I keep saying it. And week after week it becomes more and more relevant. Last week it looked as tough a couple of more wins is the best we could hope for in a season of turmoil. The coach was out, and we spent the majority of our time talking about who we thought the next Head Coach would be. Coach Fulmer has returned himself to the status of Genius, for one week anyway, and the team is back atop the SEC Eastern standings. They share that spot, but they are out of the cellar. Oh the difference a week makes.
I made the comment at the beginning of the broadcast that I did not have good feelings. To a Tennessee Vol, the Pride of the Southland Band forming the "T" and opening up to make way for the players to enter the field is a religious experience. When it opened Saturday for the first time i did not see a lot of life from the men. They seemed almost laid back and reserved, that scared the bejesus out of me. I notice things such as that. The worries continued when we lined up to kick-off to the bully-dogs. But surprise!!!!!!! WE COVERED!!! We actually had some life on Special Teams ! Where has that been in the last, I don't know, ten years? Defense looked great, did you hear me? THE DEFENSE LOOKED AWESOME! Georgia came into the game on the shoulders of a strong running game. If you watched their effort against Alabama they ran the ball well, and Moreno looked good out of the backfield on the little outlet passes. Never happened. Georgia was held to 69 yards rushing on 25 attempts. Moreno had 30 yds on 13 carries. Almost sixty yards below his season average. Brown was held to 20 yds before aggravating a shoulder injury that removed him from the game. Stafford was not much better, 16 of 34 for 174 yds, with 1 int and 2 touchdowns. Another couple of astounding stats, only one turnover, and NO FIELD GOAL ATTEMPTS. But we did get a blocked punt, something we only get in games against Georgia. But after the two penalties tacked on it was like a punt. Thirty yards penalized on one play. And why we are on the subject of penalties, the second touchdown should have never happened. I think the crew totally blew this one. We intercepted the ball, with Georgia interfering on the play. They called it defensive interference giving Georgia first and goal. Worst call I have seen all year. On the offensive side of the ball it was the best game called by David Cutcliffe in a long time. Very balenced, kept them guessing, and gutsy. Ainge was 17 of 22 for 165 yards and no tds or ints. Lucas taylor was one for one passing for 56 yards and a touchdown for a combined 18 of 23 for 222 yds and one touchdown. The Vols ran by committee with no less than five players with positive yards rushing with Arian Foster leading the way with 98 yds on 17 carries for a 5.8 yd aveage and 3 touchdowns. Hardesty added 68 yds on 14 carries for a 4.9 yd average and one touchdown. All in all the good guys ended up with 411 total offensive yards. Not Bad, and believe me the game was not as close as the 35-14 score would lead you to believe.
In the press conference after the game, Coach Fulmer took a route similar to Coach Gundy at Okie State. The Knoxville News Sentinel's John Pennington wrote an article that was published in Saturday mornings paper. The same paper that is handed out to fans before the game. In that article he was very critical of the team and Coach Fulmer. The same way every other member of the Orange Nation has done. But he went a little deeper and apparently quoted former players who questioned the teams development and conditioning.
Let me quote Randy Moore of Scout.com. "Even in the after-glow of a huge victory, Fulmer's face grew taut with anger when he shifted his focus to the Pennington article mere minutes into Saturday night's post-game remarks.
“I would want to address one thing just quickly,” he said. “Ordinarily, I'm a pretty big boy and I can take and ignore most anything that might come up. But I thought it was an incredible cheap shot to say something about former players ... unnamed players talking about our program, particularly on a day when we had a big game like this and a lot of prospects coming in.
“It just hit a danged nerve, and I don't appreciate it. I don't usually respond that way but I think in this case our football team and our program deserves a response to something like that.
“I have relationships with our players that have been through this program, and if they've got something they want to say they can certainly say it to me at any time. I don't believe they would go through some person that's never walked on our practice "
“I would want to address one thing just quickly,” he said. “Ordinarily, I'm a pretty big boy and I can take and ignore most anything that might come up. But I thought it was an incredible cheap shot to say something about former players ... unnamed players talking about our program, particularly on a day when we had a big game like this and a lot of prospects coming in.
“It just hit a danged nerve, and I don't appreciate it. I don't usually respond that way but I think in this case our football team and our program deserves a response to something like that.
“I have relationships with our players that have been through this program, and if they've got something they want to say they can certainly say it to me at any time. I don't believe they would go through some person that's never walked on our practice "
Apparently the pressure is getting to the staffs and they are lashing out. Hope this doesn't go too far. But the season is only half over, so time will only tell. Will try to come back later and will talk about LSU and the Bionic coach. And by the way, Check out http://www.fulmersbelly.com/ "The biggest thing in SEC sports." Have started contributing, let me know what you think.
