Figurative and Literal Lines Drawn in the Sand
By Tom Mattingly
There’s nothing like a good grudge. Over the years, football fans living south of Messrs. Mason and Dixon’s line have perfected the art of never forgetting even the most minor slight. It’s a way of life in some locales.
In the SEC, events on or off the playing field often carry over into everyday life, all part of the rivalries – some ancient, dating more than 100 years, along with others of more recent occurrence.
There are figurative and literal lines drawn in the sand between seemingly rational and reasonable people, but also people who take the proceedings seriously.
Historically, Tennessee has had its hotly debated moments fans have never forgotten. Consider the missed field goal at the South end against Alabama in the rain in 1966 that sealed an 11-10 Tide victory.
Was it good or not? Charles W. Bowen, the referee that day, waved it off, and that settled that. Bowen did not stride to the center of the field and utter those famous words: “The previous play is under video review.”
For his part, Vol quarterback Dewey Warren, who held for the decisive kick, has steadfastly maintained, then and now, that the kick was good. Often in error, but never in doubt, the saying goes.
Then there was the (supposed) completion to Jabar Gaffney that gave Florida a 27-23 win in 2000. Officials Steve Shaw and Allama Matthews discussed the play briefly before Shaw ruled the touchdown would stand. That decision resulted in a hail of projectiles from the lower regions of the North stands hitting the orange and white squares where the play finished. That was not a good look.
Both moments of controversy were followed by key wins the next year against the same opponents, with these supposedly negative events used as motivation.
Consider the afternoon the heavens opened over Neyland Stadium during the 1973 Auburn game, Tennessee leading 13-0 in a contest the Vols eventually won 21-0.
Whenever Tennessee got the ball in the monsoon, Vol head coach Bill Battle, acting on advice from Gen. Neyland’s playbook, kept kicking the ball back, letting Auburn handle the slippery pigskin. That somehow offended the visitors, and they weren’t happy again until the next year’s game on the Plains was history.
The score that day, at a much drier Cliff Hare Stadium, was also 21-0, Auburn, but that was just a coincidence.
After LSU ran two pass plays in four seconds against Ole Miss in 1972 to win 17-16, there was a sign on the Mississippi-Louisiana border that read: “You are now entering Louisiana. Please set your watch back four seconds.”
Ole Miss publicists had a creative response to the game’s outcome. The authors of the 1973 Rebel football guide listed the final score as “Mississippi 16, LSU 10 + 7.”
Kentucky folks will never forget the ending of the 2002 LSU game. With but a couple of ticks left on the clock, the entire Commonwealth seemed poised to celebrate an upset win over the Tigers, including the team dumping Gatorade on head coach Guy Morriss.
As the game ended, LSU completed one of those “Hail Mary” passes for a score that shocked everyone in blue.
Someone in the Kentucky press corps headlined the frantic finish “Christian Laettner in Cleats,” referencing the game-winning shot in the East Regional Finals at the Meadowlands in 1992, one that also sent the Commonwealth into collective apoplexy and Duke into the Final Four.
Everything in Commonwealth football history, even the bad moments, has a parallel in basketball.
In the 1972 “Iron Bowl,” Auburn had the “Punt, Bama, Punt” win. That was the day Bill Newton blocked two punts, and David Langner returned both for scores, on plays that looked identical.
Alabama won the next year, and the next year, and the next year, not losing again until 1982, a year after Pat Dye became head coach on the Plains.
Here’s another lesson. The “make-up” call sometimes takes a while to arrive.
Arkansas lost the 1971 Liberty Bowl game against Tennessee, 14-13, when someone in the line was detected holding on a successful field goal attempt. Later on, the Vols recovered what appeared to be a phantom fumble to set up the game-winning score. In 1992, Arkansas won in Knoxville, 25-24, when a first down run by Heath Shuler was nullified by a holding call, and the Vols couldn’t handle an onside kick moments later.
Finally, there was the line tossed out in North Carolina basketball circles that brandished the name of the Deity. “If God isn’t a Tar Heel, then why is the sky Carolina blue?” The response from everybody else was, “If God is a Tar Heel, it’s the only mistake He ever made.”
Here’s a bit of perspective about all this wondrous stuff surrounding the games. When your side does it, it’s part of the ambience and camaraderie of the game, but, alas, when the other side does likewise, it’s often perceived as poor sportsmanship, being a “poor winner.”
We can all understand that essential concept, can’t we?
