FULMER, CHAVIS, & CUTCLIFFE TURN OUT TO BE WINNING TEAM FOR TENNESSEE FOOTBALL

Tennessee's drubbing of the California Golden Bears at raucous Neyland Stadium in Knoxville last Saturday night was nothing short of spectacular. It catapulted a team that had low expectations following last year's UT losing season for the first time since 1988 to the cusp of the Top 10 nationally for this season's edition of the Volunteers.

Both the offense and defense were clicking like they haven't been since the Big Orange won the National Championship in 1998. This is no accident, and coaching is the reason. Need there be more evidence that David Cutcliffe was sorely missed on The Hill when he departed to be Head Coach at Ole Miss? His return has brought back discipline to the offense that was badly needed.

This season only marks the fifth year in UT football history in which Phillip Fulmer has been the Head Coach, David Cutcliffe as the Offensive Coordinator, and John Chavis the Defensive Coordinator. Last Saturday night's victory over California was the 50th game in which this triumvirate has been in those key positions in charge of Tennessee's gridiron fortunes.

In the prior seasons when this trio worked together in their present positions, 1995-98, plus this one game this year, the Vols have rung up a 45-5 record for a 90% winning percentage. Their record in the Southeastern Conference in that same span is similarly stellar, 29-3, for a 91% winning edge. They won both SEC Championship Games in which they worked together as a team in 1997 and 1998, had a winning bowl record, and compiled a 60% winning percentage against Top 10 teams nationally, no small feats indeed.

In the games following Cutcliffe's departure, including the National Championship game up through the end of last year's ill-fated 5-6 season, UT won only 70% of its games overall, won only 70% of its SEC games, lost both of the SEC Championship Games in which it participated, had a losing bowl record, and was a miserable 35% against Top 10 teams.

In the early years of Fulmer's career at the helm, from 1992 through 1994, prior to Chavis being elevated to the Defensive Coordinator position for the 1995 season, UT won only 79% of its games overall, won only 78% of its SEC games, didn't participate in an SEC Championship Game, and only won 50% of its games against Top 10 teams.

Thus, it doesn't take a rocket scientist from Oak Ridge to see that this combination of coaches in charge of Tennessee football has been far superior to any other. Are the Vols back among the nation's elite to stay as long as Fulmer, Chavis, and Cutcliffe remain where they are? Only time will tell, but history seems to indicate that to be the case. We have no way of judging the future but by the past, and the past history of these three coaches seem to indicate a championship synergy among and between them.

The real test for this group will be against the Florida Gators a week hence when they come to Neyland to do battle. In the first three seasons of the Fulmer-Chavis-Cutcliffe regime, even with Peyton Manning guiding the team, the Vols were unable to whip Steve Spurrier. Only in 1998, after Manning had gone on to the NFL, did UT win on the strength of a missed Florida field goal in overtime in Knoxville.

Spurrier is now gone from Gainesville, but the Gators are still a formidable foe with deep talent no matter where they play or who is coaching them. This "Gang of 3 from Tennessee" will also have to contend with Spurrier elsewhere in Columbia as the headmaster of the South Carolina Gamecocks later in the year.

If Tennessee can whomp the Gators in front of a primetime national TV audience on Saturday night, September 16, the sky's the limit for this year's Tennessee team. They could very well be on their way to the second national championship that this group of strong coaches has produced working together.

Certainly, at the very least, winning that game would put the Vols in the driver's seat to have a chance at their first SEC championship in eight years. If they can't get over that hump at home, however, it will be an uphill battle even to win UT's first championship of any kind since 1998.

You could say that the Tennessee-Florida game this year is the most pivotal game in UT football history. But that might even be understating its importance!