The Volunteers Defend the Honor of the SEC

What an incredible game last night between Tennessee and Memphis. I thought both teams played pretty good basketball, but Meimphis' defense against Lofton was amazing. Still, it wasn't enough as the Tigers fell to the Volunteers.

Michael David Smith at Fanhouse saw it as an example of just how tough it is to go undefeated:

Tennessee will be the new No. 1 team in the country, and the old No. 1 isn't undefeated anymore. The Volunteers' 66-62 win at Memphis Saturday night changed the top of the college basketball rankings and showed just how hard it is to make it through a season unbeaten.

Jon at Fulmers' Belly saw this as a team win, no MVP necessary:

Is there an MVP for this game? No. Why? Because this was as big of a team win as there has ever been. What would be an individual performance that you could single out? Lofton’s ice cold free throws to seal the game? Tyler Smith’s multiple baskets and rbounds? JP Prince’s ridiculous second half? JaJuan Smith’s insane first half? Brian Williams or Duke Crews’ presence in the paint? This, was a team win.

I think he is largely right, although I would have given Tyler Smith the MVP if it was up to me. Smith hit the big shot that put UT ahead for good, and Tennessee sealed it with good free throw shooting.

Michael David Smith at Fanhouse also blogs Bruce Pearl's rather physical interview with Erin Andrews, and includes video:

Andrews asked Pearl, "Coach, what has Memphis done to Chris Lofton in the first half?"

Pearl responded, "Hold him. Drape him like this." At that point, Pearl proceeded to put Andrews in a bear hug, and a shocked Andrews said, "OK."

Indeed. Andrews was obviously very surprised and embarassed by the contact, although I thought she handled it quite professionally. Memo to Bruce: Keep your hands of the sportsbabes, dude.

Bobby O'Shea at Vanderbilt Sports Line says the Commodore's upcoming game with Tennessee doesn't get any bigger:

Vanderbilt's game against Tennessee is the biggest regular season game the Commodores have played in a long time...maybe ever. If that seems hyperbolic, trust me...it's not. The Tennessee/Memphis game was one of the best games of the season, and one that most sports fans were watching. That means they'll be watching Tuesday at 9. The "they," in this case, is America. Vanderbilt's "big games" are often limited to regional coverage or ESPN Full Court and Raycom. Not Tuesday. Vanderblit hasn't lost in 30 games at Memorial, they've won 6 straight in conference, and beat the #1 team in America last season at home.

All that is true, but if the Commodores try to beat Tennessee at their own game, like they did in Thompson-Boling, they will be in for another beating. You must slow Tennessee down to have a chance to beat them and minimize the impact of their depth. If you try to run with them, you will lose.

Well done, Volunteers. You are #1 in the land for the first time in history. As a Kentucky fan, I can't say I know what the first time ever feels like, but it has been a while since the Cats were up there, and I know I enjoyed it when they were.

Fulmer vs. Adams

The Tennessee blogosphere is abuzz today about Coach Phillip Fulmer's response to this article by John Adams of the Knoxville News-Sentinal. In it, Adams calls for a head coaching change, his reason being:

Two years ago, USA Today did an in-depth story on the off-the-field problems of UT football players in 2005. But the same story would have been as relevant in the mid-1990s.

It would be just as relevant today.

Bottom line: UT has surpassed Miami as the poster team for bad behavior in college football. It's the college equivalent of the Cincinnati Bengals.

That's a stinging accusation, and I think reasonable people would have to say that there is some truth there. I do think the Miami and Cincinnati comparisons are somewhat hyperbolic, since we have not seen the Vols misbehaving on the field like those other two worthies. Still, college football can't be confined just to the field of play and I think the perception, right or wrong, is that Fulmer either places too much weight on what happens on the field or not enough on what happens off it. Either way, the effect is the same.

Adams goes on to cite a list of the most heinous crimes committed by UT players after they left the program. Now, no doubt that does tarnish Tennessee's reputation, but laying that at the feet of Fulmer is, quite frankly, absurd. Adams claims not to be doing that, but if so, why bring it up? Players from every walk of sport who were well-behaved during their college days sometimes become run afoul of the law after graduation -- OJ Simpson, anyone?

Adams continues with this:

When a football program is winning big, virtually everything is forgiven. This just in: UT isn't winning big. It hasn't won an SEC championship since 1998. It hasn't been to a BCS bowl since 1999, nor finished in the top 10 since 2001.

Say what? So this would all be forgiven by Mr. Adams if the team were coming home from a BCS championship instead of just a victory in the Outback Bowl? Seems like Adams is being hypocritical here -- first, his beef is with Fulmer sacrificing discipline on the altar of winning, now we find that it's really all about winning after all.

Coach Fulmer, rather than let that article sit out there unchallenged, responded with this interview at GoVolsExtra. Money graf:

At no time in my tenure has a player's football skill or athletic success been a factor in the way he was disciplined. Never. Our internal discipline is based on one factor alone: the course that is most likely to help that individual young man make amends and get his life straight. We make these decisions after much deliberation and with the input of administration, professional staff, counselors, and when necessary, law enforcement. This is not the easy way to mete out punishment. It requires judgment and leadership to keep the entire team focused and respectful of rules and basic morality, but it is the method that best serves the interest of our young men. In my 15 years, I've undoubtedly made some mistakes, but I try to do what I think is in the best interest for each young man.

OK, so there we have it. The two combatants staking out their claim to righteousness. But it seems to me, at least, that Fulmer gets the better of it, owing to the fact that Adams does not know the UT process, and is drawing conclusions only from the most egregious failures of it. Not only that, Adams fails to give Fulmer credit for a number of things, and given the coach's response, makes Adams look like a man with an axe to grind rather than a case to make. And what are we to make of Adams' suggestion that these discipline problems would be ignored if Tennessee were competing for BCS championships?

I guess the real question is, does Tennessee trust Fulmer's judgment on the matters for which he is responsible? I see no indication, other than fan restlessness for on-field results, that they do not. Adams is certainly within his rights to question Fulmer's results, even though he is, in Fulmer's words, "partially informed." But Fulmer shouldn't and didn't stand still for the suggestion that his discipline is purely based on winning and losing, and I think any coach in his position would take umbrage at that -- Adams draws that conclusion from thin air, and I don't blame Fulmer for being insulted.

Now for some Blogspheric reaction. Jon at Fulmer's Belly has a post up, in which he lowers his "hate rating" of John Adams because he fears it could be the end of him:

This is the type of controlled fury that emanates from the head coach of the Tennessee Volunteers that people have come to know and love, and people at the wrong end of it, learned to fear. Not necessarily a fear of being outed to the public of being a no-good hack of a writer, but rather, mortal, bodily fear of possibly being eaten, and introduced first hand, to the namesake of this little website.

Therefore, the John Adams Hate-O-Meter will be rated somewhat lower due to sadness for John Adams’ future to be uncertain, whether or not he’ll continue working for the Knoxville News Sentinel, or Phillip Fulmer’s next meal.

Watch your back, Mr. Adams. Fulmer the Cannibal could be working up a recipe.

VolsToTheWall at Third Saturday In Blogtober also weighs in on the debate. He says that Fulmer was right to defend himself:

Coach Fulmer did the right thing in standing up for himself when Adams’ attacked his character. In fact, he probably should have been even harder on him. John Adams obviously has no respect for Phillip Fulmer, and after this article I have no respect for Adams. I’m happy to have Fulmer as our football coach. Sometimes he has probably been more lenient on some players than most would be, but I trust his judgment.

There is a partial answer to my earlier question about Fulmer's judgment -- I haven't done any polling, but my guess is that this is the majority opinion among Volunteer supporters.

Finally, I have to note that I was less than complimentary of Fulmer's discipline of Colquitt earlier this week, and I still think perhaps he should step back and get some peer input on his discipline process, just as a sanity check. But Fulmer's response to Adams leaves me somewhat chastened in this regard. It's easy to be a critic, but for a fact, we don't have all the information necessary to make informed judgments about the coach's performance in this type of situations. Fortunately, the University does (or should), and that is what matters most.

Something needs to change at Tennessee

After reading most of the blog posts, I think I won't hand out a Best of the SEC bloggers award for today. Instead, I think the Britton Colquitt situation at Tennessee deserves a bit more exposure.

Lawvol at Gate 21 has written a stern and comprehensive critique of Philip Fulmer's "disciplinary" actions. This is a great post which you should read in it's entirety, but here is the crux of the biscuit:

While I have been a pro-Fulmer voice for a very long time, if this sort of trend continues, that voice will change — not due to Fulmer’s performance on the field, but due to his inability to control his players while off the field. I am not willing to have the University of Tennessee and its reputation denigrated by a bunch of young men who apparently feel that the law does not apply to them.

Winning is not that important…

Furthermore, in my opinion, the penalty imposed by Coach Fulmer on Colquitt — while substantial — is not enough. I understand Fulmer’s desire to temper his discipline with mercy, but Colquitt has proven that he does not understand his mistakes. He has already been given more second-chances than anyone should receive. I understand that his family has a long tradition at the University of Tennessee, and that they have been wonderful supporters of the program.

Lawvol is exactly right. It isn't as if Colquitt is a first-time offender, or was just committing a one-off offense that most people were guilty of in college whether or not they were caught. The fact of the matter is that there has to be a point, a line, a barrier -- something -- that defines where behavior becomes so unacceptable that the only fitting punishment is dismissal from the team. Britton Colquitt would seem to have exceeded this threshold by a wide margin with this latest debacle.

Volwalk at Third Saturday in Blogtober is sick and tired of this crap:

Like Ghost, I believe Fulmer is a good, moral man, but where does this crap stop? This just tells me how important Coach Cutcliffe was on and OFF the field. I believe he was THE LAW around the Tennessee football facilities when he was there.

I believe it is time for Phillip Fulmer to go. The man has done great things in Knoxville, and I will always have respect for him and for what he has brought to Knoxville…but it’s time. Time for SEC Championships, time for consistent Top 10 rankings, time for the police blotter to be quiet in Knoxville…and I don’t think Coach Fulmer can bring any of these things anymore. I know there are Tennessee fans who are going to disagree with me, probably some on this blog site will say I am 100% wrong, and if so thats ok with me.

I am not a Tennessee fan, and I am reluctant to agree with his conclusion that Fulmer should be dismissed. But I do think the AD should have a conversation with Fulmer about how much damage the perception of his lack of severe punishment for severe transgressions is doing to the Volunteer football program. And make no mistake, it is. Parents do not want to send their children to programs where scofflaws run amok with only mild consequences. It gives one the feeling that the football program is like an old boys club or a corrupt police department that would rather cover up and make lawbreaking go away than face the reality that too many of the players are simply not held accountable for their lawlessness by the athletic department.

It's bad for Tennessee, bad for Fulmer, and bad for the kids. The AD at Tennessee needs to have a "come to Jesus" meeting with Fulmer, and express (hopefully) his dissatisfaction with the perception that Tennessee is a lawless program bereft of even the most rudimentary discipline, and that players must commit major felonies to have any chance at all to be actually dismissed from the team. It's an image that Tennessee needs to begin shedding, and that right soon.

Best of the SEC Blogs: Valentines Day Edition

OK, the SEC blogs were busy on Valentine's day -- maybe it was their significant other's gift to them to be able to freely blog for a day, who knows. The nominees for Best of the SEC Bloggers for today are:

• Lawvol at Gate 21 for this post recalling legendary SEC broadcasters.
• OutsideTheSidelines at Roll Bama Roll for his fisking of Brian Cook's Saban abuse.
• Vince Gagliano at Orange and Blue Hue for this great post examining how Florida State will handle the academic cheating scandal which has beset them.
• Jerry Hinnen at The Joe Cribbs Car Wash for his defense of Brian Cook's position attacking Alabama's Nick Saban for oversigning players.
  

And the winner is:

Jerry Hinnen at the Joe Cribbs Car Wash. Jerry makes a very strong argument against the Alabama argument (Jerry's an Auburn fan, so who can blame him?). Earlier I lauded the reasoning of the Alabama bloggers against Cook, but this is a fine defense of Cook's position, arguably better than Cook's own. Here is a taste:

Brian's obviously not a fan of oversigning, but it's the heartlessness of Saban potentially stripping kids of their scholarships that's his essential point--a point completely lost on the Alabama bloggers who have responded to it. One of them is the Fanhouse's resident Tide supporter and thrower of stones in glass houses Pete Holiday, who blithely asserts that "academic disqualification, medical problems, early entries, team dismissals for rules violations" should solve Alabama's numbers issues (nevermind that draft entries for the year in question are long since past or that assuming six guys have horrific injuries or break rules really does make an ass out of U and me) while completely ignoring the whole, you know, guys getting their scholarship jacked thing. Even after a commenter helpfully reminds Holiday of the potential for cuts, Holiday reverts back to a no-more-than-25-in-a-class mantra, which is certainly true and all, but doesn't change the fact that Alabama has, according to Gayle, "70 non-seniors" on the roster and that 70 + 25 does not, in fact, equal 85. (In that comment Holiday also says "Spring enrollments are the only ones you need cap room for, and I don't think Alabama is anticipating having any of those" ... despite the fact that Gayle said two Tide signees had enrolled in January. Did he even read the article in question?)

Strong stuff. Hinnen goes on to assail OutsideTheSidelines' post at Roll Bama Roll, noting for the record that RBR is an excellent blog (no doubt) and that the scholarships have not been revoked yet. And in a final twist, perhaps not having a chance to read my admonition about making sure your coach is in order before assailing others, adds this:

UPDATE: Cripes. Perhaps before posting I should make sure in the future that nothing developed on the Auburn newswire late the previous evening that might make me look like a giant hypocrite. For the record: if Tubby pushed these guys out rather than having them simply decide to leave--one of them according to Marshall is about to graduate already, so at least he won't need the scholly in the fall--it's just not defensible. Likewise, the attitude of some Auburn fans in the comments that it's a good thing for Tubby to "rid the team of weight that is not performing" is, well, nauseating. I wish Daniels, Shrader, Miller, and Ferguson the best and really, really, really hope this is a decision they genuinely wanted to make, a decision that hopefully won't hurt an education they actually want. I'm not confident that's the case.

Heh. That always tough to recover from, Jerry. Good luck with that.

Runner up: Lawvol at Gate 21. What an excellent post he had today. Here is a taste:

Larry Munson is one of the few remaining patriarchs of the golden age of college sports radio broadcasting. He has been broadcasting Georgia games since 1966. Up until the last season, he had missed only one football game in that time. This past year, due to debilitating arthritis and back problems -which made travel, and at times even walking, extremely difficult for the 85 year old — Munson only broadcast home games from Athens, leaving the road games to younger men. Mississippi State’s salty and sarcastic Jack Cristil has been at it even longer than Munson, having begun his stint behind the microphone in 1953. Up until 2006, Max Falkenstein of Kansas had been broadcasting for an unbelievable 60 consecutive years. Falkenstein had been broadcasting so long that, when dubious clip of him calling the final game of Kansas’ last undefeated basketball season appeared on the internet, that I’m sure some thought it was some probably thought it was authentic … despite the fact the game was played in 1909. This select band of broadcasters served as the eyes for fans all across the country, and in their heyday every school had its own “voice” which was as unmistakable as the mascot and the school colors.

Awesome post, Lawvol.

Arkansas kicks Florida to the curb. Vols handle Dawgs.

I said just below that the Gates were not as good as their shiny new #20 ranking, but I do believe that they are much better than they showed in the 19-point drubbing they just took in Fayetteville. I predicted and Arkansas victory, but I most surely didn't expect a blowout, and the final score does not even come close to reflecting the absolute domination the Razorbacks visited upon the hapless Gators.

GatorPilot at Orange and Blue Hue has this:

When the shots don’t drop, this team will lose. When young teams get behind, things can occasionally snowball. That is what happened for this group today. Arkansas starts three seniors and have lights-out sophomore guard in Patrick Beverly. They showed why they were a pre-season SEC contender and they were in top form today. With the two-time defending national champs in the building, the crowd was loud and wanted blood.

I think he is exactly right. The Gators just threw in a clunker this game, much like Vanderbilt did in the O-Dome last weekend. They are young and tender, and the tough, grizzled old Razorbacks just took them to the woodshed. Florida will have a few games like that one this year, and they really must improve their defensive intensity.

Mlmintampa at Alligator Army sees it this way:

I think it's significant to mention this today because while Arkansas is not back at the level of "40 Minutes Of Hell", their defense is good enough, with a home crowd, to stop UF's offense. Is Florida better than the Hogs? Maybe. Records say yes but Arkansas has an RPI of 41 with a SOS of 61. The Gators are 43 and a SOS of 150. We again are having the same conversation we had before the Kentucky game; who is better? A tested team or a talented team?

There is really no knowing the answer to his question, but a lot can be said for experience. Talent is important, but you have to suffer a few depredations at the hands of SEC foes before you can really toughen up enough to be a major force in this league. Florida probably needed this lesson, and may be better for it. Eventually.

So far, nothing really out there from the Razorback faithful. I'll try to catch that up later.

Moving on to the Tennessee vs. Mississippi State game, I called this one much more correctly scorewise. I didn't see the game like I did the previous one. However, a perusal of the statistics provides some insights:

• Turnovers -- Tennessee forced the bulldogs into almost 24% turnovers. Unlike most teams who don't always hurt you off turnovers, the Volunteers almost always do. Here is a classic example -- MSU scored 8 points off 13 UT turnovers. The Vols scored 18 points off 16 MSU turnovers. The ten point differential was more than enough to win the game for the Vols.
• Three point shooting -- Tennessee put up 63 3-point shots, which effectively nullified MSU's great shot blocking. Even so, MSU blocked 10 shots, but that wasn't enough.
• Free throw shooting -- In the end, when MSU came back by getting open looks in the half court and knocking down shots, they couldn't finish because they had trouble making free throws. MSU shot a dismal 59% from the line.

Not much so far from either team's bloggers (basketball just doesn't quite draw the immediate reaction that football does in the SEC), but I will update this post when we do have reaction.

Groundhog day: The big games in the SEC

What are the really big games in the SEC this weekend? Let's see:

• Mississippi State hosting #7 Tennessee
  This game is significant for both teams. Tennessee has won two in a row after dropping one on the road at Kentucky, and the serious roll that MSU has been on through the SEC schedule was derailed slightly at Arkansas earlier this week. MSU needs a win against a ranked foe to propel them into the top 25. Conversely, A second loss in four games would hurt the Volunteer's quest for a 1 or two seed in the NCAA's.
  
  Tennessee will try to get the pace into the 72+ possession range, and if this happens, MSU is in trouble. MSU also tends to turn the ball over a lot. MSU can win by keeping the tempo down -- Tennessee is not a good half-court team, and MSU is 5th in the nation in defensive points/possession.
  
  My Pick: Tennessee wins a squeaker, 79-75
  
  Blog Commentary:
  
  
• Mississippi State: Alrliss, Mississippi State Basketball:
  

  This game could make or break all the sucess we had in January. Win were back in the top two in the SEC, lose and were back fighting to keep the west lead. It could go either way, I hope the team that played UM comed out.

• Tennessee: Tennessee Volunteers v. Mississippi State Bulldogs: stats comparison
  
  
• #20 Florida at Arkansas
  
  The Gators are on a three-game roll, and last week ran a feckless Vanderbilt team out of the O-Dome. As a consequence, they jumped up to #20 in the polls, but trust me when I say that these Gators are not the 20th best team in the nation just yet, especially as unproven as they are with an RPI of 43 and a #150 strength of schedule (compare to the Razorbacks #41 and #61). This is a matchup between two very even teams with different strengths and weaknesses.
  
  Arkansas must handle the Florida pick and roll, and nobody is more capable than former UF assistant, John Pelphrey. Keeping the ball out of Nick Calthes' hands is critical to Arkansas' success, because Calathes has proven that he can kill teams all by himself if you let him touch the ball where he wants to. Arkansas has the edge in athleticism, but they must avoid falling into the wide-open running game that Pelphrey enjoys. Florida is simply better at it, and their biggest weakness is their half-court defense. If Arkansas can force Florida into the half court, the Razorbacks' athleticism will assert itself.
  
  My pick: Arkansas takes down the Gators in a close game, 75-73.
  
  Blog commentary:
  
  
• Gators: GatorPilot, Orange and Blue Hue:
  

  O&B Hue’s Keys to Victory:

  • - Get a true inside out attack going with Speights.
  • - Play Billyball. Wear them out so we can win the game in the final 5:00.
  • - Use the press.
  • - Make the extra pass and keep searching for the open look.
  • - Get points in transition.
  • - Make the shots.

• Razorbacks: HogBlogger:
  

  So what’s my winning formula for these guys?

  • Play very intense defense…including using a strong press often. I think the use of the Wooden-era, UCLA-type ‘token’ press has been the root of many of the lazy habits shown by this team.
  • Pass the ball on offense — don’t dribble it unless for a specific purpose. Quick ball movement is the key that will allow these guys to play better on offense.
  • Emphasize a controlled fast break with secondary options — no long passes.
  • Use ball rotation and pick and roll to get the ball into the paint.
  • Ride Sonny Weems early and often. Post him up…get him the ball in scoring positions…put this team on his back.
  • Play inside-out with Weems and Beverley.
  • Make the post players kick the ball out to the shooters (this means you Charles Thomas — quit getting your shot blocked).

Around the SEC bloggers

We are in that time of year where the remnants of the college football season is, in the words of Montgomery Gentry:

Gone like a freight-train, gone like yesterday
Gone like a soldier in the civil war, bang bang

That's right. Gone. We are in that long, 7-month period where recruiting and the NFL draft will be the only things to talk about, and glory on the field is over half a year away.

Ethanator1088, The SEC Football Blogger, thinks that this is a good time to reminisce a little, like back to Auburn's 2004 undefeated season in which it was denied the Hajj to the BCS championship:

Let me get right to the point. Auburn was gypped. They were cheated. They were “ done wrong”. They should have won the national championship. This is the best reason for a college playoff. I do not care if you are an Auburn fan. If a team goes undefeated through the SEC, they deserve a shot at the National Championship. It is idiotic to think otherwise.

After castigating Booty and Cotu below for whining, I'll bet you think I am going to do the same thing here. But you would be wrong. I think Ethanator1088 is right. Auburn wasn't necessarily robbed because they were a better team than either of the eventual contestants, although I think I could make a sound argument they were. Rather, they were robbed by the system which forces a choice between two of three virtually equal teams in every respect without giving them a chance to settle the matter on the field.

Of course, I have agitated over this all year long, and since we are entering the interregnum between this season and next, I expect to agitate some more. But not today.

Moving to the sport that tends to occupy our attention during said interregnum, it seems that Ole Miss easily dispatched a tough Mississippi State [UPDATE: OOOps. Got that one backward. Thanks to Marcus for pointing out my egregious error, and apologies to MSU for my faux pas. Too much blogging lately.] Mississippi State dispatched an Ole Miss team that has been on a roll yesterday at the Hump. Strands of Crepe Paper has the word:

The score on this one says it all. State beat us tonight like a drum at a sold out Humphrey Coliseum. Charles Rhodes completely had his way inside, scoring 26 points on 12 of 14 shooting. Curtis, Kenny Williams and Malcolm White were continuously schooled inside and stayed in foul trouble.

Ole Miss has announced its arrival as an SEC force, for this year at least. I really expected MSU to do better, and as a Kentucky Wildcat fan, this isn't encouraging after MSU beat Kentucky in a tough game at the Hump. As a Kentucky fan, the MSU loss now doesn't seem so bad. Kudos to Ole Miss MSU, and Parrish Alford tells the tale from the Rebel side of things:

What’s next? State wasn’t a must-win game. The biggest loss in the last two games was at Auburn, because that’s a place the Rebels were favored and a road game they could have won. It was going to be far more difficult to win at State.

To my mind, the ultimate act of disrespect to a rival is to say something like the above. Just another game. Meant nothing. Ouch.

Turning back to football, Third Saturday in Blogtober has an update on Alabama's search for a new Offensive Coordinator, and the name ... Jim McElwain. Your reaction is probably the same as mine, and his: Jim Mc-who? The Tide Druid is also reporting on this.

Joel at Rocky Top Talk is reporting that Eric Ainge was named the offensive MVP for the South in the Senior Bowl. Kudos to Ainge and the Vols. In more Volunteer news, Georgia went up to Tennessee to challenge the knot-headed Volunteers in hoops, and got sent home bloodied and humbled. Lawvol at Gate 21 has the call:

In the process of laying it to the Dawgs, Tennessee secured its 27th consecutive victory in the Tommy Bowl. and improved to 17-2 on the season. Chris Lofton — apparently feeling the juice once more — scored 27 points, including 6 three-pointers. Lofton has been steadily improving over the last few games, which is good considering now is when the Vols will need his shooting ability most — in the heart of the SEC schedule.

Paul Westerdawg at The Georgia Sports Blog has the view from the other side:

Here's my issue with the game...no the program as a whole. My source of frustration if you will. I'm no hoops guru, but I know three things to pretty much be unshakable, unwavering hoops truths:

1. If you don't hustle defensively on the road, you don't win.

2. If you don't pass well or move without the ball effectively, you're easy to defend. I think it was Bobby Knight who said, "The easiest man to defend is the man standing still."

3. Moving and passing intelligently do NOT depend on talent.

Speaking as a person who is a hoops guru (well, I like to think so, anyway), I think he is dead right in all three areas.

Finally, the Bleacher Report gores one of my all-time favorite oxen -- Bobby Petrino. Seems the game of musical defensive coordinators has left Petrino the odd man out, and not Spurrier after all:

[Ellis] Johnson left his position at Mississippi State around a month ago to be the new defensive coordinator at Arkansas.

Then he moved on to join sleazeball extraordinaire, Bobby Petrino, to rebuild the Razorbacks. Well, that marriage also lasted just a month.

Now Arkansas is the odd man out: The only party without a defensive coordinator. I think it is great. Petrino deserves it.

See, it seems that Spurrier stole Johnson away from Petrino. Ah, [dis]loyalty -- it's not just for head coaches anymore.

Friday is for fun

OK, it's Friday. Time to find the fun stuff to get us ready for the weekend.

Says here were gonna start with Ryan Ferguson of Fanhouse, who blogs about a little Hawai'i dissin' coming from the Aloha state:

Here's one for the "Oh no he DIH-UNT" file. Former Hawai'i Warrior Lene Amosa says Hawai'i just didn't bring it in their game against Georgia.

As a former player, I'm tired of hearing fans and the media say that we were overmatched by bigger, faster, stronger players.

Georgia players are no different than us; the problem was they came to play and we didn't.

Oh, I get it -- the game's over, so now you talk smack. I hate to beat on the Rainbows, but please, God, don't let them play in a BCS bowl ever again. I'm with Ryan on this one. Somebody could get hurt, and unless Hawai'i starts feeding their boys an awful lot of poi, it won't be the Georgia boys.

Jai Eugene at Loser with Socks hasn't held back ... well, ever, and today is no exception. Florida fans will want to check out the Herbanator:

Hell, if Herban Meyer was a tool, he would be a toilet brush. All good Gators know that he will clean up these recruiting violations and make them go away like a large shit that leaves a skidmark in a newer low eco-friendy toilets. He is like the best tool ever!

Heh. Toilet brush. Don't you know that those plastic handles with the disinfectant-impregnated single-use sponges has replaced those? And man, they are cool, and they make a really good plunger substitute when ... Ah, never mind, TMFI.

Moving right along, we find that The Bulldawg Blawg is having more fun with Brian VanGorder. And I'll bet he got a raise, too. Finally, Third Saturday in Blogtober brings us this gem. Here's a taste:

The SLA (Sign Language Associates), along with other sign language groups, have filed suit against the NCAA, Rivals.com, Scout.com, ESPN, and other companies dealing with college football recruiting for trademark infringement. It appears that National Signing Day is already a holiday that is observed by many deaf people and their families on September 29th. And they don’t want to share it.

I love it when a blogger throws political correctness to the winds and just says "Damn the torpedoes! Let's mock the hearing impaired!" No doubt, more suits will be forthcoming.

Happy Friday!

Have you missed me?

Have you missed me? Yes, I have been absent from the blogging world for a while now. That's life, and I'm living it.

But I'm back, and its time for more trips around the world of SEC blogs. So here we go:

Phillip Fulmer's recent crack-down on murder, mayhem, rape, pillage and general lawlessness by Tennessee football players in and around the Knoxville area is getting lots of attention. He's decided to take the Coach Herman Boone approach:

"We will be perfect in every aspect of the game. You drop a pass, you run a mile. You miss a blocking assignment, you run a mile. You fumble the football, and i will break my foot off in your John Brown hind parts and then you will run a mile. Perfection. Let's go to work."

Get arrested? Run a mile -- at 6:00 am. Nice work, coach. Fanhouse says that Fulmer has vowed to lose the Fulmer Cup at long last. This has to be good news for Vol fans, especially the victims of the rampage in Knoxville. I hear property values in the Knoxville area are already moving up.

But lest you think we're done with Fulmer and Tennessee, I would be remiss if I failed to point you to this humorous little romp by Lawvol at Gate 21, who says that Tennessee has added a new "Techniques Coordinator" to motivate the soon-to-be law-abiding volunteers:

“My job here at Tennessee will be to turn the Vols into some cold-blooded, hard-hittin’, bad asses. My mantra is simple: Mess with me, and I’ll kill your ass.” said Winnfield while brandishing a 9mm pistol.

Heh. Maybe the Vols should just "lawyer up" now.

The Ol' Ball Coach is having lots of fun and games over at South Carolina. He hires a defensive coordinator, who then leaves to go back to the Falcons from whence he came. Garnet and Black Attack has makes fun of the details:

Falcons owner Arthur Blank said he had no hesitancy about taking two DCs from Spurrier on the same day after his experiences with Michael Vick, Petrino and Bill Parcells.

"If you can't beat the back-stabbing slimeballs, join them," said Blank, shrugging.

Hee-Haw.

In basketball news, the unranked (I'm getting really tired of typing that) Kentucky Wildcats sent the newly #3 ranked Tennessee Volunteers home with a knot on their collective heads Tuesday, and Vol fans are handling the loss with remarkable aplomb. Lawvol at Gate 21 has thoughts:

It sucks to lose to Kentucky, especially when you had the ability to beat them, but sometimes the game just doesn’t go the way you want it to. That’s what playing in the SEC — whether it be in basketball, football, or any other sport — is all about … Every game matters, and every team can beat you.

Very true. Tennessee played hard, Kentucky just played harder and the home crowd helped a lot. Third Saturday in Blogtober says that Rupp Arena is still Rupp Arena, no matter how bad the Cats are:

The Vols got handed their second loss of the season last night at Rupp Arena. Kentucky played a good hard fought game, and capitalized on an off night for the Vols to pull the upset. That may be the one thing that amazes me the most about this loss, we didn’t have one player have a good game, and we still nearly pulled it out at the end. Its kind of hard for me to get mad at a loss like this, because at least now we have improved to the point that it is possible to be upset by Kentucky at their place.

Indeed.

A basketball post!

Yes, I know I should blog more. So sue me. It has been a tough couple of months. I promise to try to do better.

So, here we are in SEC basketball season. Time for SEC teams to start doing the work, because they certainly didn't do much work in the non-conference season (I'm looking at you, Kentucky, LSU, and South Carolina).

From Statsheet.com, here are the current SEC standings as of today:

Team Conference Overall W L Pct W L Pct Loading data... East-1 Tennessee 2 0 1 14 1 0.933 East-1 Florida 2 0 1 15 2 0.882 East-1 Kentucky 1 0 1 7 7 0.5 East-4 Vanderbilt 1 1 0.5 16 1 0.941 East-5 Georgia 0 1 0 9 5 0.643 East-5 South Carolina 0 2 0 8 8 0.5 West-1 Mississippi State 2 0 1 11 5 0.688 West-1 Arkansas 1 0 1 12 3 0.8 West-3 Mississippi 1 1 0.5 14 1 0.933 West-4 Alabama 0 1 0 11 5 0.688 West-4 Auburn 0 2 0 9 5 0.643 West-4 LSU 0 2 0 7 9 0.438

The SEC clearly needs to do some work in it's non-conference schedule, as having the tenth toughest is not at all what I would like to see. When the MAC, the MVC and the WCC all have stronger out of conference schedules than the SEC, I can't blame a soul for claiming that the SEC is scheduling cupcakes. Yeah, we do have a pretty good record against them, but we surely could do better, collectively.

This year, Tennessee looks like the class of the conference, although Vanderbilt has been making a lot of noise with a 16-0 run. The 'Dores did trip up yesterday against my Wildcats, and that was a game I am proud to win. Take nothing away from Vandy, though -- Rupp Arena is a tough place to win, and Kentucky badly needed a victory, whereas the Commodores may be getting a little overconfident. While it is easy to take UK for granted this year, Vandy just showed why you don't want to do that.

At this particular moment, Alabama is really struggling. They are 11-5 overall, but a young Florida team came into Coleman Coliseum Tuesday and spanked them. Even thought the final margin was only seven, the game wasn't that close. The Alabama Basketball Blog wonders what happened to Richard Hendrix's free-throw shooting. My response to him is that Hendrix's best season has been a whopping 62%. He shot 59% Tuesday. That's close enough for me.

What are we to make of Ole Miss this year? Andy Kennedy has just done a bang-up job in his second season getting these guys to play ball, and they nearly came into Thompson-Boling Arena on Wednesday and handed the mighty Vols their hind parts. World Class Glass says, "Don't blame the refs:"

Some will blame the referees on this game, however that is not why
we lost. The referees let alot of calls go both ways. Yeah they missed
a call at the end, but that was not the reason. As Kennedy said in post
game, "We aren't going to get any calls"

Officiating is something we all gripe about, but it is part of the game. When you are the visiting team, you have to expect to overcome officiating in order to win. What hurt Ole Miss was their relatively poor field goal percentage, fully 5% down from their season average. But you have to give the Rebs credit -- only ten turnovers against the UT pressure is exactly the kind of ballhandling presence you need to have any chance at all to beat the Vols at home.

Ghostofneyland at Third Saturday in Blogtober found some high comedy in one of Tom Hammond's comments about Bruce Pearl:

“Bruce Pearl already over there jacket off. He usually doesn’t do that until the second half.”

I nearly spit out my Diet Dr. Pepper. I looked at my dad, whose eyes
widened and jaw slacked open. “What did he just say??” my dad asked,
bumfuzzled. Surely Bruce wasn’t over on the sideline in front of 21,000
people doing what my dad and I (and we’re not dirty-minded people)
thought Hammond said he was doing.

Heh. That's funny right there, I don't care who you are. I think the pics of Bruce with young blonde hotties over the summer must have had more of a ... ahem ... subliminal impact than many might think.

Well, that's all for now.

Christmas is over, time to clean up the BCS mess

The Capstone Report recently mentioned that I might have a thing or two to say about the BCS now that, in his words, "the apocalypse has arrived." If only that were so.

Before I go on, let me explain what I was hoping for. I was hoping for the kind of situation that would force conferences like the SEC, who are top-heavy but not nearly as much as conferences like the Big Ten and the Pac 10, force change. I wanted to see Hawaii or Kansas playing for the Mythical National Championship, and I wanted to see the SEC shut out of it by weaker teams playing weaker schedules. I wanted a genuine apocalypse, a cataclysm that would force a change in the way people see the BCS, like Hawaii or Kansas playing in the BCS championship game. I'm not demeaning either one of those fine teams, but you can't compare the schedule they played to that of, say, LSU or Georgia or even Arizona State or USC.

But alas, it was not so, and as a result, we must face at least one more year before an outcry will reach sufficient volume to produce changes. Despite the reasoned arguments of Henry Gomez and Mergz at the excellent Saurian Sagacity, Jai Eugene at Loser with Socks, and Senator Blutarsky of Get the Picture, nobody will listen, and there will be little outcry. Thanks to MSM pundits like Teddy Greenstein (who's inane arguments against the BCS set new records for sports pundit lunacy) and Jason Whitlock. After reading these articles, you might think that these guys were actually watching some other sport, like maybe soccer, and occasionally writing about football by perusing box scores. What is even more disturbing is the fact that the official BCS website lists these defenses of their flawed scheme as "News". As Henry Gomez of Saurian Sagacity points out, what other sports governing body shamelessly plugs media defenses of their setup. It is unseemly, unfair, and should probably inspire conspiracy theories.

But unfortunately, the outcome of the BCS has produced a result that will appear to most football fans as only slightly flawed, and arguably not as flawed as many other times in it's history. What that means, my friends and neighbors in the blogosphere, is that change has been delayed yet another year. Outcries will be poo-poo'ed by the likes of ESPN and others in the established sports media, who seem for all the world to have a vested interest in the current setup. "Fairness" doesn't appear to be the most important thing, and that should be frightening to every sports fan. Nobody likes playing a rigged game, but college football teams do it every year, and what we get are indefensible defenses of the BCS, all lined up neatly as though ordained from above.

This will be my last lament of the BCS this season, as fans will quickly move on to other things. But trust me, we will revisit this again next year, and hopefully we will get a little help from a benevolent God (whom I am convinced is a football fan) who must sometimes feel the need to intervene and supply the impetus for change our BCS system so badly needs. I thought it might be this year, but alas and alack, we are to be denied even the least of that.

Week 13, and what a week it was!

The regular season is over. Bowl season will officially begin in a week, and the Heisman will be awarded soon. That is what remains of the football season 2007.

We will look at the rest of the football universe later this week, but first, I think it's better if we examine what happened this weekend. There is a lot to cover.

First, the SEC East championship was settled when Kentucky was defeated by the Tennessee Volunteers. This was an incredible, 5 hour, 4-overtime game, and was every bit as suspenseful and meaningful as the 3 OT thriller Kentucky had against LSU earlier this year. Make no mistake, Kentucky wanted to end Tennessee's 22 (now 23) year domination of the series, but alas, it was not to be.

Tennessee had a great game plan for this game, and seemed to be rolling to an easy victory after the fist half. But as has been the modus operandi for Kentucky all year, they came out and dominated the second half. Kentucky even had a chance to win the game outright, but Woodson missed a wide-open Keenan Burton in the end zone. I think Woodson just got rattled by the short time he had to make that decision, and he had to throw on the move, which has never been his strength.

Both teams played great football, each team dominating a half and neither team dominating the overtime. Kentucky lost when Woodson failed to make it into the end zone for the two-point conversion in the fourth overtime. It was simply a marvelous SEC game, and as disappointed as the UK fan in me is in the loss, the SEC fan in me loved the fact that both teams left it all on the field. Congratulations to the Vols for getting to Atlanta, and to the Cats for their second 7-win season in a row.

Messenger from Wildcats Thunder wants to talk about the state of Kentucky football, not the loss to UT:

I truly appreciate what Rich Brooks has done for UK's football program. When Brooks took the job in December, 2002, Barnhart couldn't give it away. At least five other candidates turned it down before Brooks said yes. Brooks' first three seasons in Lexington were miserable, and I know that directly from people inside UK's Athletics Department. Brooks persevered and took UK to bowls in 2006 and 2007. If he wants to keep coaching, he will have my support and, I hope, everyone else's.

But this kind of a season can suck some of the positive momentum out of a program, and out of a veteran coach. Closing with four losses in the last five games will, unfortunately, have a certain amount of negative impact on UK's recruiting class. Losing the seniors will present a huge challenge to UK's coaching staff in 2008. If this challenges excites and reinvigorates Brooks, then obviously he has earned, and deserves, his opportunity to overcome it.

I don't necessarily agree with his second paragraph. Yes, going 1-4 to finish out the season isn't ideal, but two of those games were very winnable, one lost only by the narrowest of margins in 4 overtimes. I think UK has made its case that it is a program that is moving up. Whether or not they can sustain that momentum remains to be seen, but the Wildcats have sufficient talent coming back next year to likely preclude a slippage back into the dark dungeons of the SEC basement. The Cats may not make the bowls next year, but they could just as easily do so -- I consider it a 50/50 proposition. It will be a bit more of a crap shoot than this year, but Brooks continues to improve Kentucky's depth, and that is what cost them most of their losses this season.

Joel at Rock Top Talk says this was a case of two even teams doing battle to the end:

The outcome was: indeed, like Everest, K2, and Mars, all wrapped up into one, just not for the Kentucky fans. Putting enough discernible distance between the Vols and the 'Cats for society to permit one of them to claim they were better on this day was a feat requiring enormous effort and dedication. Consequences? The SEC Championship. We're going to Atlanta despite the Cal, Florida, and Alabama debacles. We're spending the week plotting revenge on the LSU Tigers for 2001, when they trampled the rose clinched between Casey Clausen's teeth.

Indeed. It was a great battle, and I think the better team won this one. UT's depth wore us down, and they looked fresher on defense in overtime.

Jon at Fulmer's Belly is incoherent:

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!1!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1111!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!one!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!eleventy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!one!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1111!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Heh. I think he's happy.

But how about Georgia fans? Well they were too busy exulting over the Dawg-pounding of the Yellowjackets to worry about the goings-on in Lexington. Oh, I'm sure they looked in on it, but they had other fish insects to fry. Paul Westerdawg saw it thus:

Tech lost because they couldn't handle the moment.
Tech lost because Gailey hasn't recruited or developed a QB in six seasons.
Tech lost because Tenuta is grossly overrated and takes too many chances.
Tech lost because their WRs have hands of stone.
Tech lost because UGA has more talent, depth and better coaching across the board.

They did not lose because of officiating or luck.

Senator Blutarsky says that the statistics tell the tale, and the result is what matters:

The box score doesn’t lie on this one. Georgia racked up 432 yards of offense - 214 passing, 218 rushing - on what had been the #7 school in the country in total defense. The only thing Tech’s defense did well was to hold the Dawg offense to a poor 4 of 13 performance on third downs.

Seven in a row.

Georgia winds up the season ranked 4th in the AP, which could guarantee them an at-large berth if the BCS works out the same way. Paul Westerdawg does the math for those of you who don't have the time or inclination. Congrats to the Georgia Bulldogs on a great season.

More on the weekend and what it all means later.

Friday SEC blog piñata

Well, here we are again -- another Friday. Soon my wife will be home, and I'll be mixing the martini an cosmopolitan. Ahhh, sweet -- the Friday Night Cocktail!

But before that, I have a hodgepodge of goodies to bring you -- a Friday grab-bag if you will. A sports blog piñata.

First of all, a reader made me aware of this blog at The Legend of Cecilio Guante, which basically explains what we all know to be true -- the SEC is the best football conference in the land. Here is the money graf:

I hear a lot of hype about Ohio State/Michigan this week. Now you know what every game feels like in the SEC. Let me run down a list of SEC teams that have spent some time in the Top 25 this year; LSU, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama, Auburn, South Carolina and Arkansas. That'd be 9 out of our 12 teams. Only one SEC team is below .500. Maybe they should call us the All-star Team Conference. And by the way, has Les Miles officially changed his name to Titanium Stones yet?

The author goes on to talk about the women, the angst, the glory of the SEC. Great read. Don't miss it.

Florida fans are getting silly over the Georgia-Kentucky game. Saurian Sagacity starts us off:

First of all let me say it was nothing personal in beating you on October 20th, purely business. I’m sure you understand. I hope you will also understand if we ask a favor of you. As far as favors go, it is one that is mutually beneficial, so we are certain you won’t mind.

Please beat Georgia.

Heh. You'd think these guys had something on the line, here, like maybe a trip to Atlanta, wouldn't you? Mlmintampa of Alligator Army also has a missive, and he offers ... things ... in return!

If it makes you feel better, by beating Georgia and Tennessee, you will keep out teams that lost by at least 21 points this season. (UGA at UT; UT at Bama and UF.) You're doing a public service! But, what else is in it for you? After discussions with our close personal friends in the UF Athletic Association, we have devised a very appealing prize package should you win out and Florida wins the SEC East.

1. We will not finish ahead of you in basketball this season.

2. Free Gatorade for a year.

3. A lovely fruit basket from the orange groves on the UF campus.

Tempting. Does this count as a bribe? All this Gator love is making me feel all funny inside. Even Orange and Blue Hue gets in on the act:

Hey, Kentucky… we love y’all.

Y’hear?

All we need for you to do is to win your next two games. You do that, we go to Atlanta to (hopefully) ruin LSU’s national title hopes.

I mean, we're talkin' some serious reptilian amoré here.

Let's see -- what else do we have? Roll 'Bama Roll thinks that clarity has finally arrived in the race for the national championship. The Big 12 champion is apparently effectively guaranteed a spot in the national championship game, according to his reasoning (which looks sound to me). The big question, at this point, seems to be "who else will be in there?"

Clarity of a sort, I suppose.

A lot is on the line for Tennessee against Vanderbilt, also. Who Ya With thinks that this week could be the difference in the season for the 'Dores:

The commodores travel to the Evil Empire this weekend to take on the Great Pumpkin (Fat Phil) and the Vols. If the defense can show up like they did in Columbia, and Spuds can play the QB position as well as he did last week against UK, this game could be won. There is nothing I would love more than to see 105,000 disappointed Vols fans walking out of that stadium. How much money would Fulmer have to donate to UT to feel comfortable then?

Oh, the 'Dores and the Vols do indeed despise each other. They love to see the other cry.

Meanwhile, Jon at Fulmer's Belly decides to try a little poor-mouthing to get the Vols a win:

First off, we lost to a freaking Cal team at a game that I personally attended. A Cal team that has lost 20 games since beating the hapless Vols and their non-existant defense and special teams play. DeSean Jackson looked like a damn Heisman candidate after te UT game, and has been pretty craptacular afterwards. What does that say about our team? It says we suck. Hard.

Heh. For a team that has a chance to win the East, and the only team that doesn't need help, that is some poor-mouthing indeed. Joel at Rocky Top Talk is wondering WTF:

So what's the deal? Why can't we be negative when our team really needs us? Here's the thing: they're pretty good and getting better. The future looks bright indeed, and the Vols, even this season, are perfectly positioned to win out and represent the East in the SEC Championship. There, they'll be pitted against LSU, and the media will give them no chance against the Tigers, which is, of course, right where we want to be. Forget the pessimism. I love this team.

So we have a little plus and a little minus. It's been that kind of season for the Vols.

We may not know who will go to Atlanta from the East this weekend, but we will have a somewhat better idea of who is not going, guaranteed. The Gators need a Kentucky win or they stay home. Georgia, the converse. And Tennessee? Well, they just need to win two games back to back and they can book their flights.

Fun times.

Week 9 -- Fewer games, higher stakes [UPDATED 10/25 0900]

This week is the first week so far this year where we have had two teams with byes in the SEC, and as it turns out, we also have two teams with games against theoretically inferior out-of-conference opponents -- Vandy faces Miami (OH) and Arkansas hosts Florida International, while LSU and Alabama have the weekend off.

That pretty much leaves me only four games to talk about -- two today and two tomorrow.

Georgia at Florida [Jacksonville]

This game has become known as the "Worlds Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party" (someone probably knows why, but I really don't), but the bitter rivalry between these two teams makes it an exciting game. The fact that the loser of this game becomes a likely non-player for the Eastern division championship makes it a huge in terms of conference standing, as well.

NOTE: Paul Westerdawg of Georgia Sports Blog has thoughtfully explained the "WLOCP" moniker to me in a comment below. Here it is so you don't have to hunt:

If you ever come to the Cocktail Party, you will understand how it got its name. Particularly, if you come with people who know how to handle the entire 4 days of the thing.

As Lewis Grizzard once said, another name for it would be the "Annual Celebration of the Repeal of Prohibition".

It's 84k people split equally. Most of whom have been drinking for 3 straight days. Hell, UGA schedules its Fall Break so the students can get down there in a safe and orderly fashion...to drink more.

If you've seen the absurdity of it, you'd understand the name.

Mergz at Saurian Sagacity has the statistics on how the teams have fared historically. Paul Westerdawg of Georgia Sports Blog has relatively low expectations for the contest:

I'm generally a sunshine pumper or at worse a realist. I rarely go into my dark cave of pessimism. But let's look at facts. In 2007, we have struggled with teams that have equal or lesser talent. The Gators are most certainly more talented than the Bulldogs, and you'll have to make one helluva argument that they aren't better coached right now.

Seems a lot of the Georgia bloggers are pessimistic about this game. Doubledawgs at Third Saturday in Blogtober is picking Florida in an ugly blowout. Senator Blutarsky of Get the Picture, however, is keeping the faith, sort of:

The Tennessee game was simply inexplicable. The tough thing right now is that no realistic observer of the Georgia program can say it won’t happen again. That being said, I wouldn’t put it past the coaches and players to put together their most complete effort in a conference game since Auburn last year, either - and, to be fair, under MR, there always seems to be one game every year like that when it all comes together. But I’m not gonna deny that I feel a little shaky about Saturday’s game.

Mlmintampa writing for Alligator Army worries that since Urban Meyer has let the world know about Tim Tebow's injured shoulder, the Dawgs will try to pick on that weakness in an effort to get him out of the game:

Meyer never should have admitted that Tebow has a sore right shoulder. If he had said "upper body injury" like a hockey coach, we wouldn't have to be concerned about things like this;

[Florida center Drew] Miller said there's no question opposing teams have been trying to knock Tebow out of the game, and he's been the subject of cheap shots all season.
"Oh, definitely," Miller said. "In piles, people are grabbing . . . it's just the way it is. They are trying to get any edge that they can have.
"You can't blame them, a guy like that who makes so many plays for us, they're going to do anything they can to get him off the field."

I expect the Dawgs will have a mental target drawn on Tebow's right shoulder, at least in the back of their minds. They know how effective Tebow is, and they also know that Florida without Tebow probably can't beat them.

I have said (and continue to say) that as long as Tebow represents 70% of the offense, the Gators are vulnerable. Unlike Kentucky, they can't just go to the ground game if their starting QB gets hurt -- Tebow is their ground game and their passing game. It is a very strange situation for the normally multi-dimensional Gators, and fraught with peril if Tebow gets hurt any more than a bruise or two.

South Carolina at Tennessee

Wow, what a weird game this is. Normally, we'd be talking about how big the margin is likely to be for the Vols, but not this year. Unfortunately, even with Tennessee's woeful showing against the better teams they have played this year, the Vols still have a chance to win the East. But as in the Florida-Georgia game above, the loser likely becomes lost in the crowd.

Chuck at The Cool Chicken thinks it's a coin toss between the two teams, but picks the Gamecocks to win a fairly close game. Scott Hood writing for Gamecock Central says that this game is "a test of leadership and character":

This week leading up to the Tennessee game in Knoxville is a stern test of the character and senior leadership of the Gamecocks. As Spurrier said at his weekly press conference on Tuesday, USC doesn’t have any players who scream and yell a whole lot. Cory Boyd may come the closest to filling that role.

A team’s psyche is a fragile thing, as USC fans have painfully discovered in the past. A series of unfortunate events can send team morale plummeting.

Garnet and Black Attack takes a look at some of the games both teams have played so far. He says the combination of the Gamecock's futility throwing the ball and the utter failure of the UT defense to stop anyone gives the game an interesting dynamic:

The formula established so far is relatively simple: To beat Tennessee, you need merely to outscore them.

The Gators rolled up 554 yards against Tennessee. California put up 471. On average, the Vols allow 249.0 yards through the air and 157.7 on the ground. The Gamecocks could have some succeess if they focus on getting yards out of Cory Boyd and Mike Davis, as Spurrier has suggested they will.

But the passing game will have to do much better than it did against Vanderbilt.

The closest passing offense of any Vol opponent, statistically, to South Carolina's is Arkansas State, which ranks 60th in the country with 227 ypg. The Gamecocks are 62nd with 225.5 ypg. That's right, South Carolina's passing offense is stastically worse than Arkansas State.

Bottom line -- Can the Gamecocks outscore the Vols with their relatively low-scoring offense? I don't know, but I suspect if Spurrier keeps playing this crazy Chinese fire drill with his quarterbacks, the answer may well be no. This illustrates once again the importance of having a balanced attack -- you never know where opponents will offer you opportunities to score. If UT manages to take away the run from USC, how will the Gamecocks get it in the end zone? Maybe the OBC can put on a helmet and show them how an SEC quarterback is supposed to do it. Barring that, I don't have a clue.

Then we have Tennessee fans, and a more grumpy group can hardly be found anywhere except College Station, Texas. Maybe Fulmer and Franchione should just swap jobs for the rest of the year and see how that works out. Lexvol at Vol Nation is ready to heave coach F under the nearest Greyhound:

The blog today is not some fabricated hack piece written to create a debate. To use stronger terms, this is no longer opinion. This is not a shot at CPF’s weight, or off the field issues. This is not intended to denigrate the body of work that he has amassed at the helm of the UT program. This is stone cold fact in classic Guitar Shots fashion. Phil Fulmer has lost this football team. Either we do not have the talent, or these players have no faith in the current system. The more probable answer is that we are witnessing a combination of both. Look no further than the Hardesty situation to prove this point. This football team needs leadership on the sidelines, and on the field. Until changes are made, the Volnation should realize that 1998 was as good as it gets.

I remember a time when the Volunteer fans used to actually talk about football before a big game. My, how times have changed.

Meyton Panning, a diarist at Rocky Top Talk, takes the opposite tack:

Give Coach time folks. He's proven he can do it. Or do we want to turn the Tennessee Coaching Job into the orange version of the pressure cooker hot seat of schools like Notre Dame or Alabama? Do you want to see Tennessee go through four or five coaches like ND and Bama did? We, the fans, are going to make the Tennessee job look way too daunting and miserably tough for a young hot shot coach to take as he looks to get into a big time program. Why do you think Urban Meyer passed up on his dream job at Notre Dame? Maybe it was because he took an objective look at how demanding and ruthless the ND job is and decided that he would rather seek greener pastures.

Unfortunately, the Alabama drubbing has thrown the Tennessee bloggers into a state of despair, and interest in the South Carolina game among the Vol faithful seems to have given way to ambivalence.

I have witnessed a similar situation at Kentucky during the latter days of Tubby Smith (basketball, I know, but ... Hello! Kentucky fan!). That worked out OK for everybody in the end, but not until a gigantic schism developed in the fanbase which degenerated into hundreds of thousands of vitriolic comments and blog posts, and that rift has yet to fully heal. The Alabama, Florida and Notre Dame quick-fire jobs are not really comparable -- none of those coaches had been their a long time like Fulmer has, and none of them had brought a national championship to their team. Fulmer's situation is frighteningly similar to Tubby Smith's, despite the fact that they coach different sports.

I sincerely hope our neighbors to the South do better than Kentucky did.

Week 8 -- Some thoughts and some fun

Well, well, some very interesting things going on in the SEC today, some of it just frankly freaking amazing.

It seems that in spite of the absolute pasting they took at the hands of the Crimson Tide this weekend, the Chattanooga Times Free Press thinks that the Vols still have a shot at the SEC title game:

Five of the SEC East's six teams have two league losses. The Vols (4-3, 2-2 SEC) have played two of them, going 1-1, and they will play the other three.

Four of Tennessee's last five regular season games are at home, starting Saturday night with South Carolina -- another two-SEC loss team.

"Like Coach (Phillip) Fulmer told us, the season's not over. Not one bit," UT middle linebacker Jerod Mayo said.

But have the Vols shown anything to make anyone this that optimism is realistic?

Uh, let me answer that for you -- not really, at least, not given the schizophrenic nature of the game they have been playing in place of actual football. Unsurprisingly, Rocky Top Talk agrees:

Despite gross coaching incompetence in all major games but one, UT still has an outside chance at contending for the SEC East. But someone (ahem, Georgia) would have to beat Florida, and UT would have to beat South Carolina, Arkansas, Kentucky and Vandy. I'm tempted to say Florida can punch their card to rematch LSU in the SEC title game, but things have been strange this year. I'm done with predictions.

Well, I can't blame him for that. This SEC season has been full of bizarre twists and turns, and there is no real reason to think that the thing will turn back to normalcy anytime soon. Nobody really would have expected Alabama to obliterate Tennessee like they did, but then again, almost nobody expected LSU to have a loss to Kentucky.

Now, here is an interesting tidbit -- Les Miles says he is going to "review the block on Dorsey". What the hell is there to "review?" All you have to do is look at the thing once.

For any of you that didn't see the game, the Auburn right guard made an egregious chop-block on Dorsey's right knee while he was engaged with another player. How the officials could have missed that call is beyond me, but it was really blatant. Fortunately, Dorsey seems to be OK, but that is the kind of thing that should get players thrown out of the game and suspended for long periods of time.

The thing looked very deliberate to me, as the right guard was going right for Dorsey's knee, which collapsed at an odd and scary angle. How he escaped serious injury is simply beyond my comprehension. Predictably, there is some displeasure among LSU bloggers. Here's what Richard Pittman of Geaux Tuscaloosa had to say:

My third thought is that there is no way in hell the hit on Dorsey was legal. I understand that the Auburn boards are aflutter with activity justifying and/or rationalizing the hit, but there's no way. It wasn't in any respect a legal hit. I'll give the player the benefit of the doubt that he was not out to injure Dorsey, particularly if he comes out and says it publicly.

Obviously, there are some who just a little bit more incensed, but I think Pittman gets it right. Senator Blutarsky at the Georgia Blog Get the picture thinks this was the cheap shot of the year in the SEC.

Auburn, on the other hand, feels there was a bit too much home cooking down on the bayou:

What's up with SEC refs this year? They are absolutely horrible. Are they making up their own rules? In the Florida/LSU game, they called back a kick return from a replay that was definitely disputable. In the Florida/Auburn game, they called a penalty that was eliminated in 2003. Who can forget the replay call in the Ole Miss/Bama game (aside from Bama fans)? In the LSU/Auburn game, they nullified a penalty from a replay, and gave LSU a first down with a horrible spot.

That spot was pitiful, no question.

So Kentucky beats the Tigers after a tough game and a long week. Then, dinged up Kentucky gets beat by Florida after a bye week, resulting in a tough game and a dinged up Florida team. Now, Florida faces a Georgia team coming off a layoff this weekend. Anyone sense a pattern here?

Georgia must be chomping at the bit to get to the Gators, especially on a "neutral" field in Jacksonville. This game could truly be a season changer, put Georgia back into the SEC East hunt and deal a fatal blow to their hated rivals from Gainesville. But David Ching is wary about Tebow's injury, and Paul Westerdawg says Tebow is the reincarnation of Biff Tannen. Twin sons of different mothers, indeed.