Decade of Dominance???
When was this?
From 1995-2004??
They won 5 divisional titles (not too bad except you have to remember how godawful the East was back then)
2 SEC titles (a reminder they still lost to Spurrier the first year they won the SEC)
1 national championship (and yes, they deserved it and were the best team in the country that year)
101-25 overall
65-16 in the SEC
Make no mistake, those are not BAD numbers by any stretch of the imagination.
But on the other hand.....
Sure, they were 4-6 against Florida (in that decade).....but two of those wins were against Ron Zook and even one of those they got handed the game by the officials (2004).
5-5 in bowl games
Record against FBS teams with 9 or more wins: 21-17 (they started 15-4, so we're talking more like a "HALF DECADE" of very good
Loss to Memphis in 1996 with NFL Hall of Famer Peyton Manning at quarterback
Hell, not even Nebraska, who won 3 national titles in four years, had a "decade of dominance", and I seem to recall Nebraska pancaking Tennessee a few times during this same time frame.
The Vols were "about as good as we could possibly expect" during this time frame.
They also benefited from the fact they had a crippled Alabama, a situation they may not have started but they were the primary reason we stayed down on the ground for so long.
