is revered among Vol historians and other fans who remember seeing the game or even those who have only seen pictures or videotape.
A year later, the Vols and Auburn tied in Knoxville, 13-13. A missed extra point by both teams and two interceptions by Auburn defensive tackle Jack Thornton helped seal the outcome.
Later that season, perhaps the most famous tie in Tennessee history took place on Legion Field in Birmingham, when the Vols squared off against defending national champion Alabama.
The Vols and Crimson Tide were locked into an intense defensive struggle going into the final seconds with the scoreboard reading 7-7. The Tide was in the shadow of the Vol goal, with Alabama needing only a field goal to win.
Sophomore signal-caller Ken “Snake” Stabler, who made a career of leading last-second drives for winning points, lost track of the downs. He tried to kill the clock to set up placekicker David Ray for the game-winning field goal. It was a good premise, but bad execution. It was fourth down, not third as he thought, and the ball went over to the Vols.
Tennessee captain Hal Wantland, always a competitive sort, said this about the deadlock: “Alabama tied us.” That game proved to many Vol fans that Tennessee had its “swagger” back.
Alabama historians have recounted how Bear Bryant had one of his police escorts shoot the lock off the east side dressing room door, after Bear found the door locked. They also have told the tale of Alabama sending an emissary to the Vol dressing room requesting the game ball.
The 1968 Georgia game was equally memorable, with the Vols pulling out the tie by scoring eight points on a touchdown and two-point conversion after time had run out, much to the chagrin of many Georgia partisans. Bubba Wyche led the way, throwing a TD pass to wide receiver Gary Kreis as the final horn sounded, then hitting tight end Ken DeLong for the tying two-pointer.
There were two ties in 1974. One came in the season opener against UCLA, the day Condredge Holloway made a dramatic return from U.T. hospital to lead the game-tying touchdown drive. The other came in the regular season finale at Vanderbilt, when Holloway found Larry Seivers for a two-point conversion that saved the day for the Vols.
Tennessee and LSU tied 24-24 in 1982. That was the night LSU had vendors selling T-shirts commemorating what would they had hoped would be LSU’s 500th victory. No telling where all those T-shirts went.
In 1985, a 26-26 tie in the opening game against UCLA had the feeling of a loss, as the Bruins came from 16 points down to tie the game. Later in the season, Tennessee tied Georgia Tech on a Carlos Reveiz field goal from 51 yards out.
In 1990, Tennessee managed a “good tie” against Colorado in the season opener, coming from 14 points down twice in the fourth quarter to gain the stalemate. A 26-26 tie, a “bad tie,” at Auburn came after the Vols squandered a 26-9 lead going into the fourth quarter.
The conventional wisdom would seem to tell us that ties were always exciting, keeping fans breathless and in their seats until the game ended.
That was not always the case, as witnessed by the 1953 Tennessee-Alabama game. The game was telecast by NBC and ended 0-0. Network programming executives repeatedly expressed their displeasure to announcers Lindsey Nelson and Mel Allen over the way the game had developed. Vols did almost tackle Tide quarterback Bart Starr within inches of the Tide goal for a last-second safety.
For better or worse, tie games are no longer with us, but what a wonderful set of memories they have left us.
