Topic: Ten years ago today in Rocky Top...the first chinks in the armor...

[backontrack]

September 6, 2003...despite proving that we belonged on the same field as the vaunted Volunteers, the long pass/run where Josh Davis ran away from UT defenders and Stan Hill injured himself celebrating put us in a downward spiral...for SH, despite his personal issues, had BIG TIME ability (along with the prettiest ball I've ever seen), but he was never the same in the aftermath...the first indication that we wouldn't always have a premier QB and that the great run under Donnan and Pruett wasn't guaranteed to last indefinitely...all of the negative karma that has occurred in the last ten years had THAT play as its genesis...

[jpdusa]

I remember When Leftwhich was hurt and Stan was going to get to start his first game.  Bobby Pruett was being interviewed and he said, "everyone knows we've got the best QB in the league.  What they don't know is that we've also got the second best."

[BerkshireHerdFan]

I was there on the sidelines for UT, I kept hoping that it was not as serious as it seemed and that he would hop up from the sidelines and get back in.  Man  he really did throw the tightest spiral still to this day I have ever seen. I got to play catch with him many times at practice.

Yeah he had some personal issues I guess, as a student at the same time I probably did too.

[IM4DHERD]

(along with the prettiest ball I've ever seen)

Was it the right one or the left one?   ;D

I agree that that injury could have cost us a lost decade.

[girthyherdon]

Was it the right one or the left one?   ;D

Nice  ;D ;D

[DJdaHERDfan]

Not only Stan Hill injuring his leg in Tennessee.
But literally the next season(maybe two years) we lose promising Adam Black to a freak inner ear problem.
Then throw in all the over hyped transfers and recruits.

Dang it's nice to have a guy named Cato doing the MU QB spot justice.

[BHFIOHIO]

took too long but the worm has turned................180 degrees.........good times for the forseeable future...jmo

[Huffnagel]

I can still remember the picture of Josh Davis running away from the defenders and in the background you can see an UT player with his mouth hanging open at the speed that Josh was running.

[Huffnagel]

Here you go!

[2xBison]

And at the end of Huffs clip you see the injury to Hill that DJ mentions

I have friend that says when Hill busted knee on Nate Griffin in 03, that's the start of Herd decline.  And I know we beat kstate the next week but things did start turning

[herdman22]

And the very next week we beat the number 6 team in the country and Big 12 champs.

[bbcard1]

I always through that K State kind of overlooked us and gameplanned for Stan.  Goke played a gutty game that day.

[biggreenarms]

My brother took me to a preseason practice to see Leftwich and when they were doing QB drills I couldn't take my eyes off of #4. He had the best form and the most accurate passing.

I always caught flack for being a Stan Hill fan but even to my untrained eye, that guy had it all to be one of the best quarterbacks we ever had. Before the injury he had the confidence, that attitude, the arm, the wheels, the IQ and most of all the balls to back it all up. He was never the same guy after that. If he stayed healthy and they could have recruited the talent around him no one would know who Boise State is today.

[2xBison]

And the very next week we beat the number 6 team in the country and Big 12 champs.

that's what I said

[whf]

We were there too, first day I met another local Cincy Herd faithful who has since became a great friend. Agree it all started in this game, which we should have won.  We Stan ran down the field in celebration, elevated and came down wrong on his knee, that was the beginning. I can still visualize it; I don't think many of us realized how much difference there was between him and those that followed for some time.  And the comment about Black is correct, he was supposed to be as good or better than the rest.

I'd also like to say its been a quick ten years, but in football time, it seems like an eternity.

[2xBison]

We were there too, first day I met another local Cincy Herd faithful who has since became a great friend. Agree it all started in this game, which we should have won.  We Stan ran down the field in celebration, elevated and came down wrong on his knee, that was the beginning. I can still visualize it; I don't think many of us realized how much difference there was between him and those that followed for some time.  And the comment about Black is correct, he was supposed to be as good or better than the rest.

I'd also like to say its been a quick ten years, but in football time, it seems like an eternity.

  did he come down wrong on his knee or did Nate come down wrong on his knee ???

[backontrack]

Actually, there was a Friday night game against Toledo in between UT and KSU...GG's first start where he had great numbers (like 31-39) but we lost...then upset the Wildcats...then got hammered at Troy...

[HerdNBluefield79]

2003 was definitely the would've and could've season for Marshall. A lot of herd fans share the same sentiment that UT game was a pivotal harbinger for the next 10 years. It was good to see someone else posting about it.

2003 would've been a BCS busting year had Stan Hill remained healthy, and Adam Black was backup. Gochneaur pulled off the win at K-State - a healthy Marshall squad would've routed K-State. Watch the game if you have it recorded - there were a ton of missed opportunities to score in that game.

2003 had higher potential that 2002 with wins over two BCS teams...we could've been in the mix of the conference realignments just from that year's success.


would've...could've...should've

10 years forward, Linkin Park is remixing some of their old songs...ugh...but it reminds me of college days and when there was optimism on Saturdays at Joan C Edwards stadium. Hopefully, we are at the rise of the next crest of success.

[whf]

He came down on his own Knee.  Landed wrong and his potentially brilliant career was over.  Don't really understand why he did not recover and where the other troubles crept in; but it was a shame. Tupelo MS had sent a gift to MU, and somehow he/we broke it quickly.  Then the debacle and ultra-unlikely issue with Black; what a compound fracture (punn intended).