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2009 Big Orange Roundtable: Week 5

lawvol gate21.net — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 14:40:57 -0400

This Week’s Roundtable is hosted by: The Pigskin Pathos

This week’s Big Orange Roundtable is hosted by The Pigskin Pathos, the resident Tennessee/Auburn blog, and he’s thought of some highly interesting questions…

Given the fact that Lawvol is lazy, unreliable, and has been out-of-position most of the week due to “depositions” (likely story), this week I am flying solo on the Roundtable…

Week 5

(1a) Urban Meyer is last in line to order at a Pahokee, Fla. McDonald’s. The door suddenly opens, and Lane Kiffin walks in. Urban Meyer is not above momentarily turning his head to see who enters a room, as we are all wont to do. Upon seeing each other, both coaches pause for a moment, knowing that an awkward encounter is inevitable. Lane, being the brash one, decides to initiate. Finish the conversation, use as many lines as you feelare necessary.

HSH: Sorry to be a Buzz Killington, but this a is trick question.

You see, there actually is no McDonalds in Pahokee. The closest one is in Belle Glade, which, according to Google Maps, is a 16-minute drive from the great city of Pahokee. After what Lane Kiffin said back around Signing Day in the spring about Pahokee, I was inspired to double-check of if the city had a McDonalds, and this is what I found. So maybe Kiffin’s Pahokee comments – although not necessarily wise – weren’t exactly that far off-base…they don’t even a McDonalds.

But to play along, here’s my take:

Lane: Sup, Urbie?
Urban: Oh…hey Lane…
Awkward silence, tension building
Kiffin’s phone rings, and it’s a recruit
Urban goes on to order, the two never make eye contact again – including the postgame handshake September 19th

I think it would be the awkward confrontation between two guys that don’t have an ounce of respect for each other. These two guys couldn’t give a you-know-what about the other one, so I don’t think either would have much to say.

(1b) What do both coaches order?

HSH: Kiffin orders two double cheeseburgers, medium fry, medium drink – all off the Dollar Menu. Why, you ask? Because that’s what I get when I’m feeling some McDonalds (very rare occasions). Where else can you get a full, filling meal like that for just over $4? Kiffin’s a smart guy, too. Plus, remember how he negotiated less in his contract to pay his assistants more? Well, he’s got to watch the family budget – after all, he’s got that lovely wife and three kids.

Meyer is lame, and just orders whatever Tim Tebow tells him to order.

(2) If an asteroid were on a direct impact course with Earth, what could Eric Berry do about it? If he is successful in stopping the
asteroid and saving the world, does he win the Heisman then?

HSH: Berry would, of course, stop it. Because he can. He would catch it, and take it back 83 yards for six.

Sadly enough, even stopping a meteor from destroying the world wouldn’t be enough. Mostly because the media would be too busy fawning over Tim Tebow’s latest good deed because, you know, Tebow always seems to make sure he’s got a camera near or around his good mission trips and the like. And if the media wasn’t all over that, they’d be too busy being giddy over Colt McCoy and Sam Bradford throwing for 750 yards and 8 touchdowns on some Big 12 pansy defense (wait, they play defense in that league?).

(3) If you were on the planning committee for the Neyland Stadium renovations, what new things would you propose to be added to the Stadium and surrounding areas that are not already in the works?

HSH: Most of my changes would involve the student section and seating, because the recent stuff really seems to have taken care of most of everything else as far as I’m concerned. Here’s some of my ideas:

No student seats in the upper deck; as in, give us another section in the South endzone, and up the ante on them. Make them competitive and use a similar system to the one they just created, except without all the confusing jargon.
This may create some controversy, but here goes. I would have a simple little quiz – online, of course – for every student to take to be eligible to even get tickets. Just some simple questions about the game of football and about our team and maybe the SEC in general – questions most of us would obviously know. This is highly unfeasible, but the point would be to get all of the folks who either (a) don’t have a clue or (b) don’t care enough to follow the Vols out of the prime seating. Sadly enough, the inspiration for this comes from seeing girls sitting in better seats than me and texting or sitting the whole game. So yes, this is targeted at them more or less. Of course, if you pass an eye test, then what you know or don’t know is irrelevant. After all, getting the pretty UT girls on the CBS and ESPN cameras certainly makes the school look good, right?
Spread the other teams’ way the heck out. Give them the section around their band and put the rest of them in a corner. Everyone else (ie, Florida, Alabama and Georgia) does it, why are we so nice?
Keep the troughs in the mens’ bathroom, for sure.
I would have kept the V-O-L-S letter signs on the top of the new JumboTron. That’s something I think we’d all agree on.

(4) I am a former Pride of the Southland member, so I’ve been always curious about this. What are your three favorite songs that the Pride plays? What is your least favorite song? What songs would you like to hear the Pride play on game days?

HSH: Ah, the Pride of the Southland. Our football program may suck at times and have fallen into mediocrity, but the band program is always at the top of their game. It’s more fun when we go on the road and march on the opponents’ field in the “Power T” formation, even though we may be down a couple touchdowns. Anyways…

Favorites:

Rocky Top – obviously – but WITHOUT the “woo!”
The real fight song, or “Down the Field.” Yes, I actually had to look up the name of it because I wasn’t totally sure. Tt’s the one the Pride plays directly following a touchdown. It’s what I’ve set my text message ringtone on my phone, and I think it’s underrated (or in the shadow of Rocky Top).
The theme from the movie Gladiator, or, as I call it, our slower version of Florida State’s Seminole war chant. Not sure why, I just like it.

Less of, please:

Livin’ On a Prayer: I don’t like Bon Jovi, and I always think of it as an Auburn thing, and we’re better than Auburn.
The Lord of the Rings theme. Obivously. The movies are great, but I’m not sure it fits on the football field.

My one, lone, easy-to-do request. I’m stealing this from the LSU band, but I’ve heard they stole it from the HBCU schools (HBCU is the term for the predominantly black schools in the southern U.S., known for their very cool marching bands) like Southern, Grambling State, Florida A&M and others, so it’s fine by me. I believe it’s based off a version from Cameo, but http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lClZTjNS6xQ also have a version. Here’s LSU’s version…

Click here to view the embedded video.

My love of this song came from the 2007 SEC Championship Game, when some of my friends had seats near the LSU section, and came to me after the game lamenting Erik Ainge’s interceptions and raving on the crunk-ness of the LSU band and their amazingly fun-looking connection with their fans. You can see what the students and fans do in part – is that not cool? Unfortunately, I don’t think this will ever happen at Tennessee, even with the flair and energy of the new staff – I mean, they’re playing rap music at practice now…how dare they!

Our basketball ball pep band played this once a game this past season or so, and me and my friends – although not always sitting together – always manage to find each other doing said motion. With all the rap music blaring during our practices (and on the Neyland PA system at games, perhaps?), why not the Pride?

(5) Being a half Auburn blog, I feel compelled to ask this: since 2003, Auburn has quietly amassed a 4 game winning streak against Tennessee. How would you describe the current status of the Tennessee-Auburn rivalry (if there is one)?

I want to save the whole current state of the Tennessee and Auburn programs comparison for the week of that game, but it’s an interesting rivalry. I have no knowledge of it, but this used to be a pretty big deal because the Vols and War Eagles played every year prior to the divisional split in 1992. They played some pretty memorable games, but I have no connection with those because I wasn’t alive. Shame on my youth…

Really though, what comes to my mind when I think of the UT-Auburn rivalry is when Auburn beat Tennessee three times in the 2003 and 2004 seasons. I went to the regular season games both years. The highlights:

2003: Sitting in Vols section, we have obnoxiously loud Auburn woman fan behind, releasing a high-pitched squeal of glee at every Cadillac Williams 8 yard-run. Vols fall behind 28-7, before Casey Clausen starts throwing the ball all over the place. Jordan-Hare Stadium is palpable with nervousness as Vols mount final drive to tie the game.In Auburn territory, Clausen throws pick, which I still don’t think the guy caught, and Auburn wins. It was Clausen’s only loss on the road in the SEC in his career. We got lost in the dark of Auburn’s campus after words, have “War Eagle” yelled at us abou a thousand times, and sit in traffic on the only road out of Auburn for about two hours on the way back to Birmingham.
2004: My junior year of high school, I take a couple of Auburn buds along with me. GameDay was there, everybody was pumped. Auburn then absolutely stomped the Vols. 31-3 at half. Loudest I’ve heard the road team’s fans in Neyland Stadium in my life…EVER. Somehow, Tennessee recovered and beat Georgia in Athens next week 19-14 and won the SEC East that year…

…leading to the the crime that was the ‘04 title game. Opening drive, Williams fumbles into the endzone. Sure enough, Auburn falls on it. Vols score on 80 yard TD run? Nope, called back on an iffy holding call 10 yards behind the play. Vols stop Auburn on third down down 3 in the fourth quarter? Nope, pass interference on Vols after Jason Campbell threw the ball into the first row. Auburn scores next play. Surely the SEC wasn’t going to deny a team the opportunity to play for a national title, right?

If it sounds like I’m slightly bitter, it’s because I got to hear about those games ad nauseum for the next couple of years, as most of my friends from high school are Auburn fans that now attend the school. Most of that’s worn off now. Last year’s game was completely different because everyone walked out of Jordan-Hare that day fully aware of the abomination of a football game they had just witnessed, so no grief-giving was necessary. I never really hated Auburn, I just got sick of the constant grief. But now it’s different: I really don’t dislike Auburn at all, but it’s about time we actually beat Auburn.

The Rest of the Roundtable:

Be sure to check out what the other roundtablers have to say (in no particular order):

Also be sure to check out the round-up at Pigskin Pathos…

– … to me.

Gate 21 Tags: Basketball, Big 12, Big Orange Roundtable, Championship, College Football, College Football, Eric Berry, Florida Gators, Football, Gate 21, Lane Kiffin, Links, News & Notes, Neyland Stadium, SEC, SEC Fans, SEC Football, Tennessee Football, Tennessee Football, Tennessee Volunteers, Urban Meyer, Vols

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Tennessee Vols Start Second Week of Practice

lawvol gate21.net — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 06:00:13 -0400

One week down, just three more to go.

Tennessee wrapped up their first week of practice with a full-on scrimmage Saturday afternoon in Neyland Stadium following the NCAA-required “acclimation” period of practice, first in helmets and shorts, and then in shoulder pads and shorts. This week features two-a-day practices Monday, Wednesday and Friday of this week as the season opener September 5th against Western Kentucky approaches quickly.

I’ve enjoyed getting to go to the sites I normally go to for UT football coverage and reading accounts of the practices, and those accounts—mostly VolQuest and the News Sentinel—are what this post is going to be based off of, so I won’t go through linking stories you have more than likely already read. I haven’t had the opportunity to catch one in person myself, but I plan to change that this week, thanks to the precedent set by Hooper from Rocky Top Talk.

So, here’s a short recap of week one, with my thoughts and reactions from what I’ve read and watched.

Physical, Physical, Physical

Though Tennessee’s only had one official practice in full pads, they’ve apparently stopped just short of beating the crap out of each other, especially Friday’s shoulder-pads-and-shorts practice. Monte Kiffin even said Friday that his defense shouldn’t have been tackling, and the coaches allowed cut blocks in Saturday’s scrimmage. There’s obviously a risk-reward aspect of having physical practices before the season starts.

Though the Vols have played just one day in full pads, that has not stopped the hitting and tackling.

The risk is injuries of course, and the Vols absolutely cannot afford any more of those. This team’s depth—or rather it’s alarming lack thereof—is one of the biggest concerns I have with this 2009 team. A couple of injuries here or there, especially along the offensive and defensive lines, could be devastating.

However, the reward is the formation of a physical football team, something I don’t feel Tennessee’s had since at least 2005, if not before (though credit the 2007 team for its incredible resiliency). In other words, the last three teams have been on the soft side in my opinion. Much of that has to do with the inability to run the football with any consistency, whether that be due to ineptitude of doing so or simply the lack of willingness to run it. Another aspect is the overall lack of aggressiveness, perhaps mostly attributable to the previous staff. But my point is that we haven’t seen a physical, hit-the-other-team in the mouth Tennessee football team in too long.

Freshmen

Obviously, a big storyline every fall camp is the newcomers, even moreso this year. I’ve heard or read something on just about every one of the new faces, and most of its been positive. They’ve certainly been given the opportunities to stake their claims to earning serious playing time, and as the team enters the meat of its practice schedule (read, in full pads), it will be something to continue watching.

Poole flashed a big-play ability in the scrimmage Saturday.

Running Backs

One area where I have almost no concerns about for the upcoming year, barring another injury or two (knock on wood). A healthy Montario Hardesty had a great week and appears to be on his way to nailing down the starting spot. I read Brent Hubbs on the VolQuest forum say he would consider backing off Hardesty’s work—as in that’s how ready he is to go. Taruen Poole was the stud from Saturday’s scrimmage and has probably been the most impressive to this point. The freshman—Bryce Brown and David Oku—have both gotten good reviews so far.

Many assumed Oku would be a redshirt candidate, but he showed that he may be a factor this season. Brown reportedly hasn't blown the world away, but part of that is him having to live up to the hype of being the top-ranked recruit from the last signing class (in other words, it’s not worth panicking about).

Quarterback Play

This is probably the primary concern because the QB play was so atrociously bad last year. Jonathan Crompton and Nick Stephens have both had their ups and downs through the first week, mixing quality throws with turnovers. However, it was encouraging to see Crompton show out in Saturday’s scrimmage, where he looked very sharp in throwing for two scores, no picks and just three incompletions. Let’s not give him the Heisman yet, but let’s see (and hope) how he does today. Can he put two together two good days in a row?

Secondary

Another area of rather little concern, mostly because Eric Berry’s back there, but there’s been quite the buzz about the defensive backs, especially corner Art Evans and safety Prentiss Waggner. Dennis Rogan has been getting worked at safety, perhaps signaling the coaches’ confidence in Evans’ abilities opposite Brent Vinson at the CB spot.

Jones had a solid week of practice despite a cast on his left wrist (that you can't see here).

Freshmen have also been making noise in the secondary, specifically Janzen Jackson, who appears to be the early leader for the most playing time. Other freshmen like Darren Myles Jr., Eric Gordon and Mike Edwards have all gotten relatively positive reviews so far.

Gerald Jones

Jones’ health was in question for the opener, but Jones has been practicing well, despite wearing a black cast on the wrist he had surgery on this offseason. He also appears to have regained his quickness and agility we saw late in his freshman season, according to WR coach Frank Wilson. I can’t not mention Brandon Warren here as well, as he’s made an impact in camp so far—much more than he made last season. Freshman Marsalis Teague has gotten his share of rave reviews, and Nu’keese Richardson’s quickness and speed has put him at a point where he absolutely must see the field in some manner (like returning punts).

Wes Brown

The fifth-year senior is gutting it out on two bum knees, and who knows how long he’ll be able to go this year? If that's not far, then that will be unfortunate for the Vols. Brown obviously is crucial in terms of depth on the defensive line, but more importantly he’s one of the older guys on the team that you hate to see struggle with soreness from two knee surgeries. Rico McCoy and Brent Vinson were also held out of Saturday’s scrimmage, so hopefully there’s nothing serious there.

Pace and Energy

This is something I hope is evident when I do get the chance to watch a practice, but apparently the pace has been pretty quick. David Cutcliffe was known for running a very quick and specific (as in heavy attention to detail) practices while he was running the Vols offense, though the comparison between this staff’s practices and the last staff’s practices is muddled due to the access differences between the two.

New Unis

Nothing more to this than just mentioning it because our fans—the ones on the message boards and in the blogosphere at least—seem obsessed with jersey news (i.e., black jerseys). I’ll just say I like the new look and leave it there…

Just my thoughts from what I’ve read, seen and heard—nothing ground-breaking, I know. My hope is to go to Wednesday afternoon’s practice, where hopefully I can gather my own observations and share them here.

– … to me.

Images Courtesy of: VolQuest.com #19 ($) • VolQuest.com #16 ($) • VolQuest.com #6 ($)

Gate 21 Tags: College Football, College Sports, Fall Practice, Lane Kiffin, SEC Football, SEC Sports, Tennessee Football, Tennessee Football, Tennessee Volunteers, The View From the Hill

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Marquette-Tennessee Basketball Preview: Off to Nashville...

lawvol gate21.net — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 14:03:32 -0500

Marquette-Tennessee Mini-Preview

As I mentioned Sunday, I am about to head up a possibly icy I-40 to Nashville (from Memphis) to watch the SEC-Big East Invitational, which of course includes the Vols, off their rather embarrassing loss at Temple Saturday, and Baldy’s Commodores (unfortunately, I’ll be there someday, as well).

If you thought Temple was good, there’s plenty of reason to think Marquette is plenty better. The Golden Eagles, out of the Big East (although I wouldn’t call Milwaukee as being in the East), are 8-1, with a notable win over Wisconsin at home, and a loss to Dayton in Chicago in a preseason tournament.

All you basically need to know about Marquette are the three outstanding guards: Dominic James, Jerel McNeal and Wesley Matthews. James has seemingly been there forever, and turned down the NBA Draft last year to return.

Matthews is the leading scorer at just under 20 ppg, and actually second on the team in rebounds (six per game). McNeal is the second-leading scorer and is also averaging over five boards per game.

Though it might seem that Marquette has no inside game, Lazar Hayward does average a double-double at only 6'6". That said, the only players taller than 6′8” on the roster have played as many minutes as I have this year (that would be zero).

So obviously Tennessee should be able to exploit Marquette inside, right? Well, the recent play of Brian Williams and Wayne Chism should have you a little nervous if you’re a Tennessee fan. Those two have to come to play tonight and control the boards and take advantage of the lack of defenders that are bigger than they are.

Now I don’t mean to throw Big Baby and Weezy (Chism’s an asthmatic) under the bus since the recent struggles haven’t been totally their fault. The perimeter defense will be under quite a bit of pressure tonight with those Marquette guards. Don’t expect too much press tonight, or at least I don’t. I know it’s a staple of Tennessee under Bruce Pearl, but I have little reason to think Marquette will have too much trouble with it.

Another thing to point out is that after James, McNeal, Hayward, and Matthews, the next player in ppg is Maurice Acker, who has scored in double figures all of once this year. Marquette does go 9-deep, but there isn’t much scoring after the big four. I also don’t expect J.P. Prince to play either.

This should be a home game for Tennessee for all intents and purposes, and it provides a great chance to repair the damaged reputation from Saturday’s blowout loss to Temple. Hopefully I’ll have some photos and videos from tonight’s game that I can put up here.

I will not say that I’m expecting a Tennessee loss because I never, ever pick against Tennessee or think our hoops team will absolutely 100 percent lose a game (football...not so much...), but this will be a very tough test for the Vols. Nevertheless, it should be a fun game to watch and be at, so obviously I’m looking forward to that

GO VOLS!!

Gate 21 Tags: Brian Williams, Bruce Pearl, College Basketball, Great Games, Marquette Eagles, SEC Basketball, Tennessee Basketball, Tennessee Volunteers, The View From the Hill, Vanderbilt Commodores, Wayne Chism

The Uglier Side of the Coaching Carousel: Kiffin's Unite, Chizik Backlash

lawvol gate21.net — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 17:43:31 -0500

Well, in case you were so overcome with joy at the news that “Kiffin the Elder” (a.k.a “The Full Monte”) would be joining Tennessee Head Coach, Lane Kiffin next Fall in Knoxville—and I can completely understand why you might be—the news out of Auburn is much less pleasant.

Apparently, “War Eagles” are cannibals because at present, the Auburn Tigers are voraciously eating their own…

First of all, I want to make it absolutely clear that I am not purporting to offer any thoughts on whether Gene Chizik was a good hire from a “football” perspective.

First, aside from my remembering that Chizik was on the Auburn staff as a defensive coordinator in the 2004-ish era, I really don’t know enough about the man’s essentials to assess him one way of the other. I have never been (nor do I plan to become) a devoted follower of the Iowa State Cyclones either, thus I also lack the knowledge to weigh whether Chizik’s 5-19 record as the head coach in Ames really means that much or not.

Second, as a Tennessee fan, I have little room and even less desire to point out the shortcomings of other programs at this particular point in time (“ahem… pot, meet kettle”)…

Third, I don’t have to really even get into the substance of Chizik’s qualifications to realize that all hell has broken loose on the Plains.

There are some very restless natives in Auburn.

Since Gene Chizik’s announcement as the new head coach, the Tiger faithful have literally declared a civil war on a scale which boggles the mind and confounds reason.

The only reaction I have been able to draw thus far is that, based purely upon the reaction of the fans, alumni, and talking heads—completely irrespective of his abilities—Gene Chizik is going to have a very tough time winning at Auburn.

The reason for this is that, with the exception of Auburn AD Jay Jacobs, and perhaps Kirk Herbstreit, there appears to be no one among the Tiger faithful who is, was, or believes that they will ever be happy with this hire.

Of course, this is an understatement of prodigious proportions—somewhat akin to saying that GM is undergoing a “minor financial adjustment” or that Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich has made some “unpopular decisions.” Only two words accurately describe the situation among the Aubies:

Cataclysmic Meltdown.

For example, listen to the guy ranting and raving in the background as Jay Jacobs returns to Auburn after sealing the deal with Chizik over the weekend.

Jay Jacobs Gets a Welcome Back to Auburn

Wow, now that is some serious fan support!

Now, mind you this is occurring before the official announcement has even been made. This was not, however an isolated incident.

This pretty much sums up the thoughts in Auburn

Over at Track ‘em Tigers, the reaction was enough to induce vomiting (you simply have to read through some of the comments), and I am pretty certain that a few of the commenters have since committed suicide. In particular, the guy who wrote this letter:

Mr. Jacobs

I have no words to express how I feel about the hiring of Chizik as the head football coach at Auburn University. How can anyone be this devoid of wisdom. I have been an Auburn fan for 40 years. I went to school during the Barfield years for goodness sake. During this entire period I have never once even considered wavering in my allegiance to Auburn.

As of now I will turn in my tickets. (scholarship) I will not send another dime of support to the University, and I will join all efforts towards the removal of you and everyone else involved in this ridiculous hire.

You and Dr. Gogue may think you can sit in your ivory towers protected by the powers that be, (and you know to whom I am referring) but you forget Auburn is a grassroots university. Hard working men and women made Auburn the great university it is today. I hold fast to the belief that it is the spirit that lives in these same men and women which will cause us to band together and throw you and the rest of your crowd out on your ears.

It cannot happen soon enough!!!!

• via: Track ‘em Tigers — WarEagle99

The comments over at al.com’s Gold Mine Blog were fairly similar in their lack of … excitement. My personal favorite was:

Excuse me while I go take down generations of Auburn memorabilia and burn my diploma.

• via: al.com — BigBlueHey

Of course, we all know that comments are often submitted in the heat of the moment, and are less than well thought out—I’m as guilty of that as anyone. The bad news is that, by and large, even the cooler heads have shown strong misgivings at the hiring of Chizik. One such “cooler head” is that of Will Collier at From the Bleachers who writes:

All that stuff about “don’t panic” and “they sky is not falling” and “Auburn will hire a good coach?” Never mind all that. Dogs and cats are, in fact, living together in the luxury suites of Jordan-Hare Stadium.

* * * * *

Gene Chizik is almost certainly the worst candidate interviewed during this utter farce of a coaching search. He is a poor recruiter who has completely failed to date as a head coach. Chizik’s own friends in the coaching community openly scoff at the idea of him being a head coach for a major program.

For Auburn’s program, he will be the equivalent of Mike DuBose, although hopefully without the cheating.

* * * * *

I don’t say this lightly, but, Fire Jay Jacobs. And while you’re at it, fire his buddy Tim Jackson, who inexplicably was invited along for the interviews, despite the fact that Jackson is Auburn’s… ticket manager. That makes as much sense as asking a halfwit greenskeeper to sit in on interviews for a corporate CEO.

• via: From the Bleachers

Two more particularly well done pieces can be found at The War Eagle Reader and The Pigskin Pathos as well as some ranting and raving from A Lifetime of Defeats.

All of this begs the question, when does exercising your constitutionally (and in my opinion morally) protected “bitching license” leave you in the proverbial Catch-22? It seems to me that even if Gene Chizik were the second coming of Vince Lombardi or (to put it more into context) Shug Jordan, that he is now doomed to fail. In other words, no matter how good he is as a coach, he is already disliked by the fanbase before a single down of football has been played.

I understand that the Auburn faithful are not happy with the hire, and that many feel Tommy Tuberville was essentially fired for no good reason, but at the end of the day if you are an Auburn fan, if you don’t rally around your new coach, it is all but assured that the program will implode for at least 2-5 years, if not more.

Fortunately for Auburn, some of those in the blogosphere have recognized this, including Joe Cribbs Car Wash and Fields of Donahue who writes:

Alright, our new head coach is Gene Chizik.

We’re not happy.

It sucks.

The only thing to do now is support him. I don’t care if he was miserably bad at Iowa State. He is our coach now, and we need to get behind him…

• via: Fields of Donahue

I feel for the Auburn folks. The Tennessee Volunteers are just coming out of the gloom of what is, without question, the single most difficult football season I’ve ever lived through. All season long Orange Nation spent a great deal of time ripping one another to shreds before Smiling Mike Hamilton and the Great Punkin finally quieted things.

Like it or not, at least Smiling Mike had the decency and good sense to address the issue with Fulmer in as transparent and public a manner as was probably possible. That helped start the healing process, and probably accounts for the general sense of excitement surrounding the ascendancy of the Blackjack General as Tennessee’s new football coach, despite the fact that many still have questions about his experience.

That is also precisely why Auburn AD Jay Jacobs is currently public enemy number one down on the Plains. Still the situations are really not all that dissimilar.

That’s the odd thing. From where I am sitting—from a purely “factual” perspective—both Tennessee and Auburn are looking at largely untested and unknown head coaches putting on their headsets next fall.

The only difference is that Tennessee is doing everything it possibly can to help boost their new skipper to success, while it seems that Auburn is obliterating every possible chance for their new hire to enjoy the same.

Both men have a tough road and a lot of work ahead of them, but—as things currently stand—it would appear that Kiffin has a much better chance of success simply because the fanbase is uniting behind him.

Right now, I am really appreciating Smiling Mike…

Hopefully, the Tennessee fans out there who are quick to attack will pay attention to this debacle at Auburn and learn. Sometimes you have to come together, sometimes you have to put differences aside, sometimes you have to bite your tongue. That is what it means to be part of a team or, as I have described it, a family. Establishing a tradition always requires unity and sacrifice.

Learn from this, Orange Nation, lest you follow the Tigers down that bitter primrose path…

– Go Figure …

Image Courtesy of: Joe Cribbs Car Wash

Gate 21 Tags: Auburn Tigers, Bad Behavior, Bad Behavior, Bitching License, Blackjack General, Blogosphere, Coach Kiffin, Coaching Changes, College Football, College Football, Complaints, Football, Full Monte, Gene Chizik, Great Punkin, Jay Jacobs, Kirk Herbstreit, Knoxville, Mike Hamilton, Monte Kiffin, No Pass Out Checks, No Pass Out Checks, Orange Nation, Primrose Path, SEC, SEC Football, SEC Football, Smiling Mike, Smiling Mike Hamilton, Tennessee Volunteers, Tommy Tuberville, Vols, War Eagle

2008 SEC Power Poll All-SEC Football Team

lawvol gate21.net — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 21:09:01 -0500

Check out the Full Poll Results at Garnet and Black Attack!

SEC Power Poll All-SEC Team

Well, my good friends over at Garnet and Black Attack—who bring you the SEC Power Poll—have decided that the Power Poll voters have just as much right to name an All-SEC team as we do to rank the SEC teams on a weekly basis (that would be none, but we do it anyway). Thus, soon the first ever SEC Power Poll All-SEC team will be released for all to admire.

Either way, here’s my ballot for the SEC Power Poll All-SEC Team. Feel free to enlighten me if you think I have missed someone or been led astray…

In all its radiant glory:

Offense:

QB: Tim Tebow (Florida)
RB: Knowshon Moreno (Georgia)
RB: Glen Coffee (Alabama)
WR: Julio Jones (Alabama)
WR: Mohamed Massaquoi (Georgia)
TE: Jared Cook (South Carolina)
C: Jonathan Luigs (Arkansas)
OL: Anthony Parker (Tennessee)
OL: John Jerry (Ole Miss)
OL: Herman Johnson (LSU)
OL: Phil Trautwein (Florida)

Defense:

DE: Rahim Alem (LSU)
DE: Robert Ayers (Tennessee)
DT: Terrence Cody (Alabama)
DT: Peria Jerry (Ole Miss)
LB: Patrick Benoist (Vanderbilt)
LB: Jasper Brinkley (South Carolina)
LB: Rolando McClain (Alabama)
CB: D.J. Moore (Vanderbilt)
CB: Trenard Lindley (Kentucky)
S: Eric Berry (Tennessee)
S: Emanuel Cook (South Carolina)

Special Teams:

K: Colt David (LSU)
KR: Brandon James (Florida)
P: Brian Mims (Georgia)
PR: Javier Arenas (Alabama)

Coach of the Year:

Not that anyone asked me, but for my two cents I believe that the Right Reverend Houston Nutt has more than earned SEC Coach of the Year honors. I’ll also give Nick Saban an honorable mention at second place for this award.

Totals by Team:

Here are the total number of selections by team from my ballot, with Alabama coming out far ahead of everyone.

Alabama Crimson Tide	6	Ole Miss Rebels	2
Georgia Bulldogs	3	Vanderbilt Commodores	2
LSU Tigers	3	Arkansas Razorbacks	1
South Carolina Gamecocks	3	Kentucky Wildcats	1
Tennessee Volunteers	3	Auburn Tigers	0
Florida Gators	2	Mississippi State Bulldogs	0

The Rest of the Power Poll

Now that you have wasted your time looking at my ballot for the SEC Power Poll All-SEC Team, go check out what everybody else is saying over at Garnet and Black Attack, where the final poll results will be posted in the coming days.

– Go Figure …

Gate 21 Tags: Alabama Crimson Tide, All-SEC, Arkansas Razorbacks, Auburn Tigers, College Football, College Football, Eric Berry, Florida Gators, Football, Gate 21, Georgia Bulldogs, Houston Nutt, Kentucky Wildcats, LSU Tigers, Mississippi State Bulldogs, Nick Saban, Ole Miss Rebels, SEC, SEC Blog Poll, SEC Football, SEC Football, SEC Power Poll, South Carolina Gamecocks, Tennessee Volunteers, Vanderbilt Commodores

Blazer Chronicles: Episode 23

lawvol gate21.net — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 11:24:45 -0500

Well, I finally have a break in the action at trial, and I am hoping to get a few things posted here in the next day or so. Until I’ve got all of that ready, however, here’s Episode 23 of the Blazer Chronicles, courtesy of VolzRChamps, with his thoughts on Tennessee Sports this week.

The Blazer Chronicles: Episode 23

– Go Figure …

Video Courtesy of: VolzRChamps / Blazer Chronicles

Gate 21 Tags: Blazer Chronicles, College Basketball, College Football, Lane Kiffin, SEC Basketball, SEC Football, Tennessee Basketball, Tennessee Football, Video

Breaking Down the Break Down for the Tennessee Volunteers

lawvol gate21.net — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 18:27:21 -0400

Well, it has become abundantly clear that the Tennessee Volunteers are not as good as many hoped. Given the inherently unpredictable nature of the game of college football, I really suppose that we shouldn’t be all that surprised—in all honesty, I am not.

I offered a few thoughts immediately after the game which began to discuss a few of the problems as I saw them. As is usually the case with my brand of half-baked analysis, I didn’t want to rush into criticisms based wholly upon my knee-jerk reaction to losing a game that I had down as a “W” in my preseason predictions.

All this goes to show is that I have no business making predictions…

Having now had a more than a week to ruminate on the realities of the game, I feel a little more prepared (and yet equally unqualified) to offer a few more observations and thoughts which have emerged from my slightly out-of-sync head.

Offense

Running Game:

I have to say that I was pretty impressed with Tennessee’s 5.2 -ard per carry average (especially considering all of the yards lost due to sacks). What bothers me is that the team essentially gave up on the ground game in favor of throwing the ball away.

Obviously, Arian Foster has got to hang on to the ball — just like his mother needs to stay off message boards. Still, the fumble aside, both Hardesty and Foster looked good with their somewhat limited carries (Hardesty: 12 att. / 70 yds., Foster: 13 att. / 100 yds.).

Passing Game:

Can Crompton turn it around?

I knew Jonathan Crompton was not going to put up gaudy numbers in his first game as the regular starting quarterback at Tennessee. I also expected a few bad decisions—making throws into coverage, etc. I did not expect him to go 19-42-1 or for the passing game to pretty much collapse.

At times, Crompton seemed utterly bewildered and lost. At other times, he had open men who—given the altitude of his passes— appeared to Crompton to be 15 feet tall. Finally, any defensive pass rush at all seemed to get him completely rattled.

I also found his unwillingness to run or roll out when pressured a bit unusual based upon what we saw from him in 2006. That makes me think either:

he is still trying to shake-off the ankle problems he had earlier this year;
he is being over-coached into being a pocket-passer; or
he is thinking entirely too much.

My guess—which is worth nothing—is that it’s a little bit of all of these.

In the end, Crompton looked extremely uncomfortable in the pocket all night, but by the same token unwilling to leave the pocket. Thus, the passing game was essentially dead…

In Crompton’s defense, he did do a fine job of managing the final drive of regulation to get the Vols into position to play for overtime. More importantly, I can completely understand why he seemed uncomfortable in the pocket, because the offensive line’s pass protection just plain sucked.

Offensive Line:

Crompton spent the better part of the night watching Bruin linebackers blitz at him, and right past the offensive line. Last year, the Vols set an NCAA record by allowing a meager four sacks.

A lot of that was due to Erik Ainge’s willingness to heave the ball into the cheerleaders if pressured (although Tee Martin still takes the prize in that regard for actually managing to hit a cheerleader in the side of the head while in a pyramid formation—he must have really not care for the spirit squads).

Still, as one of the more veteran units on this year’s team, with five starting upperclassmen, their hapless play was as uncharacteristic as it was unacceptable—especially considering they were fully aware that the signal-caller was just getting his legs under him.

Simply put, the O-Line must improve…

Offensive Play Calling:

The play calling on offense was unimpressive, but I’m not so sure I’d call bad. True, it was hardly what I expected as the debut of Dave Clawson and his “Clawfense,” but the reality is that it was pretty much the same sort of white-bread scheming Tennessee had run for over a decade, albeit favoring the pass a bit more. The second-half calls were essentially the same as the first—which surprised me a bit since I was led to believe that Clawson excelled as a second-half coach.

Dave Clawson

I will give the Clawfense some credit for using the G-Gun set (I believe) five times with some success. On the flip side, as much as I have longed for a more wide-open passing game, I cannot understand why the Vols seemed to completely abandon the run despite the relative success it had shown.

All that said—and style points aside—I cannot criticize the offensive play calling too much. Why, you ask? The main reason for my reluctance to attack the offensive calls is due to the fact that the gameplan, though unremarkable, was sound. It was based upon fairly basic fundamental football conventions.

The problem with the offense lay in the execution…

Had Tennessee made the plays as called, then the Vols walk out of the Rose Bowl with a double-digit victory. I won’t attack an offensive call when the players completely fail to carry it out properly.

Of course, the issue of preparation is a different matter, which I touch on below.

Defense

In my post-game thoughts I suggested that, defensively, the game was a tale of two halves. That, however, isn’t really accurate. With the exception of the final two defensive series, the defense really looked top notch.

The defensive line and secondary were as aggressive and as physical as I’ve seen in years. Furthermore, the “missed-tackle-itis” which Tennessee defenses have traditionally shown—especially in early-season games—never reared its ugly head. Despite those last two UCLA possessions, I believe the Vols’ secondary may be one of the best in school history. The blitz schemes were great and the coverage like glue.

This defense did everything it could to win the game—from the four first-half interceptions, the safety that the referees refused to call, the pressure on the quarterback, and the 0-yard net gain by UCLA in overtime—the effort and playmaking ability was outstanding.

This unit could be really special, which is a damn good thing given the offensive woes…

Defensive Play Calling:

The play calling—just like the performance—was strong early and weak late in the game. I question why during UCLA’s final two drives in regulation, the Chief refused to change up the defense to try and put the Bruins’ second-wind on ice.

UCLA QB Kevin Craft put on a short-pass exhibition late in the game—using screens as artfully as I’ve seen in a while. Tennessee, however, stayed with four- and five-lineman sets and soft over-top zone coverage, rather than switching to a 3-4 (or similar package) with either man or underneath coverage to kill the momentum.

That said, the defense spent entirely too much time on the field in the second-half due to the anemic performance by the offense. I suppose it is possible that the coaches did not feel that the defense had enough left in the tank to successfully execute man coverage at that late point in the game.

There is no question that fatigue was working against the defense. To me, however, it seemed like the defense still had hustle left in them, and I question the refusal to change.

Nonetheless, had the offense taken care of business it wouldn’t have mattered…

Special Teams

Press the kicking game. Here is where the breaks are made.

Game Maxim No. 6

– Gen. Robert R. Neyland

Well, UCLA made General Neyland look prescient…

Punting:

First, the blocked punt—leading to an immediate touchdown—was simply unacceptable. Chris Cunningham, in his first start as a Volunteer (courtesy of Britton Colquitt who was probably passed-out in the parking lot) should never have been put in that position. The block was all the fault of the line, not Cunningham.

That single play decided the game. The punt team must protect the punter better than that.

Field Goal Unit:

I feel sorry for Daniel Lincoln. While it is true that either of his first two missed field goals would have won the game, and his third miss handed the victory to UCLA, Daniel Lincoln did not cause the loss.

I question the decision to even attempt two 50+-yard field goals which were both beyond his effective range. Given the often fragile psyche of kickers, I would not have set Lincoln up to miss two early—I would have punted.

The final miss in overtime was—by all appearances—all Lincoln, but had he not hit an attempt with only seconds in regulation, overtime never even comes into play. Finally, in what is becoming a common theme, had the offense done their job then we would not be talking about this.

Kick Returns:

This was the bright spot of the special teams unit. This squad actually looked improved and seems primed to add a bit of excitement to things this year. I look forward to watching Dennis Rogan, Gerald Jones, and Brandon Warren on returns this year.

Coaching (Preparation)

In the interest of full disclosure, I feel it is only fair to first go on the record as being a “Homer” when it comes to Coach Fulmer and the Tennessee staff.

Actually, I would say that I am more appropriately a Homer for all coaches across the landscape of college football who are constantly questioned, rebuked, and derided by tens of thousands of armchair geniuses.

It is a peculiar characteristic of so many fans that they believe that simply being a follower of a team for a given length of time makes them an expert in how things should be done. Make no mistake, as a sports blogger, I am as guilty of this offense as anyone, at least to some extent.

There are things that anyone with a brain can assess and analyze based purely upon common sense, life experience, and the fluff that resides between our ears. (Upon further review, considering I do this sort of thing all the time, we’ll lower the standard to “half a brain” and remove the “common sense” requirement.)

Even the dullest of individuals realizes that “scoring more points” is always the key to winning a game—Lou Holtz included.

These sorts of basic truths are fairly and frankly within the grasp of us all, and thus the rightful ability to comment on such profundities resides with each and every person who follows college football. In much the same vein, I think it is reasonable for many (note, I did not say “all”) long-term fans of the sport to comment on what a given team does, or in most cases, did.

Beyond that, however, it seems to me that trying to profess what the best way to coach a football team—a team which most have no access to except through their televisions—is an endeavor which necessarily makes the speaker feel smart and important, while simultaneously making them look foolish and arrogant.

That said, here are my thoughts on the coaching, I’ll start with the good news…

Defensive Unit:

This was the best I’ve seen a Tennessee defensive unit look in the first game of the season in as long as I can remember from the perspective of fundamentals. Their tackling skills looked solid and their ball awareness outstanding.

Even when UCLA was driving on their final two possessions in regulation, the defense was executing—making hits as soon as the ball was caught. The open-field tackling by the secondary never let up. Any criticisms of the fourth-quarter play calling aside, Coach Chavis had the defense ready to play.

Offensive and Special Teams Units:

I don’t know what caused it, but these squads were simply not ready to play—not by a long shot—and at times looked completely clueless. I don’t have the foggiest idea what went wrong, but if the coaches don’t get it fixed, then Tennessee is going to lose at least four or five more games—badly.

Things must improve …

Final Thoughts

Tennessee showed their best and their worst against UCLA, and made Rick Neuheisel look like both a goat and a genius.

The offense had three interceptions handed to them in the first-half (Nevin McKenzie went ahead and ran the fourth interception in for a touchdown on his own) and did little with them.

Still, at times, it became apparent that the Vols have what it takes to be great. Will they realize any of that potential? I do not know, but I hope so.

Either way, this was but one game and a non-conference game at that. What’s more, this team deserves a chance to redeem itself—which I imagine it will be dying to do.

It is far too early to write this season off. Ignoring any issues those in the Orange Nation may have with the coaching staff, the players deserve this, they have earned it through all of the hard work they put in to get to this point, for all of the effort they put in to playing the game that all of us enjoy.

For that reason, I am concerned but remain hopeful—not just for the future of this team’s potential, but also for the Tennessee fanbase. I hope they will get out and give this team their full support, come what may.

As for me, I’ll have my orange on and my backside will be planted firmly in Section Y7 of Neyland Stadium. That is, until kickoff, when it’s time to stand and cheer.

View from Section Y7

Hopefully, I won’t be the only one…

– Go Figure …

Images Courtesy of: Scout.com • ESPN.com • Gridscape’s Virtual Neyland

Gate 21 Tags: College Football, Dave Clawson, Football, Gerald Jones, Jonathan Crompton, No Pass Out Checks, No Pass Out Checks, Orange Nation, SEC, SEC Football, Tennessee Football, Tennessee Volunteers, Vols

SEC Power Poll Ballot: Week 2

lawvol gate21.net — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 13:04:22 -0400

Check out the Full Poll Results at Garnet and Black Attack or SEC Power Poll.com

Week 2

After another weekend of excitement, here’s my ballot for this week in the SEC Power Poll.

Here they are, in all their radiant glory:

Rk.	Team	Change	Comments
1.		–	Impressive offensive display by the Georgia Bulldogs against an inferior opponent—a big improvement over last week. I am looking forward to seeing the Dawgs start their conference schedule. A solid No. 1 this week.
2.		–	I may have been a little premature in crowning the Florida Gators as the class of the SEC East—which is one thing I’m happy to be wrong about. Their offensive line—especially at left guard (A and B gap)—looked awful versus Miami. Defensive play calling was questionable at times. In short, they looked beatable.
3.		–	No game this week for the LSU Tigers, but versus Troy I am pretty sure I know what would have happened.
4.		–	Defensively the Auburn Tigers can be really scary. The “Spread-Eagle” offense, however, is anything but impressive at this point. Still, a nice win over a quality Southern Miss team that never quits.
5.		–	Lackluster win over Tulane raised a few questions about whether the Alabama Crimson Tide’s win over Clemson was as significant as I previously believed.
6.		–	A win is a win—even one over Norfolk State. My exuberance over the Kentucky Wildcats after their pummeling of the Louisville Cardinals may gave been misplaced, given the fact the Cardinals are awful. Still, UK is taking care of business.
7.		3	I picked the Vanderbilt Commodores to win this week—glad, I did because Bobby Johnson proved that Vanderbilt is not willing to simply take the hard way each week. Could this be a bowl year for the ‘Dores?
8.		–	Normally, I’d drop the Ole Miss Rebels for their loss. Wake Forest, however, is a high-quality team which I figured would “Bible Thump” the Red Solo Cups out of the hands of the Reb faithful “Fightin’ Preacher” style. A nice sign that Coach Nutt is willing to end the season of suck in Oxford.
9.		–	The Tennessee Volunteers didn’t play this week, which is probably a good thing—now I don’t have to use any expletives.
10.		2	Nice comeback by the Mississippi State Bulldogs to beat a lesser opponent exactly the way they should have the week before. Another win, and I’ll move them up…and maybe give them their cowbell back.
11.		4	Living in North Carolina, I knew that N.C. State sucked. Apparently the Ole Ball Coach and the South Carolina Gamecocks didn’t get the memo. Judging by the game against Vanderbilt, however, it appears that the Commodores did.
12.		1	Yes, I know that the Arkansas Razorbacks won. Still, this is likely the worst two-win team in the country. Barring a miracle or disaster, I don’t see the Razorbacks relinquishing this position soon. If it gets much worse, I’m just going to start counting the ECU Pirates as the 12th team in the SEC.

I imagine I will catch the ire of some of the Arkansas fans, among others, this week but I’m used to being wrong. As always, feel free to let me know where I am wrong or right. Final ballots are due by Wednesday, so don’t take too long…

The Rest of the Power Poll

Now that you have wasted your time looking at my ballot, go check out what everybody else is saying over at Garnet and Black Attack or SEC Power Poll.com. I’ll post the final poll results once it is released later in the week.

More later today, once I get a chance to come up for air…

– Go Figure …

Gate 21 Tags: Alabama Crimson Tide, Arkansas Razorbacks, Auburn Tigers, Bobby Johnson, College Football, Florida Gators, Gate 21, Georgia Bulldogs, Kentucky Wildcats, Louisville Cardinals, LSU Tigers, Mississippi State Bulldogs, Ole Miss Rebels, SEC, SEC Football, SEC Power Poll, South Carolina Gamecocks, Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles, Steve Spurrier, Tennessee Football, Tennessee Vols, Tennessee Volunteers, Vanderbilt Commodores, Wake Forest Demon Deacons

Tennessee vs. UCLA — Postgame Thoughts

lawvol gate21.net — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 01:04:30 -0400

* This article appears via Gate21.net. Not all formatting and/or images have been properly imported. If you wish to see the article as it was originally intended, please visit Gate21.net.

Well, that is why they play them…

A heavily favored Tennessee squad walked into the Rose Bowl, and will be limping home trying to figure out what went wrong — and make no mistake, something went terribly wrong.

On the whole, it was a tale of two halves — the Vols owned the first-half, the Bruins the second. Well, at least the Vols should have owned the first-half. After grabbing four first-half interceptions, the Vols had a paltry 14 points at the end of the first half.

In the end, however, UCLA rallied the troops and fought down the stretch and managed to take the lead with only seconds left in the game. The anemic Tennessee offense seemed down for the count, but Jonathan Crompton managed the team as well as he had all night, leading the Orange down the field for a Daniel Lincoln field goal to tie the game at 24 with five seconds on the clock.

Many in Big Orange Country felt they had just dodged a bullet — given Tennessee’s record in overtime games. They were even more buoyed up with hope after the Tennessee defense — which had flailed about unsuccessfully in the fourth-quarter — allowed no yards in overtime.

But that is why they play them…

After gaining a net of eight yards, Daniel Lincoln came on to attempt a 34-yard field goal attempt to send the game into a second overtime. The kick sailed wide left, and with it went the Vols hopes of coming out strong to start the season.

Final Score: UCLA 27 Tennessee 24

Obviously, once I’ve had a little time to think about the game, I am sure I’ll have more thoughts for everyone out there to ignore. That said, here are my initial thoughts.

Defense

Until the fourth-quarter, I would have given the defense excellent marks. They played with more aggressive tenacity than I have seen any Tennessee team play with in the first game of the season in at least a decade. They looked well prepared and well coached — until late in the game I’d have given them an “A".

Four interceptions is always a nice statistic, but so was the two first downs that UCLA managed in the first-half. The Vols were hard-hitting and focused.

Once UCLA managed to find its legs in the fourth-quarter, however, they started running roughshod over the Tennessee defense, with a workmanlike drive using short screen passes and a quick tempo.

At many times, the Vol defense seemed poorly schemed late in the game, rushing four and five on each play rather than trying to stop the screens. That said, the biggest problem it appeared was they were dealing with was fatigue due to the fact they had been on the field far longer than they should have been in the fourth.

Thus, I am not going to mark the squad down too much (since it was the first game and due to the offensive woes) — the fact is that they gave a great effort.

The defense showed that they have what it takes to be a really excellent squad this year — potentially one of the best in the SEC — once they get a chance to gel and play together a little more.

In the end, I’m giving them a C+ / B-.

Offense

I’m not even going to try to breakdown all of the problems that the Vols had on offense…

I realize that Tennessee has a new quarterback and a new offensive scheme. I expected there to be some growing pains. I did not expect the Vols to rely upon their defense to win games — by scoring all the points.

It was bad, it was very bad…

I am not ready to decide where I think the problem lies, but the Vols showed a real lack of ability to move the ball consistently. Crompton had a horrible time throwing the ball when under pressure — to the point of being completely ineffective.

Both Arian Foster and Montario Hardesty showed flashes of brilliance at times in the running game, but at other times were unable to make real gains.

At this early point after the game, all I can say is that there is much work to be done on offense.

At this point, I’m giving the offense a D.

Special Teams

Daniel Lincoln missed three field goal attempts, but only one of which he really should have hit — unfortunately, that one was the one which really mattered.

The punt unit also gave up a block, which led to an immediate touchdown. The kick return unit, however, showed some real fire and the potential for some big plays down the stretch.

This unit needs to work on some things, but they appear to, at least, be on the right track.

For now, I’m giving them a C-.

Final Thoughts

There is so much more to discuss and think about after this game — which is always the case with a loss. I am not going to try to do it tonight.

I will however, say one thing:

This is only the first game of the season — don’t give up on the Vols yet. Despite the problems they had tonight, they never gave up. They have earned the chance to redeem themselves…

I, along with Home Sweet Home, will have more on this game in the coming days, but in the meantime — though I am disappointed — all I can say is Go Vols!

More tomorrow…

– Go Figure …

Gate 21 Tags: Arian Foster, College Football, Daniel Lincoln, Football, Jonathan Crompton, Montario Hardesty, NCAA Football, News & Notes, No Pass Out Checks, No Pass Out Checks, SEC, SEC Football, Tennessee Football, Tennessee Vols, Tennessee Volunteers, UCLA Bruins, Vols

Phillip Fulmer Responds to Subpoena Issue

lawvol gate21.net — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 21:54:30 -0400

Only in the SEC do things like this happen…

One day, Tim Tebow is being described as the second coming of the Messiah (HT to Joel at RTT), and then the next, Phillip Fulmer is getting served with a subpoena in a case filed against the NCAA by Wendell Smith’s ambulance chaser less-than-well-known attorneys.

Undeterred, however, the Great Punkin has fired back. In a statement released this evening, Fulmer responded:

I do have to be a little bit careful — a lot more than I’d like to be.

I was getting out of the car and was tossed a piece of paper that I picked up, stuck it in with a whole bunch of things that I had been reading on my way in from the airport and handed it to Bud Ford to put in his briefcase and forgot about it. I got a bunch of questions (from the media) about a subpoena that I hadn’t seen.

I wasn’t expecting a subpoena but maybe every time I go to Birmingham I probably will be expecting a subpoena. As it turns out, its some sort of subpoena to do something, and I will let the attorneys all handle that. The issue is, it's all crap and they are trying to use the press trying to use a day that’s very special to the Southeastern Conference for players and the coaches.

Because they can’t win legally, they are trying to play the game in the press. I am more than a little PO’d about any part of that. It’s sad that a few publicity hunting lawyers in one of our sister states want to keep open a chapter of history that has long since been closed and as far as I’m concerned will stay closed.

Obviously, this is an effort to distract our football team or distract me in some way. The last time this happened, we won the division with two freshman quarterbacks. We won’t be distracted, I had a good conversation with the commissioner about it.

About being in Birmingham, I wasn’t trying to mislead anybody. I hadn’t looked at anything.

I’m just disappointed that Fulmer failed to mention that his legal team was “workin’ like heck” — that would have been priceless…

More tomorrow, once I have had a chance to think about this a little more.

Oh, and if anyone out there in the blogosphere has a copy of the pleadings in this case (especially the complaint) please email me — I am looking everywhere for a copy.

– Go Figure …

Statement Courtesy of: Knoxville News-Sentinel/GoVolsXtra

Tags: Alabama Crimson Tide, Ambush, Bad Behavior, College Football, Lawyers, News & Notes, Phillip Fulmer, Rumor Mill, SEC, SEC Football, SEC Media Days, Shysters, Sound Bites, Stupidity, Subpoena, Tennessee Football, Tennessee Volunteers, Tim Tebow, Wendell Smith

Tennessee Volunteers Football: Big Orange Roundtable (Week 2)

lawvol gate21.net — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 14:54:29 -0400

* This article appears via Gate21.net. Not all formatting and/or images have been properly imported. If you wish to see the article as it was originally intended, please visit Gate21.net.

This Week’s Host: The Power T

Week Zwei

(That’s German for “2″)

This week’s Big Orange Roundtable is hosted by none other than The Power T, who has served up a heapin’ helpin’ of questions for we “Volggers” to consider. Being that I am all about riding the coat-tails of others (and the fact they haven’t kicked me out of the Roundtable…yet) here are Gate 21’s thoughts on all that is this week in the world of Tennessee Football.

1) A position of strength for the Vols this fall should be wide receivers. Which two guys will emerge from the pack to start the opener against UCLA alongside Lucas Taylor? Why?

First of all, I think that Lucas Taylor is going to be a starter—probably from start to finish. He is the most tested and reliable of the receiving corps this year. As for the other spots, well, it gets more difficult there.

The conventional wisdom would be to go with Austin Rogers and Josh Briscoe (not to be confused with Briscoe Darling), as both have had significant playing time and key catches.

They were solid down the stretch (especially in the overtime win against Kentucky, where Rogers saved the day with a huge 2-point conversion catch), however, they both had a few key weaknesses that hampered their overall production.

Both had some big drops at key moments, and both appeared to have some shortcomings at times when it came to field awareness. That said, both of these upperclassmen now have an additional year of experience under their belt, and will no longer have to live in the shadow of the amazing and talented Robert Meachem.

The “Other” Briscoe

That said, I really like what I saw from Gerald Jones in his limited playing time last season, and something in my gut tells me that this talented sophomore will secure—at a minimum—50 percent of one of the remaining starting spots. Based upon what I understand Dave Clawson’s offensive model to be, it seems that Jones would make a perfect fit—especially when it is time to go deep.

I am a huge fan of using the tight end as an additional passing threat (something that I have a feeling we may see under Dave Clawson’s tricked-out offense), and I hope that we end up using Jeff Cottam more in that role to complement and build upon the strengths of this year’s receivers, thereby making the Vols less one-dimensional and tougher to defend.

Either way, it seems to me that despite losing a gamebreaker like Meachem, the receivers will be much stronger as a unit this season on the whole, largely due to experience and having more than just one go-to receiver.

I feel this is especially true considering that, with Jonathan Crompton under center, it is fair to assume that opposing defenses will now have to honor the possibility that No. 8 may come running at them “Straight Outta Crompton” as well as throw to one of the wide-outs.

2) Which game on the schedule do you, as a fan, need Tennessee to win for your own sanity and happiness? Why?

For me, it’s a matter of whether the question is “Which game Tennessee simply cannot lose?” or “Which game Tennessee most needs to win?” While those appear to be the same, they really are quite different.

In terms of not losing, the choices are obvious: UAB, Northern Illinois, Wyoming, Vanderbilt and Kentucky. With the exception of the game against the Kentucky Wildcats, lose any of these games, and it is probably a sign that Tennessee is in serious trouble for the rest of the season.

The Kentucky game is more a matter of keeping Tennessee’s 22-game winning streak, dating back to a 17-12 loss in 1985 against the Wildcats. Kentucky is a good team, as they proved last year, so that one is hardly assured.

Of this group, I think the game Tennessee can least afford to lose would be the game against Northern Illinois. If the Vols lose that one, well…they suck (I just call ’em like I see ’em).

In terms of games Tennessee most needs to win, as my last post made clear — by my mind Tennessee’s biggest rival has always been and will always be the Alabama Crimson Tide (yeah, call me old-school). Thus, that one always matters. The other candidates would be the Florida Gators, Auburn Tigers, and Georgia Bulldogs.

From my perspective, not having the benefit of yet seeing whether the Vols actually know what they are about or simply lay down and die when you look at them sideways, I think there’s a strong chance that Tennessee loses to Auburn. Having lost three-in-a-row against the Tigers, I’d like to see this year’s contest end in a win, but that might be a stretch.

As for Georgia, well, they look to be hell on wheels this year, but they have an absolutely brutal schedule—a fair part of which occurs before the Oct. 11 game in Knoxville. I think Tennessee will have to bring it versus the Bulldogs, but I think that one is winnable. That said, though I do not want to see the Vols drop one to the Dawgs, I wouldn’t curl up in a fetal ball and drool for days if we lost.

As for Florida and Alabama, that’s a tough one. Since these two represent the Vols’ biggest rivals in my eyes, losing either one of these would rank right up there with having a colonoscopy with a fire hose, I’d just as soon win them both.

Losing to the Gators—especially after last year’s 59-20 annihilation—will unquestionably ruin my sunny disposition. This is especially true since I’ll have had to listen to those god-awful Florida fans for four hours, which will cause a person to lose the will to live.

That said, since Tennessee is inching closer and closer to evening the all-time series versus Alabama (currently Tennessee is 38-44-7 all-time), and the fact that I think Bama is beatable this year, I would have to say that a loss to Alabama would be a much greater disappointment.

Losing to the Tide would make it that much harder for the Vols to even things up versus the Bammers any time soon. Thus, predictably, it’s Bama by a nose.

3) What are your thoughts on the eight-win clause in Coach Fulmer’s new contract that automatically rolls his contract over another year if he wins eight games in a season?

CWell, I am a homer. I like coach Fulmer, and I always have. Until someone can show me a the coach that they think is going to do a better job, I am not inclined to try and replace Fulmer just because people are getting tired of his tenure as coach.

That being said, an automatic renewal of the contract is a bit much in my book— especially at the eight-win level. If the contract provided for an automatic extension at 11 wins, or maybe even 10, then I suppose it would make more sense to me. Of course, if you just had a 10- or 11-win season, it would be unusual for you not to get an extension automatically.

I can understand why Coach Fulmer would feel a bit threatened and uncomfortable—especially after John Adams’ piece earlier this year calling for his head. Thus, he asked for some security, which Mike Hamilton provided. No revelations there.

My gut tells me, however, that there is a story behind the story here. I think it is reasonable for Fulmer to ask for some guarantees, I also think it is reasonable for Hamilton to ask for some in return—which I bet he got, but only via a personal promise from Fulmer. My guess is that Fulmer probably gave Hamilton the two magic numbers — the number of years and/or wins after which he plans to retire.

Let’s be honest; Phillip Fulmer is not exactly a young buck, and I don’t see him trying to be the next Joe Paterno. My guess is he told Hamilton his exit strategy, and Hamilton agreed to that idea by giving Fulmer enough security to make that happen. If all of my speculation is accurate then I have less of a problem with the deal.

Again, purely speculating, I’m willing to bet that Fulmer has his eyes on General Neyland’s all-time wins record at Tennessee, and then maybe a year or two more, but not much more. I honestly think that Fulmer is growing weary of the dog-and-pony show which revolves around the football program and is generally expressed most vociferously by those who scream for his head if the hot dog they order at the stadium doesn’t have enough chili on it.

I think the hiring of Dave Clawson plays into this. I strongly believe that Coach Clawson was hired not just as the Offensive Coordinator at Tennessee, but potentially as the next Head Coach at Tennessee. That hire has all the marks of Fulmer taking steps to name a successor.

From my perspective (which, in case you haven’t noticed, is worthless) and based upon what I’ve seen so far, I think that Clawson has the potential to be the next head coach, but who knows what will happen down the road. I can say that, of all of the staff coaches Fulmer has had during his tenure, Clawson is the only one that I could ever see as assuming the mantle as head coach at some point in the future.

There are a few ironic things about this deal though. Most notably, all of the whiners and complainers who have moaned and yelled to have Fulmer fired for the last 400 years, can thank themselves for this contract.

Had they given Fulmer a little more credit (and thus a little more comfort when it comes to his job security) then I doubt Fulmer asks for this deal. More importantly, unless there is something that Fulmer can point to which makes his feelings of peril credible, I doubt that Mike Hamilton agrees to it.

Thus, all of you who have been caterwauling to have Fulmer fired can pat yourself on the back—you just got him a sweetheart of a deal!

The other ironic thing is that, again all of the anti-Fulmerites (you do realize that they chased Moses and the Israelites through the desert and all…oh yeah, it’s in the Book of Hank, Chapter 41) have been de-crying this new contract as a travesty—the worst thing since the free substitution rule, akin to stealing babies in the night, sleeping with pigs, and worshipping a statue of Bear Bryant.

The fact of the matter is, however, this contract actually makes it more likely that Fulmer actually could get the axe.

For the first time in his career at Tennessee, there is a benchmark in his contract. The contract simply speaks of an automatic-extension if he wins eight games— it is silent with regard to what happens if he does not.

Failing to hit that mark— as a practical matter—would make it nearly impossible for Mike Hamilton to defend Fulmer, because in that situation Fulmer would have failed to meet the only quantifiable benchmark in his contract. While I realize that the extension does not call for him to go if he wins seven or fewer, the reality is that his departure would likely be the result.

So, everybody lighten up a bit…

In the end, I am neither angry nor elated at the new contract—mainly due to my speculative suspicions. It is not what I would have agreed to if I were Mike Hamilton, but it is not unthinkable.

Of course, Mike Hamilton never really asked my opinion…

4) What is your favorite gameday recipe, whether for tailgating or in your own kitchen? Explain why in delicious detail.

My trip to any game in Knoxville consists of: 1) Driving from Eastern North Carolina to Asheville after work on Friday; 2) Driving from Asheville to Knoxville with my father on gameday morning; 3) Returning to Asheville immediately after the game (which is late for those 8 p.m. kickoffs); and 4) Driving back across the State of North Carolina on Sunday.

Considering I travel about 6 1/2 hours each way to come to the games, I don’t get to spend a lot of time tailgating and so forth. Thus, like Will at SESB, my gameday fare is somewhat less grand than that enjoyed by others.

Up until the pretentious jackasses that run McAlister’s Deli closed it down, I used to go to Sam & Andy’s religiously on gamedays and enjoy a Kielbasa Sub on dark bread with spicy mustard, mayo, and provolone. They’d steam it up for me and throw a pickle in for good measure, until it was a work of art.

Those sammiches were a Vol fan’s greatest dream—and a cardiologist’s worst nightmare. Of course, once the Carpertbaggers hit town, that all ended.

Be that as it may, there is one recipe which jumps out to me as being particularly appropriate for stank-nasty football gamedays:

The Magna-rita:

I suppose most folks enjoy a good margarita every now and then, especially when celebrating with friends. Mixing up a batch of the good stuff, however, takes time, effort, numerous bottles of mixers and tequila, cups, ice, salt, and a sombrero.

The “Magna-rita” solves all these problems and is great for gamedays. Even better, it’s super-easy to make and—most importantly—dirt cheap. To make one of these beauties up, you simply:

Take one 40-ounce bottle of of your favorite Malt Liquor — the distinguishing wino gentleman generally prefers “Magnum,” but feel free to use you own favorite brand, such as Colt .45 (just like Billy Dee Williams) or Schlitz Malt Liquor Bull. Actually, now that I think about it, you could use any kind of alcohol you can find: from a 1972 Dom Perignon to a three-week old half-empty bottle of Ripple. Heck, if you got enough of those little alcohol wipes and squeezed them hard enough, you might even get enough sauce that way.
Next take one large bag of Skittles candy, and pour them out on a table, in a bowl, on the floor — wherever, but make sure to save the bag.
Now pick out all the lime flavored Skittles and put them back in the bag, securing the bag tightly.
Jump up and down on the bag for about 3-4 minutes, or bash the hell out of the bag with a tire iron until the lime Skittles are broken into pieces.
Now pour the sort-o-lime flavored dust into your 40, and give it a swirl or two with a straw, a pocket knife, a coat hanger, stick, or whatever you can find.
Drink and enjoy.

Optional:
- for a “Big Orange Magna-rita” substitute orange Skittles for lime.
- for those of you craving the salt around the edge of your Magna-rita, simply steal a few salt packets from McDonald's (or an actual salt shaker from McAlister’s) and rub them around the mouth of the bottle after licking it a few times.

Most “Magna-rita” drinkers find that they enjoy this drink more if they drink five or six of these in rapid succession—such as over a period of approximately 30 minutes or so.

5) You have a tag team championship match against the Legion of Doom coming up. Which current Volunteer do you choose as your tag team partner? Why?

Well, this one is a tough one. I’d have to say that—if limited to the current members of the team—I’d go with either Tennessee center, Josh McNeil (6’4″ / 280), or Defensive Tackle, Dan Williams (6’3″ / 310), both of whom are some serious specimens when it comes to the smackdown. I’d take that action any day of the week.

If not limited to current players, then I’d take the Great Punkin himself—who has been known to mix it up in the wrestling ring in the past—against even the most dreaded Mark “the Man Beast” Mangino.

Phil Battling it Out!

Of course, I know absolutely nothing about wrestling (which is about the extent of my knowledge when it comes to football as well).

The Rest of the Roundtable:

Having wasted your time on my largely meaningless, juvenile, and insignificant thoughts for this week, go check out what the other roundtablers (who actually know what they are talking about) have to say (in no particular order):

Don’t you wish you’d just stood in bed?

– Go Figure …

Images Courtesy of: TV Root.com • LSU Freek

Tags: Alabama Crimson Tide, Auburn Tigers, Austin Rogers, Bad Behavior, Big Orange Roundtable, Blogging, Championship, College Football, Complainers, Complete Bullshit, Complete Bullshit, Contracts, Dan Williams, Dave Clawson, Drunks, Fark, Florida Gators, Football, Gate 21, Georgia Bulldogs, Gerald Jones, Great Punkin, Jonathan Crompton, Josh Briscoe, Josh McNeil, Kentucky Wildcats, Kielbasa Sandwiches, Knoxville, Legal, Lucas Taylor, McAlister's, Mike Hamilton, Phillip Fulmer, Photoshop, Pontification, Sam & Andy's, SEC, SEC Football, Straight Outta Crompton, Tennessee Football, Tennessee Home for the Visually Offensive, Tennessee Volunteers, Vanderbilt Commodores, Vols, Whiners

Why I Am a College Sports Fan: Seattle Gets Screwed

lawvol gate21.net — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 14:02:31 -0400

* This article appears via Gate21.net. Not all formatting and/or images have been properly imported. If you wish to see the article as it was originally intended, please visit Gate21.net.

You hardly have to be a genius to realize that I am a college sports fan.

Whether I qualify as “die-hard” is open to interpretation, I suppose.

Still, as a VASF donor for more than a decade, season ticket holder for Tennessee Volunteers football, and as an individual who travels over six hours one-way to see each football game in Knoxville, I probably fall into the “dyed-in-the-wool” category, placing me in the top tier of college fans when it comes to dedication (or lunacy, depending on your perspective).

Either way, at various times in my life, I have contemplated becoming a more avid fan of professional sports. At times I have even been a “real” fan of certain teams by most standards.

That being said, no matter what I do, I always seem to lose my interest in professional sports and return to my roots as a college football fan…

… or perhaps professional sports loses interest in me.

No, that last statement is not intended to be a wildly arrogant and self-centered declaration of my importance in the sports world. On the contrary, it is meant to show my complete insignificance—along with the millions of other sports fans out there.

In case you missed it, after 41 years in the “City Which is Never Dry,” the Seattle Supersonics are pulling up stakes and heading to Oklahoma City to be known as the Oklahoma Clod-kickers, or something along those lines.

The era of the Supersonics is over…

Owing to the fact that I live on the Right-Coast and parted ways with the NBA in the mid-1990s, I was really not tuned into this story until after the final announcement was made.

I make no claims to be a Supersonics fan, and can really only think of two Supersonics players ever: Shawn Kemp and Xavier McDaniel (mainly because he choked Wes Mathews in the middle of a game, which is the sort of thing I tend not to forget).

Still, I feel for the Supersonics’ fans, and I assume that there are a fair number of them, whether they be “die-hard” or not. While I know that Seattle may potentially get another team some day, as a practical matter they now understand how SMU fans felt when their team got the death penalty for football.

The only difference is that, unlike SMU, who was finally able to resume play, Seattle’s program is gone for good—gonzo, outta here, dead, kaput, snuffed it…

If I am a Seattle Supersonics fan, that just plain sucks…

That got me to thinking (which is so rarely a good thing). The fact that the Supersonics could up and vanish like a fart in the wind is the reason why I personally will never be anything more than an occasional fan of professional sports. At so many levels, that disturbs me. It also brings back a few memories.

I still remember the announcement in the late-1980s that, after…well…forever, North Carolina was going to get its first professional sports franchise (unless you count the ABA’s Carolina Cougars, which I don’t) in the form of an expansion team in Charlotte.

The team was to be called the “Charlotte Spirit” and was to begin play in the 1988 season. Those who were to be fans of the team realized the “Spirit” was a crappy name, and thus the team was re-dubbed the “Charlotte Hornets.” You may have heard of them.

When the nets went up at the lavish new Charlotte Coliseum in 1988, I became an instant Charlotte Hornets fan. I was addicted to all things related to the Hornets.

I still remember the very first game I ever got a chance to attend: 7 January 1989, the Washington Bullets vs. the Charlotte Hornets. Led by Kelly Tripucka, the Hornets managed to edge the Bullets, 107-104, for their ninth win that season.

I was also fortunate enough to catch three more games that season and was elated when the Hornets earned their 20th win versus the New Jersey Nets, en route to finishing their inaugural season with an overall record of 20-62.

Despite the fact that the Hornets hardly wowed the sports world with their wins, the fans in Charlotte were absolutely crazed when it came to “Hornets Hysteria,” and a ticket to a game at “the Hive” was all but impossible to come by.

By the end of the season, 950,064 people had attended games in Charlotte, and the Hornets were named the NBA attendance champions for 1988-89—a feat they would repeat from 1990-91 through 1996-97.

In 1999, however, things started going sour. Owner George Shinn started demanding a brand-new coliseum to replace the one that had been opened during the Hornets’ first season, which the city simply could not justify. To make matters worse, Shinn became a pariah due to allegations that he had raped a former employee.

While Shinn ultimately won the lawsuit, the evidence that was presented hardly made him look like the innocent victim. Overnight, the Hornets went from top of the heap to bottom of the pile in the hearts of many due to Shinn’s actions and statements.

Thus, in 2002, George Shinn picked up his ball and went home—his new home, that is, in New Orleans…

Of course, Shinn falling out of favor with the citizens of Charlotte was probably as much to blame as anything, but Shinn hardly ennobled himself when—in the wake of Hurricane Katrina—he quietly considered the possibility of relocating the Hornets permanently to Oklahoma City, their temporary home while New Orleans tried to rebuild.

Bowing to pressure from the NBA Commissioner David Stern, the Hornets did return to New Orleans. What’s more, in recognition of the fact that Shinn had completely alienated every living soul in Charlotte, the NBA did award Charlotte a new franchise—the Charlotte Bobcats—only two years after the Hornets left town.

Regardless of how things turned out in the end, the whole process of watching the team pull up and leave left me with a lingering bad taste in my mouth. After that, I decided that I simply wasn’t willing to invest the time, effort, or dedication into any professional team.

Now make no mistake, the right to have a professional sports franchise in your hometown is anything but a right—it is a privilege. Still, the list of teams which were plucked from their fans is long. Some were moved because the town simply did not support the team—I really do not have much of a quarrel with that.

Most, however, have been taken because the owners simply wanted more money than the city and the fans could (as opposed to would) fork over.

Enter the Seattle Supersonics…

I really hate it for the people of Seattle because—to the best of my knowledge—they always supported their team. Clay Bennett wanted to move the team to his hometown—again, Oklahoma City—and there was really little that the Sonics faithful could do about it.

Bennett’s mind was made up and there was nothing that was going to keep him or the team in Seattle—not even the city’s attempts to stop the move in court.

In the end, the city had little choice but to take the settlement and try to lure another team to town in the near future. Sure, they have their memories, but that’s about it.

As a dedicated sports fan, I know that the few professional teams that I support (the Carolina Panthers and Carolina Hurricanes, to name a few) could leave town at any time. That is why I will pull for them, occasionally go to a game, and maybe even buy a t-shirt with their logo on it— but I will never be a true fan.

That brings me back around to where I started…

While I often complain about the prices I have to pay to get my season tickets in Knoxville, it’s part of the deal. While I get tired of having to lose all of your best players every four years (or sooner) because of eligibility and graduation, it comes with the territory.

I will freely agree that the level of play in Neyland Stadium is not and will never be on par with the play at any of the NFL stadiums, but I can live with it. There are a lot of peculiarities about athletic department administrations, sacred cows, and the NCAA which, at times, make following a college team maddening. There are not many food courts in college venues.

Ignoring all of the “amateur versus professional” arguments and how that impacts the true nature of sport (and I feel that some of those arguments are amazingly powerful and meaningful), there are a lot of things about college sports which make it inferior to professional sports.

Still, when I don my orange and white, I know that no matter what happens, the University of Tennessee will always be the University of Tennessee. I know that the same will always be the case for the Alabama Crimson Tide, Kentucky Wildcats, Georgia Bulldogs, the Tarheads, and even the Florida Gators.

I know that no matter how lousy the team is, no matter how bad the facilities may be, no matter how awful the city may look, those teams—and hundreds of others—will always be in the same place.

While I like to complain that in the post Big Dickey era, you have to “pay to stay” at Tennessee—at least in terms of your seats—I know it is a necessary evil. The bright side, however, is that even if I don’t pay, the Volunteers are not going anywhere.

In that regard, small as I may be on their radar, I guess I matter to the University of Tennessee—enough for them to stay put. That is precisely why, first and foremost, I am a fan of college sports.

So to all of you Seattle Supersonics fans, I know you are upset—you got a raw deal.

Still, the University of Washington is just down the road…

– Go Figure …

Gate 21 Tags: Alabama Crimson Tide, Bad Behavior, Big Dickey, Charlotte, Charlotte Bobcats, Charlotte Hornets, Clay Bennett, College Basketball, College Football, College Sports, Florida Gators, Football, George Shinn, Georgia Bulldogs, Greed, Hornets, Kentucky Wildcats, Knoxville, NBA, NBA, NBA Basketball, New Orleans Hornets, No Pass Out Checks, No Pass Out Checks, Oklahoma City, Professional Sports, Seattle, Seattle Supersonics, SEC Sports, Tarheads, Tennessee Volunteers, University of Tennessee, VASF, Washington Huskies

Tennessee Football: The All-Time Top 10 Volunteers Games

lawvol gate21.net — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 17:02:00 -0400

* This article appears via Gate21.net. Not all formatting and/or images have been properly imported. If you wish to see the article as it was originally intended, please visit Gate21.net.

Well, as Joel pointed out, the News Sentinel’s Dave Hooker recently came out with his Top 10 games in Tennessee football history. It is an interesting list, but (like Joel) I’m not so certain I agree with all of the games on Hooker’s list.

Given the fact that I am still making my way through my “Great Games” series, it seems appropriate for me to chime in with my thoughts on this. At the risk of rendering some of my future posts in this series futile (not that they aren’t already), here are my top 10 games in Tennessee football history (with comparison to Dave Hooker’s ranking):

The Great Games

Gate 21’s Top 10 All-Time

Tennessee Football Games

No. 10: 1989 - Tennessee vs. UCLA

The Rose Bowl | Dave Hooker Rank: Unranked

I know that some will question this one, but this game still stands out to me as one of the best. I toyed with ranking the 1985 Auburn win at No. 10, but I have to go with the Vols' 1989 trip to Pasadena to take on the Bruins. This game was early in the season, and at that point UCLA was highly touted.

Tennessee had been beaten in both their prior trips to the Rose Bowl to play the Bruins (1975 and 1967), and many thought they would repeat that trend, as the Vols came off of their worst season in recent memory and a close call in their season opener versus Colorado State.

The Vols, however, stepped up to the challenge and proved that their 5-6 record for 1988 was only a bump in the road as they came out gunning for the No. 6-ranked Bruins. The Vols completely shut down the UCLA offense with their own brand of SEC defense en route to a 24-6 victory.

That game set the stage for the rest of the season—one which included 10 more wins and only a single loss. The Vols would go on to win an SEC Championship, beat Arkansas in the Cotton Bowl that year, and end with a No. 5 ranking.

Still, by my mind, it all started in California…

No. 9: 1999 Fiesta Bowl - Florida State vs. Tennessee

Sun Devil Stadium | Dave Hooker Rank: No. 1

Dave Hooker had this game as No. 1, but I cannot in good conscience give it that distinction. While the 1999 Fiesta Bowl did give Tennessee its first Consensus National Championship since 1951, the game itself was not nearly as spectacular as others that season.

First of all, both Tennessee and Florida State played very sloppily throughout the game as a result of the more than four-week layoff leading up to the contest. Second—in fairness to Florida State—the Seminoles, due to the injury to Chris Weinke, were playing with a backup quarterback, Marcus Outzen, who (to my knowledge) never started another game after the championship.

Finally, the game was exciting, but probably only if you were a Tennessee or Florida State fan. The reason for this is that the two teams were extremely closely matched at most positions. All of that said, I have such amazing memories of this game and finally seeing another championship for the Big Orange, that I have to include it in the Top 10, regardless of its flaws.

After all, a championship is a very special thing…

No. 8: 1939 - Alabama vs. Tennessee

Shields-Watkins Field | Dave Hooker Rank: Unranked

Obviously, I did not attend or watch this game. Still, the legendary status of this game lingers even today—as does pretty much everything about the 1939 squad. I know this is hard to imagine in the modern era, but the 1939 squad not only went undefeated, but they also completed the entire regular season without being scored upon.

Think about it this way: from the third game of the 1938 season until the conclusion of the 1939 season, Tennessee played 71 consecutive quarters without allowing a single point—a record which stands to this day.

The 1939 game against Alabama was but one of the legendary battles of this era between then-Col. Robert Neyland’s (he would be promoted to the rank of Brigadier General during World War II) Vols and the Crimson Tide. Led by Johnny Butler and George Cafego, Neyland’s Vols managed to out-run, out-block, and out-wit the Tide in a 21-0 victory.

The “feather in the cap” for the day came on Johnny Butler’s 56-yard run to the endzone in the second quarter. This was the last Tennessee-Alabama game that Neyland would coach until his return from military service in 1947.

Click to view a RealMedia clip of Johnny Butler’s Run versus Alabama Courtesy of the VIB

An Oldie, but a Goodie…

No. 7: 1992 - Florida vs. Tennessee

Neyland Stadium | Dave Hooker Rank: Unranked

For all the reasons I described in my post on this game, I really feel this was an extremely important game in the history of the program. Ignoring all of the side issues surrounding this contest—the Faxgate affair, Johnny Majors' heart problems, the deluge of water that fell during the game, etc.—I really feel this was a watershed game (no pun intended).

First of all, it was the first of the real battles between Tennessee and Florida during the Steve Spurrier era. Second, it was the first home conference game ever coached by Phillip Fulmer.

By my mind, this game is what ushered Tennessee football into the modern era, and set the stage for all of the excitement during the 1990s.

No. 6: 1996 Comp USA Citrus Bowl - Tennessee vs. Ohio State

Citrus Bowl Stadium | Dave Hooker Rank: Unranked

Some might think this game an odd choice, but as I made clear in my article on this game, it really was one of the best games for Tennessee in the history of the program.

Tennessee and Ohio State both came in ranked fourth (albeit in different polls), and both were disappointed that they did not manage to make it to a top-tier bowl. Both teams had a chip on their shoulder as they battled throughout a rain-soaked game. Tennessee held Heisman Trophy winner Eddie George to a season low and fought to the end to win the day.

This win propelled Tennessee to a No. 3 final ranking—putting them ahead of the Florida Gators, who had given the Vols their only loss of the season.

This game established the momentum of the program for the seasons to follow. In my opinion, this game was a key step toward a national championship.

No. 5: 1959 - LSU vs. Tennessee

Shields-Watkins Field | Dave Hooker Rank: No. 6

I agree with Dave Hooker that the win against Billy Cannon and the LSU Tigers ranks among the all-time greatest games. No one thought Tennessee really had a chance in that game, and—on paper—they were right. Billy Cannon was the man-beast running back of his day and was fearsome for his ability to shred defenses.

On most days when the 1959 Tigers played, they put on a clinic. The iron wall of orange-clad defenders shut that down and did a little teaching of their own.

After fumbling the ball on their own two-yard line and giving the Tigers an easy six points, the Vol defense found a way to save the game. Their goal-line stop as the Tigers tried for the two-point conversion probably ranks as one of the all-time greatest defensive plays in Tennessee history.

Here’s former Voice of the Vols George Mooney with the call.

[>> See post to listen to audio <<]

When it was all said and done, the Vols came out on top in a 14-13 thriller.

No. 4: 1982 - Alabama vs. Tennessee

Neyland Stadium | Dave Hooker Rank: Unranked

This game was the final step in Johnny Majors’ rehabilitation of the Tennessee program from the doldrums of the late 1970s. Before that win, the Vols had not beaten Alabama in 11 deplorably long years. After more than a decade, Tennessee finally managed to beat the Tide in the 35-28 victory.

The fact that it occurred during the waning days of the 1982 World’s Fair made it all the more special. This also marked the end of the Bear Bryant era, at least as far as Tennessee was concerned, as Bryant would never again coach a game in Neyland Stadium—passing away in 1983.

This game single-handedly returned Tennessee to its position as a year-in-year-out contender in the SEC, and re-asserted Tennessee’s tradition of winning.

Before this game, Tennessee was a second-tier team in the minds of most. That changed on "The Third Saturday in October," 1982.

No. 3: 1986 Sugar Bowl - Tennessee vs. Miami

Louisiana Superdome | Dave Hooker Rank: No. 5

Ahh, the Sugar Vols. No one thought the 1985-86 Tennessee squad really had a chance against the No. 2-ranked Miami Hurricanes. The Vols, however, decided to make everyone remember them, as they pounded Vinny Testaverde and the Hurricanes on both sides of the ball.

While this game was played in a neutral venue—the Superdome—it really amounted to being played in “Neyland Stadium South” as the Big Orange faithful traveled by the thousands to cheer on their underdog Vols. This game single-handedly elevated Tennessee to “national” status as they destroyed Miami, 35-7, in the Big Easy.

Here’s John Ward calling “yet another” great play by Tennessee—namely Chris White’s fourth-quarter interception for a touchdown.

[>> See post to listen to audio <<]

No. 2: 1991 - Tennessee vs. Notre Dame

Notre Dame Stadium | Dave Hooker Rank: No. 7

There really isn’t much that needs to be said about the game referred to simply as “The Miracle at South Bend.” It still stands as the single most significant non-conference regular-season game the Vols ever played.

While some would point to the victories over Penn State in 1971 and 1972, those were played in Neyland Stadium, which gave the Vols the huge benefit of a home crowd. In 1991, however, the Vols had to go on the road and play the No. 5 team in the country.

The reality is that Tennessee was beaten in this game by the end of the first half. The fact that the team and the coaching staff never gave up and kept fighting stands as a testament to the 1991 squad’s character. It still stands as the greatest comeback in Tennessee football history, and serves as a monument to Winston Churchill’s adage: “Never, Never, Never Give Up!“

Furthermore, the final play of the game as called by John Ward stands as one of the greatest (albeit somewhat botched) calls of his storied career.

[>> See post to listen to audio <<]

Don’t you just love John Ward?

No. 1: 1998 - Florida vs. Tennessee

Neyland Stadium | Dave Hooker Rank: No. 2

Having just written about this game (reliving it in my mind along with the voices in my head), I still come to the conclusion that there has never been a more exhilarating and exciting game played at Neyland Stadium—at least not in the modern era.

This game was an absolute defensive slugfest from start to finish, and after the game was over, I was physically and mentally exhausted—I cannot imagine what the players felt like.

While I do have the 1999 Fiesta Bowl listed in my Top 10 as well (No. 9), in my opinion this game was the high-water mark for the 1998 team. This was the game that defined the team and the season.

Winning the game against Florida completely changed the mindset of everyone in Orange Nation—suddenly we all believed that a championship was possible.

Thus, even though you don’t get a trophy for winning a home game during the regular season, in my opinion, this was the Vols’ finest hour.

Well, there’s my list. Feel free to tell me I’m wrong (as I so often am)…

– Go Figure …

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Audio Clips Courtesy of: The Vol Network, Host Communications, and the University of Tennessee.

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2009 Big Orange Roundtable: Week 5

This Week’s Roundtable is hosted by: The Pigskin Pathos

Week 5

(1b) What do both coaches order?

(2) If an asteroid were on a direct impact course with Earth, what could Eric Berry do about it? If he is successful in stopping the asteroid and saving the world, does he win the Heisman then?

(3) If you were on the planning committee for the Neyland Stadium renovations, what new things would you propose to be added to the Stadium and surrounding areas that are not already in the works?

(4) I am a former Pride of the Southland member, so I’ve been always curious about this. What are your three favorite songs that the Pride plays? What is your least favorite song? What songs would you like to hear the Pride play on game days?

(5) Being a half Auburn blog, I feel compelled to ask this: since 2003, Auburn has quietly amassed a 4 game winning streak against Tennessee. How would you describe the current status of the Tennessee-Auburn rivalry (if there is one)?

The Rest of the Roundtable:

Allegedy Related Posts (Computer Generated):

Tennessee Vols Start Second Week of Practice

Images Courtesy of: VolQuest.com #19 ($) • VolQuest.com #16 ($) • VolQuest.com #6 ($)

Allegedy Related Posts (Computer Generated):

Marquette-Tennessee Basketball Preview: Off to Nashville...

Marquette-Tennessee Mini-Preview

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The Uglier Side of the Coaching Carousel: Kiffin's Unite, Chizik Backlash

Wow, now that is some serious fan support!

Image Courtesy of: Joe Cribbs Car Wash

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2008 SEC Power Poll All-SEC Football Team

Check out the Full Poll Results at Garnet and Black Attack!

SEC Power Poll All-SEC Team

Offense:

Defense:

Special Teams:

Coach of the Year:

Totals by Team:

The Rest of the Power Poll

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Blazer Chronicles: Episode 23

The Blazer Chronicles: Episode 23

Video Courtesy of: VolzRChamps / Blazer Chronicles

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Breaking Down the Break Down for the Tennessee Volunteers

Offense

Running Game:

Passing Game:

Offensive Line:

Offensive Play Calling:

Defense

Defensive Play Calling:

Special Teams

Punting:

Field Goal Unit:

Kick Returns:

Coaching (Preparation)

Defensive Unit:

Offensive and Special Teams Units:

Final Thoughts

Images Courtesy of: Scout.com • ESPN.com • Gridscape’s Virtual Neyland

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SEC Power Poll Ballot: Week 2

Check out the Full Poll Results at Garnet and Black Attack or SEC Power Poll.com

Week 2

The Rest of the Power Poll

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Tennessee vs. UCLA — Postgame Thoughts

Defense

Offense

Special Teams

Final Thoughts

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Phillip Fulmer Responds to Subpoena Issue

Statement Courtesy of: Knoxville News-Sentinel/GoVolsXtra

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Tennessee Volunteers Football: Big Orange Roundtable (Week 2)

This Week’s Host: The Power T

Week Zwei

1) A position of strength for the Vols this fall should be wide receivers. Which two guys will emerge from the pack to start the opener against UCLA alongside Lucas Taylor? Why?

The “Other” Briscoe

2) Which game on the schedule do you, as a fan, need Tennessee to win for your own sanity and happiness? Why?

3) What are your thoughts on the eight-win clause in Coach Fulmer’s new contract that automatically rolls his contract over another year if he wins eight games in a season?

4) What is your favorite gameday recipe, whether for tailgating or in your own kitchen? Explain why in delicious detail.

The Magna-rita:

5) You have a tag team championship match against the Legion of Doom coming up. Which current Volunteer do you choose as your tag team partner? Why?

Phil Battling it Out!

The Rest of the Roundtable:

Images Courtesy of: TV Root.com • LSU Freek

(2) If an asteroid were on a direct impact course with Earth, what could Eric Berry do about it? If he is successful in stopping the
asteroid and saving the world, does he win the Heisman then?