Avoid the Rush - Hate Orange Early.
Whew!
Another home game that turned from a blowout into a close battle has been won. The venom that flowed from the Mississippi fan base both before and after this game was remarkable. I guess that is to be expected from a team who holds a 9-45-2 record against you.
The 2008 Ole Miss Rebels are a study in both trickle down effects of recruiting, and schizophrenic coaching. Ed Orgeron elevated the efforts of recruiting at Mississippi from average to good, and while his ineptitude as a coach resulted in very little to show for his recruiting, he did lay a solid foundation for Houston Nutt to build a team on.
Many Bama fans hold severe disdain for Houston Nutt, and for many reasons. Some fans will point to the fact that Houston Nutt reported Alabama to the NCAA during the tenure of Mike DuBose, however that issue enough is not enough to “hate” Nutt.
The fact is, Nutt, Fulmer, and Spurrier, as well as several other coaches, their spouses, friends, enemies, casual acquaintances, and Pee-Wee Herman, turned the DuBose staff in for recruiting issues.
Alabama rivals fear the return of the winningest program in Southern Football History to full strength; so much so that a booster of a rival team recently hired a private investigator to try and dig up dirt on Nick Saban’s recruiting—in spite of the fact that Saban has recruited top classes everywhere else he has been, without ever being accused of wrongdoing.
I guess such tactics are not unexpected, in light of the fact that an Auburn booster was once caught paying a former Alabama player (Gene Jelks) to lie about receiving inducements while at the Capstone.
Such is life in the SEC.
The real reason that Bama fans dislike Nutt, is that he puts schizo teams on the field that can beat you on any given day. Nutt is one of those rare coaches who will coach up a team to beat the best, only to lose to a mid-major the following week.
In 2006, USC hung fifty points on Arkansas, who then beat both Alabama and Auburn, followed by Mississippi, South Carolina, and Tennessee, to win the west. If a mad scientist created a hybrid coach from the DNA of both Mike Leach and Bill Curry, it would be Houston Nutt.
He can be incredibly annoying and outrageous…at times he is insane…at others he is brilliant—but you never like playing his teams. It is maddening, and Bama fans have grown to seriously dislike the man.
Against Arkansas, Alabama played another game where we only played two complete quarters, yet we still made it through with a win. A win is always better than a loss, but I don’t know how much more the collective nerves of the Bama Nation can handle.
On to Tennessee
Tennessee is the antithesis of Arkansas in terms of trickle down football.
UT has recruited well for most of Fulmer’s tenure, however in 2008 the Vols class was rated 35th by Scout. In 2007 they finished 4th. The 2006 class weighed in at 24th, and the 2005 class was rated the No.1 class by Scout. The 2004 class held the No.9 spot, giving their five year average ranking between 14 and 15.
Dropping this year’s freshman class from the ranking makes their average class finish in the top 10. While UT has lost numerous players to off the field issues, they still have a lot of talent on the field—so much so that they were on many preseason top 20 lists.
Simply put, what UT has in terms of talent, they make up for with lack of coaching.
The 2008 UT Vols opened the season with a disappointing loss at UCLA—a loss the looked much worse when UCLA was roasted 59-0 by BYU the following week.
Of the three wins that the Vols have posted this season, only one has come against a team with a winning record—and that was a 4-3 MAC team (Northern Illinois), by a score of 13-9.
The combined records of the three teams that UT has beaten, is 7-14. That means that Alabama has posted as many victories this season, as the Vol’s three victims—combined.
UT has improved some as the season has progressed, however their offense in the second post-Cutcliffe era is second (SEC) only to MSU in terms of ineptitude. The 2008 Vols rank ninth in the SEC in scoring, averaging just under 20 points per game. The Vols improved some against MSU this past weekend, however MSU is ranked eighth in total defense in the SEC with a schedule that includes two directional Louisiana teams, as well as Auburn—an offensive disaster.
MSU gave up 438 yards rushing to Georgia Tech— not a misprint, 438 yards was the actual number—and it is not surprising that UT managed 139 after being held to just one yard by Georgia.
1 comments Last one added 8 months ago — Leave a Comment
Larry Burton 8 months ago
Good read! I enjoyed it greatly! Keep up the good work!
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