Thank You

Wow!  That is all we can say!

The staff of RockyTopics wants to thank everybody who has viewed this page and shared our posts this week.  Thanks to you we have had over 1100 page views in our first week!  We are just a bunch of common married guys with families who love Tennessee Sports.   We are fired up about this page, and we plan to give you good stuff to help you get through each workweek.  This is just the beginning!

Please remember to tell others about this page.  Post our links on your favorite sites, and follow us on Twitter and Facebook.  We want you to feel free to post comments.  This page doesn’t make you sign your life away to share a thought.  If you need to get in touch with us please tweet @RockyTopics or email us at Rockytopics@gmail.com!

Go Vols

RR 

Great Weekend!!!!

What a great weekend upcoming for football. The weather in Knoxville is supposed to be pleasantly in the 60’s and the view from section M will be fantastic. This is going to be a great matchup between our Vols and the Tarheels from Chapel Hill. Oh wait, that’s right.. we are instead playing Buffalo. *sigh*

I would be lying if I said that I was excited about this game. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a blessing to be able to attend UT football games.. and it’s something I will always enjoy. But some games aren’t worth dressing out the marching band for. Apparently I’m not the only one, because the UT ticket office is trying every way possible to give tickets away. UT students are also on fall break. Thus, Neyland officials will borrow the black curtains from Thompson Boling Arena (which have recently been taken out of storage). This is the kind of game that is attended by people who’ve never been to a game before, who were given tickets by season ticket holders who have better things to do than go watch Tennessee play Buffalo. You will know them when you see them, wide eyes looking around in wonder having never seen so much orange before.. even wider eyes gazing upon the employee at the concession stand who just told them how much their small watered down soda and hotdog was going to cost.

While I will be there, I will have an eye on my watch... hoping to make it home to watch Saturday’s more illustrious matchups.

So what am I looking for this Saturday as the Vols face the mighty Buffalo Bulls?

• Petros! Brought to you by the World's Fair in 1982. With a bit of cooler air moving into the area this weekend, it will be the perfect time for Floyd Pancakes to enjoy a glorious East TN treat.

• Arnett to have over 100 receiving yards.

• No fumbled punts. Oh what a glorious day that will be!

• Assuming #3 happens… Devrin Young to take a punt return to the house, while averaging 15 yards per return. (Buffalo will be punting often, at least they better)

• At least three sacks by the UT defense.

• Any semblance of a running game. I will literally stand up and cheer if we have a run greater than 5 yards.

• Attendance greater than 80,000 (not likely).

Let’s get this over with and get back to business next week with Georgia.

Cordially,

FP

Madden 12 Week 4 Roster Update

For all the Madden fans out there, the new roster update is out this morning for download.  I will be linking each roster update as they are made available.  Here's the link to this weeks update.

http://www.ea.com/madden-nfl/blog/week-4-roster-update

SEC: What 2 Watch 4 - Week 5

12:00, Cowboy's Stadium

Arlington, TX

ESPN

Record:

#18 Arkansas (3-1, 1-1 SEC)
#14 Texas A&M (2-1, 0-1 BIG XII)

W2W4: How does each team respond to the first loss? Can A&M recover after letting OSU score 21 straight in the 3rd quarter? Will Arkansas recover enough from the beatdown in Tuscaloosa to run the offense? This game will be a preview of a future SEC opponent, so I think a lot of people will be interested to see how A&M performs against an SEC defense.

Prediction: Arkansas, 34-31

12:00, Sanford Stadium

Athens, GA

ESPN3

Record:

Mississippi State (2-2, 0-2 SEC)
Georgia (2-2, 1-1 SEC)

W2W4: Which program is better than it's record? MSU probably should've beaten Auburn, and hung with LSU for a long time. UGA is a trainwreck, the fans are bailing on Mark Richt, and two early losses to Boise State and South Carolina put Georgia in a big hole. If Georgia loses, Mark Richt's last game may be in Knoxville next weekend. Mississippi State thought it had nudged its way up to the big table in the SEC -- what a difference a year makes. Is MSU capable of winning in the SEC this year? Can Dan Mullen circle the cowbells and get a big road SEC win?

Prediction: 31-24, Mississippi State

12:21, Tiger Stadium

Baton Rouge, LA

ESPN3

Record:

Kentucky (2-2, 0-1 SEC)
#1 LSU (4-0, 1-0 SEC)

W2W4: Can Kentucky really be THAT bad? Unfortuntely, yes. Can LSU get up for this game and dominate like they should with Florida looming next week? Does Jordan Jefferson get mop up duty in the 2nd half?

Prediction: 48-10, LSU

12:30, Neyland Stadium

Knoxville, TN

ESPN3

Record:

Buffalo (1-3, 0-1 MAC)
Tennessee (2-1, 0-1 SEC)

W2W4: Tennessee is a 28.5-point favorite, but historically does TERRIBLE against the spread. Can Tennessee cover? How will the passing game look without Justin Hunter / who can/will become the #2 WR? Will Tennessee be able to run the ball on lowly Buffalo? Will they even try?

Prediction: 42-13, Tennessee

3:30, Williams-Brice Stadium

Columbia, SC

CBS

Record:

Auburn (3-1, 1-0 SEC)
#10 South Carolina (4-0, 2-0 SEC)

W2W4: Dark horse game of the week. How will Auburn respond after losing @ Clemson? Can South Carolina's offense get it together? Will Auburn be able to contain Lattimore? If so, will Garcia be able to get the ball to Alshon Jeffery? Can Auburn handle South Carolina's defense, or can Auburn keep South Carolina's defense out of the end zone?? Will Melvin Ingram score again?

Prediction: 31-30, South Carolina


8:00, Ben Hill Griffin Stadium

Gainesville, FL

CBS

Record:

#3 Alabama (4-0, 1-0 SEC)
#12 Florida (4-0, 2-0 SEC)

W2W4: OH BABY! Game of the week. How long will Demps/Rainey stay in the game? How will Nick Saban and Kirby Smart scheme around Chris Rainey? Can John Brantley win the game for Florida? Can Florida's front 7 contain Richardson and Lacy? Can Florida withstand a 10-round bout with Alabama? Will Florida get TKO'd in the 3rd round? How badly does Muschamp want to beat Saban? Will there be trickeration? Can Florida get pressure on McCarron without blitzing?

Prediction: 37-17, Alabama

9:15, Bulldog Stadium

Fresno, CA

ESPN2

Record:

Ole Miss (1-3, 0-2 SEC)
Fresno State (2-2, 1-0 WAC)

W2W4: Just how fed up is the state of Mississippi with Houston Nutt? I only ask because it seems everyone BUT Ole Miss is calling for Nutt to be fired. Does Ole Miss care they suck? Do they just want to party in The Grove? Is it conceivable for Nutt to keep his job, no matter how the rest of the season turns out? Listen, no offense to Vanderbilt, but when Vanderbilt hands you a 30-0 shellacking, and you barely eek out a touchdown in the final minutes of game (AGAINST VANDY'S 2ND TEAM!!), you've got serious, serious issues. In my eyes, Houston Nutt should be gone no later than Monday of next week, and the campaign for Guz Malzahn should be on. Ole Miss needs to get on Malzahn before Georgia does. There's too much talent in the state of Mississippi (all going to Mississippi State) for Ole Miss to be this bad.

Prediction: 24-13, Fresno State

Week Five SEC Rankings

Our staff here at RockyTopics met this week and discussed based on what we have seen so far who is the best in the conference.  We all turned in ballots and the following is how we are ranking the conference this week.

#1 LSU  I have to admit this one is tough.  Alabama and LSU may be the best two football teams to ever be in the SEC at the same time.  You have to give it to LSU now because they have played the toughest schedule of the two and proved they are ready to face anybody.  Their speed on defense is NFL-esk and their offense has improved leaps and bound.  I think the presence of Steve Kragthorpe has made the biggest difference to the offense.  He is the most over qualified QB coach in football.

#2 Alabama  This team is mean.  Let me be clear I despise Alabama, but they are hungry.  They have the most physical team in the conference.  They seem to be solid in every category and they have the best coach in College Football.  The best chance of beating them is to shorten the game and try to stop the run and force them to pass.  Nobody has done it yet.  Will Florida?

#3 Florida  They make me sick in every way possible.  Charlie Weis has this offense clicking much better now that he is running it based on personnel and not stupidity like Urban Meyer.  The defense looks tough.  Florida’s biggest challenge is easily broken down into two categories.  #1 October schedule has them facing Bama, LSU, Auburn, and UGA.  #2 and more important is numbers.  Florida started the season with just 73 scholarship players and they have the youngest roster in the conference.

#4  Arkansas  Again this one isn’t easy especially after Alabama beat them like they stole something.  Keep in mind they were playing at Alabama with a young QB against a veteran defense.  Arkansas has a good team and they are well coached.  I look for them to rebound this week and beat Texas A&M even though they are 3 pt dogs.

#5 Auburn  Maybe the hardest team in college football to figure out.  They have the ability to score, but with some key losses in their defense from the last year National title team I just don’t know if they can stop enough teams in the conference to make it back to Atlanta.

#6 South Carolina They are so talented in a few areas that is hard to believe these kids chose to play at USC.  South Carolina fans really think they are going back to Atlanta.  This team has some real issues, and I think it begins with Stephen Garcia.  Which guy is going to show up this weekend?  Their defense can’t win every game for them.

#7 Tennessee They really just have not shown they can beat anybody that matters.  They are young and apparently were not prepared to face adversity at Ben Hill.  There is no way they can survive in October facing UGA, LSU, Bama, and USC as long as their offense is one dimensional and their defense tackles without arms.

Go Vols

RR

#8 UGA It’s over for Mark Richt if they don’t win their next two games.  They have a shot at finishing the season in great shape with their favorable schedule here on out if they take care of business, but who thinks they are going to do that?  The team that played Ole Mess last week will lose four more games if they show up each week.

#9 Mississippi State Look folks they are just not that good.  They are like the game on the team that you hoped would get to play in the next game because they were showing so much potential and then it came game time and you realized they can’t play. 

#10 Vanderbilt It has been a great year for Vanderbilt and any time they are above UK and Ole Mess they have met their goal.  They can play some pretty good ball in the Secondary, but they are in the SEC for one reason and that is to make sure you get a conference win.

#11Kentucky These last two teams don’t deserve to mention on this site, but I have to.  We love our UT guys in Randy Sanders and Tee Martin and I can’t wait to see them out of that blue someday.  UK is awful!  How good was Randall Cobb?  The Offensive line offends me!  The bowl streak ends this year.

#12 Ole Mess What a joke!  Houston Nutt has survived all this time and has done nothing.  Ole Mess you had David Cutcliffe who took you to one possession to play in the SEC title game and fired him.  Then you went to Ed “wild boyz” Orgeron to the Nutt? 

Notes:

Baylor QB Robert Griffen III has thrown 13TDs this year and only 12 incompletions.  He has a QB rating of 236!  BTW he will receive his Master Degree this year.

Marcus Lattimore is 2 yards short from first place in rushing with already gaining 611 yards in four games.

Vanderbilt leads the nation with the most interceptions with 14.  They still are a commodoormat!

Why is Lane Kiffin still coaching and why is Bruce Pearl still being crucified?

WARNING: When I read the article you see the link to below my blood started to boil.

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/story/15650956/while-pearl-lives-in-luxury-his-exassistants-go-through-upheaval

The famous graphic!

So apparently Bruce Pearl hasn’t suffered enough yet.  It is not enough to drag him through the mud all season last year with that stupid graphic; you know the graphic (see photo to the right) that CBS and ESPN would put up at every televised game with Pearl’s picture and the list of wrongs he committed).  It isn’t enough that every analyst (Bilas and Vitale I am looking at you) just pretty much condemned his career to death, and now we got this guy Gary Parrish still throwing Pearl under the bus.

Apparently Parrish and Pearl’s former assistants think that Pearl should be supporting them now that they have had to take lesser jobs.  Don’t get me wrong it sucks for his assistants that got the one year show cause.  The fact that the families of the assistant coaches have had to uproot their lives because of Bruce Pearl’s mistakes is truly unfortunate.  However I ask this question; if your boss was to get his staff fired including you would he then start supporting you?  I don’t think so.  A matter of fact it wouldn’t even be thought of.  The unemployment rate in the U.S. right now is 9.1% and I will guarantee none of the unemployed is being supported by their former boss.  What else do people want from Bruce Pearl he has lost the job he loves, cannot coach again for 3 years, and may never coach again thanks to all the media slander, and he is now selling groceries.  If anyone should be taking care of his former assistants, which I do not believe is necessary, it should be their former employer, UT, not their former boss.  If these assistants are just now figuring out that life is not fair they have lived a very sheltered life and this experience will be good for them.  Sorry life is a b*&#h sometimes.

He is a retard!

Another thing that made my blood boil while reading the attached article is it hit me; how is Lane Kiffin still coaching?   The news of Willy Mac wiring money for a recruit so that he could visit UT is just more salt in the wound caused by Lane Kiffin.  Does the University of Southern California have blinders on?  How can they see/hear all the stuff that Kiffin did in his very short time in Knoxville and feel confident that he is leading their already troubled program the right way?  Show me the data where you would want him as the head coach of your football program that is all I am asking.  I am not saying what Bruce Pearl did was right but let’s break it down.  Bruce Pearl lied about a cookout at his house with a recruit.  He shouldn’t have done it. Agreed!  His punishment 3 year show cause from coaching which I believe is the death penalty for his coaching career.  Lane Kiffin has done everything wrong possibly imaginable and is not even winning ball games that matter and he is the head coach at USC.  Mind blowing!  USC needs to smell the roses, you have a whole freaking bowl of them, and realize Lane Kiffin is a fraud and needs to leave before he runs through your sport programs like a dirty ol’ pirate and takes everything from it!

Lane Kiffin I hate you!

I want my Pearl back!

Lane Kiffin I hate your mom also!

HAVE SUM!

GBO!!!!!

JW

To RUN or not to RUN that is the question

That is what UT needs to determine during the game against Buffalo.  My opinion one of two things needs to happen.

1.       We don’t pass the ball one single time.  We run the ball every single play and hope we learn or establish some type of running game that will help us in games that actually matter.

2.       We don’t even try to run the ball and we become a 1 dimensional team.

Granted with option 1 we may only win by a touchdown but maybe we would learn something and if option 2 is decided to be the best option then the opposing defenses do not have to be very creative.  The point I am trying to make is that this worthless game that is the Buffalo game is nothing more than a glorified practice so let’s learn some stuff.

After this Buffalo game the schedule gets real and it gets real fast.  After the Buffalo game there will be no more opportunities to learn and going out there to see what we will see is not going to cut it.  After watching the Florida game I think we all would agree that we need improving in many areas.  The way I look at it we have got the Buffalo game to figure it out.  So let’s learn how to run the ball or pass effectively when that is the only weapon we got and the opposing defense know it!

On a non-related note – Buffalo?!  Really?  We should have played UNC because we may learn a few things about UT’s football team this weekend but Buffalo is not going to make us a better football program.  UNC is a competitive football program in a respectable conference better team’s equal better competition and that will make you better and all Buffalo will do is make us feel better.  Buffalo is like Tylenol in this situation it is just going to hide the pain and the Tylenol will rub off in a week and then we will have to wait and see if we are healed or if more Tylenol is needed.

Other observations from the weekend:

Lattimore is to South Carolina as Peyton Manning is to the Colts.

Mark it on your calendar 11/5/2011 Alabama at LSU has potential to be epic!

Kentucky is a joke thanks to a Joker!

I am still not worried about Vandy!

GBO!

JW

Conference Realignment

The hot topic these days: Who’s going where? In all honesty, I couldn’t care less about anything outside of the SEC in terms of conferences. I don’t care if Texas-Oklahoma-A&M never play again. I don’t care if VT-Miami-Florida State never play again. I just. Don’t. Care. Shoot, I don’t even care if Florida-Florida State goes away.

However, I do care about the SEC, and I do have some preferences as to what I want to see happen. Obviously, Texas A&M is coming in. My only gripe about the Aggies is that it’s a 16-hour drive to College Station from Knoxville. That’s a long freaking way. But, since it’s a done deal, the SEC theoretically needs 3 more teams. Sure, one could argue the need to stop at 14, but I just don’t like it, so I’ll continue with my own scenario. I urge you to follow along.

The other obvious expansion team should be West Virginia. The atmosphere they had the other night against LSU was electric. Very SEC-like; unfortunately, WVU still played like a Big Least team.

The other two teams vary. The SEC, from what I can tell, seems hell bent on expanding its media footprint. This opens the door for teams like Missouri (St. Louis), West Virginia (PA), Maryland (DC), Virginia Tech (VA/DC), and a North Carolina team (NC State or UNC – Doubt UNC goes without Duke, but maybe?), even if the geographic extremities don’t make much sense.

I’m going to pick what I consider the most realistic for the final three to use in my scenario below: West Virginia, Missouri, and NC State.

Before you get upset, hear me out. I said realistic, not most obvious or awesome. It’s all about the money, and if the SEC can invade St. Louis and Kansas City, it will. Also, if the SEC can invade Pennsylvania and North Carolina, it will. So, those are my 3. I’d rather see Louisville over TAMU, but it won’t happen. I’d rather see Tulane or USF over Missouri, but that isn’t happening either. I’d also rather have UNC or Virginia Tech over WVU and NC State. Again, ain’t happening. Screw Florida State. All girls school, in my opinion.

ANYWAY…

Here’s how it plays out (in my world of the best things ever):

SEC North		SEC South
Kentucky		Auburn
WVU		LSU
Missouri		Alabama
Vanderbilt		Florida
SEC East		SEC West
Tennessee		Arkansas
South Carolina		Ole Miss
Georgia		Texas A&M
NC State		Mississippi State

It’s like a mini-NFL, which is a perfect analogy for the SEC. You will obviously have 3 divisional games each year, and you would most likely see a move from 8 conference games to 9. If you rotate one game with the other the three divisions, you will essentially play each team from the other divisions once every 4 years. Keeping three rivalry games leaves each team with a 9-game schedule, which still leaves room for two out-of-conference scrimmage/cupcake games.

For example, Tennessee would play:

• South Carolina (Division)
• Georgia (Division)
• NCState (Division)
• Alabama (Rival)
• Vanderbilt (Rival)
• Florida (Rival)
• UK/WVU/Mizzou (North Rotation)
• AU/LSU (South Rotation)
• Ole Miss/TAMU/Arkansas/MSU (West Rotation)
• MTSU (Cupcake)
• Buffalo (Cupcake)

Plus you still get an open date. I think that’s pretty dang reasonable. With the SEC championship tournament (see below), the SEC winner still plays 13 games, just like it is now.

After 9 games, the division winners get seeded 1-4, and you have two conference semi-final games (1v4 and 2v3). The higher seed hosts the game, and the SEC Championship Final still goes to Atlanta. Can you imagine a 4-team playoff to decide the SEC? Cah-ray-zee. I mean, if you win the SEC, who shives a git about a national title? You just ran a gauntlet and came out on top. Nothing else would matter.

My only complaint about my own scenario is the SEC East and South is stacked, and the North and West is W-E-A-K. I split the divisions up geographically, and obviously the balance of powers will shift over the course of time, but Florida, Alabama, LSU, and Auburn in the same division? Ouch. Perhaps we need wild cards?

Yikes. Let’s just get to a 4-team playoff first, and then we can reassess the situation.

Oh yeah, and Luck Kane Fiffin.

RSW Computer Poll

The RSW poll was created in 2007.  It has each year consistently predicted the BCS rankings prior to release.  We have tested this format and we know it works.  If the BCS was released today here is a very good idea of what it would look like.

Team	Current Rank	Wins	Losses
Stanford	1	3	0
Oklahoma	2	3	0
Texas	3	3	0
Boise State	4	3	0
South Carolina	5	4	0
Oklahoma State	6	4	0
Florida	7	4	0
Alabama	8	4	0
LSU	9	4	0
Michigan	10	4	0
Iowa State	11	3	0
Kansas State	12	3	0
Texas Tech	13	3	0
Nebraska	14	4	0
Virginia Tech	15	4	0
Georgia Tech	16	4	0
Baylor	17	3	0
South Florida	18	4	0
Wisconsin	19	4	0
Clemson	20	4	0
Illinois	21	4	0
Houston	22	4	0
USC	23	3	1
Ball State	24	3	1
Ohio State	25	3	1
Auburn	26	3	1
California	27	3	1
San Diego State	28	3	1
Texas A&M	29	2	1
West Virginia	30	3	1
Arizona State	31	3	1
Oregon	32	3	1
SMU	33	3	1
Vanderbilt	34	3	1
North Carolina	35	3	1
Colorado State	36	3	1
Washington	37	3	1
Syracuse	38	3	1
TCU	39	3	1
Cincinnati	40	3	1
Arkansas	41	3	1
Penn State	42	3	1
Iowa	43	3	1
Florida International	44	3	1
Temple	45	3	1
Northwestern	46	2	1
Michigan State	47	3	1
Utah	48	2	1
Bowling Green	49	3	1
Tennessee	50	2	1