Even though we don't play the Vols every year, there's a ton of fun games to choose from in picking some of our favorites. The pair in 2004 were great. The 1971 game was a nailbiter with national implications but I don't recall it much. The 1983 trip to Knoxville was important because Auburn showed they knew how to get right back up after getting clobbered by the Longhorns the week before.
A couple of my favorites from that era are the following because they were in JHS and they featured a couple of Auburn's most stalwart defensive squads.
1. 1986
Tom Powell, Kevin Porter, Shan Morris, Greg Staples and Carlo Cheattom might have been the most brutal group of headhunters that ever roamed Auburn's defensive backfield.
And hats off to the Vols' Terry McDaniel for running down Brent Fullwood on his 80-plus yard gallop. That's no small feat. I think McDaniel is the same defender who, a few years later would tackle Bo Jackson in Oakland as Bo ran out of gas at the very end of 90-plus yarder.
2.1988
Everyone remembers this game for Cheattom waxing Tennessee RB Reggie Cobb on a rollout, but Auburn's entire third quarter performance was impressive. They came out and just crushed the Vols in a previously close match, most all of it due to the defense.
Bunks the other day mentioned Emmitt Smith and postulated the difference he would have made at Auburn instead of Florida. Look at the difference between the offense in '86 and '88. Even though Auburn's 1988 QB Reggie Slack was far more naturally gifted than 1986's Jeff Burger, the most obvious difference is at tailback. Fullwood was a lightning bolt that could strike from anywhere and you can see it is absent in '88 with James Joseph and Stacy Danley in the backfield. They just don't have the same vision or quickness. Smith would have been that difference that elevated the 1988 offense to a different level.
A couple of my favorites from that era are the following because they were in JHS and they featured a couple of Auburn's most stalwart defensive squads.
1. 1986
Tom Powell, Kevin Porter, Shan Morris, Greg Staples and Carlo Cheattom might have been the most brutal group of headhunters that ever roamed Auburn's defensive backfield.
And hats off to the Vols' Terry McDaniel for running down Brent Fullwood on his 80-plus yard gallop. That's no small feat. I think McDaniel is the same defender who, a few years later would tackle Bo Jackson in Oakland as Bo ran out of gas at the very end of 90-plus yarder.
2.1988
Everyone remembers this game for Cheattom waxing Tennessee RB Reggie Cobb on a rollout, but Auburn's entire third quarter performance was impressive. They came out and just crushed the Vols in a previously close match, most all of it due to the defense.
Bunks the other day mentioned Emmitt Smith and postulated the difference he would have made at Auburn instead of Florida. Look at the difference between the offense in '86 and '88. Even though Auburn's 1988 QB Reggie Slack was far more naturally gifted than 1986's Jeff Burger, the most obvious difference is at tailback. Fullwood was a lightning bolt that could strike from anywhere and you can see it is absent in '88 with James Joseph and Stacy Danley in the backfield. They just don't have the same vision or quickness. Smith would have been that difference that elevated the 1988 offense to a different level.
