Tennessee, You Deserve This

14 months. All this carnage in 14 months. Hurricane Lane blew through Knoxville and left the Tennessee football program in ruins. How did it happen? Good question. You would think a school with the tradition and prestige of a Tennessee would hire a football coach to lead its program. Instead they hired a rock star wannabe. Why?

When Phil Fulmer was kicked to the curb at UT, his record was somewhere around the 150-50 mark. But winning 3 out of every 4 games for two decades were not enough for the Vols. They weren’t winning the right games anymore. They weren’t beating the Gators, and now it looked like the Tide was an automatic L for the near future too. Something had to be done. But what?

Apparently, somebody had the idea to go out and hire the “anti-Fulmer”. Fulmer was a class act. He was a Vol. He played for the Vols. He bleeds UT orange. He’s getting a bit older and out of shape. He gives the impression that he does not want to make waves, never wanting to mix it up anymore with Urban Meyers or Nick Sabans. He shrugs off losses with his standard “we will work like heck”. But he can never be accused of embarrassing the school.

“So who do we get? How about the kid who the Raiders just fired? He’s young. He’s good looking. He’s in shape. He’s got the balls to get in Meyer’s face. He is a guy who can come in and light a fire. Never mind he has a 5-15 record. Never mind he has never heard of Knoxville. Who cares if he wants to scrap everything UT and replace it with USC? As long as it wins games right?”

Well now you know. You went out and hired the anti-Fulmer only to realize that Fulmer was more good than bad. And now look at you. And you fans who have been swallowing his crap for 14 months, how do you like him now? Oh you loved it when he took pot shots at other coaches. You just laughed it up. You thought it was great when he made UT the butt of jokes around the SEC. It was just jealousy right? Or maybe we were scared? Maybe we were worried because we didn’t have Fat Phil to kick around anymore? No actually, we were really laughing at you.

Now look at you. You’re making youtube videos peeing on t-shirts and cussing his name. You’re burning mattresses and spray painting F-Bombs on rocks. You were SOOO cocky. What are you now? You’re getting what you deserve, that’s what.

Where Have All the Rivals Gone?

Everyone has a rivalry game that means a little more to them than all the others. Most old timers will tell you its Georgia. Lose every game on the schedule but beat the Bulldogs, and they’re happy.

Georgia has been taken out behind the woodshed so many times as of late, it’s simply become routine to come back from Jacksonville with a win. Once in a while the Bulldogs pull out a win, but the last 20 years have been dominated by Florida.

Tennessee could be on its way back as a revived rivalry, thanks to all the trash talking by Lane Kiffin. Games against the Vols and Phil Fulmer were fun to watch, but the fact that the Gators played them so early in the season kind of softened the intensity. The fact is, you can stumble early against Tennessee and still salvage the season and play for a National Championship.

For me, Florida State is that game each season that gets the hatred stirring in my stomach. Despite FSU being down for quite some time, it’s also the game I’m always most worried about the Gators losing.

The Seminoles are in desperation mode. For a historically “dirty-playing” team, I have no doubts they will go to any lengths to injure players and win at any cost. You do remember all the late hits on Danny Wuerffel? How about Darnell Dockett at the bottom of a pile twisting Earnest Graham’s knee?

You will see late hits on Tebow. Plenty of taunting and trash talking will take place (from both teams) and if there isn’t a fight before, during or after, I’d be surprised.

Florida has to be careful. They are the team with everything to lose here. One out-of-control fight against FSU means potential suspensions for their match-up against Alabama the following week. Players must remember to keep their cool.

On paper, FSU has no chance to beat the Gators, but with a long history of meaningful rivalry games, you can throw out team records and rankings. For all the reasons FSU has to get up for this game (rivalry game, beating Tebow in his last game at The Swamp, ruining the Gator’s perfect season, throwing a BIG monkey wrench into the BCS system, winning for their once-relevant coach), Florida will use those same reasons to take care of business.

Urban Meyer is the best in preparing his players for big games. Let’s just hope they remember playing FSU is still a big game.