Time for Change

It’s Arkansas week, and by now I should be getting depressed. I don’t think I’m in the minority when I say that I think we don’t stand much of a chance of winning this Saturday. And lets face it, what’s even worse than watching your team lose a game is watching a game already thinking they have no chance to win. But you know what, events like those that have been brought to light this week up in State College have a way of bringing with them some perspective. After all, this is just a game, these are just kids, and college football is supposed to be fun. It sure as hell isn’t more important than the lives and the well-being of young people.

I’ve spent a lot of time this season complaining about what’s wrong with UT football, and I don’t apologize for speaking my mind and speaking from my heart as a fan. But I’m tired of wallowing in the disappointment that is this season of Tennessee football. Yes, we have had some terrible losses. And yes, we have made some questionable coaching decisions. And yes, we have had some underwhelming player performances. And yes, we seem to have had more than our fair share of bad luck. It’s certainly true that we could very well finish this season with 5 wins or less and be sitting at home during bowl season and that will absolutely stink because it means we will have lost to Vandy or Kentucky or, dare I say it, to both. It’s been a disappointing year.

But its time to step back from the ledge and put things into perspective. We are a young team, we have suffered setbacks that most teams have not, and an already thin roster has been depleted, including the loss of our best two offensive players and several key defensive players. So instead of thinking about this week and the butt kicking that may or may not be awaiting us in Fayetteville this Saturday, I’d rather choose to focus instead on what could be in III AD (Anno Dooley. . .The Year of the Doolander). Maybe next year will be more of the same, with bad luck, key injuries and more losses, but I choose to believe otherwise and here are a few reasons why:

Reason 1: Derek Dooley
Who knows how long Dooley is going to be here. It could be 3 years or it could be 30, but dad-gum-it I like the guy. Sure, he’s stumbled out of the blocks a little, but he’s proven he can bring in solid players, he can bring in some solid coaches, and he’s a riot when it comes to doing interviews and press conferences (any doubt just check this out). He created the Vol For Life program, which by all accounts has been a huge success and you know he has to do well with parents. Oh, and his hair is perfect and his pants are kick ass.

Reason 2: Tyler Bray
Throat slashes and similar antics aside, we had one of the best QBs in the SEC before he lost his best weapon and broke his thumb. Tyler Bray has the kind of arm that will have pro scouts falling all over themselves once he decides to leave. Pressure situations don’t seem to phase him. If he decides he wants to get serious about really understanding defensive schemes over the spring and summer and if he and his receivers stay healthy, Tyler could have an incredible junior season next year, and I’m talking Heisman contender type of season.

Reason 3: Wide Receiver U Part Deux
Justin Hunter – What a difficult way for Justin Hunter to go out this year, first play of the Florida game when he was poised to have an All SEC and maybe All American type of season. Something tells me he will come back next year with a vengeance and be stronger and a better route runner. Just think if he is the same or better than the Justin Hunter we saw in the first two games, we will have the best two receivers in the SEC and likely in the country.

Da’Rick Rogers – If you think he’s having a great year (and he is) just imagine what he would be doing if Justin Hunter were out there with him. Da’Rick is going to be even better working the middle of the field, the sidelines, and in the Orange Zone when Hunter is out there drawing his mandatory double coverages. He’s a beast, and don’t forget both he and Justin Hunter were incredible gets by Dooley right after Kiffin was seen leaving on a jet plane.

Reason 4: Improved Defense
Herman Lathers, who was second on the team in tackles last year should be back to play alongside the two talented freshman who have been studs. The line will be anchored by Smith, Miller, Mo Couch, Hood, and Bohanan. Our defensive backfield should be much better with Brewer and Waggner anchoring a group that will include a much more experienced Randolph and Coleman. Combine this with the fact that Dooley and Co. are having a good year filling some need areas on the recruiting trail and this should make for a solid defense that is far better than this years version (a thin defense that played with LSU and Bama for a half).

Reason 5: Offensive Line
I’ve not given up on these guys yet. I think there is talent there and I think at some point its going to come together. Another offseason together in the weight room and on the practice field will help these guys and they could be the line everyone expected to see this year. They’ve already done a good job pass blocking, and if they reach their potential, the running game will have to improve.

Reason 6: The Schedule
This year’s schedule has been brutal, there are no two ways about it. Who the heck knows what’s going to happen with next years schedule now that we’ve super-sized the SEC, but I’m going to go out on a limb and say its going to be more favorable since we won’t be playing LSU and get Florida and hopefully BAMA at home.

Reason 7: Next Year is Our Year
Of course it is, we are Tennessee fans. And you know what, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Go Vols, Beat the Hogs!

At a Loss – Again

I’m going to admit something to you now that both my wife and my mother have been trying to get me to own for years: I am a know-it-all. I think I know everything, and if I don’t know something, I’m going to do my damnedest to convince you that I know it anyway. It’s fair to say that normally I think I have all the answers. But we are now eight games into Derek Dooley’s second season, sitting squarely at 3-6, and all I have is questions. I’ve seen a lot of highs and lows in my 35 plus years of cheering for the Vols. . .from the Sugar Bowl win in 85 and the National Championship in 98 to witnessing loses to Duke, Vanderbilt and Wyoming in once feared Neyland Stadium. But in all my years, I have never witnessed anything as perplexing as the current brand of Tennessee Volunteer football.

Are our struggles partially due to the fact that we have a depleted roster do to attrition and injuries? Absolutely no question about that. But they are also due to the fact that we consistently and repeatedly get stupid penalties, drop key passes, miss key kicks, fail to convert key fourth down conversions and every game we experience critical substitution errors resulting in poor use of our time-outs. These unforced errors cannot be blamed on a lack of talent; they fall squarely on the shoulders of our players and our coaching staff. As I sat there in the stands this past Saturday (which were depressingly empty), witnessing a series where we jumped offsides on fourth and one, then again on fourth and six, and then duck-hooked a field goal attempt on fourth and 11, I caught myself thinking ahead to the rest of season, and how bad things could get for Dooley if he loses this team. Things are bad now, they could get much worse.

There is no question that Dooley should be given time. Those few fans calling for his head now have no idea the kind of damage another coaching change would have on this program. Part of the reason we are where we are is because Fulmer’s players and Kiffin’s players are not here. Another coaching change in the near future would only further deplete a terribly thin roster. And in fairness to Dooley, he only has one full class of his guys in the program. There is no debating that he deserves a chance to turn this ship around, IF he can keep it afloat.

Dooley has thus far only lost games that he was expected to lose, and so for the most part he is still going to be judged by how much his team improves from year two to year three. Most fans understand that its not fair to expect him to win games without Bray and Hunter against teams as good as Georgia, LSU, Bama and South Carolina. But at this point you would hope to see improvement in discipline and in execution and its concerning how much this year’s team has regressed. Our running backs and our offensive line have taken big steps backwards. Our kicking game is putrid and that is being nice. But more concerning than either of those is the decline rather than improvement in game management. We have burned more timeouts this season due to substitution errors and mass confusion than we did last year, in a season where we lost a game SOLELY BECAUSE of substitution errors and mass confusion on the sideline. Its been worse, when it should be much better.

I say all that to say this. . .Dooley’s next year starts this year, because now he has one must win, a MUST WIN, that once seemed like an afterthought. If he wants to keep this already apathetic fan base from dashing to the local BP to buy up all the Gator and Bama hats they have left, he HAS to beat Vanderbilt.

If you told me at the beginning of the season I would be making that statement, I would have told you to lay off the crack pipe. At that point, Vandy was already in the win column just like MTSU and Kentucky. But I think we all agree now that Vanderbilt is anything but a sure win. And if Dooley looses to Vandy, his rebuilding job gets enormously tougher overnight. Recruiting gets tougher, keeping the fan base invested and believing in his vision gets tougher, keeping your good assistant coaches around gets tougher, and keeping your job beyond the next few years gets tougher. Dooley MUST win that game. He and his staff have to prove that they can out scheme and out coach a team with equal or slightly better talent. We all know Georgia, LSU, Alabama and South Carolina have more depth and talent than Tennessee at this point, but you cannot convince me that Vanderbilt will come in here and out talent the Vols. If they win, it will be because they out executed us, which means we got out coached. This is a game Dooley should be able to win, and its a game that he has to win. All year its been Vanderbilt and not Tennessee that’s played with teams that should be soundly beating them. They are going to come into the game confident and ready to play, believing they will win. I just I hope I will be able to say the same about Dooley’s team afterwards.

Surprise, You Just Got Dooleyed!

There’s a new term that has entered the lexicon of college football thanks to Tennessee football, to be “Dooleyed.”  Contrary to popular belief, this catchphrase isn’t used to describe a football coach who loses a game that they were winning when time expired.  And unfortunately for Matt Simms, its not a new television show where a Coach plays silly pranks on unsuspecting players, but then steps out from behind a hidden camera to tell them he was just pulling their leg, not pulling them from the game.  Nope, to be “Dooleyed” means that you’ve just had the unfortunate experience of having your job taken by a true freshman, for a second time in your college football career.  Congratulations Matt Simms, you’ve just been Dooleyed!

Look, let’s get something straight here, I am squarely in the Dooley camp.  I want Coach Dooley to succeed more than anything, and if we Vol fans don’t want this program to really (and I mean REALLY really) fall on hard times, then we need Coach Dooley to succeed.  And short of football armageddon, I am not suggesting and would not ever suggest that we replace our coach anytime soon.  In case anyone is left wondering, I readily admit that Derek Dooley is smarter than me, he’s played and coached way more football than me, has much better hair than me, and let’s face it, he makes a pair of creamsicle dress pants look damn cool.

But I am a life long fan who’s had to endure over thirty years of the ups and downs of all that being a Tennessee fan entails.  And I’ve just witnessed us taking a Grade A ass-kicking from 4 teams I don’t like very much (okay, two that I hate with a passion).  And to be honest, I’m tired of being a fan of the team that plays hard but in the end has to get up from their latest butt-whipping and dust off their britches.  So by golly, I’m gonna climb up on this soap box again and tell you what I think.

I could not believe my eyes when I saw Justin Worley running onto the field Saturday night late in the game.  My first thought was that someone should tackle him and drag him back to the side-line because obviously he was on some redshirt-burnin’ suicide mission that was not endorsed by anyone on the Tennessee staff.  But when no one ran out to stop him and when Dooley didn’t burn another time out to correct a substitution error, it became clear to me that Justin Worley had been sent into the game, INTENTIONALLY, and his redshirt freshman year was no more.  I am still left wondering why.

Someone way more intelligent than me is going to have to explain why Coach Dooley pulled Matt Simms at the end of a blowout that everyone expected to put in a true freshman quarterback who in all likelihood won’t play much next year barring another injury to Tyler Bray.  And while you’re at it, please detail the valuable in game experience gained from a few handoffs and a QB sneak at the end of a game.  Even if you can begin to explain the positives of a move like that, that late in the game, they pale in comparison to all the negatives that come with it.  I want to give him every benefit of every doubt, but I just don’t understand why Coach Dooley did what he did this past Saturday to both Matt Simms and to Justin Worley.  I’ve tried, and I just don’t get it.  Maybe I’m totally wrong, and I hope more than anything I am, but I can’t help but think he pointlessly damaged the psyche of one young man (arguably for a second time), and could have potentially set up another to be damaged down the road.

Even if Dooley were planning on starting Justin Worley against South Carolina (and of course he HAS to now, since he kind of painted himself into that corner), how does pulling Simms when the game was decided (and after all the shots he had taken that night) in favor of playing Worley so that he could take a few meaningless snaps against Bama’s third string do anything to help our current QB situation?  Simms is by all accounts a team leader and a stand up guy, so how does embarrassing a young man like that on national television, yet again, by benching him in favor of a true freshman do anything to help the team in the weeks ahead?  How did it help Justin Worley and the rest of the team who has to go out and play?  Why was this move better than holding a QB competition in earnest this week, away from the prying eyes of the media, and giving Worley the majority of the snaps to see if he can take the job from Simms during game prep?  Why not wait, break the news to Simms and the team first, then to the media just before the South Carolina game?  I just don’t understand any of it.  Don’t tell me its not possible that Worley could have a terrible week of practice and that it could become clear that he’s not ready to take the reins against a good team like South Carolina.  Don’t tell me that Matt Simms couldn’t have engineered wins against Kentucky, MTSU and Vanderbilt, and even maybe helped us upset South Carolina or Arkansas (he was the QB at LSU last year, remember).  Without playing Worley this past Saturday, Dooley still had the fallback option of going with Simms.  Now that he’s used up a valuable redshirt year, he doesn’t.

But what’s done is done, and I hope Justin Worley goes out and plays the game of his life against South Carolina, and puts me and all the second guessing, armchair quarterbacks in our place.  I want him to do well.  But that doesn’t stop me from doubting the move and worrying for a young kid put in a very tough position.  No pressure son, but your coach just upped the ante for you, you’re all in.  All you have to do is go out and make sure you earn the respect and confidence of your teammates in a week and then make damn sure you keep it and win at least 3 of your last 5 games.  No big deal, since you will just be playing against a great SEC defense, a great SEC offense, and three teams who would like nothing better than to make their season better by beating the hell out of Tennessee.

But seriously, I’m pretty sure I speak for most of the Vol nation when I say we are behind you Justin, and we are behind your coach.  And no matter how many times a true Vol gets knocked around and knocked down, we are always gonna get back up and keep fighting for Tennessee.  Just like Matt Simms.

Go Vols,

Stickdaddy

Dooley, I want me to want you!

If you want to sum up Derek Dooley’s unfortunate and, at times, unorganized and unimpressive tenure at the University of Tennessee, just pick an LSU game. Last year, Dooley took an undermanned, over-matched team into Death Valley as a double digit underdog and came within a few seconds and a couple of extra players from pulling one of the biggest upsets of the season. Instead, due to mass confusion on the Tennessee sideline and the continued charmed life of Les Miles, Tennessee players and fans experienced one of the most heart-breaking losses in the history of college football. Wild outbreaks of spontaneous celebration in the stands and in living rooms all over East Tennessee quickly turned to shock, disbelief, and then a feeling that has become all too familiar to Vols fans, defeatism.

Fast forward a year, 5 games into a second, and perhaps even more unlucky Tennessee season. Its best defensive player booted from the team and its two best offensive players out for the better part of the season, the Vols came into their rematch with number 1 ranked LSU team as double digit dogs in Neyland Stadium (something that used to never happen, but seems to occur more and more often). No one gave the Vols a chance to be in this game, or even to keep it respectable, but here they were, near the end of the first quarter, in a 0-0 contest with one of the best teams in the county. There were positive signs, a good kick return, a decent running game, and a defense that was holding LSU’s running game in check. A crowd that was hungry for a great effort. Could the stars align? It looked for a while like we could have made a game of this, just like last year.

But just as the first quarter was coming to a close, yet another series of unfortunate events, the kind that have come to define Dooley’s UT coaching career unfolded to once again to crush the hopes of the Vol nation. Here’s how it unfolded from where I was sitting:

The Vols defense, playing a solid game thus far, held LSU on a crucial 3rd and 1 play just when it looked like the Tigers were marching down the field. The stadium was rocking as it appeared that Lucky Les might try to go for it on fourth down from the 35 yard line. The stadium was as loud as it had been all year.

Instead of trying to go for the first down, Miles sends on his field goal unit. As the kicker lines up to attempt the 52 yard field goal, it feels like something big could happen. I turn to my buddy and say “man, it would be awesome to block this thing.” Which of course we did, after which every single person wearing orange in the stadium goes wild. The crowd is electric and momentum is clearly on the side of the man in the orange pants. This is the big break we need! But wait, what are those two flags doing on the field? Seriously, were we offsides? No? Okay what? Did we get called for a player launching himself over the line? Oh, that was legal? What then? Actually, the flags weren’t meant for us. Turns out one of the most critical plays in the game, a clear momentum shifter that had the players and crowd pumped, never really happened.

The penalty was on LSU, and normally that’s good, but this time not so much. See Lucky Les’ team didn’t get the kick off in time, of course they didn’t, cause it was blocked. They were called for a delay of game. Turns out sometimes a call goes against you even when it goes down in the box score against them. LSU gets a five yard penalty and instead of Tennessee getting the ball on the about the 35 yard line or better, LSU punts the ball and pins the Vols around the 10 yard line.

Okay, so a little life was sucked out of the stadium when the kick block turned into a punt, but the defense still held. We all assumed the Vols would run the ball and run some clock, play field position. But instead Cheney and Dooley dial up a wheel route to Rajon Neal who makes an incredible catch, maybe the catch of the year, on the sideline. The catch, which was called incomplete on the field, is reversed and the crowd once again goes wild. The same euphoria felt during the blocked kick. . .that didn’t happen. It was beginning to look like luck could be on the Vols side tonight, which a catch like that. The score was still 0-0 and LSU had just been punched in the mouth. Maybe we could take this ball down the field and punch it in for 6.

Nope. In what has been a sign of a Dooley led Tennessee team, a bit of good fortune or a glimmer of hope was immediately followed by a bushel of bad luck. Simms dropped back to pass on the very next play (PASS I tell you, not a run the clock running play) and instead of hitting a wide open tight end who maybe could have walked in for a touch down, he throws the ball deep. Well, just not deep enough, and into double coverage. Of course an LSU defensive back was there to pick off the pass, and of course he returns it the length of the field to the two or three yard line. In two plays, LSU crossed the goal line, scored their first touchdown, and never looked back. That quickly, in the span of a few minutes, the game was over and the team and the fans knew it.

I said this before the game and I will say it now: I want to love Dooley and I want him to succeed here. I like his swagger, I like what he has to say, and I like the no-nonsense attitude. I get it, he’s got the persona to be one badass coach. And I think he has brought in some good kids and I think he has hired good coaches. That said, I think he has to be the unluckiest coach in America. He cannot catch a break, unless by break you would be referring to one of his players, like maybe his star quarterback’s thumb. And here is the almost humorous part, it seems each week fate finds a new and different way to tease Dooley and all Vol fans, and to rip hope from their grasp before they’ve even had a chance to grasp it.

And before we blame it all on misfortune, let’s not lose sight of the fact that it’s not just bad luck, its also confusion. Dooley, who seems to be the epitome of organization, roams a sideline where, at times both this and last season, confusion seems to prevail. It wasn’t bad luck that sent 13 men on the field last year. And it wasn’t bad luck that caused Dooley to burn timeouts in this game. And the frustrating thing is that these timeouts were used for the most part after a great UT play, either offense or defense, when the crowd was loud and into the game, and when we just couldn’t get the right players onto the field or we just couldn’t get into the right formation. Dooley’s game management skills have to improve, HAVE TO. He’s already unlucky enough, he can’t afford to allow the sideline chaos to continue throughout the season.  Look, I’m not calling for Dooley’s head, just saying his players are expected to improve, so why can’t we ask that of his performances too.

As I sit here, writing this, I’m feeling pretty low. It’s just no fun to be a Tennessee fan right now and I’m tired of the bad luck and heartbreak and the Chinese fire drills on the sidelines. I want Dooley to succeed, we need Dooley to succeed.  We cannot have another coach in a few years, we need stability more than anything.  And look, I know he needs players to succeed and I know we have a depleted roster, but that doesn’t change the fact that as a fan my confidence in the direction of our program is at an all time low.  But I can say this, if you put Dooley and Miles in front of me to interview, and I know nothing about either one of them or their coaching records, I guarantee you I’m hiring Dooley every single time. But in reality one of these coaches is in the running for luckiest guy on the planet and the other stands as much chance of winning a big game this season as a one-legged man in a butt kicking contest. Yeah, I know, that analogy is terrible and poorly timed. . .just like Dooley’s luck.

Go Vols,

Stickdaddy

From where I sit in Y6

Here are my thoughts on the UT/UGA game from where I sit over in the North End Zone.  Again, I don’t pretend to be an expert, just a fan. . .

Most Annoying Fan EVER:  Whoever gave away their tickets to the most annoying human being I have ever been around, thanks!  This guy who sat behind us never, and I mean NEVER shut his mouth.  He apparently was an expert on all topics, from game management, to officiating, to recruiting, to concessions, to the friggin’ UT band and their academic woes.  Now I know the history of the Petro and why the band is down 50 people.  If I heard him scream “Hey recruits, come to UT, you can start right away!” one more time I was going to throw an elbow in his nads.

Time to Trust Lane:  Crompton looked good against an admittedly weak Georgia D, but the thing that stuck out was that the WRs made plays.  Kiffin has been calling them out all season and now we know why, they weren’t helping out our QB.  Sure he hasn’t played well, but they’ve made him look worse than he is.  I can’t help but think that it’s no coincidence that they played much better the week after Warren was dismissed.  What the heck was with that guy?

Kiffin called a nice game, and I liked the roll out calls with Crompton throwing to a moving target.  We get in trouble against good defenses when Crompton tries to throw to a stationary target.  I like the drag routes and the underneath routes off the play action.  If the WRs keep playing like this, and the Defense plays like it has been, all we need is a game manager at QB, not a star.

Recruits:  I sit right next to the recruiting section (see above comment), and from where I sit, the three linemen on their official visits looked impressed.  It’s weird what these kids notice, I saw John Cullen say “wow” when they announced the official attendance.  Of course, there weren’t 103K there, but with the weather, our record, and the fact that a few big high school football games were rescheduled for Saturday, I think the crowd was pretty good.  It was by far the loudest that stadium has been in a while.

A Farewell to Richt?:  Probably not, but I wouldn’t be surprised if his defensive coordinator resigns as early as Monday.  As good as we looked, we owe some of that to how bad Georgia is on D.  Let’s just say we’re not as bad as we looked against Auburn and we’re definitely not as good as we looked today.

Special Teams:  Wow, that was horrible.  We better fix the kickoff coverage stat or we are in trouble.  Bama has a great return man in Arenas, and we are so pathetic in coverage that I get a knot in my stomach every time we score because I know what’s coming.  WHY do we have so many DBs on the coverage team?  We need speed outside, but we need some wedge busters up the middle.  I would complain about Eddie Gran, but he’s a great coach, a great guy, and our running backs look great.  We just need to get this fixed.

That’s all for now, time to watch LSU try to beat the Gators in Baton Rouge. Let’s all take a break and gather our breath, then its on to Bama in two weeks.

Later,

Stickdaddy.

My E-Mail To the Great Tony B

Tony,

I know you’ve been talking all week about how few fans showed up for the Ohio game and how tickets are still available for Auburn and UGA, and by now you’re ready to move on, but I needed to send you my two cents worth.  While I can’t justify missing a game, Tony, it’s not hard for me to understand why some could.  Here’s why:

This fan discontent has been a long time in the making Tony, and it’s not going to be changed overnight, no matter who our new coach is or what we do this year.  The powers that be allowed apathy to slowly work its way into this once great program, to the point where we became an also ran in the SEC.  We went from a national power to a punchline. 

It’s crazy how our situation has mirrored what goes on with those clowns in Washington DC.  As much as they try to convince us otherwise, we’re not stupid Tony, but for years we’ve been fed the same bull*#&$ from our former coach, our Athletic Dept. and University, and the local media.  All of the above just assumed that they could continue to offer the same tired boring old product (at an increased cost mind you) and that we as fans would just continue to show up,cheer like crazy, and buy whatever they were selling.  They took us for granted for far too long, and most of us who have supported this program for a long time were getting to the point of saying that’s ENOUGH.  But anytime anyone pointed out how our program was clearly on a downhill slide, we were ridiculed, talked down to and called idiots.  We were told that as fans we just didn’t understand the intricacies of the game and that we just needed to be thankful for what we had.  In short, we were told to accept a mediocre program and just keep cheering like crazy.  We have been continually asked to pay more for less, and have been told to take it and like it.  Over the past several years, we “moron fans” have been told the following, among other things:
1)  We won a national championship just ten years ago.  How many has Georgia won?
2)  Every program goes through down years, look at Penn State and Joe Paterno.
3)  College football is different these days, there’s more parity.  You can’t expect championships now.
4)  We’re a spoiled fan base, we expect to play for a championship every year.  That’s not realistic.
5)  We played in the SEC championship game 2 of the last 5 years.  Don’t say we haven’t been competitive.
6)  Tennessee isn’t an elite job anyway, it’s just the 5th ot 6th best job in the SEC.  If we fire Phillip Fulmer, who else would we get to come here?
 
All this and more Tony, we have been asked to endure as UT fans and we have.  You want to know why people aren’t showing up, this is why.  You can’t keep giving people less and asking more for it. . .unless you’re Frito Lay. 

Tony, I love UT Football, always have and always will.  They couldn’t take that away from me.  I have season tickets and I have for a while, but I have to tell you that if something wasn’t done last year, I don’t know that I could have continued to fork over hard-earned money to get nothing in return.  People have been burned Tony, for the last 5 to 6 years we’ve been patronized by a coach who played the role of the good ole boy to perfection, played it to the tune of $6 mil.  I think I speak for everyone when I say that we’re still just a little wee-wee’d off that our beloved program was allowed to fall so far so fast.  We’ve been burned, and like it or not, that takes a while to get over.

But come hell or high water I’ll be there Saturday night, sitting there around all of my Y6 family cheering for OUR team.  They can’t take that from me. 

Later,

Stickdaddy

Winners, Losers, and Lucky S.O.B.s

Its time for a recap of this weekend’s college football action.

Winners:

Alabama – As I say this I am trying to keep from vomiting, but Alabama looks like the best team in the nation.   They made a good offense in Arkansas look average.  This stinks for me, cause I know way too many obnoxious Tide fans that I have to see way too often.  Come on somebody, beat these guys, please!

Texas – Sure they played UTEP, but they took care of bid-ness.  Like USC, they always seem to find a way to blow a game though, and Oklahoma and Okie St. are still on the schedule.

Cincinnati – They beat Goliath-killer Fresno State, something Wisconsin couldn’t do a few years back.  It’s too bad college teams can’t make trades, because I would like to offer Jonathan Crompton, Nick Stephens, and two players to be named later for Tony Pike.  Imagine what UT could do with Pike, like probably cover the spread against Ohio.

TCU – Impressive beating Clemson in Death Valley.  Too bad it wasn’t over a Fulmer-led Clemson team, cause that would have been AWESOME!

Losers:

Miami – When everyone on the ESPN Gameday panel picks you to win, be afraid.  So much for the undefeated season and a Heisman for Harris. . .darn, I hate that.  For the record, I called this one, ask the guys in my confidence pool if you don’t believe me.

Cal – I know it was on the road and I know it was against Oregon, but seriously Cal?  Again?  Is it some No-Cal liberal thing that you have to spread the wealth and let an inferior opponent get a big win each year?   That’s very bleeding heart of you.

Penn State – Doh!  Okay, you got beat by an Iowa team that looks pretty good, but that was a little embarrassing after being up 10 to 0.

Florida State – Wait, Joe Pa’s team and Bobby’s team lost at home to underdogs?  I’m sensing a theme here.

Urban Meyer – Your team won, but unlike last week, you didn’t play conservative (wink, wink) when you had the game in hand.  Up 34 to 7, Tebow drops back to pass, and this was the result. . .

Tennessee Fans – Come on, did we really feel good about that win over Ohio?  Especially after watching what happens when we try to “open up the offense.”  I’m all for shuttin’ er down the rest of the way and takin’ our chances.  Unfortunately, this is what we’re going to have to watch the rest of the year.  But this is a three year plan, so years one and two can be rocky, year three has to be MUCH improved.

Washington – Are they the Chumbawamba of this college football season?  I think so.  Not in that they get knocked down and get up again, but in the fact that like Washington, these guys had a big hit once and now you’re like, huh?  Who’s the heck is that?

Lucky S.O.B.s

Notre Dame – For the second week in a row, Charlie Weis and the Irish pull a win from their backsides.  They’re lucky they’ve got the Big Guy on their side (no not Weis, THE Big Guy) or they would be 1-3 and convening the search committee.

Michigan – Okay, two of my least favorite teams (see also above) pulled wins out this week.  Michigan almost blew one to IU in the Big House and I for one would have loved to see that.  Indiana got sk-rewed on that interception call.

LSU – Third and Chavis should have resulted in a loss, but MSU couldn’t get into the endzone when it mattered.

Stickdaddy – As always, the luckiest SOB of them all.  A great wife, the smartest kids in the world, great friends and a good job.  All that and I feel the need to blog. . .go figure.