The scribes filled the Neyland Stadium press box. ABC cameras prepared to fixate on him for a few hours one Saturday afternoon in 1985.

Bo Jackson, the face of the No. 1 Auburn Tigers who they came to see. Tony Robinson became the story, instead.

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The Tennessee quarterback dazzled, pacing his Vols team to a victory that was much more than the program’s first upset of a top ranked team in more than 25 years.

It was a drubbbing, a 38-20 triumph that served as a statement in the SEC and national title race.

This Tennessee team was good. It’s quarterback was even better and by the end of it all, at least for a day, Jackson was an afterthought. So was the Vols season-opening draw with UCLA the week before.

Robinson passed for 259 yards and four touchdowns, including a bomb to Tim McGee that had Tennessee up 14-0 at the end of the first quarter.

The rout was on.

Under the direction of Robinson, the offense racked up 459 total yards.

Charles Wilson scored on a sweep play, Vince Carter hauled in another Robinson scoring toss in the end zone in the second quarter and a Carlos Reveiz field goal had Tennessee up, 24-0 at halftime.

The Vols were scoreless in the third quarter. It didn’t matter. They scored two more times in the fourth: Robinson passes to Joey Clinkscales and Eric Swanson to put the finishing touches on a game that was never really close.

That was, in part because of a suffocating defensive performance.

Tennessee forced five fumbles. Two were recovered. It accounted for three interceptions, and Jackson was held to just 80 rushing yards after entering the game averaging more than 280 in the Tigers’ first two games.

Complete domination.

“We thought we could handle them on the line of scrimmage,” Jackson told reporters after the game. “We were wrong. They just manhandled us from the start.”

The win was a springboard for the Vols, who went on to win nine games, claim the program’s first SEC title since 1969 and trounce Miami in the Sugar Bowl.

Tennessee did a lot of that without Robinson, whose promising season ended with a knee injury three weeks later in a 16-14 win over Alabama in Birmingham.

But against Auburn, Robinson looked like the best player in the country.

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