So much for those rumors of Tennessee athletic director Dave Hart giving Derek Dooley his walking papers yesterday afternoon.  Not only was Hart watching a women’s soccer game in Knoxville when he was supposedly dropping the hammer on Dooley, but he actually gave the coach word — according to the coach himself — that no decision has been made yet.

According to Dooley at his usual Monday presser today:

“I didn’t ask him that, but I did ask him a lot of things.  We talked very frankly about it.  He told me he had not made a decision, whether we go 6-6, despite what all the reports are.

Either the sources are wrong, or Dave wasn’t being forthright with me, and I have no reason to think Dave’s not being forthright.  He’s an honest man, he’s always been honest with me and I’ve appreciated how he’s handled everything about this.  I really have.”

Tennessee’s coach is 4-18 in SEC play and he’s not likely to return next season.  Attendance has waned at Neyland Stadium and keeping Dooley would mean taking a financial hit next season.  Of course, buying Dooley out would also put the squeeze on an athletic department that lost cash last year.

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Safety Malik Greaves from Sandalwood High School in Jacksonville, Fla., is focusing his recruitment on Auburn now that he’s no longer committed to Vanderbilt.

Greaves told 247Sports that he decommitted from Vanderbilt last week and plans to take an official visit to Auburn in the near future.

“Vanderbilt is a good program,” Greaves said. “From the staff to the players. I just feel that it would be a better situation for me at Auburn. They are a great academic school as well as Vandy, just with a more pro-style defensive system. Yeah, they fell off this season but that happens.”

Of course, as the season for Auburn (1-7, 0-6 SEC) continues to get worse, the future of Auburn coach Gene Chizik and his staff becomes more in doubt. And that could cause prospects like Greaves to question their interest in playing for the Tigers.

James Franklin has pushed so many right buttons since his arrival at Vanderbilt a year ago that many folks forgot just how many buttons needed to be pushed to steer the Commodore football program from troubled waters to tranquil seas.

In 2011, he won over a fanbase that was tired of being treated like a doormat each fall.  His post-game comments after last year’s tight loss to Georgia were for Vandy fans a cross between Tim Tebow’s Promise and Thomas Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence.  There were six wins (granted against Elon, UConn, Ole Miss, Army, Kentucky and Wake Forest) and those victories brought a bid to the Liberty Bowl in Memphis.  Along the way, the Dores came within five points of Georgia, three of Arkansas, five of Florida and six of Tennessee.  VU was giving even big-name SEC foes all they wanted.

Off the field, Franklin sold his program to starved fans, recruits and the media.  Recruits responded in historic fashion for VU last February and his list of commitments is above average again this year.  Media members have responded even more positively than the recruits.  After a single 6-7 season at Vanderbilt, Franklin’s name was attached to much higher-profile jobs all across the US fo A.  Matt Hayes of The Sporting News put the icing on the cake by ranking Franklin as America’s 25th best football coach.

But now people are starting to remember just what kind of job lies ahead of Vandy’s fiery, energetic, salesman of a coach.  The Dores are 1-3.  They’ve lost to South Carolina and Northwestern in come-from-ahead-to-lose fashion.  And after a route over tiny Presbyterian College, Vanderbilt was dismantled on national television by Georgia 48-3 in Athens on Saturday.

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After Georgia’s win in Nashville last season, Vanderbilt coach James Franklin and Georgia defensive coordinator Todd Grantham had a few postgame words for one another on the field.  It wasn’t the first time Grantham had shown a little too much emotion.  And it wouldn’t be be the last time in 2011 that Franklin would stir up some controversy with an opposing coach or fanbase.

Grantham and Franklin are fiery characters.  UGA head coach Mark Richt on the other hand is as cool as the proverbial cucumber.  Which is why he says his team will be “ready” for this weekend’s rematch with Vandy in Athens, but he claims that he won’t try to use the postgame kerfuffle as a motivator for this squad:

“I think the big thing is to make sure we just concentrate on playing football and not on the extra-curricular. Because those things turn into penalties. … I don’t want anything to take focus  off of executing [or] take  focus off of doing the right things fundamentally and knowing your job and taking care of your responsibility. So that’s what we’re going to focus on.”

I don’t think Richt will have to say Word One to his players regarding the end of last year’s game.  They’ll remember it.  So will Vanderbilt’s players.  Saturday could see a real slobberknocker between the hedges.

According to the Associated Press, James Franklin has already gone into “spin mode” following Vanderbilt’s 0-2 start to this season.  The Commodores have suffered a pair of come-from-ahead defeats to South Carolina (17-13 in Nashville) and to Northwestern (23-13 on the road).  Fans and some in the media expected more from the Dores.  Now Franklin’s trying to prevent those folks from jumping ship:

“We learned valuable lessons, and we are getting better.  I know there’s a frustration with our fans from years, and then the light started shining and there was hope.  All that is still there.  You know one game, one moment is not going to define who and what we’re going to be as a program.”

Franklin just happens to be right, of course.  You can’t turn around a football program like a skateboard, it’s more like moving a cruise ship.  Franklin inherited a team of redshirt juniors and seniors last season from Bobby Johnson (the previous coach didn’t get nearly enough credit for his part in VU’s 2011 bowl-bound season).  He fired up that veteran squad, fired up recruits and, in doing so, fired up fans as well.

Quickly, many, many media members fell right in line over-inflating the coach’s reputation.  Matt Hayes of The Sporting News, for one, wrote this offseason that Franklin — who has a single 6-7 season under his belt as a head coach — is already the 25th best football coach in the country.

Whoa, pardner.  Let’s just slow all this stuff down a bit.

Vandy’s team is faster this season thanks to a bevy of three-star recruits Franklin has brought onto his West End campus.  For years, the Dores had been dealing mostly with two-star guys.  But getting speed on his team is just Step One.

There’s still an issue of depth.  In the SEC, you can’t just be one-deep, you better be two- or even three-deep at most positions.  It will take Franklin more than two recruiting classes and 15 games to reach that point.

Also, as the coach himself has admitted, he still needs to win a tight game to get his team over the mental barrier of being the “same ol’ Vanderbilt.”  Trust me, if you hear something long enough, you start to believe it.  As Northwestern roared from behind to tie and then win last Saturday night’s game, it was if VU players knew the script, hung their heads, and sadly agreed to play their parts.  That mentality — which has been part of the program for nearly a century — will have to be changed.  It will take a late-game win over a good program to get that done.  Maybe more.

So what’s the verdict on Franklin?  There isn’t one and that’s the point.  It’s too soon to be judging him.  He did a nice job on the field last season and in living rooms this offseason.  That doesn’t mean he’s going to be the next Knute Rockne.

He’s now off to an 0-2 start and that will anger a lot of folks in the media who had already crowned him as the Prince of Football.  In reality, his squad faced a Top 10 Carolina team in its opener and then traveled to play a program whose success VU would like to eventually emulate.  The Commodores opened with two very losable games.  For that reason, no one should be saying, “I told ya Franklin wasn’t special” just yet.

The jury is still out on Franklin.  How ’bout we see where things stand at the end of this season?  And even if Vandy suffers through a losing season, the young coach can still prove that he indeed is the man for the job if his recruiting holds.  To this writer, he still looks like a good hire.  Not a great one, not a terrible one, but a good one.  Now he needs time to prove how good.

Franklin shouldn’t be going into spin mode now.  He shouldn’t have to.  Fixing Vanderbilt’s football fortunes won’t be done over the span of just 15 contests.

Each week of the season we’ll try to provide you with a quickie roundup of each SEC contest.  Basically, the bulletpoints that stood out to us.  Here’s our take on the SEC’s first game of the season.

South Carolina 17, Vanderbilt 13 in Nashville

Key Stat:  In the last 99 SEC contests over the past three seasons, only 12 times has a team won the turnover battle only to lose the game.  Vandy became #12 last night when the Commodores lost at home despite holding a 2-1 advantage in turnovers.  There’s a reason Carolina almost lost… turnovers.

Quick Takes:

* Carolina fans complaining about Georgia’s schedule had better worry about their own offense and spotty secondary play.  The Gamecocks don’t have a consistent, accurate passer… so each game will come down to Connor Shaw’s legs, Marcus Lattimore’s legs and their ability to rush the passer.

* USC’s thin secondary had some busts on the evening, including Jordan Rodgers’ 78-yard touchdown pass to Jordan Matthews in the second quarter.

* Lattimore looked good rushing 23 times for 110 yards and catching three more balls for another 21.  He also fumbled early.  If he stays healthy, that gives Carolina a Heisman candidate to lean on.

* But if Lattimore gets hurt or if Shaw — who showed real guts in playing with what was termed a bruised shoulder but looked an awful lot like a separated shoulder — misses any playing time, USC will become way too one-dimensional and way too reliant on one man to provide that dimension.

* This ain’t your daddy’s Vanderbilt, folks.  James Franklin had a fired up crowd in the stands and a confident team on the field.  Rodgers wasn’t scintillating, but he was solid.  Considering Carolina’s pass rush, that’s good enough.  VU had a chance to win last night.

* Franklin wouldn’t comment on what looked to be pass interference on the Dores’ final fling of the night.  No flag was thrown.  Instead — and it’s praiseworthy that he focused on his team, not the refs — the coach said: “At some point, we’ve got to find a way to win these tough games.  The margin of error is not real big for us.”

(Thanks for patiently waiting for me to proofread and correct this post.  An hour at the doctor’s office made this football Friday more hectic than most.  My apologies.)

Each week, all season long, we’ll provide you with a quick thumbnail sketch for each SEC football game.  Obviously, with the season kicking off tonight, the first said thumbnail will feature South Carolina and Vanderbilt.

Here’s our quickie take:

South Carolina at Vanderbilt

7:00pm ET on ESPN

Opening Line:  USC -8

Current Line:  USC -6.5

Storylines:  Come on, it’s the SEC opener for both teams.  But if you’re looking for something more, there are two questions we’ll start to see answered tonight.  Fresh off its first-ever 11-win season, is South Carolina ready to another step forward and legitimately compete for a BCS championship?  And James Franklin’s done great work at Vandy in a short time, but will the Dores take a step backward since they won’t be sneaking up on anyone in 2012?

Keys for South Carolina:  Bring the heat to Vandy quarterback Jordan Rodgers and protect a thin secondary.  Lean on — but make sure not to overuse — tailback Marcus Lattimore who’s returning from major knee surgery.

Keys for Vanderbilt:  Simple.  Force turnovers and convert on third downs.  The Commodores need to keep the ball in their possession when they have it… and steal possessions — and create short fields for their offense — when the Gamecocks have it.

Pick:  South Carolina 27, Vanderbilt 17

We’ve said it before, we’ll say it again… Vanderbilt is leading the way in the SEC in terms of YouTube recruiting.  The Commodore athletic department — specifically its video wing — does a nice job of posting to the web several behind-the-scenes looks at the football program, glimpses of the coaches having fun with the players, and, yes, those heart-warming “here’s your scholarship” moments.

Below, another Vandy walk-on gets his scholarship.  Aside from the cheesy music, it’s another solid piece by the folks in Nashville.  Why ship these stories out to the media and have them sliced up and cut down?  Better to just post them online their own selves and get ‘em right in front of recruits’ eyes ASAP.

Love the Dores or hate the Dores, they understand online branding and online recruiting.

People in Nashville have a choice to make tomorrow night: Watch Vanderbilt open the season against South Carolina or head across town to watch the NFL’s Tennessee Titans play their final preseason game.  So far, it looks like the NFL and the Thursday night kickoff aren’t helping VU.

CollegeFootballTalk.com reports that single-game tickets for the Dores-Cocks opener are still available at Vandy’s website.  Considering all the buzz and excitement and new energy surrounding James Franklin’s program, you’d think a season opener would be sold out well in advance.

But the NFL is stiff competition.  And the Thursday night start makes it more difficult for Carolina fans to travel in for the contest as well.

Still, if Vanderbilt fans want to support their coach’s efforts to change the football program’s reputation, they need to quickly snap up every seat in the house so ESPN’s cameras won’t beam the image of empty seats to into recruits’ homes.

SEC East Football

1.  Here’s a look at Florida’s five biggest games of the year.

2.  Would Gator fans buy more tickets if UF’s home schedule was better?

3.  Georgia AD Greg McGarity thinks the SEC’s future football schedules will be revealed “later this fall,” but he’s “not certain when.”

4.  UGA is once again looking for answers on the offensive line.

5. “Drumbeats of doom getting louder around UK football.”  Yikes.

6.  One Lexington projection for Kentucky’s record: Try 4-8.

7.  South Carolina has released its depth chart for Thursday’s opener with Vanderbilt.

8. Sheldon Royster — once a highly-rated safety prospect — has left USC and intends to transfer.

9.  NC State’s talented secondary makes the loss of Da’Rick Rogers a bigger concern for Tennessee.

10.  On Thursday night, will folks in Nashville head to Vandy’s opener with South Carolina or to the Tennessee Titans final preseason game?

11.  Missouri begins writing a new chapter in its football history this week.

SEC West Football

12.  Alabama will open the season in Arlington in a building that is “more of a sports and entertainment venue and an architectural icon” than stadium.

13.  Three-fifths of Auburn’s starting offensive line will be inexperienced when the Tigers open against Clemson.

14.  Bobby Petrino’s departure “could set mythic tone for Razorbacks’ season.”

15.  Les Miles on LSU freshman: “It’s about this year… if they can make us better, we want them to contribute.”

16.  With injuries at tailback, Alfred Blue is making his move in Baton Rouge.

17.  New receivers coach Tim Brewster — the former head coach at Minnesota — is bringing new fire to Mississippi State’s coaching staff.

18.  Dillon Day is entrenched as the Bulldogs’ starting center.

19.  At Ole Miss, it’s all about the buy-in to Hugh Freeze new system.

20.  Converted Rebel defensive end EJ Epperson is “one of those blue-collar, hardcore workers who’s going to play his rear end off and give you the best he can every snap.”

21.  Tropical Storm/Hurricane Isaac could rain on Texas A&M’s Thursday night opener in Shreveport.  (Only about 25,000 tickets have been sold for the game so far.  Brutal.)

22.  Both schools are tracking the storm closely.

SEC/College News

23.  Can anyone end the SEC’s football dynasty?

24.  ESPN’s making SEC bowl projections.  Already.

25.  The mother of Dallas Lee (Georgia) and Dillon Lee (Alabama) is glad this year’s Tide-Dawgs matchup was 86′d.