The Rearview 10-13

The Rearview 10-12 

Well, 6 games in and we’re 2-4, 0-3.  If you look at the overall SEC standings, what it will show you, is a Tennessee team that is dead last.  12 of 12.  Worst.  Last place.  However you wish to describe it, this Tennessee team is proving a lot of people wrong, and some people right.  What’s interesting about those two groups is that the vast majority of the people in the first group are people like you and I.  Sure there was a faction of Tennessee fans that told you what was coming.  But no way that could happen.  Look at who was coming back, the infusion of “new blood” at OC and a former 5 start quarterback recruit……how bad, really, could this season get? You remember the pre season mantra right? Also included in this group are our coaches.  Now the second group, well, that’s your national media.  I think back to what Kirk Herbstreit said way back in April about Tennessee……. “non factor”.  I guess there’s a reason he gets paid a ridiculous amount of money to do his job and for better or worse, all we are, are fans that regardless of how objective we claim to be, still see the world with a little bit of an orange tint. 

Fast forward 6 months, and the problems are bountiful.  And they seem to be growing.  As I watched the game Saturday, I had zero expectations and actually enjoyed watching us make some plays here and there to keep us in the game, but still always knowing that Georgia just looked a step or two ahead of us.  The only real problem Georgia had was getting in to the end zone.  That’s an area they will have to work on, because playing teams like LSU and Florida and, dare I say Vandy, they’ll need points.  But, despite what mistakes were made, primarily penalties in the 1^st half, the team didn’t play terribly.  It actually looked like one of the better performances of the year.  And that’s simply a result of not making the back breaking mistakes that costs you games, a la PR for TD, fumble in the end zone for TD etc…..  No, this death was methodical and slow.  Georgia could have put us out of our misery early on, but as stated, just couldn’t.  Nick Stevens wasn’t terrible, he just wasn’t great.  The offensive line and the running backs though…..1 yard rushing.  I think that about covers that. 

As for the defense, I think they played pretty well, and we got to see Eric Berry set a UT record with his 54 yard interception return.  Robert Ayers and Dan Williams both had good games.  But the defense simply was on the field too long.  42 minutes is a long time even for deep defenses.  But such is life.  1 yard net rushing will do that to a defense. 

More concerning to me than any of that though is what I’m reading from the coaches and players.  And at the risk of infringing on OWH’s “Notes”, here are few quotes that really stood out to me: 

“Whoever the leaders are on this team, we got to step up, keep a positive vibe, come to get better at practice, just stay focused and not forget the ultimate goal is to finish strong. We have six more games left. Hopefully we can finish 8-4. That’s a goal of ours right now.”-Robert Ayers, KNS 

“I’m not displeased with Sunday practices, don’t get that wrong,” Fulmer said. “But after you get your rear beat, you’d like a little more time to get prepared for a Monday practice instead of a Tuesday practice.”-Phillip Fulmer on changing practice schedules, personnel groupings etc…, KNS

“Everybody in the world is going to talk about me,” Fulmer said. “They’re going to talk about our staff. They’re going to talk about (the players) and what kind of backbone we’ve got.

“Look ’em in the eye and say, ‘I’m not quitting.’ Who’s going to stand up? They got to go on campus, out and about. They better be able to look them in the eye and say, ‘Hey, I did my best.’ That’s the staff, and that’s me and that’s everybody else.”

“You stay in this business long enough and you’re going to have ups and downs,” said Fulmer, who coached his 198th game as UT’s head coach. “I’ve won a lot more than I’ve lost. I’ve been disappointed in every dang one of them we lost (and) felt like this. I’m not going to do anything but keep fighting.”-Phillip Fulmer on potential fan reaction, KNS

“Excuse my language, we’ve been (expletive) all year as far as offense,” UT receiver Gerald Jones said.-Gerald Jones on the Offense to this point this season, KNS

“Not for this stretch of a time,” an animated Fulmer said following the game. “We’ve got to find ourselves, whatever it is, some rhythm.

“It’s like this dark cloud is following you around everywhere.”

“I don’t know where our run game has gone,” Fulmer said. “They (Georgia) flat committed to stopping it.”-Phillip Fulmer on his frustrations with the offense, KNS 

“Coaches and players sticking together and not turning against one another and staying positive,” Clawson said. “That’s the only way I know to do it.

“It’s easy to say. It’s harder to do.“-Dave Clawson on where it has to start to turn the season around, KNS 

“It’s just a matter of picking up blitzes,” Jones said. “I think that’s our biggest problem right now. When we try to throw the ball, we get too much pressure on the quarterback.

“Last year, we only allowed four sacks. It’s a totally different ball game this year.”

“They (Georgia) made some good plays on offense and we made some stupid plays on defense as far as penalties,” Jones said. “They drove the ball 97 yards. Who does that?”-Gerald Jones on his frustrations with this season, KNS 

“It’s just unbelievable that we have struggled as much as we have struggled offensively,” said an obviously distressed Fulmer.-Phillip Fulmer’s reaction to the disparity in time of possession Saturday. 

Now, I realize that at this point it’s basically just piling on, but I can’t read these, even in the context in which they were originally stated, and not shake my head.    What I get out of this post game reaction is that the players are losing faith in the direction they’ve been steered in, the coaches have no idea how or why it got this bad, worse they still don’t know how to fix it, and finally, and maybe most damning, the players and maybe some coaches, themselves are getting discontent with each other.  Finally, as was done after the Florida game, we are reminded, again, by Phillip Fulmer of his resume.  It’s as if Fulmer is his own defense attorney.   

In any event, regardless of what you read in this or what you see in the ball games, the thing that simply can’t be ignored now is that we, not Vandy, or Ole Miss or MSU or Kentucky or any other team that has been the punch line of many a joke made by Tennessee fans, is the worst team in the SEC right now.   

Non Factor.  Yep, that’s about right. 

As for the rest of the weekend: 

LSU @ Florida……brand new quarterbacks just don’t do very well in the Swamp.  Florida on the other hand finally looked, on both sides of the ball, like the team worth all the billing in the pre season.  I am glad they were able to hang 50 on someone other than us.  A week off now before the stretch run which really only includes one more big game….the Cocktail Party.  Oh, and Vandy. 

OK vs Texas….what a game.  What terrible referees.  I’m sorry, but while everyone is slurping on how good of a game it was, and it was, don’t get me wrong, the refs were horrible in this game, and someone should be making a big deal about it.  A game that big that has conference and national title implications, plus a potential Heisman Trophy, up for grabs, you’d think the officiating could at least be at championship level.  Congrats to Texas and Colt McCoy, they played very, very well.  Oklahoma will be fine, and Sam Bradford is an exceptional quarterback.  Too bad these two can’t hook up again in the Big 12 title game. 

Notre Dame @ UNC….a lot will be made of Butch Davis and the turnaround at UNC.  And rightfully so.  A lot more should be made of the highway robbery going on in South Bend.  Charlie Weiss is effectively robbing Notre Dame of 10 million dollars.  But back to Butch…..he came in to this situation at the perfect time.  The ACC is ripe for taking over and he’s putting himself and UNC to be in position to be one of the top 2 or 3 programs in that conference.  Miami, Florida St and Clemson are in the unenviable position of playing catch up.  Currently the ACC is a 3 coach league…Grobe, Davis and Beamer.   

Arkansas @ Auburn….Arkansas beat Auburn?  Son of a……….. 

That’s it folks, I’ll see you in Knoxville next weekend.  Go Vols.  Beat MSU…if for no other reason than my brothers will be unbearable if we don’t.