Lane Kiffin and his "Staph" continuing to haunt Tennessee

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/news?slug=ys-robinson_former_vols_aide_paid_seastrunk_airfare_092611

Lane Kiffin and his staff are apparently the gift that keeps on giving to Tennessee Football.  I think we can all be thankful that he was only around a year.  Our program couldn't handle any more.

Go Vawls!!

FP

Monday Morning QB

Ok, I watched a lot of football this weekend.  A lot!  Here are some observations that I made, and some note worthy stuff.

There is no question Alabama and LSU are the two best teams in the nation.  The speed of the LSU defense and the punishing RBs of each team are mind boggling to me.  Neither team has a Heisman QB, but both teams are so sound in the kicking game.  When these two teams meet it will be a lot of fun!

Florida is a much better football team than most of us thought, but that game Saturday night was horrible.  This is the worst UK team in sometime, and I have seen a lot of bad Kentucky football.  If UT basketball post Pearl era is as bad as UK football post Rich Brook’s era then I may jump off the I-40 Bridge around mile marker 424.  One final thought on Florida, Charlie Weis is the difference in this team and he is making Urban Meyer look foolish.  We need the KC Chiefs to offer Weis the HC position.

UGA is very beatable.  I refuse to say “they have a lot of talent” it’s the SEC and everybody has talent.  The Ole Mess game was awful to watch.  Ole Mess is horrible and Houston Nutt is finished.  UGA get’s on my nerves.  They need to decide if they are going to get serious about this football thing.  UGA is like a bunch of rejected Auburn fans.  They have no identity and they live under other peoples shadows.  If they fire Richt and hire Malzone they will compete for NCAA title in 3yrs.

South Carolina is nothing more than South Carolina, and Vanderbilt is still a bad football program.  SC will only go as far as Garcia takes them.  To beat them right now you have to slow down Lattimore and keep Jeffrey’s from beating you deep.  Garcia is the wild card.  If he comes out in a zone you are in trouble, but if you take away the easy plays and make them work every play they will beat themselves.  BTW you can’t let the defense score.

Arkansas is fun to watch and they will beat Texas A&M this weekend because they are better defensively.  The Razorbacks can’t beat a team like Alabama because they are one dimensional.  Take note Dooley / Cheney.

The mistake in Mississippi is almost comical now.  Can you believe that we thought Dan Mullen had turned this team around? La Tech out played them from start to finish and it was nice to see former UT player Lennon Creer with a nice game.  Mississippi Mistake is a joke and they do not deserve to be in the SEC.  Watching them embarrass themselves embarrasses me.

Finally OK State is fun to watch.  I would love to watch UT and them play.  They would win but there could be 200 pts scored.  One point of interest I want to point out that came to mind while watching the Texas A&M game is this.  Now that the SEC will have new team(s) that means the schedules may change.  Could this mean that the Florida / UT game gets moved to later in the season?  If the ACC goes to 16 teams can FSU and Florida still play?  If not does the UT / Florida game move to November?  Keep in mind Florida took Auburn’s place in the schedule in 1992 when the conference was realigned.  Now if you add a team or two and move Auburn over to let Missouri in who plays who is not as big of a question as who plays when!

Go Vols!

RR 

Defensive Line

Defense wins Championships!  We all have heard that over and over, and I have yet to see it proven otherwise.  It has been no secret that the SEC has produced some of the best Defenses in college football over the last 10years just look at all the National Titles.  What makes LSU and Alabama so good this year?  Defense!  Even though last year Auburn had the best Football player in the nation playing QB it turned out that their Defense was what allowed them to hold Alabama off in the 2^nd half and slow down Oregon in the title game.

However there was a specific area of importance and it is exactly what LSU has going for them now. D Line!  Auburn’s secondary was not so pretty, but the men up front were beasts.  To win a National Title you have to have a lot go your way, and as far as Tennessee goes that isn’t even  worth dreaming about right now.  But you have to win some big ball games in order to be relevant.  Go back to the LSU game last year.  I know it hurts.  Even though they got another shot on the goal line we still had the fair and equal shot they did to win.  We couldn’t keep them out of the end zone even though we had a LB feel the gap.  We need to be better at LB, but I would rather see the D line feel the gap and the LB finish the play.

The best Tennessee teams I have seen all had nasty defensive lines.  What this program is missing right now is a defensive line that disrupts offenses.  To narrow it down even further it is the DT’s that we are missing.  Malik Jackson is our best defensive player and we have him playing as a DT.  Now think about this, Shaun Ellis at UT was about the same size and he played DE and that is where Malik should be.  We have nothing on the D line.  South Carolina’s recruiting of D lineman is scary compared to ours.  Florida, Alabama, LSU, and South Carolina all have better D lines than us and that is why we will lose to them unless they have some injuries to them before we play.  

If Dooley is going to be competitive in this league he is got to figure out how to get D lineman at this school.  We may upset a few teams here and there, but we have to start winning in recruiting if we want to matter again.  The first area of focus has to be D line.

BTW I am not impressed with Wilcox yet, but I am still willing to see what he can do with who he has.

Go Vols

RR

W

That is what I want!  A big win!  Don’t get me wrong I celebrated with everybody else when we won against Montana and I celebrated again with the win over Cincinnati.   I was so ready for the win over Florida then Justin Hunter goes down.   I just sat there staring at the TV and watching Justin Hunter roll around in pain on the field and the only thing I could say was “oh no”.   I was criticized by my peers that my response was not hastily or vulgar enough but it is the only thing I could mutter at the time.  It just seems for the last couple of years it is always something rather it be an injury, bad call, or just a bad play.  Something is keeping us out of these big games and it just sucks.

 I want to be the fan that gets to rub their team’s victory in the face of the team’s fan that we just defeated.  I cannot wait until the day I can look at a jhort wearing, crimped mullet having, cut off shirt, misplaced tattoo gator fan in the face and do what I have named the gator chomp throat slash.  Then one day yell at the top of my lungs BUCK FAMA after we defeat Alabama.  That is what I want.  I want other teams to feel the disgust that I feel after losing big game after big game.

I am tired of re-building, tired of being young, tired of not being very deep.  I want a big “W”.  I know that it will all come in time but my impatience makes me want it now.  I am no fool I can look at this team and I can see talent and potential talent and I know that the glory days will be here again someday, but I also see areas where there is no budding talent and I realize that this is going to be a very long process.  For example our defense has a long way to go and that makes my lack of patience run wild.  We all know how we got here; coaching changes, bad recruiting classes, good statistical recruiting classes turned unlawful, but I am interested in how we are going to leave where we are at now and return to the top where we belong.

This is how I know that I am a fan because with all the frustration that I have mentioned in the above paragraphs I cannot wait to see my VOLS take the field again and face their next opponent.  That is what being a fan is all about being with your team through the good times and the bad.  When the glory days arrive again I will be there relishing in all the regular season victories, bowl victories, SEC championships, and oh yeah National Championships.  So to all you true VOL fans out there let’s put this bad loss behind us get behind this team and support them on their journey back to the top.  #GBO #Vol4Life

JW

Vol For Life

Vol for Life?  Well it’s not a new concept, and now we have entered into an era in which they are being born.  They meaning Vols who will grow up and give their all for Tennessee.  Some of them are 10 years old learning from their dad what it means to be a Volunteer and some of them are 25 years old who once only new prosperity.  Some of them are just new to Tennessee and have fell in love with Big Orange Country.

The thing people often do not understand is adversity creates some of the greatest passion and the most loyal friends.  Ask any Alabama fan what it was like after the great Paul Bear Bryant retired minus the Gene Stallings teams in the early 90’s until the Saban era.  As much as the state of Alabama sickens me they know heartache with their team, and so do I.  However it did not start in 2005 when I watched Vanderbilt beat us on our home field or when our coach Phil Fulmer was fired and we lost to Wyoming.  When CLK skipped town and his mad dog tried to sabotage our recruiting class and Mike Hamilton flew around the country getting rejected by every coach in D1 the heartache did not begin for me.  Last week when we lost to Florida and lost the best WR in the nation it was not a new feeling to me.

So when did it begin for me?  It all started in Orlando Florida December 17, 1983 Citrus Bowl.  Boomer Esiason was the QB for Maryland and it was my first game on a neutral Field.  I was six years old and I had never seen the other fans.  I knew little about the game, but when Reggie White sacked Boomer and knocked him out of the game Tennessee went on to win after a 2^nd half comeback and finished #15 in the nation.  It was our highest ranking since 1972.  On that night I became a VFL.  One year later we played Maryland again in the Sun Bowl.  We were winning 21-0 at halftime.  Maryland came back and had us 28-27 with hardly any time left on the clock.  We had one of the best FG kickers in College Football and were driving.  Our QB Tony Robinson who had a golden arm ran the ball into field goal range but when he was being tackled the ball hit his knee and he fumbled.  Maryland recovered and ran out the clock.  I was seven years old.  I cried.

In 1994 I was a senior in high school and Jerry Colquitt a 5^th year senior waited behind Heath Shuler who left to go to the NFL for his chance to play.  All summer we heard of how impressive he was and how confident the new head coach Phillip Fulmer was in his veteran QB.  Finally the season opener was here and Tennessee’s first game was at UCLA.  On the third play of the season Colquitt ran for the first down and tore his ACL.  I was seventeen years old.  I cried.

I know Tennessee fans are frustrated now, but now is the time when VFL’s are born.  When you have to go to work and defend your team because there are no Vol fans around after a loss or at least any who can intelligently speak about the game you are creating a passion and loyalty that represents VFL.  One day we will win again.  We will chant SEC SEC SEC, and we will celebrate like we never have before.  Just so you know……..I may cry. 

Go Vols

 RR

Florida week. The 3rd Saturday in September. The barometer of Tennessee football.

The fuse of the season for Tennessee always ignites mid-September. Sure college football starts each year with the Labor Day holiday, but in all honesty, those first one or two games just don’t matter. Of course you want wins, but the TRUE test always looms in Florida week; especially when it requires a trip to Gainesville.

Unfortunately for Tennessee fans, the season RARELY starts how we want it to. Since 1990, Florida has had 4 head coaches (Spurrier, Zook, Meyer, and Muschamp). During that same stretch, Tennessee has also had 4 head coaches (Majors, Fulmer, Kiffin, and Dooley). Take a look at this:

(Against Tennessee)

Spurrier 8-4

Zook 1-2

Meyer 6-0

Muschamp 1-0

===================

(Against Florida)

Majors 2-1

Fulmer 4-12

Kiffin 0-1

Dooley 0-2

Tennessee has defeated Florida a mere 6 times in the last 22 years; take out the Ron Zook era and it that number drops to 4! It gets worse, too, if you look back through the all-time history between the two programs. Sure, the overall series is 22-19 in favor of Florida, but Tennessee won 10 of those games prior to 1954. If you just look at 1954 forward, the record is a staggering 9-22 (in Florida’s direction). In the past 58 years, Tennessee has beaten Florida JUST 9 TIMES! Here’s a comparison no Tennessee fan wants to see, nor digest: dating back to 1954, Vanderbilt has beaten Tennessee 5 times, and Kentucky has beaten Tennessee 11 times. If you didn’t understand what I just told you, here’s a straightforward analogy:

Tennessee is to Florida, as Kentucky/Vanderbilt is to Tennessee.

We Tennessee fans scoff at Vanderbilt and Kentucky. Even when it seems they have a legitimate shot to win, we use the line “…then Kentucky/Vanderbilt remembered they were Kentucky/Vanderbilt.” Tennessee has a mental hindrance when it comes to Florida. It seems Florida always makes plays against Tennessee, whether it be through turnovers, missed tackles, mysterious calls, or, oh my God, special teams. Travis Stephens circa 2001 aside, Florida always dominates the line of scrimmage. Something has to change. Mindset, attitude, execution, everything about this “rivalry” needs to change.

I AM TIRED OF LOSING TO FLORIDA. I’m done with this “moral victory” noise. I’m done with the “well, next year we’ll show ‘em” campaign. I’m done hearing about the talent difference. I’m done hearing about how the kids played their hearts out and had a few breaks go against them. I understand how deflating an injury can be, but you’ve got to dig deep and play through. There are 7 maxims General Neyland coined, and we seem to follow them all unless we’re playing Florida. If Tennessee wants to be elite again, they MUST find a way to beat to Florida. No way around it.

The only good losers are the people who are good at losing. This needs to be plastered all over the locker room. The entire Tennessee team should be tired of losing and furious about letting opportunity slip by. Maybe this was a character game; a game in which every player understands the difference between mollywopping a Cincinnati team from the Big Least and getting bullied by a big boy SEC football team. Much like Vantucky (or Kentuckerbilt), the Tennessee program has gotten good at losing. As Tennessee fans, it seems we have forgotten what it looks and feels like to cheer for a team who knows how to win. Since the start of the 2008 season (3 years + 3 weeks in 2011), Tennessee is 21-21. Kentucky is 22-20. Brutal. I know, I know, 26 straight, but come on. We are Tennessee, and we should never be in a situation to be that comparable to Kentucky. We’re talking football, not basketball.

Tennessee gets essentially two weeks to find themselves again. Off this week and a warm-up Buffalo game next week. Georgia will most likely limp into Knoxville after a double-header with the state of Mississippi. Tennessee’s goal right now should be to get to 4-1. Beat Buffalo, beat Georgia, and deal with LSU when the time comes. No more excuses, no more niceties. It’s go time. It’s take-no-prisoners time. It’s hit-you-in-the-mouth-because-we-want-to time. Tennessee needs to learn from this loss, grow as unit, and come back stronger.

Georgia will be a statement game. Tennessee will either confirm its 4^th place East division status, or Tennessee will dig a foothold in the climb back into SEC relevance. A win over Georgia will go a LONG way in re-establishing dominance in Neyland Stadium, which is something we as a fan base can assist. Plus, I want Tyler Bray to show the world how much better than Aaron Murray he really is.

4-1 hasn’t happened since 2006. It needs to happen now. After last year’s beat down, Dooley seriously needs to take Georgia to the woodshed, and give the fans the straw to break the camel’s (Richt) back.