Guitar Shots to the Head: The Man in the Mirror

When I was a young slender guy, mirrors never bothered me that much; in fact, I could walk by them and admire what I saw. Not that I am especially good looking, but being in good shape sure helps the self confidence. Luckily, as some things begin to unravel with age, I find it much easier to walk by the two giant mirrors in the master bath, and ignore what I see. When it comes to the Arkansas and Tennessee football programs, I wonder if Nutt and Fulmer have done the same thing.

In a lot of ways, these two programs are mirror images of the other this year. Neither can be terribly happy about what they see when they take a good look at their reflection. Both have had tumultuous starts to the year. Both programs are burning a five alarm fire under their respective head coach. Both have weapons on the offensive side of the football. Both have been embarrassed at times by the play of their teams. The season has been a roller coaster ride for each team, yet neither has thrown in the towel quite yet.

Many, including myself, expected Arkansas to have given up at this point in the season. The mass exodus led by Moses Mustain threw Pharaoh Nutt for quite a loop in the off season. The plague sent down from momma and daddy Mustain turned the Arkansas fan base blood red from anger. In the end Nutt let his people go. While it is too early to see which of these parties is destined to languish for 40 years in the desert, one thing is for sure. Nutt is not going down without a fight.

At the same time, Phil Fulmer has unremarkably done just enough to keep his job after embarrassing losses to California, Alabama, and Florida. Don’t look now, but those are all three loss teams. Sure, he beat Georgia and squeaked out a win against the Ole Ball Coach, but it hasn’t been all that pretty. Whether it is the defense, or the second half offensive propensity of this UT football team, the Vols have yet to muster a complete effort for four quarters against a quality opponent.

Despite the obvious shortcomings of this Tennessee football team, the broken record plays on. For the third time this season critical losses by other SEC teams have left the Vols in control of their own destiny. The axiom is simple. Win out and they punch their ticket to Atlanta. The task at hand is far greater.

Will the dream live on or does it end this week when the Hogs come to town? While both teams have similar match up problems (UT stopping the run and Arkansas stopping the pass) Houston Nutt has been a thorn in Phillip Fulmer’s side. Sure, UT has blown these games wide open in but let us not forget about 1999. One year after surrendering the fumble that propelled Tennessee to the title, an undermanned Arkansas team beat the Vols 28-24. In 2002 the Razorbacks took the Vols to six overtimes before losing, and last year they handed UT their most embarrassing loss of the season.

This year, I expect another nail biter. On one hand, with their defensive troubles, the Vols have proven the ability to manage a one dimensional offense if said offense doesn’t have a mobile QB. On the other hand, Darren McFadden takes snaps, and in case you missed it he throws the ball every now and then. When you load the box to stop him, and he gets into the secondary look out. We will get an opportunity to see how fast Berry really is. The “bend don’t break” defense will be severely tested in this match up.

As a fan, I have given up on predicting what will happen on game day, but I do know this. Neither team can afford to get too far behind. UT abandons the run too early when faced with a deficit, while Arkansas simply cannot throw the football when they have too. To win the game, UT must win the first down battle, and creatively piece together drives that keep McFadden and Jones off of the football field. The Vols must not allow their defense to spend an entire quarter on the field on Saturday. If that happens, look for Arkansas to win going away, but the converse is also true. So my key to the game is as follows; keep Arkansas’ defense on the field and the Tennessee defense off the field.

Hey, everybody knows an average looking guy that looks in the mirror everyday, and likes what he sees. Sometimes that “average Joe” even produces enough skill to go home with the best looking gal at the bar. To me, that best describes the state of the UT football program. It is about 3 a.m. If they win out, they play for the conference championship and get to go home with the cutie in the corner. If not, when Phil Fulmer looks into the mirror to check his team’s reflection, he might just see Mike Hamilton standing behind him taking a gander as well.