Please Don’t Leave Fulmer

Has it really come to this?  Why are Tennessee fans calling for the removal of Head Coach Phil Fulmer? (I’ll refrain from calling him names in this particular post because you will get my point loud and clear.)  The way I see it, Fulmer is a great fit at Tennessee.  It’s a feeling that’s familiar to me and the rest of the Bama nation.  Fulmer represents what Tennessee football is all about.  It’s a program with little man syndrome (although we all know Fulmer is no little man).  It’s a program that we love to see struggle.  It’s a program we love to see lose.  It’s a program that we love to hate.  

Now that UT fans are wanting Fulmer and company out, I’ll take a stand for him.  Well, not really a stand, but I’ll give the UT fans a taste of their own medicine.  A little over 11 months ago, when Alabama fired Head Coach Mike Shula, it was UT fans giving their deepest sympathy for him.  It was UT fans (and others such as Auburn fans) that felt he was done wrong.  And maybe he was, but that’s a separate issue.  But the thing that really gets me is the fact that UT fans wanted Shula to stay around because they knew what he was doing to the Alabama program.  A program that was trying to rise back to the top after hitting the ocean floor and just wasn’t cutting it.  It was the best of times for UT fans around.  Tuscaloosa had a black cloud hanging over it and UT fans were feeding on that.  Now that Alabama has made a change, UT fans have realized that the very same problem Alabama had is now a problem of their own.  For some reason the expression, “What goes around, comes around” just doesn’t cut it.  I want Tennessee to fall and fall and fall.  I want them to hit rock bottom.  I want to beat them down year in and year out just like this year.  I want to have no mercy on them and inflict as much pain as possible to both Tennessee and Fulmer.  It’s time to make Fulmer pay for being who he is.  It’s time to make him wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat after nightmares over Alabama.  I want to get in his head.  I want him to eat (no problem there, haha), sleep, and breathe Alabama every day of his life.  I want him to stay for years and years and take the beating he has coming for him. 

Times are changing in the college football world and anybody that doesn’t realize this is fooling themselves.  One constant in Knoxville is the fact that Fulmer refuses to change his ways.  He continues to coach the same way he did the first day he arrived at Tennessee, and that’s the difference between a good coach and him.  Fulmer is terrible in every form of the word.  Fulmer is the most hated person in the state of Alabama, but can you blame us?  Fulmer can’t handle his players.  Fulmer can’t handle his coaching staff.  Fulmer can’t handle the pressure.  He’s had his run spoon fed to him and his success has thrived off others failures.  Now that that is over, Fulmer doesn’t know what to do.  And that my friends is a position I want him to stay in. 

The Capstone King    

Alabama Still Sucks

One thing that tickles me about this week, about you guys coming out of your holes in the ground like worms after a heavy rain to gloat in the face of Tennessee’s pain, is this:

You seriously, really, truly, undoubtedly have to be the most delusional fan base in the history of college football. Many fellow Tennessee fans are rolling their eyes and saying something like, “Gee, Ghost, you’re just now figuring this out!!??” I’m not, but you guys haven’t been relevant to Tennessee fans for so long, I’m just remembering it all.

But let’s lay this out for you guys because that’s what I do. That’s who I am. That’s why I’m here.

Because of our blogsite’s immense good fortune over the past couple of days, I’ve gotten to read a few Bama message boards. I usually shy away from these because, you know, I have a life. But I was dumbfounded by the insanity I saw there. I’d like to call it idiocy, but that’s not a strong enough word. It’s insanity. Some of you guys really and truly should be locked up.

Since you beat Tennessee — TENNESSEE!!! — some of you think you have a realistic shot at beating LSU. I actually encountered a Bammer this week who said he STILL thinks UA has a shot at the national championship.

Huh?

I just stood there shaking my head because contrary to what some of you guys think, I really am a nice guy. Listen, you guys deserve to gloat, and you assuredly have the complete and total bragging rights on the Vols for the next year, but beating LSU? Auburn? Really??

I honestly believe that UT has the worst defense in the country, or at least the conference. It’s the worst defense that the Vols have trotted onto the field since 1893. That’s the last time UT gave up 40 or more points in three games during a season (and pssst, we haven’t even played Kentucky yet … **shudder**) Just for a happy little nugget of joy, the University of Tennessee thought of disbanding the football team after that season, according to a story in today’s Chattanooga Times Free Press. It was good times all around back then, and now.

Now, by me writing this, I think I’m increasing the Crimson Tide’s chance of beating the LSU Fighting Dumb Decisions by at least 70 percent. I am the person who thought the Vols would beat Bama by 11 points and thought we had an outside chance of beating Florida. I am the same guy who has been saying JPW is awful.

But let me toss this out there for gits and shiggles: How good does your team look in walk-throughs?? Pretty darn good, right? I know when I’ve seen the Vols practice against air, they look pretty crisp, pretty salty. I’m usually impressed.

How much more did JPW and DJ Hall do Saturday other than go through a glorified walk-through? (Thanks, Chief.) I mean, nobody guarded Hall. EVER. We got so far behind, we had to go away from the run, which you guys could not stop. Arian Foster had 13 carries for 91 yards, an anemic 7 yard average. It’s not like the Tide defense was so good, really. When UT is forced to stretch the field, the Vols are beat, especially with our Nos. 1 and 3 receivers (Lucas Taylor and Josh Briscoe) out of pads for the second half.

These are not excuses, but facts, people. Stay with me here.

Don’t get me wrong. You guys deserve to be happy. It was a great and thorough win over my beloved Vols. We were completely outclassed. But it was what it was. Watching that defense was like watching 2-year-olds reciting the Gettysburg Address. It pains me to trash the Vols, but the defense is pure trash, and the offense had to become one-dimensional because of the defense in the second half.

(The last point is the only reason why I inevitably believe Fulmer could keep his job at least one more season, but the defensive staff goes the way of the offensive staff two seasons ago).

When you’re watching Florida State play this season, do you say, “Man, that’s a good team.”? When you see Georgia these days, do you think, “Those guys are tough, TOUGH!!”? When you flip through channels and settle on the Vols, are you flabbergasted by their ability to dismantle opponents?

If the answers are, “No, no and no,” then ask yourself this: “What, really, have we accomplished?” If you can go to bed at night being content with being better than Tennessee, then get all warm and fuzzy.

You take so much pride in the fact that Vols fans are hurting that I’m not sure many of you have taken a deep breath and realized what position your team is in. Forget about Tennessee. We’re irrelevant THIS year. Your team gets to get fried by bigger fish.

Nick Saban knows they didn’t accomplish jack crap on Saturday. You can tell by his comments this week. The REAL test is in two weeks.

Ghost of Neyland 

TSIB Top 25

Presenting our Top 25, you can see the individual ballots in all their glory here. Looking at our rankings and the AP and Coaches’ Polls got me thinking. Let’s say Ohio State and Boston College both lose this week, a distinct possibility. That’ll put LSU back at #1 heading into T-Town. Have #1 teams lost in consecutive weeks before? It would fit in perfectly with how this season has played out so far.

Top 25 - Week 8 

1.  Ohio State   0.970
2.  Boston College   0.950
3.  LSU   0.930
4.  Oklahoma   0.870
5.  Oregon   0.865
6.  Arizona State   0.765
7.  West Virginia   0.760
8.  USC   0.695
9.  Florida   0.690
10. Virginia Tech   0.665
11. Kansas   0.595
12. Missouri   0.550
13. South Florida   0.525
14. Kentucky   0.495
15. South Carolina   0.415
16. Hawaii   0.365
17. California   0.330
18. Texas   0.300
19. Michigan   0.255
20. Alabama   0.240
21. Georgia   0.235
22. Virginia   0.185
23. Auburn   0.140
24. Penn State    0.070
25. Rutgers    0.065

Crimson Daddy