Derek Dooley

Derek Dooley

Uhh...ok?

So I think we get screwed here by going to Atlanta.

First, Tampa wants a 3-5 conference record (#40 in CBS poll) Auburn instead of a 4-4 conference record (#38 in CBS poll) Tennessee. Fine. Auburn beat us so I guess I can see that. But what is weird is that the way the SEC is set up now with 2 teams in BCS bowls, that means Tennessee and Auburn are playing against an AP #12 ranked Va Tech and an AP unranked Northwestern, respectively. Now CBS has Northwestern as #16 but still, if Tennessee gets a lesser bowl (2008 numbers...$2.4 million to SEC team in Atlanta vs $3 million to SEC team in Tampa not to mention Vols play New Year's Eve and not New Year's Day), why do the Vols have to play, some would argue, a touger opponent in Virginia Tech than Northwestern?

However, with all that said, I'm just happy to be complaining about which team we play and in which bowl we play. Because last year at this time...well let's not talk about last year ;)

The plus sides are that weather will not be a factor and Atlanta is closer to Knoxville than Tampa.

GO VOLS!!!

Bowl Predictions Redone

First, great game for the Vols against KY. If Stocker hangs on to the ball, it wouldn't have gone to overtime...but we won and that's all that matters.

Ok, so Ole Miss, Georgia and South Carolina screwed me up a bit. Here are my predictions with Florida and Alabama not changing since last post.

LSU 9-3 5-3 goes to Capital One (Orlando)
Tennessee 7-5 4-4 goes to Outback (Tampa)
Ole Miss 8-4 4-4 goes to Cotton (Dallas)
Georgia 7-5 4-4 goes to Peach (Atlanta)
S. Carolina 7-5 3-5 goes to Music City (Nashville)
Arkansas 7-5 3-5 goes to Liberty (Memphis)
Auburn 7-5 3-5 goes to Papa John's (Birmingham)
Kentucky 7-5 3-5 goes to Independence (Shreveport)

Tennessee gets a bump up to Outback by finishing 2nd in the East but have to travel a little further than Nashville or Atlanta. But I don't think the Vol faithful will mind a trip to Florida in January.

GO VOLS!!!

Regular Season Final Predictions & Bowl Bids

Florida beats FSU and Alabama beats Auburn and Florida goes to the BCS championship after beating Alabama in the SEC championship for the 2nd straight year. But Florida loses to Texas. Alabama plays as an at-large bid in the Sugar Bowl, again.

Ole Miss beats MSU and goes to Capital One (Orlando) at 9-3
LSU beats ARK and goes to Outback (Tampa) at 9-3
ARK loses to LSU and goes to Cotton (Dallas) at 7-5
TEN beat KY and goes to Peach (Atlanta) at 7-5
KY loses to TEN and goes to Music City (Nashville) at 7-5
UGA loses to GA Tech and goes to Liberty (Memphis) at 6-6
AUB loses to ALA and goes to Papa John's (Birmingham) at 7-5
USC loses to CLEM and goes to Independence (Shreveport) at 6-6

As my friend Evil says, "Book it."

"D"-pleted

Seems like most of the Vols defense was hurt either going into or coming out of the Vandy game. If we don't turn the ball over, I see us beating Kentucky at Lexington (even with a battered defense) to go 7-5 for the regular season.


GO VOLS!!!

Rebel Whipping

The Vols got their tails handed to 'em by the Rebels. Outplayed on both sides of the ball. OL and DL were being pushed around. McCluster ran away from Berry's side most of the time and when he did run to Berry's side, the Rebels had a lineman and maybe even another guy blocking him. That left Rogan, Thompson and the rest of the Vol's defense trying to tackle McCluster who goes 95mph when the rest of the guys on the field are going about 70mph. Offensively, we had a few key drops and some bad routes/passes and never could hit Jones for the long one. Hardesty was inconsistent due to our OL not winning up front. Don't even get me started on special teams. Basically, we looked bad.

We need to right the ship in a hurry against a struggling Vanderbilt to become bowl eligible and then we can top off the cake with some orange icing at Kentucky two days after Thanksgiving. 7-5 is a lot better than 5-7 from a year ago.

Let's all get behind the Vol seniors this weekend and hope for a big thrashing of the Commodores.

GO VOLS!!!

Not Good

This is just stupid.