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.

Defense!

Just wanted to throw in a word about how proud I am of the Vols defense this year. They don't get enough notice (other than Berry) due to their record but they are 16th (even as 2nd and 3rd team guys played against WKY and MEM) in yards allowed per game as of Nov 10th...only behind Alabama and Florida in the SEC. After holding Alabama down to 4 field goals, the Vols defense had one pass coverage mistake against South Carolina for a TD and the starters let one TD in against a bad Memphis team. That's really it in the last 3 games.

This all leads me to talk about why I think the Vols will win at Ole Miss this weekend: defense

Ole Miss lost at South Carolina 10-16. I think we can hold Ole Miss to equal or lower than 10 points. Crompton keeps the train rolling and if Hardesty is injury/hurt/ailment free, he has a big day running all over the Rebels, who are not ranked in the top 50 for rushing defense. In fact, Ole Miss is not the best team in Mississippi as far as rush defense...that would be Southern Miss at 37th!


GO VOLS!!!

The Tide Is Turning

Well we came up a field goal short due to the giant that the Crimson Mud have on their D-line. No biggie. We drew some blood. Next year at Neyland should be a good one with the Tide.

Now on to USC. A win at home against a Spurrier team would likely make us bowl eligible. I think we can handle Memphis, Vandy and Kentucky and we go 7-5 if we lose on the road at a resurging Ole Miss. So wear your best Halloween costume (something with Orange in it) and cheer for the Vols as you pick through your candy.

GO VOLS!!!

I'm Surprised!

Ok. So I'm surprised that Crompton got one of the SEC Players of the week for his work against Georgia. Not for his performance, it was well deserved. I'm just amazed that he had it in him. I had not seen otherwise. I attended Neyland for the Ohio game and he looked bad. Auburn game, he threw behind his receivers who decided not to catch those nor the ones he hit them in the hands with. He was less than stellar vs Auburn. Florida, Coach K wouldn't let him throw the ball...so really not his fault. Also to note in the Georgia game: our defense allowed 3 points...that's it. I LOVE our defense!!!

So now with the Georgia win, we are 1/2 of the way to being bowl eligible: I'm thinking Memphis, Vandy and Kentucky. If we can sneak an Ole Miss or a South Carolina in there just to make sure, that'd be cool too. Both have pretty good defenses. Week off for Alabama (Crimson Mud)...and we'll need all of that week and more ;)

"We need a quarterback not a belly itcher!"

Instructional letter to Coach Kiffin for the 2009 football season after the UCLA loss...

----------------------------


Dear Lane,

(I feel that you're just Lane to me now and that you still need to earn the title of "coach" before I call you that and some of that is not your fault). Here are 5 things that I think you can do to help revive the Vols Football program:

1. Win at least 6 games and get to a bowl (any bowl) this 2009 season. More practice over the winter and TV coverage even if it's a bowl in Nashville, Memphis or Birmingham. 5 more games to win this season are: Ohio, Memphis, Vanderbilt, Kentucky and either South Carolina or Auburn. Other than Kentucky, the others are at Neyland which will help you.

2. Start recruiting a quarterback...NOW!!! If you didn't have faith in playing Stephens, as Crompton sat alone on the bench at one point during the UCLA game and as Crompton's onfield display begged of you to put Stephens in, then obviously you're not going to play Stephens when he's a senior next year. And what can be worse than Crompton...maybe the swine flu?

3. Recruit offensive linemen. Ones that can run block first (being that this is the hardest thing for them to do). Fulmer didn't do you any favors with your starting front 5 that consist of Scott, Richard, Cody Sullins (for McNeil) and McClendon who are seniors and Shaw, a Junior. Cory Sullins is also a senior and will be gone next year too. Dallas Thomas, Aaron Douglas and Cody Pope need to see playing time if we lose our 7th game.

4. Quit over hyping Berry and the defense. You reward Coach O's defense and your Dad's defense by making them play more plays per game than they should due to the inadequacies of your offense? That doesn't make sense. Stick with what you know and I'm not sure what that is but people say it has something to do with the offensive side of the ball. Your Dad and Coach O get about 90% of the credit for keeping the UCLA game close.

5. In the press, say every other team you play (even Memphis and Ohio) are great teams and that you respect what each program has to offer. Focus mainly on the Vols and say that we're going to have to earn our respect back. People will start to think you are a joke if you come across as over confident in saying the Vols will beat teams like Florida and Alabama on the road. Play the underdog in search of respect. You've done nothing in your coaching career to have any respect up to now anyway. Focus on your own players and what they can achieve. Not the other team.

Maybe, just maybe if you can do these things, the Vols can climb back on top as a winning program. Here's hoping you're the one that can get them there.

GO VOLS!

-Clay

Rocky Topping The Hilltoppers

The newest members of what was formally NCAA Division I-A football took to the field at Neyland Saturday September 5th and were crushed 63-7. That's the short of it. 3 other points of interest:

-The Hilltoppers of Western Kentucky did win the 2002 National Championship for Division I-AA

-The 2009 Hilltopper Media Guide has loads of Freshmen listed on the roster and as a friend said, it was like playing a high school football team.

-The Vols let loose their offensive aggression from last season. It was a coughing up or purging of points that were not to be had during the 2008 campaign. Let's just hope the Vols can "throw up" some more points along the way ;)

------------------

Up next, the Brown Bears of UCLA Sat 9/12 at 3:30pm Neyland time on ESPN. That's what a Bruin is...a brown bear. They have a new freshman "Prince" that struggled? (18 for 45 with 2 TD passes and 3 interceptions) in his college debut at the Rose Bowl against San Diego State before his team pulled away in the 2nd half winning 33-14. From here:

"The Aztecs scored touchdowns on their first two possessions and got seven first downs and 161 yards in the first quarter. They managed only 4 first downs and 116 yards total offense after that."

So the Vols need to jump on UCLA in the 1st quater and keep puttin' the hurtin' on the Brown Bears. Our defense should hopefully stop their 116th ranked offense (from last year's statistics) with Berry and the boys. I look for another win this coming Saturday!

GO VOLS!!!

Injuries

Injuries

Leslie Ratliffe & Spring Report

First, condolences to the family of Leslie Ratliffe who died way too soon. Read about that here.

Next, I'm lazy so read here, here, here and here for a round up of the Spring.

See you in August or there abouts.