Weekend Preview: South Carolina @ Tennessee

South Carolina @ Tennessee 

Viewer Rating: 4*- This game still has big implications in the SEC East, and the loser will be pretty much out of it. More importantly this could be the last matchup we see between Fulmer and Spurrier. Fulmer might be forced out of his job, but Spurrier may be coach of the year.

What to Watch: The Sidelines- Phillip Fulmer will be sweating like a whore in church if they get down early in this one. He knows his career is on the line, he knows Spurrier owns him, and one look at the big boy in orange and you’ll see the desperation in his face.

Spurrier is always fun to watch. This game means a lot to him because he knows a win might put the nail in the coffin for Fulmer. Plus, if Tennessee shows up to play, its always fun to see him get mad and throw things.

Not to mention, Erin Andrews will also be roaming the sidelines for this one. The play on the field may not be as entertaining as the things going on off it, especially if Tennessee plays like they did last week.

Don’t Fall in Love…She’s a One-in-a-Million Girl

Who to Watch: Tennessee’s Running Backs- That is if you don’t forget about them, like Kurt Roper and David Cutcliffe did against Alabama. If they get to play they should see some success against South Carolina. The Gamecock’s pass defense is their obvious strength, so expect Cutcliffe to feed Arian Foster and Lemarcus Coker the ball until they stop the run, and if were lucky they might remember to put Montario Hardesty on the depth chart too.

Chris Smelley- We’ll see if Tennessee’s defense can live up to their nickname, career day, and Smelley can have his. Blind infants could put up good stats on our secondary right now, Smelley probably got a chub looking at the game tape this week. However, he only had just over 150 yards passing against Vandy last week, so maybe we can hold him under 300 yards passing.

Who Will Win: After that disaster of a game last week there is no way I could possibly pick the Vols again, right? Wrong. This is just another one of those games that Fulmer always pulls out of his hat. Kind of makes you wonder why he can’t get the team ready to play when his job is not on the line. South Carolina has a great defense, but they shouldn’t be able to pass the ball as effectively as the three teams that tore our secondary a new one already this season. Their offense hasn’t scored a touchdown in six quarters. If Tennessee runs the football and controls the clock we should stay in the race in the SEC East.

Against the Spread: Do yourself a favor and don’t take this one because of the Spurrier factor. He can coach South Carolina to a win against anyone in the country. However, given the fact that Tennessee is at home and Fulmer is backed into a corner expect the players to be playing hard for him, and cover the spread. If not Mike Hamilton might be a busy man next week.

Hamilton has got to love his most recent hire, Pearl, but he probably shouldn’t have started showering with the team.

 

Volstothewall

SEC Preview: Ole Miss @ Auburn

I normally wouldn’t do this, but because Alabama has an off week I thought what the heck.  Maybe it will be a learning experience to write about two teams that I personally cannot stand.  Although I do not like either Ole Miss or Auburn, I’ll hold my feelings back and give this game a fair preview. 

Lets see, where to begin.  Well, Ole Miss will enter Saturday’s game after getting beat like a red-headed step-child last weekend against Arkansas.  I’m not exactly sure which is worse, the fact that Arkansas beat the Rebs 44-8, or the fact that Ole Miss is still winless in the SEC and only 2-6 on the year overall.  There really isn’t much to cheer about in Oxford and quite frankly the whole state of Mississippi.  Saturday will just further add to that disappointment when the Rebels travel to Auburn. 

Auburn’s record on the year is 5-3 with a SEC record of 3-2.  The Tigers are the #22 ranked team in the nation and are looking to bounce back after a heart-breaking loss last Saturday night to LSU.  While the numbers haven’t been pretty for Auburn this season, they are still finding ways to win games.  Auburn’s defense is one of the best in the SEC and they have proved themselves over the past couple of weeks.  After going through a very, very tough stretch that included wins at then #4 Florida, Vanderbilt, and at Arkansas and the game against LSU, the Tigers have a bit of a break for the next two games with the Rebels and Tennessee Tech coming to town.

What to watch for: 

What to watch for in this game is whether Ole Miss’ defense can tackle any better than they did last week.  Ole Miss consistently stacked the box with eight men and still got derailed by the McFadden and Jones combo (although the Rebels are not the first and certainly not the last team this will happen to).  It will be very interesting to see what was accomplished in this weeks practice as Coach Orgeron made it a high priority to get the tackling issues taken care of. 

Ole Miss Head Coach Ed Orgeron

Auburn is led by some very good RB’s that have consistently ran the ball well.  Now that Auburn RB Brad Lester is back, the threat of explosiveness in the backfield is even greater.  This is bad news for Ole Miss.  Look for a constant ground attack by the Tigers and heavy pressure on Ole Miss QB Seth Adams that will ultimately lead to turnovers.  I think this game will be close until the second quarter, when talent starts to plays itself in and nature (Auburn’s luck) begans to show its force. 

 Auburn RB Brad Lester

Prediction:

Auburn 38 Ole Miss 13

The Capstone King

CD extends the Olive Branch, Sort of

 Tomorrow will make it a week since the Tide made Tennessee look like a second rate Sun Belt team. Ah, it seems just like yesterday. I can still hear the crowd as Saban made his victory lap around Bryant-Denny. But, alas, as much as I would like to, we can’t dwell on beating the Vols forever, but having an off week after the game sure is nice.

In the days preceding Bama’s monumental destruction of the hapless Volunteers, there were great debates on the outcome of the game and the respective states of the programs. Last week was by far the best week of our young blog, and by far the most fun I’ve had being a part of it. And after The Humiliation, most, if not all, of our Vol community came back, sooner or later, to eat their crow. And to those who came and took it like a man, I salute you. It’s been all in good fun, and I would’ve been disappointed if the UT fans didn’t dish it out to us in the same manner if the tables were turned.

Maybe Mike Hamilton Should be Fired

Go ahead. Pile on! Stab me in the back! Do it. You’re already ripping out my soul.

It’s not enough that we have to hear ear-bleeding, mind-numbing gloating and name-calling from Alabama fans after last week’s 41-17 humiliation on the football field.

Now, we’ve got to deal with comments that the UT head coaching position just simply isn’t as good a job as Vols fans and boosters think it is. And this has apparently come from sources around the country. But that’s not the worst of it.

Who’s piling on? Who said this? The University of Tennessee athletic director Mike Hamilton. That’s who. That’s right. OUR OWN AD!!

Basically, today, I feel like I did Sunday morning, the day after Alabama abused us on the football field. This is my alma mater. This is my pride. I quit a good job in part to be available to watch the games on Saturday. One day, I hope to be able to make the money to give back to my university. One day, I hope to send my children to the same place where I went to school. I hope they have the same pride I’ve had cheering for the Vols.

But first, we have to have people in prestigious positions who believe that the position they hold and the positions they oversee are second-to-none. Quite obviously, Mike Hamilton doesn’t think that, at least according to his comments to the Sports Animal radio station Thursday.

Does anybody who reads our board think when Mal Moore and Paul Bryant Jr. and the other movers and shakers in Tuscaloosa sat down when they were trying to find Mike Shula’s successor and started marking people off the list? Heck no. They targeted a handful of candidates. They did what it took. If UT can learn one (and I hope that’s all it is) lesson from Alabama, it’s DO NOT SETTLE.

Now, some UT fans are throwing out names like Bob Stoops (perfectly entrenched at Oklahoma), Jon Gruden (not going anywhere with the magic he’s working in Tampa) and Bill Cowher (WTH???). Matter of fact, some moronic fans wouldn’t be happy with a young upstart if (and that’s a huge, huge if) Fulmer is let go/steps down at the end of the season, which I personally still don’t think will happen.

Volstothewall’s Links for Today

 I can’t believe Gameday chose the Kentucky vs. Florida game over the Third Saturday in October, but considering how the games turned out, they may have made the right call. Here are some of the sights from Lexington. http://blog.kentuckysportsradio.com/?p=3863

The SMQ talks about the possible scenarios that could still play out in the SEC East. http://www.sundaymorningqb.com/story/2007/10/26/122440/28

With Tennessee football struggling, the Vol nation turns it’s head to basketball. http://www.govolsxtra.com/news/2007/oct/23/easy-for-basketball-to-deflate-football/

Phillip Fulmer’s seat has never been hotter. The State ask the question thats on every Tennessee fan’s mind, is Fulmer done at Tennessee? http://www.thestate.com/sports/story/210463.html

Volstothewall