Upon Further Review: Clausen’s boast irks many fans
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Clausen — who can be a little arrogant at times — said that if he had been playing in the Georgia game, Tennessee would have won.
The quarterback, who was hurt in the 41-38 overtime win over Arkansas on Oct. 5, hasn’t seen any action on the field and is waiting to be cleared by doctors for this week’s game against Alabama.
Saying you would have won the Georgia game is just a little too much for some folks. After all, where was Clausen during the Florida game? Tennessee which is 4-2 on the year, has seen its lowest ranking — No. 16 — in over a year.
Now if Clausen had beaten Florida, and then had said what he did last week, everything would be all right. But people around the state of Tennessee and especially Big Orange fans judge their season by the Florida game. Clausen didn’t beat Florida and he was hurt for the Georgia game, and the comments are just a little hard for some to swallow.
Clausen may have won the Georgia game, but you still have to show Georgia a little respect. I think what has so many upset is that football is a team sport and for one man to come out and say he would have won the game is just a little too strong, even for Tennessee fans.
Clausen has put his back to the wall with this comment as the Big Orange prepare to face (5-2) Alabama this Saturday in Knoxville. What happens if Alabama beats Tennessee? If that happens, he has put his foot in his mouth.
OK, that’s not going to happen. After all, the last time Alabama beat Tennessee was in 1994 when the Crimson Tide won 17-13. In 1993 Tennessee tied Alabama 17-17 and the last time Tennessee beat Alabama before that was a 16-14 win in 1985. Tennessee has won the last seven games since 1994 and hopefully on the famous third Saturday in October the streak will continue.
The first time Tennessee and Alabama played was in 1901, a game that ended in a 6-6 tie. Between 1901 and 1914, the Crimson Tide took an 8-2-1 edge in the series. The rivals then took a 13-year break before resuming the series in 1928.
The teams have played 73 times since 1928, with Tennessee picking up 31 wins and four ties over the Tide.
In 2000 Tennessee became only the second team to defeat Alabama six consecutive times, the other team was Sewanee between 1896 and 1911. Tennessee now has seven consecutive wins working on number eight Saturday.
• Here’s a little something I thought was noteworthy. Last week Miami narrowly escaped with a 28-27 win over Florida State. Florida State place kicker Xavier Beitia missed a 43-yard field goal that would have won the game. An unidentified person from Miami taunted the Florida State kicker after the game, while he was still on the field.
Miami athletic director Paul Dee apologized to Beitia and Florida State, saying there was a complete lack of discretion on behalf of Miami. The person who did the taunting was a former student and had been given permission to stand on the sideline during the game.
Miami has always been a team to taunt and do a lot of trash talking, and it’s good to see their athletic director show a little class and apologize.