Not Buying the It Didnt Affect the Team Line

It may be the ‘right’ thing to say that it didn’t affect the team. But that’s about it. The Tennessee team that showed up Saturday in Oxford played like a shell of its self compared to the last four games.

Naturally, there’s a lot of blame going around. But in fairness to the coaches and players, what they woke up to Thursday morning was surreal.

They practiced Thursday, travelled Friday, and played Saturday. The feeling for many of us is still “how did this happen?” There are still facts being gathered and weighed. There was nothing remotely approaching closure by kickoff.

The Vols will get past this; they should finish 7-5 and a decent bowl. But they’ve really had no time to wrap their heads around it. From the time most of the team learned of what had happened until the game Saturday was a mere 72 hours.

To be sure, publicly Lane Kiffin and the team have handled this mess well. Lane said it was business as usual, but he knew. The line between resolution and the restoration of what was lost is a broad stroke.

Watching the players Saturday, the overwhelming sense was that their heads were not in the same place as when they visited Tuscaloosa a few weeks ago. Nor was it when the Bulldogs came to Knoxville and got beat up on.

The players who are charged are young men. That alone makes this situation sadder than just losing some football players. John Wooden was quoted to say, “Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.” That applies to any one breathing air.

It’s a shame this had to happen. Not just the game, but the circumstances around the game that will cost young men trust, respect, and admiration. But what is important here is that they take this adversity they’ve brought on themselves and learn from it and move on.

Whether any of them remain with the University or the football program is still in doubt. But if there is one thing to be learned here, it is to not believe the hype of who they say you are.

This coaching staff is resourceful. You can see them using this ‘negative’ and turning it into a positive. Incorporated into the recruiting process should come a timely reminder and some genuine fatherly advice.

As Coach Wooden continued, “Ability may get you to the top, but it takes character to keep you there.”

There is a lot of good character at Tennessee. And it hurts to see the media or opposing fans deride or lump quality young men into the bad choices of a few.

It did affect the team. We just saw it happen. But instead of pointing fingers, assigning blame, and taking wild shots at those bragged on just days earlier, we could buy into this line: Never relish any player for any team having these kinds of issues. It serves the best interest of no one.

Whether you’re a Florida fan, Alabama, or ALL VOL, we share this common thread, “There is no medicine like hope, no incentive so great, and no tonic so powerful as expectation of something better tomorrow.”