General Neyland distilled ten thousand years of strategic thinking into his seven game day Maxims. Around the same time the General was winning games as UT’s coach another philosopher/strategist was waging war in Asia. Mao Zedong fought the Nationalist Chinese from 1925 until 1949. Mao suffered defeats and privations but ultimately prevailed. Part of the reason the Communist Chinese were victorious was the blueprint for operations that Mao drew up. These have become the matrix for nearly every guerrilla movement or rebellion since. Mao’s dictums show the way for a weak opponent to defeat a superior adversary.

When the enemy advances, retreat. When the enemy slows, harass. When the enemy halts, attack. When the enemy retreats pursue and destroy him.

Looks an awful lot like the course of the 2001 SEC Championship Game.

So how did the team do compared to the Maxims?

1.The team that makes the fewest mistakes will win.

Tennessee’s mistakes were the difference in the ball game. On the series that led to the Tiger’s first score, 25 of the 39 yards they needed came off penalties against the Vols’ defense. Tennessee fumbled twice and LSU scored 14 points off those turnovers. Translation: 21 of LSU’s 31 points came DIRECTLY from UT mistakes. Even when not giving LSU scoring opportunities, the Vols’ offense was only in sync for the second quarter. The defense featured blown coverages and allowed 140+ yards on the ground.

2.Play for and make the breaks. When one comes your way … SCORE!

LSU capitalized on the breaks they got, Tennessee did not: end of story.

3.If at first the game – or the breaks – go against you, don’t let up … PUT ON MORE STEAM!

Tennessee came back to take the lead in the second half. They played like a team fully capable of walking away with the win and a trip to Pasadena. Then LSU drove down at the end of the first half and one of the worst kickers in the SEC nailed a long field goal to cut Tennessee’s lead to 17-10. UT came out on offense to start the second half and did exactly nothing. After that, it seemed it was only a matter of time.

4.Protect our kickers, our quarterback, our lead and our ballgame.

UT did well on the first two. When crunch time came in the second half, we failed to protect the lead or the ballgame. LSU kept scratching and clawing and hung around and then got a couple of breaks and did what they had to do to win.

5.Ball! Oskie! Cover, block, cut and slice, pursue and gang tackle … THIS IS THE WINNING EDGE.

No fumbles forced. Several opportunities for “Oskies” were dropped. All of our coverage woes of past games came back to haunt us. There were several times when LSU receivers caught the ball and there were no UT defensive backs in the picture. Several other times the Tiger quarterbacks overthrew wide-open receivers or the score would have been much worse.

6.Press the kicking game. Here is where the breaks are made.

Tennessee got no help at all from its kickoff return team. Our version of the World’s Fastest Human never got the ball past the 20. Coverage was good on both punts and kickoffs but UT started WAY too many drives deep in its own territory. Alex Walls did everything that was asked of him, including hitting a 51-yards field goal. Colquitt shanked a punt in the first quarter that set up LSU’s first touchdown (with the help of the three penalties described earlier.)

7.Carry the fight to LSU and keep it there for sixty minutes.

We took the fight to LSU for about 15 minutes. Nowhere near enough against a team that came to play for 60.

It is supremely difficult to defeat a team twice in the same year. That much having been said, had the Vols come into the Georgia Dome with even half of the intensity they displayed against Florida, they would have and should have won. There is one thing, however, that the true UT fan and the regular reader of this column can say with full confidence:

In the end, the team that best adhered to the Maxims prevailed. It was NOT the University of Tennessee.

MAXOMG

15 minutes? Is that a bit harsh there? They faught hard but badly at times. It was execution not heart that hurt us.
Its almost as if it wasn't in the stars. We did not make the breaks and ours broke our back.

Maxim #7 speaks DIRECTLY to heart and attitude. It means you impose your will on you opponent. Can you honestly say we did that for MORE than 15 minutes?

MAXOMG

Loved the "rebellion" maxims. Eerily similar to the SECC game as you stated.

B