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Tennessee Football Tickets - Will Recent Expectations Be Fulfilled?

Tennessee football tickets have been a hot item for decades, and this long-time force in the SEC had taken significant steps forward in the 1990’s with several big-time recruits and a national championship. The fervor for the Volunteers was at an all-time high, and Coach Phillip Fullmer was seemingly ushering in an era of historic dominance.

However, things haven’t gone exactly as “planned,” and Tennessee may have hit its high point a few years ago. We’ll take a look below to see if that is the case, and if so, why these expectations have not been fulfilled.

Recent Results

The Volunteers really hit the national spotlight in the mid-1990’s, when they signed the most prized recruit to come along in some time, a QB named Peyton Manning. Manning helped bring a program from the status of “competitive also-ran” to SEC contender, and they won a lot of games with Manning on campus. Manning’s presence also led to several other high-profile recruits deciding to play in Knoxville, and Tennessee’s profile improved greatly.

However, Manning’s teams could never win their biggest game on their schedule, which was always Steve Spurrier’s Florida Gators. Manning earned a reputation as a “big game choker” due to these losses to Florida, but the big picture result was that Tennessee was once again on the map after years of irrelevance.

The year after Manning’s graduation, an unknown QB named Tee Martin led the Volunteers to an improbable national championship, and that in effect gave Fullmer the distinction of having built a total program instead of just a team that had one great player for a few years. Tennessee football tickets became even harder to find, and expectations went through the roof.

“Progress” Since 1998

Since that magical season, Tennessee has struggled, although that is a relative term. Tennessee has had seasons that included three, four, five and six losses, and the fans and alumni were beginning to take notice and become dissatisfied. Their 2005 season was nothing short of a disaster, as the Volunteers finished 5-6 and did not get to a bowl game for the first time in nearly 20 years.

So far in 2006, Tennessee has been ranked in the top 15, but they’re also 7-3 and coming off a thumping at the hands of Arkansas as of this writing. Tennessee will still get to a bowl game, but the BCS is now out of the question.

Where They Stand Now

It appears that Tennessee sits at a crossroads. Perhaps they bottomed out in 2005, and they’re now climbing back up the ladder. Perhaps this is just another season of slow decline for what many thought could’ve been a dynasty. It’s probably going to take another season or two to figure that out, but one thing is for sure - Tennessee football tickets will always come complete with potential drama.

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