Vol Flashback: 1985 UCLA

Johnny Majors was entering his ninth season as head coach of the Tennessee football program and the Vols were still searching for their first conference title during his tenure.

His arrival in 1977 brought a lot of excitement to Big Orange Country and the Vol nation was looking for big things from the former All-American. Majors resume was certainly impressive enough after he had enjoyed great success at Iowa State and at Pittsburg during the early and mid 70’s. There was no reason to believe that he couldn’t enjoy that kind of success at tradition rich Tennessee.

Majors would later say that he did not realize how far the Vol football program had fallen and it took him a little longer to revitalize the program than he originally had thought.

There were signs that the program was on the rise especially after a 9-3 campaign in 1983 a season in which the Vols led the Southeastern conference in total defense. 1984 was a highly anticipated season, but it would just be another moderately successful season on the hill. The Vols would finish that season with a 7-4-1 record but that year they were able to bring along two of what would turn out to be the greatest players in Tennessee history.

Wide receiver Tim McGee would prove to be one of the best of all time at wide receiver U and quarterback Tony Robinson certainly turned some heads nationally with his rifle arm.

Tennessee knew what they had in Robinson and McGee going into 1985 but no one could have foreseen what was to come defensively.

When UCLA came to town for a nationally televised game on September 14^th the whole country got to see the beginning of something special in Knoxville.

After Gaston Green’s 81 yard touchdown jaunt on UCLA’s first possession Tennessee fans were treated to one of the most exciting days Neyland Stadium had seen since the 1982 Alabama game.

Tony Robinson and Tim McGee would put on a show that day. Robinson would have one of the most prolific passing days in Tennessee history passing for 387 yards

Tim McGee would make his mark as possibly the greatest receiver in Vol history. It was evident from the first quarter on that no one in the UCLA secondary could cover him. I can still recall ABC football analyst and current Arkansas AD Frank Broyles tell Keith Jackson that he didn’t believe that anyone could cover McGee one-on-one. Tennessee would slowly begin to take control of the game and the Vols finally tied the score with a touchdown pass from Tony Robinson to Mark Hendrix. Carlos Reviez would give the Vols the lead with his first collegiate field goal. He would finish the day hitting on all five of his field goal attempts.

The defense played much better than anyone had anticipated and stymied the UCLA offense for 3 quarters. The biggest surprise would come from senior defensive back Chris White. White making his first start ever for the orange would intercept three passes that day to tie a UT record for most in a game and his returns would cover a total of 44 yards.

Everyone who was there that day could see the defense gaining confidence with every possession and it seemed that Tennessee had the game well in hand midway through the fourth quarter.

With the Vols leading 26-10 with 7:01 remaining, UCLA was backed up with a third and long from inside their own 5. The Bruins completed a long pass to midfield and the game changed from there.

UCLA coach Terry Donahue chose to replace starter Matt Stevens with fifth year senior David Norrie and UCLA began to move the football on the Vol defense. Maybe it was simply a better quarterback in Norrie that made the difference, maybe it was fatigue on the part of the Vol defenders, or maybe it was combination of both, but still UCLA would have to score two touchdowns and convert on 2 two-point conversions just to tie.

Unfortunately for Vol fans that is exactly what the Bruins did. Earlier in the week UCLA coach Terry Donahue said “Against Tennessee we will start with Matt Stevens giving him the more difficult task of starting and letting David come in relief. His words proved to be prophetic as it turned out.

David Norrie looked much more poised than Stevens did throughout the ballgame. He engineered two touchdown drives in seven minutes and stunned the Vol defense.

I can still remember how disappointed I was in the outcome of the game, but I believe all of us in attendance that day walked away with optimism for the future of the Vol football program. For the first time in a long time, Tennessee looked like they had the kind of athletes that it takes to compete in the rugged SEC.

The confidence gained in game one propelled the Vols to their first conference championship in 16 years and its highest national ranking in over a decade.  Coach Majors would lead the Vols to 2 more SEC championships before his departure in 1992.

I don’t think that the Vols are headed towards an SEC championship this season, but a good showing versus UCLA on national TV would go a long way to re-establishing Tennessee as a national power once again. Just as the UCLA game did in 1985.