Georgia-Tennessee: Fulmer Hopes to "Avoid Losing"

11 letters, four syllables, and two words from UT head coach Phillip Fulmer—that's what scares me most about Saturday's Georgia-Tennessee contest.

Forget the game-planning and the key matchups—as soon as those two words came out of Fulmer's mouth, I knew the Vols were in trouble.

The coach said he hopes to "avoid losing" this Saturday against the Bulldogs. 

Specifically, he hopes the Vols can "avoid losing by taking care of the football and not giving up big plays."

While Fulmer's statement is true—the Vols do need to take care of the football and limit UGA's big plays—his quote reminded me of the age-old "Do these jeans make me look fat?" question posed by a wife to a husband. 

Regardless of what he says, the husband must be extremely careful in how he responds.

Fulmer would have done well to be so cautious.

Why did Fulmer use the words "avoid losing"? Why not "put ourselves in position to win," or "have a good shot at getting the W," or "give ourselves a chance"?

Am I reading too much into these two words? 

Yes.

Do I think Fulmer's Freudian slip will actually affect the outcome of UT's SEC home opener? 

No.

"Well, then what will affect the outcome?" you might ask.

Okay—no more "jeans making anyone look fat" tangents. 

Time to talk football. 

Here are some notes to help you impress your fellow tailgaters on Saturday when the topic of the UGA-UT game enters the conversation:

-Tennessee (2-2) had a bye week last weekend while #11 Georgia (4-1) won by a score of 45-17 over Ole Miss. "The open date came at a good time for us," Fulmer said in his press conference.

-Georgia comes to Knoxville seeking its fourth-straight win in Neyland Stadium.  The Vols haven't beaten Georgia in Knoxville since 1999.

-Tennessee has won two out of the last three games against the 'Dawgs, including last year's comeback-turned-runaway 51-33 win in Athens.

-Under Mark Richt, Georgia is now 23-3 on the road in the SEC (they play Florida in Jacksonville—a neutral site). 

When asked about this success, Richt noted that UGA's focus is strictly on football when playing road games, whereas playing at home puts other items on the agenda, like entertaining recruits and their families. 

-Fulmer mentioned that Britton Colquitt will be healthy enough to kickoff for the Vols starting this Saturday.  Colquitt's presence should help to alleviate the field-position woes faced by the UT defense this season. (See my lengthy explanation here

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