Welcome back to the Odyssey. As always, you can click here to read all parts of the journey covered so far. Last time, we took a look at the 2001 Big Ten season. Today, we’re going to take a look at the 2001 SEC season. The SEC isn’t as much of a monolith it would become, but the signs of change are there. Let’s take a look and go on the journey together.
Act I: Beast of the East
During the first nine years of the SEC Championship, the conference had seen three winners; Alabama, Florida, and Tennessee. Florida and Tennessee dominated the newly formed SEC East that they were the only two schools to represent that division since its inception. This meant their rivalry game, named the Third Saturday in September, had major conference stakes. Despite the early date of their game, only twice in those seven years (1992 and 1997) did the loser make the SEC Championship Game.
In the previous season, Florida disappointed a record attendance in Knoxville, en route to an SEC Championship. The Gators were projected to do well both in the conference and nationally, as Florida seemed to be the consensus for pre-season #1. Tennessee was projected to be right behind them in the top 10. The SEC West, on the other hand, was difficult to project. In the media preseason poll for the conference, everyone but Arkansas received a first-place vote to win the conference. Ultimately, Nick Saban and his LSU squad were projected to take the SEC West, followed closely by Mississippi State. However both were predicted to lose to the eventual SEC East Champion.
Act II: Vols Too Big for Their Boots
As we have talked about, the September 11th Terrorist Attacks made the whole world briefly pause, let alone the sports world. Florida and Tennessee was the biggest game that was postponed. The first game back was the above Mississippi State-South Carolina game. This game ended up being a microcosm of the doomed season the Bulldogs would have; as their offense was inept and the final 16-14 score was only that after they scored a last minute TD to make the score close. The following week, Florida would host Mississippi State, drubbing them 52-0.
With the Florida-Tennessee game pushed back to the beginning of December, the Gators and Vols turned their attention to other ranked conference opponents. While Florida was dismantling Mississippi State, Tennessee held off a late rally at home against LSU. The next week saw both teams take on more ranked opponents. During the early window of games, Tennessee hosted fellow SEC East hopeful Georgia.
Georgia was under a new coaching staff in the 2001 season. Former head coach Jim Donnan was fired due to lack of results. The reasoning behind the fire appeared to be not meeting the standards of competing for the conference and losing to Georgia Tech. Enter Mark Richt. Richt was the QB Coach and eventually Offensive Coordinator for the pseudo-dynastic Florida State teams of the 90s. His new project was redshirt freshman David Greene. Greene had been relatively fine for Georgia, not having a big game in any of his first three as a Bulldog. This would be both his and his coach’s biggest test thus far.
The Bulldogs seemed to fail the test early on. They were down 14-3, and the Tennessee defense was clamping down. The Vols had forced two turnovers on consecutive drives after the Georgia FG. The interception immediately led to a Tennessee TD, and then Georgia was stuffed on a 4th and goal. Their fortunes immediately changed on the ensuing possession. After forcing a punt, Georgia return man Damien Gary zigged and zagged his way seventy two yards for a TD and cut the Tennessee lead down to four.
The Georgia offense used that momentum to march down the field and take their first lead of the game. Greene hit TD Bryant (no I’m serious that is his name) to give the Bulldogs the 17-14. Tennessee put together a FG drive in response to tie the game. They had a chance to take the lead before halftime after a five minute drive, but Alex Walls pulled the 34 yard attempt wide left to go into the locker room.
The third quarter saw both offenses struggles, leading to nine consecutive possessions ending in a punt. The momentum swung in the Bulldogs favor as a Greene connection to Bryant led to a FG to put Georgia up with six minutes to play. Tennessee attempted to drive down in response, but a Casey Clausen INT in Georgia territory put the game seemingly out of reach. However, the Vols defense stopped the Bulldogs and with a minute left, Tennessee had life. Three plays later, Clausen hit star RB Travis Stephens on a screen pass, and he took it the rest of the way, outrunning the Georgia defense to give Tennessee the lead, 24-20.
On the ensuing kick off, Phil Fulmer and Tennessee decided to squib the ball. Georgia started their possession on their own 41. Greene stepped up to the moment, completing three of his first four passes for 53 yards. Then, with ten seconds left, Greene hit fullback Verron Haynes for a six yard Touchdown, giving Georgia the lead and ultimate victory. This led to one of the best and most iconic radio calls of the century with Larry Munson making everyone think about hobnail boots. Tennessee dropped it’s first game of the season, giving Florida the edge in the SEC East.
Later during the day, Florida was down in Baton Rouge for a battle with LSU. Florida used its offense to take the lead early, up 14-3. Their defense then got a quick interception, which Florida took to make an early death shot. Rex Grossman hit Jabar Gaffney on a 63 yard TD to go up 21-3. LSU responded with a TD drive, but would never get any closer. Florida pulled away with a final score of 44-15. LSU dropped it’s last two games, opening up the SEC West for anyone’s taking.
Act III: Cardiac Cats
During the 2000 season, Auburn ran away with the SEC West, only dropping games to Mississippi State and Florida. However, the collective SEC media thought they would finish in fourth in the division, with one writer putting them at the top of their SEC West ballot. Now, with LSU and Mississippi State dropping two games, the division was wide open. Their 2001 season, prior to their showdown with Florida, saw the Tigers survive in one score games against SEC opponents. Their last two weeks went down to the wire. Kicker Damon Duval kicked game winning FGs at Vanderbilt and home against Mississippi State. So while the Tigers were barely holding on, they had the SEC West lead for the moment.
Florida entered the contest ranked #1 in the AP Poll for the first time since their first game. They were 21 point favorites on the road, in Jordan-Haire. Auburn hadn’t won against Florida since 1994. They hadn’t won at home since 1993. The 1993 game had similarities from the jump, as both games were dreary, rainy games.
The action early correlated to the weather. Grossman struggled moving the ball down the field, only getting six points for his offense. The rushing attack for the Gators also mightily struggled. On the night they only had -36 rushing yards, when taking into account sacks and one major play. Auburn had a step up on the Gators, but just barely. They put together one TD drive, mostly due to the play of new QB Daniel Cobb. That drive ended up being the difference at the half, Auburn up 10-6.
At the start of the second half, Florida was looking to get the lead back. Grossman slung it around, getting into Auburn territory, However, in a harbinger of things to come in the second half, Grossman threw a pass under duress and it was intercepted. Auburn, however, could not capitalize and punted back to the Gators. Grossman would make them pay, using quick and precise throws to Reche Caldwell to get into the end zone, giving the Gators their first lead since 3-0.
The teams would trade punts as penalties reared their head in the game. On the fourth consecutive punt, a pivot point emerged. A low snap to punter Matt Leach caused a fracas at the punter’s feet, putting Auburn in tremendous field position. Chris Butler and the Auburn offense took three plays to punch it in and retake the lead. The Tigers extended that lead after Grossman’s first pass was intercepted (once again due to pressure on the defensive line). Auburn kicked a field goal to go up a touchdown with 13 minutes left. Grossman’s next pass attempt was not so lucky for the Tigers. The Gators QB hit Jabar Gaffney, who had been quiet up until that point, streaking down the seam for a 80 yard TD pitch and catch.
On the ensuing drive, Auburn burned four minutes off of the clock to try and take the lead. They appeared to take the lead on a QB draw by Cobb he took into the end zone. However, the Auburn offense did not have enough people lined up on the line of scrimmage, negating the penalty. The next play, Cobb was stripped sacked and the ball rolled forward into the end zone. The Gators defense fell on it, and the game remained tied.
The Gators could not capitalize on the turnover, and once again Auburn had a chance to pull ahead and get the upset. Two plays later, a Casinious Moore fumble gave the Gators momentum at midfield. However, due to the rush and potentially the conditions, Grossman underthrows a deep ball to Gaffney and Auburn once again had a chance to win the game with 4:30 left. The Tigers took almost all of that time, leaning on their rushing attack to get into FG range. Auburn had a chance to get yet another one possession win. Duval made sure his 44 yard field goal went true and Auburn upset Florida 23-20.
The next week, Auburn needed overtime and a defensive stand to knock off Louisiana Tech. Their luck seemingly ran out when they went to Arkansas in late October, taking their first SEC loss. They were still in strong position for the division title, but now had three of their biggest games looming over them. They survive a late scare from Georgia, getting a goal line stand to preserve their conference record. Finally, in a result akin to Arkansas, the Tigers were slow out of the gates to Alabama. They fell 31-7. There was no room for error for a potential division title, with one major opponent looming.
Act IV: In This Corner…
LSU, seemingly having no room for error, was forced to rebound after their consecutive losses. They won vs Kentucky and at Mississippi State. However, all seemed lose after a loss to Ole Miss. LSU needed absolute chaos to have a chance to make the SEC Championship now with three conference losses. LSU now had to win out, with Arkansas, Alabama, and Auburn looking down at the Tigers in the SEC West Standings.
First was the Tide, who were losers of 3 of their last four, all losses in conference play. LSU pulled away late with their passing attack to win 35-21. Later the night, the Tigers got a little help from a rival. Arkansas knocked off Ole Miss in the now iconic 7OT game. That loss was the beginning of a three game losing streak for the Rebels, ending with a loss in Starkville, dashing their conference hopes.
Arkansas and LSU now both had to win their rivalry game to stay alive in the SEC West. LSU won in a wild shootout 41-38. LSU was lucky to win the game as Arkansas came roaring back in the contest, but missed on three different two point conversions. So, finally, after the chaos both for LSU and against Auburn, it came down to one game.
The undercard of the Florida vs Tennessee game (despite happening after the game) was the LSU vs Auburn game. This game was also moved from the 18th after those weekend games were postponed due to the September 11th attacks. LSU had the advantage of being at home. A fact that the Auburn players knew well. Some players on Auburn scuffed the midfield logo in warm-ups which led to a unsportsmanlike penalty. Saban and the Tigers responded with a surprise onside kick. Michael Clayton recovered the ball and it led to a LSU rushing TD.
With LSU putting Auburn on the ropes early, a swift response was required to maintain some composure. QB Jason Campbell obliged with a 73 yard catch and run with Tim Carter to tie the game. Both teams struggled the rest of the first quarter; combining for two interceptions and a missed field goal. The scoring continued as LSU QB Rohan Davey found Josh Reed to give LSU a 14-7 lead. Auburn’s offense continued to struggle, punting on their next two possessions. LSU extended their lead to 21-7 at halftime.
Things did not o better for the road team in the second half. Their first possession led to a missed FG, failing to get any points, where a FG would have put LSU’s lead back into two scores. The next punt, coach Tommy Tuberville pulled into his own bag of tricks. On 4th and 18, he called for a fake punt that was lofted into the air and intercepted by Demetrius Hoofkin. The ensuing possession for LSU ended in a field goal, putting the game on ice for Saban’s squad. LSU, winners of their last four games, would be going to the SEC Championship.
Act V: First Saturday in December
Florida and Tennessee was always a early classic for the college football world. A litmus test for both teams as a look into their conference and national expectations. The college football world got something even better in 2001. The matchup, moved to the end of the season, had the same stakes and ramped up urgency. But that is a story for another time. Next time on the Odyssey, we’re going out west to take a look at the Pac-10. We’ll look into Oregon State rebounding after a historic season, Joey Harrington looking to make that next step, and the emergence of a certain someone in Palo Alto. Until then, sound off below on your thoughts on the 2001 SEC season up until this point.
