Mike Strange: If year ends in 8, expect the unexpected in Vols football season

Mike Strange | Shopper News columnist

Those who follow Tennessee football, fans and media alike, are trying to solidify expectations for the 2018 edition of the Vols. Six weeks out, the picture is still hazy.

If you, however, already have a good feel for how the season will go, you might be in for a surprise.

Crazy 8s

Consider the Crazy 8s factor. In my 30-plus years covering the Vols, no season ending in an 8 followed the script.

The 1988 season was a train wreck, an unprecedented 0-6 start. The Vols won 10 games in 1987 and 11 in 1989 but had to rally hard to get to 5-6 in ’88.

I don’t have to remind you what a gift from the football gods 1998 was. The crystal football still sparkles.

The surprise pendulum swung back to the dark side in 2008. Coach Phillip Fulmer was toppled by an unforeseen flop.

It figures that it was a Southerner, William Faulkner, who penned the line: “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.’’ That certainly applies to SEC football.

A quick retelling of the Crazy 8s that, really, aren’t even past.

1988

The 1987 Vols finished 10-2-1 and 14th in the final Associated Press poll. They opened 1988 at No. 18.

As with any year, there were holes to fill. Especially on both lines. But Jeff Francis was a third-year starter at quarterback. Marion Hobby and Keith DeLong would anchor the defense.

Yikes. The offense struggled. Reggie Cobb rushed for 17 touchdowns in ’87 but only three in ’88. Defense deteriorated from bad to worse until a 52-24 rout by Washington State left the Vols 0-5.

During an open date, Johnny Majors fired defensive coordinator Ken Donahue. After losing to Alabama, UT finally won at Memphis on Oct. 22, allowing a Nashville DJ to abandon the billboard where he had perched for weeks.

Neyland Stadium didn’t celebrate a victory until Nov. 5. The Vols won out to finish 5-6 and kept on winning much of the following decade.

1998

Tennessee wasn’t expected to fall off a cliff after Peyton Manning’s 11-2 senior year. But All-American Leonard Little and All-SEC standouts Terry Fair, Jonathan Brown, Marcus Nash and Trey Teague also had to be replaced. No one predicted 13-0 and a national title.

Fulmer’s sustained recruiting prowess reloaded the depth chart. Eight players would be named first- or second-team All-SEC. The Vols opened at No. 10, won close games and gave new QB Tee Martin time to grow.

Al Wilson led an inspired defense, and a stable of running backs covered for the early loss of Jamal Lewis. Jeff Hall’s sure foot came in handy. So did a little luck.

2008

The 2007 Vols reached the SEC championship game, finished 10-4 and 12th in the final AP poll. Quarterback Erik Ainge graduated, but the biggest loss turned out to be offensive coordinator David Cutcliffe, gone to Duke.

His replacement, Dave Clawson, never clicked and Fulmer was fired after a Nov. 1 loss to South Carolina left the Vols — ranked 18th on opening day — at 3-6. The final count was 5-7. Jonathan Crompton passed for 889 yards under Clawson, 2,800 a year later under Lane Kiffin.

Here’s the defining stat on Clawson’s offense and 2008 as a whole: Dennis Rogan, a cornerback/kick returner, is the only non-offensive player to lead the Vols in all-purpose yards for a season since the stat originated in 1950.

2018?

Now, back to the present to finish up.

Other seasons, of course, have produced surprising results. Still, since this is 2018, I wonder if some unfathomable cycle is due to reappear. Either as a plague or a blessing.