Thursday, December 1, 2016

UT - Vanderbilt series

The football game between UT and Vandy on Saturday, November 26, 2016, was the 110th meeting of these two storied teams.

Or was it the 111th meeting?  Depends which set of information you look at.

Here's UT's Media Guide produced before the 2016 season.

2016 Tennessee Football Media Guide

Here's Vandy's Game Day Notes.

Vanderbilt Football Game Day Notes - November 26, 2016

Here's UT's Game Day Notes.

UT Football Game Day Notes - November 26, 2016

Close, but note quite.  From official publications of the two schools there's a difference of one game.  Or not.  And the records for results in their respective cities are also off.  Even UT doesn't agree with itself. I'm not sure why there's a difference in the UT "at Knoxville" and "at Nashville" numbers between the 2016 Media Guide and the Game Day Notes.

So, can all of this be explained?  Probably.  I entered all the info into a spreadsheet to see where the differences were.

Let's look at the difference of the one game.  Vandy claims a win in the 1918 game.  And a trouncing it was.
2016 Vanderbilt Football Fact Book - page 128
How does UT address that game / season?
2016 UT Football Media Guide - page 271

UT had an unofficial team during the 1917-18 seasons.  The team, made up of Army recruits and students had their one away game of the 1918 season in Nashville, where they got whooped.  The best that I can tell is that the games those seasons don't count in the official UT records, but that one game does in Vandy football history.

From UT's 1919 yearbook we have a bit more detail about the 1918 season.

Volunteer - 1919

Here's Vandy's description of the game from the 1919 Commodore:

Commodore - 1919

There is no dispute that Vandy won the football game of 1918.  What was the real score?  The UT Annual says the score was 82-0.  Both Media Guides give the score as 76-0.

The papers say it was 74-0.

Dallas Morning News - November 11, 1918

Richmond Times Dispatch - November 11, 1918

And finally, thanks to my friend, Skip Nipper, I have the story from the Nashville Tennessean.

Nashville Tennessean - November 11, 1918
It looks like the newspapers are correct.  74-0.


Now to compare the other discrepancies I found while looking at the record books.  In 1902, Vandy claims it was played in Nashville and UT says the game was played in Knoxville.  The * means that it was a home game for Vandy.

2016 Vanderbilt Football Fact Book - page 127


2016 UT Football Media Guide - page 269

Heading to the newspapers we see that the game was indeed played in Knoxville.

The Idaho Daily Statesman - October 26, 1902
The Dallas Morning News - October 26, 1902

Just three years later I find the next discrepancy.  Vandy claims that the 1905 game was played in Nashville.

2016 Vanderbilt Football Fact Book - page 127

UT claims that it was played in Knoxville.

2016 UT Football Media Guide - page 269
And the papers say: Knoxville.

The Dallas Morning News - October 22, 1905


The next issue is the game held in 1914.

2016 Vanderbilt Football Fact Book - page 128


2016 UT Football Media Guide - page 270

And the papers say that the game was played in Nashville.

The Dallas Morning News - November 8, 1914
Arkansas Gazette - November 8, 1914


Things are good for the next half century.  Then in 1963 there was confusion in the media guides.  Vandy claims that the game was played in Nashville.


2016 Vanderbilt Football Fact Book - page 130

UT claims it was held in Knoxville.
2016 UT Football Media Guide - page 276
The papers say: Knoxville

The Lexington Herald - November 30, 1963

Just three years later there's another discrepancy.  Vandy claims the game was played in Knoxville.


2016 Vanderbilt Football Fact Book - page 131

UT claims it was played in Nashville.

2016 UT Football Media Guide - page 277

And the papers say: Nashville.

The Milwaukee Journal - November 25, 1966


With those corrections, I have a tally of Vandy at Nashville being 19-36-4 and Vandy at Knoxville being 11-39-1, which matches their Game Day Notes (above).   Also, on page 171 of the 2016 Vandy Football Media Guide, they have the locations correct.

2016 Vanderbilt Football Fact Book - page 171
(compiled)
I'll chalk these up to editing issues by the Vandy Media Guide Staff.

I did also find one scoring discrepancy.  In the second time these schools played in 1892, Vandy records the score as a 10-0 win by Vanderbilt.  UT shows the score as a 12-0 win by Vanderbilt.

2016 Vanderbilt Football Fact Book - page 127

2016 UT Football Media Guide - page 268

One of the local Knoxville papers says the score was 12-0 in favor of Vanderbilt.  Some things never change.  There's an "unjust decision by the referee" (from Vanderbilt) that caused UT to lose the ball near the goal line.

Knoxville Daily Journal - November 18, 1892

Vandy does have the correct score in the head-to-head section of their media guide.

2016 Vanderbilt Football Fact Book - page 171


The results of this exercise sound like I'm beating up on Vanderbilt's Athletic Media staff.  Not at all.  I found some errors that I feel should be corrected for future editions.  I will contact them and let them know of my findings.  I'll also be contacting UT's Athletic Media staff to discuss the 1918 final score.


With UT's loss to Vandy on Saturday I think that the record books should now stand as:

University of Tennessee vs Vanderbilt University overall: 75-30-5
UT vs Vandy in Knoxville: 38-11-1
UT vs Vandy in Nashville: 37-19-4

Vanderbilt University vs University of Tennessee overall: 31-75-5 (includes 1918 game)
Vandy vs UT in Nashville: 20-36-4
Vandy vs UT in Knoxville: 11-39-1




Most newspapers clippings were gathered from GenealogyBank.com
Nashville Tennessean clipping was accessed at newspaper.scom
1919 Commodore was accessed at ancestry.com
2016 Vanderbilt Football Media Guide was accessed at VUCommodores.com
1919 Volunteer was accessed at UT Libraries
2016 University of Tennessee Football Media Guide was accessed at UTSports.com