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1914 Tennessee Volunteers football team

The 1914 Tennessee Volunteers football team represented the University of Tennessee in the 1914 Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association football season. The team won the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association, the first championship of any kind for the Tennessee program. Winning all nine of their games, the 1914 squad was only the second undefeated team in Tennessee history. The 1914 Vols were retroactively awarded a national championship by 1st-N-Goal, though this remains largely unrecognized.[1]

1914 Tennessee Volunteers football
SIAA co-champion
ConferenceSouthern Intercollegiate Athletic Association
Record9–0 (6–0 SIAA)
Head coach
Offensive schemeStraight T
Base defenseMultiple
CaptainFarmer Kelly
Home stadiumWaite Field
Uniform
Seasons
← 1913
1915 →
1914 Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association football standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   T W   L   T
Tennessee + 6 – 0 – 0 9 – 0 – 0
Auburn + 4 – 0 – 1 8 – 0 – 1
Texas A&M 2 – 0 – 0 6 – 1 – 1
Ole Miss 2 – 1 – 1 5 – 4 – 1
Mississippi A&M 4 – 2 – 0 6 – 2 – 0
Sewanee 4 – 2 – 0 5 – 3 – 0
Florida 3 – 2 – 0 5 – 2 – 0
Georgia 2 – 2 – 1 3 – 5 – 1
Clemson 2 – 2 – 0 5 – 3 – 1
Alabama 3 – 3 – 0 5 – 4 – 0
Kentucky 1 – 1 – 0 5 – 3 – 0
LSU 1 – 2 – 1 4 – 4 – 1
Chattanooga 1 – 3 – 0 5 – 4 – 0
Vanderbilt 1 – 3 – 0 2 – 6 – 0
Mississippi College 0 – 1 – 1 4 – 3 – 1
Wofford 0 – 1 – 0 1 – 7 – 1
Central University 0 – 1 – 0 1 – 3 – 1
Mercer 0 – 3 – 0 5 – 4 – 0
Tulane 0 – 3 – 1 3 – 3 – 1
The Citadel 0 – 3 – 0 2 – 5 – 0
  • + – Conference co-champions

Before the season

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In 1913, the Volunteers had a winning record for the first time since 1908 and won their first Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association game since 1910. The team lost captain Sam Hayley.

Miller Pontius assisted coach Clevenger.

Schedule

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DateOpponentSiteResultSource
September 26Carson–Newman*
W 89–0[2]
October 3King (TN)*
  • Waite Field
  • Knoxville, TN
W 55–3[3]
October 10Clemson
  • Waite Field
  • Knoxville, TN
W 27–0[4]
October 17at Louisville*
W 66–0[5]
October 24Alabama
W 17–7[6]
October 31Chattanooga
  • Waite Field
  • Knoxville, TN
W 67–0[7]
November 7at Vanderbilt
W 16–14[8]
November 14vs. Sewanee
W 14–7[9]
November 26Kentucky
W 23–6[10]
  • *Non-conference game

Game summaries

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Carson–Newman

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To open the season, Carson–Newman was swamped 89–0.[11]

King

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King College was defeated almost as easily as Carson-Newman, 55–3.[11]

Clemson

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The Volunteers beat Clemson 27–0. Tennessee scored twice on forward passes, and Clemson tried several passes but none were successful.[4] The starting lineup was Carroll (left end), G. Vowell (left tackle), Taylor (left guard), McLean (center), Kerr (right guard), Kelly (right tackle), Greenwood (right end), May (quarterback), Thomason (left halfback), Rainey (right halfback), Lindsay (fullback).[4]

Louisville

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Tennessee's backfield starred in the 66–0 defeat of Louisville.[5] The starting lineup was Carroll (left end), G. Vowell (left tackle), Kerr (left guard), McLean (center), Taylor (right guard), Kelly (right tackle), Sorrells (right end), May (quarterback), Thomason (left halfback), Rainey (right halfback), Lindsay (fullback).[5]

Alabama

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Alabama quarterback Charlie Joplin was ruled ineligible by the SIAA for refusing to sign an affidavit that he had not played professional baseball, and Tennessee halfback Red Rainey was out with injury. Tennessee won 17–7. The first score came on a 40-yard pass from Bill May to Scotty Cameron. A 22-yard pass to Goat Carroll got the next score. Alabama's score came in the second period, when Bully Van de Graaff picked up a Farmer Kelly fumble and ran 50 yards for a touchdown. Cameron kicked a field goal to make it 17.[6]

The starting lineup was Carroll (left end), Bayer (left tackle), Kerr (left guard), McLean (center), Taylor (right guard), Kelly (right tackle), G. Vowell (right end), May (quarterback), Thomason (left halfback), Cameron (right halfback), Lindsay (fullback).[12]

Chattanooga

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The Vols beat Chattanooga 67–0.

Vanderbilt

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Bill May threw two touchdown passes to Goat Carroll in the 16–14 victory over Vanderbilt, the first ever victory over the Tennessee rival.[13][14] Carroll scored all of the Vols points, adding a field goal in between touchdowns. Irby Curry scored all of Vanderbilt's points. An account of the first Tennessee touchdown reads, "Four minutes of play had barely drifted by when Tennessee's weird, mystic, elusive forward pass, May to Carroll, deadly in accuracy, went sailing home for the first touchdown of the game. The chesty Tennessee quarterback sent the oval whizzing for a distance of thirty-five yards and Carroll gathered in the ball near his goal line, when he hurried beneath the posts with all the speed at his command."[15]

Sewanee

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A description of the 14–7 win over Sewanee in Chattanooga read, "Mush Kerr played a wonderful game in the line as did Capt. Kelly. The work of the Tennessee line was easily the feature of the contest, and Sewanee early discovered that it was practically useless to rely on line plunges to gain ground...Lindsay, as usual, ploughed through the opposing line for consistent gains, and when it was absolutely necessary that Tennessee gain a certain number of yards 'Russ' was sure to be called upon."[11] Lee Tolley starred for Sewanee, which had been coached to break-up the forward pass.[11]

Kentucky

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The Kentucky Wildcats were outweighed 15 pounds to the man and beaten 23–6.[10] Graham Vowell scored three touchdowns.[16]

The starting lineup was Carroll (left end), Bayer (left tackle), Kerr (left guard), McLean (center), Taylor (right guard), Kelly (right tackle), G. Vowell (right end), May (quarterback), Thomason (left halfback), Rainey (right halfback), Lindsay (fullback).[10]

Personnel

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Depth chart

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The following chart provides a visual depiction of Tennessee's lineup during the 1914 season with games started at the position reflected in parentheses. The chart mimics a T Formation.

LE
Goat Carroll (5)
Lloyd Wolfe (0)
 
LT LG C RG RT
S. D. Bayer (2) Mush Kerr (3) Evan McLean (4) Bob Taylor (3) Farmer Kelly (5)
Graham Vowell (2) Bob Taylor (1) Mush Kerr (1) Clifton Cates (0)
Morris Vowell (0) Chink Lowe (0)
RE
Graham Vowell (2)
B. J. Greenwood (1)
Frank Sorrels (1)
QB
Bill May (5)
Red Rainey (0)
LHB FB RHB
Tommy Thomason (4) Rus Lindsay (4) Red Rainey (3)
P. H. Callahan (0) Scotty Cameron (1)

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Roster

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Line

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Number Player Position Games
started 		Hometown Prep school Height Weight Age
12 S. D. Bayer tackle
8 Goat Carroll end Nashville, Tennessee Wallace University School 165
18 Clifton Cates tackle
15 B. J. Greenwood end
13 Farmer Kelly tackle Orlinda, Tennessee Peoples and Tucker School 6'1" 188 25
2 Mush Kerr guard Savannah, Tennessee Savannah Institute 180
20 Chink Lowe guard
4 Evan McLean center
14 Frank Sorrels end
3 Bob Taylor guard
6 Graham Vowell tackle Martin, Tennessee 184
16 Morris Vowell tackle Martin, Tennessee
19 Lloyd Wolfe end

Backfield

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Number Player Position Games
started 		Hometown Prep school Height Weight Age
5 Bill May quarterback
9 Scotty Cameron halfback
7 Red Rainey halfback
10 Tommy Thomason halfback
1 P. H. Callahan halfback
11 Rus Lindsay fullback Knoxville, Tennessee Baker-Himel 160

Unlisted

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Number Player
17 Malcolm McSpadden

[17]

Postseason

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Championships

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The Birmingham Newspaper Club awarded Tennessee the Southern championship cup.[11]

Awards and honors

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Alonzo Carroll, Farmer Kelly, Mush Kerr, and Rus Lindsay made All-Southern.[18]

References

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  1. ^ "Tennessee Total National Championships". College Football Data Warehouse. Archived from the original on January 17, 2010. Retrieved June 1, 2010.
  2. ^ "Season's first game was merry romp for Volunteers". The Journal and Tribune. September 27, 1914. Retrieved August 3, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ "King College loses to University of Tennessee 55 to 3". The Bristol Herald Courier. October 4, 1914. Retrieved August 3, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ a b c Lester Barnes (October 11, 1914). "Clemson Defeated by Tennessee Team". The Atlanta Constitution. p. 6. Retrieved February 3, 2017 – via Newspapers.com.  
  5. ^ a b c "Easy Victory For Tennessee". The Courier Journal. October 18, 1914. p. 37. Retrieved February 3, 2017 – via Newspapers.com.  
  6. ^ a b "Orange and White wins in triumph over Crimson, victory being decisive". The Journal and Tribune. October 25, 1914. Retrieved February 17, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ "Repetition of history, Moccasins go to pieces in last half". The Chattanooga Times. November 1, 1914. Retrieved August 3, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ "For first time in history Tennessee licks Vandy". Nashville Tennessean. November 8, 1914. Retrieved August 3, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ "Tennessee defeats Sewanee by two touchdowns to one before four thousand people". The Chattanooga Times. November 15, 1914. Retrieved August 3, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ a b c "Wildcats Lose To Volunteers". The Courier Journal. November 27, 1914. p. 6. Retrieved May 7, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.  
  11. ^ a b c d e "Athletics". The University of Tennessee Record. 18 (5): 65–68. 1915.
  12. ^ Woodruff 1928, p. 10
  13. ^ Marvin West (September 16, 2014). "Tennessee Football 100 Years Ago". Archived from the original on November 13, 2014. Retrieved January 26, 2015.
  14. ^ The Commercial Appeal. "Vols Score First Win Over Vandy". Greatest Moments in Tennessee: 12. ISBN 9781582610788.
  15. ^ "Athletics". The University of Tennessee Record. 18 (5): 65. 1915.
  16. ^ Dodge, Mary Mapes (1916). "St. Nicholas: An Illustrated Magazine for Young Folks".
  17. ^ "The Tennessee Football Programs: 1914 Football Program - UT vs Clemson". Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved August 23, 2015.
  18. ^ "Composite Pick of All S.I.A.A. Teams". Atlanta Constitution. December 1, 1914. Retrieved March 8, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.  

Additional sources

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  • Woodruff, Fuzzy (1928). A History of Southern Football 1890–1928. Vol. 2.
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