It was a somewhat interesting weekend of football. The astute Doug Coffin basically covered all I care to say about the UAB game. Can’t be upset about a 35-3 victory, but you can extrapolate from that game that it will take a more……. A LOT MORE……to pull out a W this coming weekend against the Gators.
And with that, you can probably tell I’ve softened quite a bit on my earlier stance that we wouldn’t lose to Florida this year. I do think we’re capable. I just haven’t seen anything yet that should have any Tennessee fan brimming with confidence. This team still looks like a team adjusting to a new system and new quarter back. On the flip side, the quarterback is still trying to figure things out on the job. That has resulted in the mistakes you’ve seen. I don’t think it’s necessarily a scheme problem. But at some point, these guys have to execute. That’s not me throwing the players under the bus or providing an excuse for the coaching staff. It simply is what it is. Catch the ball. If any or all of the balls that were dropped were caught, that changes things for that series and the game. Eliminate turnovers. You can’t give the ball away to the worst defense in college football.
I feel confident in saying these things because as I watched the game on Saturday, I saw something I’m not used to seeing. Phil Fulmer had the same expressions on his face that I did regarding as these plays weren’t made or as these mistakes were made. I didn’t see the usual clapping and butt slapping going on. He knows what we know. And he’s likely already made the same extrapolation about, not only this week’s game, but also the rest of the SEC schedule most of us have. No doubt he’s working like heck to get better fast. On to the rest of the weekend…….By the way….anyone see the new top 10? 5 SEC teams. And we play 4 of them in the next 6 weeks.
The best baseball game of the weekend: Auburn 3 Miss. State 2. Now, I’m a fan of these kinds of games. I love defensive games. I do not however like offensive struggles. Which this was. Did Miss. St. even convert a 3rd down? Both defenses are good. They might even turn out to be very good. But make no mistake, neither offense is going to scare anyone. Good win for Tubbs. As that game wore on the way it did, one play (sound familiar?) could have turned that in to stunning home loss. This game may be the one that turns in to a catalyst for an SEC West title run. Another tough loss for the Bulldogs.
Clemson and NCSU provided me my WTF moment of the weekend……..why on Earth would any fan base rush the field after beating NCSU????
Don’t look now but Vandy is 3-0. High times for Bobby Johnson and the ‘Dores. The fall back to Earth will be painful.
Ohio St. and USC……can we now close the book on OSU? Please? It’s just over done. This will be the team that still wins the Big 10 and they will still be in the picture at the end for the national title as teams in the Big 12 and SEC start to pick each other off in conf. play. One can only hope that Wisconsin and/or Penn State can put the rest of the college football world out of its misery and knock off the Buckeyes. Enough already.
Georgia and South Carolina……..holy crap. Talk about costly fumbles. South Carolina is the little engine that couldn’t. Georgia should be thanking its lucky stars. But all we really learned is what we already knew…….there is no such thing as an easy road game in the SEC. Win and advance for the ‘Dawgs. South Carolina is now dead last in the division, and Spurrier has to be at his wits end. He looked beat down after that game.
The game that just made me mad. BYU 567 UCLA 0. That’s right. BYU obliterated UCLA. It just made me mad. That loss will look worse and worse as the season goes on. No further comment needed.
I didn’t get see a single NFL game yesterday thanks to airline travel and a really whacky work schedule for this week while in Dallas. But a couple of observations about a couple of teams that I couldn’t help but hear about……..
Carolina…..2-0, 2 comeback wins……..but more importantly, a home opener victory. Unless you live there, you don’t know how big a deal this is. Knowing that they got to 2-0 w/out Steve Smith playing……huge. This team is poised to make some noise in the NFC, provided they stay healthy and can actually start to play for all 4 quarters instead of the last quarter and a half.
Pittsburgh…..2-0 and an early division lead over the upstart Browns. That was a big win last night.
Green Bay…this Aaron Rodgers fella can apparently play ball.
That’s it for now……..it’s Florida week folks. Let’s treat it that way.
Go Vols.