Tennessee's Fall From Grace Is Allegedly Attributable to a Curse From the Mother of Former LSU QB Rohan Davey in 2001

Now this is one I haven't heard before. But I must admit, the timeline adds up.

For as long as I can remember dating back to my childhood, Tennessee has largely been a sad tale of what once was in college football, save a few years where the flame was rekindled. It's to a point now that I'm almost convinced all the stories of the 90s and the 1998 national championship are deep fakes and an elaborate prank on those of us too young to be able to corroborate it ourselves. My mind simply refuses to accept that there was a time when Tennessee rolled the ball out there and kicked everybody's ass.

But to hear this TikTok conspiracy theorist tell it, the downfall of one of college football's historically great programs is directly traceable to the 2001 SEC Championship Game. No. 2 Tennessee took on No. 20 LSU with a trip to the Rose Bowl and a chance at a second national title in four years on the line — again, that sounds quite ridiculous to say now. The Vols knocked out LSU quarterback Rohan Davey in the first half, but backup Matt Mauck came in and led the Tigers to a 31-20 win, spoiling the Vols' hopes of a chance at another national championship.

And as the story goes, Davey's mother allegedly put some sort of voodoo curse on Tennessee for injuring her son. Davey recently appeared on a Baton Rouge radio station to address the claim and didn't flat-out deny it. "If she did (place a curse), she didn't tell me about it," Davey said. The interview starts at the 15:30 mark below.

I don't know what curses were or were not put out into the world following the 2001 SEC Championship, but all I know is that everything has really spiraled out of control since then. Tennessee has won the SEC East just two other times since (2004 and 2007), won 10 games just three times (most recently in 2007) and has finished with a losing record nine times. So whether the curse is real or perceived, the 2001 SEC Championship was undeniably a turning point.

I am not superstitious, but I am a little stitious. And all I know is that I have heard theories with a lot less evidence than this one.