Wiedmer: At least against UK, Vols looked like the UT of the 1990s

photo Tennessee's Jalen Hurd (1) pushes through the Kentucky defense during their game at Neyland Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 15, 2014.

KNOXVILLE - The scoreboard told the story of an outcome that was certainly predictable, if not preordained. Tennessee had 50 points, Kentucky 16, same as it ever was.

After all, you just can't whip somebody 29 times in your last 30 attempts, quite often by embarrassingly easy totals -- 12 have come by three touchdowns or more and eight by 30 or more points -- and expect the unexpected.

The unexpected was 102,455 people arriving in 43-degree weather to watch such a mismatch.

Or maybe this is what we should come to expect from here on out with these Volunteers, or at least as long as Josh Dobbs continues to lend his aerospace engineering mind to the quarterback position, where he's beginning to look as if he could return Tennessee to the SEC title game at least one autumn sooner than expected this time next year.

At least the anticipation of witnessing his unique talents, whatever the weather, makes a whole lot more sense for all those folks coming to Neyland at the risk of getting head colds or worse to merely watch the Big Orange bury the Very Bad Blue for a 29th time since a 42-0 UT road win in 1985.

"I think it's one of our better performances," said second-year UT coach Butch Jones, whose team has had two terrific performances in a row in beating South Carolina on the road and UK at home. "The bye week really helped us."

Some would say the Kentucky defense is the gift that keeps on giving, and giving, and giving, especially given the Cats' effort the past two weeks, when the Mildcats followed last week's embarrassing 63 points allowed Georgia by giving 50 to the Vols. The last time Kentucky so strongly resembled a matador's cape was 20 years ago, when a Bill Curry-coached squad surrendered a total of 132 points on consecutive Saturdays to Florida and Indiana.

Yet this also recalled so many other matchups in the 1990s between these two, when UT hung 50 or more on UK six times in seven seasons from 1994 to 2000, including five straight autumns to end the run.

Maybe the sophomore Dobbs ultimately will mirror the Big Orange quarterbacks of that decade -- guys named Kelly, and Shuler, and Manning, and Martin -- and maybe he won't. But he certainly has the postgame routine down, even stepping up to direct the school band after this one, a la that Manning guy.

"When you're successful, it's always going to give you confidence," Dobbs said after completing 19 of 27 passes for 297 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions. "We definitely want to stay on the same page for the rest of the season. Our No. 1 goal is to make a bowl game. We've got five wins. Got to get six, then go from there, aim for seven."

Seven suddenly seems all but assured. Even with its dangerous defense, Missouri doesn't appear to have enough offense to stymie the Vols this coming Saturday night. And then there's Vanderbilt in Nashville the Saturday after Thanksgiving. So this bowl stuff is pretty much all but a lock.

And who would have thought that after that 10-9 home loss to Florida on Oct. 4? Or the 34-3 shellacking at Ole Miss two weeks later?

But that was before Jones turned Dobbs loose on Alabama, then South Carolina, and this stumbling, bumbling offense scored 20 on the Tide, then ran up 45 in an overtime win over the Gamecocks.

One quote to appreciate the impact of Dobbs: Said left tackle Kyler Kerbyson, "We have huge trust in Josh. I think he can do whatever he wants out there. He is a captain of the field. He plays it so well being able to read, run, pass and all of that kind of stuff."

All that stuff crushed Kentucky with 50 points, the most this program has scored against the Cats in a non-overtime game since 2000. A year after that, UT was playing in the SEC championship game. Is anyone now certain these Vols, given another year of age and wisdom, can't do the same?

"This football team is different," Jones said. "The mindset is different. We're building something special here."

If nothing else, they're rebuilding the tradition of bowl games, which the Vols participated in every single year from 1989 to 2004.

That alone won't make them special, but they'll never return to being that special program they once believed they were until winning seasons become as commonplace in Neyland as checkerboard end zones.

"Something clicked two weeks ago at South Carolina," Jones said.

And whatever that something was, UT's been clicking on all cylinders ever since. If former UT coach and All-America player Johnny Majors had it right when he said, "They always remember what you do in November," the Big Orange Nation may long remember this November as the month UT football once more became relevant in the SEC and beyond.

Kind of like those long ago days when Peyton Manning directed the band and hanging 50 on Kentucky was the rule rather than the exception.

Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com

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