Ok, some observations and questions after the first week of the college football season. Is USC that good or is Virginia just that bad? That’s always the crux of the issue when you try to gauge after only one game, but just the same, the knocks on SC were their new Quarter Back and actually “how good” was that defense. In that regard the answer is very good and great, so make of week one what you will, but all questions should be answered on September 13th. The ‘self-proclaimed’ best conference in college football wend 10-2 opening weekend with most of those wins coming in games that were more similar to scrimmages. However two schools did step up and play games of merit and in those games they went 1-1. The Tide looked very good in the dismantling of ACC favorite Clemson, a very tough game away from home, but Tennessee could not hold off a UCLA team with three starting skill position players hurt, a third-string QB at the helm making his first D-1 start, and given 4 turnovers. With that said Kevin Craft, the responsible party for the four apples, put on a blue suit and red cape at halftime and looked like Troy Aikman/Cade McNown/Tommy Maddox all in one by completing 72% in the second half including two ‘length of the field’ drives for scores in the 4th quarter. Make no mistake about it UCLA won this game UT didn’t lose it. Props for going on the road and cross country for the second straight year, it closed the holiday weekend in grand fashion and if this is a harbinger of things to come it is going to be a great year.
Which Bowl Game are you most interested in?
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33 comments:
We need a coach who can do 3 things
1) Win the rival games
2) Win the SEC East
3) Win the SEC period.
You do that, everything else takes care of itself.
Currently, Fulmer as only met one of the 3 criteria for Vol Nation. He needs to go.
I hate OSU, but when Tressel got there, he said "We will beat Michigan" and went in and did it. Thats what I want. A coach who comes out and says "We will beat Fla and Bama and GA" and then does it.
As a Californian living in LA (lower alabama) for the past 3 yrs, let me give you some insight into the SEC fans. One guy is a LSU fan who I consider like family, asked him to be a godparent to our new baby. Fans out here are simply nuts about their football. You don't see fanaticism like this in the Pac 10. Most Pac 10 fans don't have conference pride and loyalty like out here. I think SEC fans probably were the ones to start the whole bragging about their conference thing.
They simply overestimate the teams in their conferences and underestimate non SEC teams continuously. It is always a shock when a team like Tenn loses because they simply don't think it could happen on paper. For die hard football fans that know everything about the SEC and their teams, they know nothing about college football outside the SEC. After 3 years here, my LSU friend still doesn't know the difference between Cal and UCLA. They have selective memory. He doesn't remember very close wins LSU had over Oregon State and Arizona State. They don't remember USC basically owning Auburn and Arkansas this decade. When you point it out to them, their excuse is that Ark was a bad team that year. Then you point it out that Ark won the SEC west that year. My co-worker who is a big Florida fan really knows nothing about the fact that the pac 10 is 10 and 6 against the SEC. For those who say it's the pac-1, take USC's wins out and it's still 6-6. Not exactly SEC domination
Fact is that travelling to any other non-conferece school in a big match-up is difficult for the road team. USC definitely breaks the trend. The game against ASU will tell a lot about Georgia in regard to how good they really are. OSU at USC will tell a lot about how much the Buckeyes have learned from their last two big games away from their friendly confines. On the other hand, I don't think this loss by Tenn really shows much about them. Their o-line was widely considered one of the best in the nation before the game....certainly did not show last night. I expect that this loss may help with some motivation....if Fullmer knows how to do one thing right, it's holding his team together after some bad losses.
I know what is going to happen. Tennesse will regroup and come out and play well for a while only to lose the game in heartbreaking fashion as soon as I start to think that this team may turn it around. I am a Tennessee fan. I have become used to this crap over the past several years. We are mediorce, but when the people start calling for Fulmer's head, they will miraculously and unexpectedly play to their potential and beat someone really good like they did Georgia last year. Although, Georgia wasn't all that good until late October last year. Anyway, it is gonna be a long year and the Vols are staring a 2-4 start in the face. Congratulations, guys. Way to make every little boy in the Volunteer state have nothing to look forward to until Christmas. You guys should feel like $%%&* for makin these kids go to bed cryin last night. You disgust me.
What a great game! I wanted Tennessee to win but I'd rather see a good game. All this conference talk is non-sense. Yes the SEC is a better conference but I'm sorry but conferences don't play each other. Tennessee was expected to finish third in the east which would mean they would finish about fifth or sixth overall in the conference. And they were the traveling team with a new quarterback. I know this was the first game but he looked awful. He was skipping passes all night. Hats off to UCLA (not the PAC-10) for playing with a purpose! To win....
The UT fans aren't selling Fulmer down the river because of one loss, this has been building for a few years now where they have consistently under achieved from preseason expectations. They see this as a continuing trend and are tired of the team's inconsistency from week to week.
The "loyalty" of the UT fans is admirable. The Vols lose one game and they sell the coach down stream, forget that two weeks ago they were crowing about UT being another one of those "ranked" SEC teams and now want to declare how bad "their Big Orange sucks." But....of course they still have everyone else in the conference to be loyal too. For God's sak they are "apologizing" to the conference. Spurrier's gotta love that!!
Ask UCLA how good the SEC is this year. You can live in the past all you want, but that strong Conference last year doesn't look like it is nearly as strong as it was made out to be this year.
No respectable college football fan would ever cheer for some of the crap teams in the Big-10. It's easy to cheer for a whole conference when it is clearly the best. We want to beat everyone else b/c there are so many haters that want to say the SEC is not the best conference. But any real football fan knows that the SEC is the best overall conference, top to bottom. Other conferences have teams that can compete but only the top 1 or 2 teams in a respective conference.
Apologies to the SEC from UT, from a UT fan that bled orange today, after the game I hated it almost as much for the SEC image ...........and of course if anyone is objective (not many on this blog) and looks at the big pic they will see that UT is prob the 7th best team in the conference that should have destroyed this UCLA team, but this is their chance to state their case that "the SEC does not rule, see, see ,see, see what I told you".............my GOD it is sad and funny isn't it..............ok cmon get it out haters, this is your morning to believe your lies...........once again, sorry SEC
So the 4 INTs in the first half from Craft weren't breaks for TN? Those were just expected? How can you say UCLA won on breaks. That game came down to heart. UCLA had more and out played TN in the second half.
I mean lets all be honest haters, that was a fluke........I know this is the beauty of cfb but cmon.........get your hate of the SEC out, get it out good, vomit it all on the floor, because TN would win 8/9 out of 10 against UCLA, but got outcoached severely and just didn't get those wonderful breaks
Agreed, Foster doesn't fumble, UT wins. But there were plenty of other chances that UT had to put this game away. Where was that OL that everyone was talking about being so good? I'm an SEC fan all the way, but UT lost to a PAC-10 team last year and then again this year, so now all the PAC-10 homers can say that they beat an SEC team any time we want to talk trash this season. Thanks UT. Thanks a lot.
Well, before you dismiss LSU's fans, they have won two of the last five NC's. Hubris is bound to occur in such an environment. The real obnoxious fanbase resides in Ohio, in my estimation. If the Suckeyes lose to USC, then their indignation will only grow louder. The only class in Columbus exhibited of late is where a professor stands in front of a student body. Jack Nicklaus must lament over OSU's current confidence crisis and how its fans have responded.
As a lifetime vol fan I am at an all time low. Although it is not realized how hard it is to go across the country to play, we are way too athletic to loss to a 2nd and 3rd string UCLA team.
1. Why not run the ball when we are getting over 5 yards a carry?
2. You have to take advantage of 4 ints in a half.
3. 19-41 quit passing after 20 atts.
4. 8 yard cushion when UCLA is inside the 5?????
5. We finally have a mobile QB why not roll him out?
6. I'm tired of backing Fulmer..Mike Hamilton please give someone else a look Gruiden??
7. Does Pat Summitt know anything about football?
As a lifetime vol fan I am at an all time low. Although it is not realized how hard it is to go across the country to play, we are way too athletic to loss to a 2nd and 3rd string UCLA team.
1. Why not run the ball when we are getting over 5 yards a carry?
2. You have to take advantage of 4 ints in a half.
3. 19-41 quit passing after 20 atts.
4. 8 yard cushion when UCLA is inside the 5?????
5. We finally have a mobile QB why not roll him out?
6. I'm tired of backing Fulmer..Mike Hamilton please give someone else a look Gruiden??
7. Does Pat Summitt know anything about football?
The problem is Fulmer is so afraid to lose , he won't open up his options. Of course there's risk to run the ball and expose to the opposing team that maybe "we" aren't as strong up front as we want them to think. The only way to win these days is be head and shoulders better/stronger than the other team..or take some chances and trust your players. When Crompton struggles to move the ball and the ground game stalls , throw in Nick Stevens to see if he can shake things up a little. If you're going 3 and out in 3 consecutive possessions , I doubt he is gonna hurt us too much to try him out. If your receivers are being lazy and the corners are cutting their routes off, give the damn ball to a fresh set of legs. Just the way I see it. I've been hoping for years Ucla would get it together and give us something other than Oregon,Cal ,and USC to get excited about, and maybe this is a sign of things to come, but Tennessee is a far better team top to bottom and just blew their wad with the execution and play calling . Why keep all those good players on the roster if you won't use them?
I am not a UT fan, but watched the UCLA game as a SEC fan. I saw a beat up UCLA team drive over 70 yards twice against UT. The VOL defense looked like crap. No pass rush, I never heard UT's linebackers names called once for a great play or crunching tackle. I think they expected UCLA to lay down to the mighty VOLS. I truly despise the PAC-10, and UT makes me #### words laying an egg like that.
Hats off to Norm Chow of UCLA he made great adjustments at haltime with his first year quarterback. The underneath pass was simply never adjusted to by the tennessee defense. On offense we failed to have any vertical passing game which would have set up the short underneath passes. The running game looked great and the secondary looked phenomenal until late in the fourth, but I believe it comes down to being simply unprepared. Hopefully we'll be ready for UAB.
Respect is earned. Execution, execution, execution. How can this team with this talent be so off its game? Crompton played the whole fall camp wearing the green protection jersey and last night it showed the effects. Once he got hit he started to rush things. Not only did Foster funble on the 6 with 1st and goal but Jones returns a punt to the UCLA 25 and UT comes up with a big 0 to show for it.
Enough with the "last years stats. Nothing that happened last year matters this year. No way should UT have been that un-prepared for UCLA. I am a life long fan and I am tired of having to come up with excuses for this team under acheiving.
Yes they will get better but the big question is why was this team not better last night?
UT finally found a running game and then quit running. It was obivious to even the announcers that Crompton needed to be rolled out of the pocket due to the up the middle pressure. UCLA did it in the 2nd half why not UT?
I'm not giving up on this season but this loss was totally unexcuseable. The players did not perform as they should and the coaches did not coach as they should.
Hats off to UCLA for hanging tough and pulling out a win. It looks like another anxious year in Big Orange Country....But we will be back. Go Vols !
I really hate that UT got beat. that stinks. I'm a Dawg fan but I pull for any SEC team playing OOC . I've said it before any team can loose on any given day, good or bad. but tenn has gotten good at loosing the ones that count..much like OSU they seem to crumble when the nation is watching.
Tennesse 6th or 7th? How did they stomp UGA (that was not an upset in a close game that was a whipping). At worst 4th behing, Florida, LSU and UGA.
I still think the SEC is the best conference in the country the top 6 teams in that conference are really impressive. The bottom 5 are not very good (Miss St., Ole Miss, Vandy, Kentuky and Arkansas).
The only point that I as a pac 10 fan want to bring up is we are a good conference and your teams are not going to roll over every team out west. I still think that UGA will beat ASU, but the game should be close.
Its not just us hillbillies (btw, I consider myself a redneck), but check all media outlets for opinions. You seem to be arguing with yourself as no one engages in you debate here over your highly selective and questionably relevant statistic. Anyone could go down the middle of your conference and ask similar questions. Your Rose Bowl could have gone a long way last year in settling some bragging rights, but they bring in a punching bag for USC. EVERYBODY wants to see a USC vs. SEC (read carefully- USC, not PAC-10) match-up. Those are the heavyweights in everyone's minds. Clearly the perception bothers you, so I will say it again, IF YOU WANT TO BE THE MAN- YOU"VE GOT TO BEAT THE MAN- WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. Go out and beat UGA, send your boys to play the SEC (like yesterday) and if you keep winning- the perception will change...
You can't blame the Tennessee players, they did what the coaches told them to do. I guess when the UCLA defense can't stop the run you let your QB throw 41 passes... I will give UCLA credit, they played as hard as they could, but Dave Clawson and whoever the special teams coach need to understand, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. By the way, who even runs the punt formation that Tennessee used last night anymore?
lol. r u guys serious... yea UCLA won the game but we r know that TENN gave the game away. We will always have upsets.... remember last year when USC lost to Stanford... it doest make the PAC 10 the best and if TENN would have won the game it wouldnt had proved anytng. USC beat lame UVA and now they r the best team in the nation.... BAMA beat CLEMSON, why not rank them #2 ... We all know that the SEC is the best and a team FROM the SEC will win the NATIONAL TITLE game this year.
CAN some1 explain to me why a team from the SEC havent played USC in the title game yet.... i mean USC suppose to be the best right????
This loss was about 1 thing. Poor coaching. Nueheisel, Chow and Walker made Tennessee's coaching staff look like they coached Pop Warner. Foster averaged 7 yards a carry. Even if you take out the 41 yard gain, he still averaged over 4 yards a carry. Hardesty ran well the entire game. Tennessee was up 14-7, yet came out passing on first down I think 3 possessions in a row when it was clear Crompton was off his game. I agree with KlnMeSmalls, RUN THE BALL. I was screaming it the entire second half. Of course when they finally decide to run the ball, Hardesty breaks a 20 yard TD run. Furthermore, they didn't move Crompton around. All summer I heard how Crompton was more mobile than Ainge, yet no roll outs. Walker, the UCLA defensive coordinator, knew that the Vols were only going with straight drop back passes so it was not necessary to rush off the corners much. They just brought the pressure up the middle constantly. Crompton had arms in his face all game. Then when the Vols decide to run the ball, its out of the 'G' package which makes it obvious they are running because they have a receiver at quarterback. This was as uncreative an offensive gameplan as I have ever seen. And yes the blame goes on Clawson, the new offensive coordinator who looked like he thought he was still coaching a 1AA game, but Fulmer should have stepped in and said run the ball or you can go home already. I have tickets to the UT/Florida game and im not lookin forward to that anymore.
This game was typical UT football. I am a huge Vol fan and will always be, but I'm tired of them coming out season after season playing like this. I've always said, if they come out strong in the 1st half then they will give it up in the 2nd or vice-cersa. It makes my stomach turn to think we could possibly have Fulmer for another 7 years(or however long). In my opinion, he shoulda been gone before last season. It's clear the only time UT plays well is when Cutcliffe is there. Why let him go? Send Fulmer packin and give it to Cutcliffe! Instead, they keep Fulmer every year. I'm tired of seein him on the sidelines every game with that dumb-founded look on his face! DUUH, look at me Ima football coach DUUUH!! (in my best Homer Simpson voice). It's time for Fulmer to #### or get off the pot! We need somebody in there that's fired up about TN football and can recruit the top players like we used to get. I doubt Peerless Price, Leonard Little, Raynoch Thompson, Al Wilson, etc. would come and play for Tn if they were high school seniors now. Clausen needs to rethink this offensive plan. We don't have to pass every freakin play! Run the d**n ball! That's why we have Foster, one of the best RBs in school history and Hardesty for. It's gonna be a long season...
I just saw a couple interesting posts so I wanted to jump back in. The polls mean nothing at all. They are just fun to look at. It's nothing to get worried about. Why would USC gain ground when both they and Georgia won? Maybe it was because they played on the road, 3000 some miles away vs. a Division I and BCS school and won impressively. Whereas, Georgia played at home gainst a DII or sub-division school and won impressively. Some people around the country put merit into playing a schedule lined with DI and BCS teams. I am not saying that Virginia wasn't overmatched on Saturday. I was there and am here to tell ya, they were MORE than overmatched.
Saying that half of the Pac 10 is a cream puff is a little harsh, considering recent events. I have said for years that I would gladly welcome any and all SEC teams to handle the rigors of the Pac 10 schedule: that means actually playing all the teams the in the conference (or at least 9 games, they DID add a game ya know), playing in the extremes from 118 degree to 10 below, from 97000 fans to 35000 fans, from the beauty of the Rose Bowl to the insanity of Autzen, from 50 year to 110 year rivalries, playing in the desert to the mountains to the ocean, from the pressure and glitz of Los Angeles to the pedestrian of Pullman, traveling from Seattle to Tucson. I applaud Tennesee and Georgia for at least taking a trip.
One UCLA victory (a true bottom feeder in the Pac 10 annually at least for the last 7 years or more) does not make the Pac 10 better than the SEC. It's one win by a team that played a 3rd string JC transfer and lost its three top offensive performers in the first quarter of a game versus a perennial top tier team in the SEC. Tennessee is not the poster child for the SEC even if they did play for the conference championship last year, just like UCLA is not the poster child for the Pac 10. The win proves nothing relevant to the argument of what conference is better.
It is interesting though that on opening weekend, all the teams from both conferences played with mixed results. The SEC posted an impressive 10-2 mark against mainly non-BCS teams, including a loss to a non-BCS team (8 of 12 games vs. non-BCS teams, 3 of which were DII or sub-division teams). The Pac 10 posted a 7-3 record while losing only one game outside conference play and that to a BCS school (Oklahoma St. routed Wazzou). No DII teams were played and only 2 non-BCS teams, all of course were victories.
A couple things we all did find out this past weekend was that the ACC is not very good and Phil Fulmer is back on the hot seat.
Have you seen the latest polls? USC drags a pathetic UVA team up and down the field and gets moved ahead of UGA. They both played powder-puffs so why punish UGA for doing their job and taking care of business? More proof that pre-season polls should be abolished and polls started at least after week 2 or 3 so these nutjob coaches and sportswriters can actually SEE teams in action and not just on paper.
Here is an SEC fan ready to concede that we may not be the toughest conference this year, obviously too soon to tell, but the Big 12 will give us a run for our money this year. I think most objective observers consider the SEC the toughest conference year in and year out b/c we have sustained it for so long. Our lows don't seem to be as low as other conference's lows on average. There are many teams that could be competitive in the SEC this year, but you cut a decade out and most conference's have really ebbed and flowed more than the SEC and I think it is the consistency that wins us the unofficial title of toughest conference. I think back to periods in the 90's when the Big 10 was dominant (Penn St., Wisc, Perdue, Mich) and the Pac 10 when UCLA had a brief resurgence, both Oregon's were very good, Wazu and ASU with Jake the snake- I just think the SEC has been more consistent over time, and of course the margin isn't quite as thick as we make it out to be- BUT YOU GOTTA BEAT THE MAN TO BE THE MAN- WOOOOOOOOOOO. If you don't like it- come take it.
At the end of the year, we should see who the best team is. I think we actually have the last few years, and not just on the merits of a victory over Ohio State. Though, Florida-USC in 2006 and LSU-USC in 2007 would have been interesting.
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