The Pac 10 Still Sucks

I don't know which is worse that guys goofy grin, queer hat or the ASU defense. I think Texas just scored again.

Gators or sheep?

The guys from Orange and Blue Hue did their 'unbiased' bowl previews. In making their final prediction for the Outback Bowl, these guys take into consideration Tennessee's last bowl game when PSU 'punched them in the mouth'. If by 'punched in the mouth' they mean 'gave the game away to a less talented team' then I would agree. But I don't suppose they actually watched the game. The Vols were clearly the better team but turnovers kill.

Throw in some insults: rogue program, bad publicity, phat Phil (people do realize that phat and fat don't mean the same thing right? I suppose they think it's funny on some level). In the end, their pick: Wisconsin 35 Tennessee 10.

I'm not going to argue the outcome, since Tennessee does have so many distractions right now, who knows what might happen. Regardless, it's clear this was just an opportunity to throw in a few cheap shots and wish for a Vols loss. Florida fans are still bitter about losing the East and not making it to Atlanta. I know, I know, they beat us...but still.

Oh, their prediction for the Gators? 49-17.

Sheep.

Um Yeah, It Isn't a Half Day or Anything

Damn, that was one helluva nap. After watching that Bama game, I decided I was going to uber nap until Christmas. What about my job? Nah, I decided I'm not gonna go anymore.

Talk about morning breath. Not to mention I've got the munchies and the phrase 'piss like a race horse' has new meaning to me. Ah, I digress.

Anyway, I see that our Vols made quite the run in the second half of the season making it all the way to Atlanta. Well, at least until that pansy Ainge effed it all up. If I had a rubber hose I would beat him into a .... ah nevermind. That's water under the bridge, water under the bridge. That's what my counselor always tells me.

So after catching up on the last two plus months of news. Here is what's on my mind: secrecy. That's right, secrecy.

Why does our athletic director insist on letting our football program operate in the darkness of the night? We all know that Fulmer doesn't allow media folk to attend practice (don't get me started). Now, with still no formal announcement from the program, we get confirmation from two potential recruits that assistant coaches Matt Luke and Kurt Roper will be leaving Tennessee and heading to Duke with Coach Cut.

I guess that the fans and boosters don't deserve any better than this? Don't get me wrong, I'm not unhappy about the turn of events. I think all three were pretty damn worthless. I'd just like someone to look me in the eye from time to time and tell me what the hell is going on.

I think I'm going to start calling Cutcliffe, Coach Cult. Who else could blindly lead two men to an obvious dead end job. All three will be unemployed in 3 years, 4 tops. I know Cult doesn't care, he's old as dirt anyway but Roper and Luke.... good luck with that.

I Hate the Alabama Crimson Tide

If you are a Tennessee fan, you've got to check out the I Hate the Alabama Crimson Tide post over at VolNation.com. It's priceless. They have some good video of the 82 Tennessee Bama game as well.

The SEC Power Poll is out at Garnet And Black Attack. LSU is no surprise at #1 but who could have guessed that South Carolina and Kentucky could be #2 and #3 respectively in anyone's power poll at this point in the season. I think they have Auburn a little overrated considering the pathetic performance they showed at Arkansas but the SEC is so up and down from week to week, who knows.

Roll Bama Roll has a piece giving props to a Vol fan they actually like. Of course they don't hesitate to to take a few jabs at our coaching staff in the process. You know, the usual fat jokes. Yawn.

I haven't run across too many Bama blogs that are focusing on the upcoming game as of yet. Most seem to still be focusing on analyzing the outcome of their squeaker against Ole Miss. Of course the Bama fans think justice was served and they were merely the better team but Loser with Socks thinks the Bammeroids got a break. Regardless, I think it's offical that Ole Miss has turned into the Vandy of the West under Coach-O. Even worse.

How bad is Georgia and how awful is FSU? Both of those teams are horrid this year and they both beat Bama.

I did find a Tennessee Week post at Tide Druid who posts a video of Bama students coming out of the closet. You'll see what I mean.

It's not Bama related but how long has it been since you've seen a quote like this about a Tennessee offensive line? --"Basically, that big offensive line just laid heavy on us and just wore us down," Croom said after Saturday's game. "That’s the bottom line."

Oh, by the way, Todd Helton and the Rockies just swept the hapless Diamondbacks and are headed to the World Series. How hot are they? They've won 21 of their last 22. Unreal. At least now I have somewhat of a reason to watch baseball. Think we'll see any Todd Helton Tennessee football trivia during the series?

Vols rush for 211 in victory over MSU

Quick points on today's victory:

• To me, 211 was the key stat in today's win over the Bulldogs. For the second week in a row, Tennessee's running game had a renewed vigor and was able to successfully run the football. Foster averaged a hefty 6.6 yards per carry and Hardesty managed 4.9 per attempt.
  
• The defense missed some key tackles early, reminding me of how they played in our first two losses. Fortunately, they were able to pull it together.
  
• Jonathan Heffney had one really nice punt return but for whatever reason, he still doesn't look like his old self in my opinion.
  
• Ainge played well but made a couple of bad decisions with the football. Luckily it didn't hurt us. MSU put more pressure on him than I thought they would.
  
• Lucas Taylor is catching everything and has stepped up and become the leader of that receiving corps. His 186 yards and one touchdown today was impressive.
  
• It was nice to see Daniel Lincoln bounce back and not be affected by his first missed field goal of the season.
• Chris Brown is instrumental to this team in several ways.
• It surely didn't seem that we were only 30 yards shy of 500 total yards on offense. Wow!
• Erik Ainge wasn't sacked.... again. The total still sits at one for the season.
  
• Fulmer is 13-1 against teams from the state of Mississippi. Do you remember the loss?
• Attendance seemed louder than 50,217.

In honor of LSU and Kentucky

The Bluegrass miracle.



My favorite part? The Kentucky fans who ran onto the field and suddenly wondered why the LSU fans were cheering. Their look of utter disbelief is priceless.

*Updated. What a great game that was today. I kept thinking that the Cats would collapse at some point down the stretch. It's amazing that they were able to pull it out in the end. Les Miles has quickly gone from hero, for his coaching last week against the Gators, to zero for his questionable calls in tonight's loss.

**Blogging the upset. Want to read more opinions on Kentucky's upset over LSU? Here you go.

• UK LSU Post Game
  
• LS Who?
• Hell Yeah!
  
• We Won
  
• Who's Overreacding Now?
  
• Kentucky Football is for Real
• Kentucky over LSU: Timing matters
  
• Cats!
• LSU's Playcalling their greatest strength and weakness
• GOOOO Cats!!!
  

SEC Football Schedule for October 13

It's a great day for SEC Football. Here is your lineup for Saturday.

12:30 Bama at Mississippi (ESPN Gameplan)
2:30 #25 Tennessee at Mississippi State (ESPN Gameplan)
3:30 #1 LSU at #17 Kentucky (CBS)
3:30 #7 South Carolina at North Carolina (ABC)
6:00 #24 Georgia at Vanderbilt (ESPN2)
7:45 #22 Auburn at Arkansas (ESPN)

For previews of these games from other bloggers, check out Best of the SEC.

A Different Saturday for Vol Fans

As I put the final touches on my fan gameday preparations, I can't help but have a bit of a unique feeling heading in to today's game against Mississippi State. It's been a while since Tennessee has lost to Florida and then regained control of their own destiny, especially this early in the season. For me, it surely makes these not-so-meaningful games more meaningful.

Maybe some readers can help me out, but I honestly can't remember this ever happening at this point in the season. The only year that comes to my mind would be 1997. However, I'm pretty sure that Tennessee regained control of the East much later in the schedule that year.

I feel pretty confident that Tennessee will win this football game. I do think it's a bit of a trap game coming after a big win against #12 Georgia and just before a showdown with Alabama. The game with the Crimson Tide is always an important one, regardless of records. The history and tradition of the game means a lot to Coach Fulmer even though the two teams now reside in different conference divisions.

I believe MSU to be fairly one dimensional. They will have to run the ball really really well and create some big plays in the passing game in order to win. I think they will have some success, but not enough to earn a W.

My prediction: Tennessee 38 MSU 17.

Basketball Practice. Many schools, including Kentucky, opened their basketball season with a Midnight Madness for fans on Friday night. Tennessee wasn't one of them. Due to the arena renovations the Vols had to skip any type of scrimmage that would be open to the public. Surprisingly Coach Pearl is not a big fan of the madness events and is completely content with opening practice quietly. Does that surprise anyone but me?

Todd Helton update. Game 2 of the NCLS saw Todd Helton give the Rockies a 2-1 lead on a sac fly in the 5th inning but they couldn't hold on, allowing the Diamondbacks to tie the game in the bottom of the ninth and send it to extra innings. In the 11th Arizona walked in the go-ahead run and Colorado held on 3-2 to take a 2-0 lead in the series. Game 3 is Sunday night.

SEC Power Poll. The Vols are #6 in the SEC Power Poll at Orange and Blue Hue. They thought the young Georgia team looked like they were "bushwacked", whatever that means.

Is getting Croomed a legitmate threat?

I've seen the blog posts this week and the forum threads that talk about the possibility of teams getting Croomed by Mississippi State. While it sounds humorous, I'm not sure just how much fear the term puts into opponents, or even opponents fans for that matter.

We've heard a lot of "coach speak" from the Tennessee staff this week, even out of the media. How many times am I going to have to hear how this Bulldog team is better than Georgia and how physical they are? Look at it this way, a loss would be catastrophic regardless of how much anyone tries to build up MSU.

Let's look at just what Sylvester has done since becoming the Bulldogs main man.

2004 (3-8). First season at MSU was highlighted by a nice win against a Ron Zook coached Florida team in Starkville. The also lost to teams like Vandy, UAB, and Maine.

2005 (3-8). Wins include Murray State, Tulane and Mississippi.

2006 (3-9). Beat UAB, Jacksonville State and a Mike Shula coached Bama team. The marquee loss was to Tulane.

That brings us to 2007. The Bulldogs appear to be an improved football team, currently with a 4-2 record. However, at closer look it seems it could be just more of the same. MSU's wins this season consist of Tulane, Gardner Webb, UAB and their lone impressive win against Auburn.

I'll close with this. Most people, when asked about Sylvester Croom, describe him as a great man and a classy individual. Missing is any compliment of his coaching ability. Enough said.

I don't see anything that leads me to believe that the Vols are about to get Croomed.

Mississippi State Game Eve

I don't know if it's my love of "A Few Good Men" or if it's really that funny but Loser With Socks absolutely cracked me up with Spurrier's best Jack Nicholson imitation. Very nice work.

If MSU pulled out a W tomorrow (notice the big "if"), would you consider it an upset? I really don't think many would. Is that because of how good the SEC currently is or another sign of just how far the Vols have fallen? If you aren't sure, look back to what LSU did to the Bulldogs the first week of the season: 45-0.

I ran across some good Sylvester Croom Farks at TigerDroppings (LSUFreek has some skillz) and at VolNation.

ESPN has a piece today on the history of the checkerboard endzone. Can you believe it costs $800 to paint those bad boys each week?

Andy Katzer at AOL Fanhouse looks back on a post from the summer that predicted that Fulmer could get Croomed this weekend. While, I agree that's entirely possible, the article also prognosticated that Les Miles' Tigers could fall to the Bulldogs. They didn't.

I think David Cutcliffe is a big reason that the Vols are among the least penalized teams in the country and tops in the SEC. I've thought it's been clear since his return that the offensive has been more disciplined. It appears that the offensive line is getting better and even guys like Josh Briscoe are stepping up and making a contribution.

Suddenly, after one good performance, many are talking about Tennessee running the table. While I agree that on paper the Vols are capable of winning each and every one of their games, I'm going to reserve my enthusiasm until we get through the next couple of weeks. In my mind, the next two games will gauge exactly where this team is and if they are capable of an SECC game run.

Todd Helton update. NLCS game 1.

Congrats to Todd Helton and the Rockies. They beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 5-1 in the first game of the NLCS on Thursday night. Helton went 1-4 and scored the first run of the night for Colorado. Game 2 is Friday night starting at 10:18pm ET.

(You didn't think my first posted picture was going to be of the Rockies -or baseball for that matter- did you?)

MSU week - I need more cowbell

It wouldn't be Mississippi State week without...... a little more cowbell.



Check out Kyle Veazey's blog. He writes for the Clarion Ledger and it's one of the few decent MSU blogs I've run across. He posted some nice links yesterday including the Tennessee response to Coach Croom's comments regarding MSU running the football against Tennessee.

I also ran across Mississippi State Sports Blog, but it looks like it's written by someone more interested in trying to sell tickets than they are in blogging.

Is Sylvester Croom really talking smack announcing to the world that the Vols better put nine in the box to stop the Bulldog running game? Pretty gutsy move by the coach of the SEC West cellar dwellers. His team starts 4-2 and suddenly they think they are ready for world domination.

Fans must not be quite as confident. There are still plenty of upper and lower level tickets still available for Saturday's game.

Another Meaningless Tennessee Blog

I know, I know. There are already millions of Tennessee blogs on the interweb right? Well, might as well make it a million and one because I've got stuff to say.

As you can see, the blog is a bit on the bland side and will be that way until I can feel my way around here a bit. I'm not new to the blogging world but I am new to blogspot so bear with me.

Enough on the introduction. They bore me and besides, you will get to know me as we go along.