Man....this has been the strangest year for Tennessee football I can remember. This has to be the most inconsistent Vol squad I have witnessed and Fulmer is surviving the year by a thread because in two games now....SouCar and Vandy I have seen Tenn get out played in critical parts of the game and then somehow pull it out at the end when the opponent just couldn't get it done. Lose either one of those two games at home and Phil's in trouble. Smoked unmercifully by his biggest rivals at Fla and Bama and then looking like the Patriots beating the snot out of Georgia. What is up with this team? Which one shows up in Lexington? Have Georgia fans recovered yet from watching Vandy mysteriously give the game away yesterday? I know I was saved from real angst about that game because Georgia had already put a close to us Gator fan's SEC East hopes by beating Kentucky.
As a UGA fan I'm already looking ahead to the next 2 seasons. The Dawgs should be contenders for a NC and the Heisman Trophy. Good times ahead.
While I'm very happy Tennessee pulled out the win against Vandy as it saved me a lot of ribbing I think the game typifies what Vols fans like Tom have been saying this season. Congrats to the coaching staff for pulling this one off but I don't understand their playcalling. I'm very satisfied that Tennessee is 8-3 and within a win at getting a crack at LSU and the SEC championship. I think it speaks a lot to the coaching staff for picking this team up off the mat over and over again this season. However, Fulmer has been criticized in the past for not throwing the ball enough (with the exception of the Manning years) but I don't understand the times when he chooses to pass the ball. I was keeping up with this game on Fox Sports Mobile while I was hunting on Saturday and the play calls amazed me. Arian Foster had a great game, averaging over 5 yards a carry. Yet the play calls repeatedly said incomplete pass by Ainge. I think if they would have fed Foster the ball more this game wouldn't have been close. I hope they unleash Foster against UK. I think they have to to get the W.
Aquila, We are in agreement here. Let me equate these decisions to something from my past: I absolutely despise narcotic pain killers. I have passed 104 kidney stones in my life but request Toradol which is a non-narcotic. The narcotic pain relievers make me light headed and I make poor decisions under their influence. This coaching staff appears to be on mass quantities of Vicodin on the sidelines. Congrats to this team that is finding a way to overcome the actions, or lack thereof, of this coaching staff. On to Kentucky and unleash the running game!
More on Phil by SI: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/football/ncaa/11/21/tennessee.fulmer.ap/index.html I think with the distractions that are going on at LSU ( NC talk...Miles to Michigan ) that Phil could sneak in there and upset the Tigers. Not saying he will...but he could. That is of course if the Vols get by Kentucky....which I predict they won't.
Tom will want some alka seltzer after reading that, you should have waited till after Thanksgiving to post it!!
This was the last paragraph in that article. I have two questions for Phil: First. “Are you sure that you are still focused enough to know what you need to ignore? And second, “Is MOTIVATION something that you can or can’t control?”