TENNESSEE FOOTBALL NEWS – 9/22/08 (SERIOUS TROUBLE IN KNOXVILLE)

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Oooooh, boy things are bad in Knoxville.  For the past few years, certain members of the media have been writing columns and hosting shows in which Phillip Fulmer’s record was the hot topic of conversation.  They said that Fulmer’s record and program were in decline… salvaged only by a 43-2 career mark versus Kentucky, Vandy and South Carolina.

Those media members were called “negative,” “Fulmer-haters,” and helluva lot worse.  Trust me, I know.  Nothing like a “somebody oughta burn your house down” email to wake you up in the morning.

We’ll there’s not a lot of talk about “negativity” now.  The beatdown Florida put on Tennessee in the Vols’ own house (again) has turned the fanbase against Fulmer.  How much?  I haven’t heard a defender since Saturday night.

Things are seriously bad right now in Knoxville, folks.  Seriously bad.  And even a 2007-like turnaround might not win the fans back. 

Good thing the UT athletic department gave Fulmer a raise and extension this summer, huh?



By the way, the two funniest stories making the rounds in East Tennessee are these:

1)  Pilot Oil, charged with price gouging over gasoline, is raising their prices so Pilot owner (and UT mega-booster) Jim Haslam can afford to pay for Fulmer’s buy-out.

2)  UT’s athletic director is in negotiations with Bill Cowher to take over the program.

One is supposed to be a joke.  The other isn’t supposed to be a joke… but it is.



With regards to a major turnaround like last year’s, Mike Strange of The Knoxville News Sentinel can’t see one on the horizon.

John Adams, also of The Sentinel, sums up most of the excuses being made by Tennessee’s players and coaches as “coping mechanisms.”

For those fans wanting to see someone else at quarterback after Jonathan Crompton’s third so-so performance of the year, don’t hold your breath.  “If it was just Jonathan, it would be one thing.  I don’t think there’s a leadership problem.”

All-SEC punter Britton Colquitt is in the middle of a suspension for an off-season DUI.  Chad Cunningham has been his replacement.  The Vols are averaging a net of just 22 yards per punt.  Read that again, while I wait for you…  Okay.  The Vols are now taking a look at other punters.



Before leaving Knoxville, Pat Dooley of The Gainesville Sun watched Fulmer’s tv show on Sunday morning (he should have watched my show instead).  “If he said, ‘Jeez!’ once he said it a hundred times while watching the highlights.”  Dooley also believes that UT’s “poorly-coached, rag-tag team” deserves consideration as the worst team in the SEC.  Wow.