Demoralized UT Football Team, Loses to Wyoming 13-7. What Went Wrong this Season?

It was pretty obvious from watching the radio voice-over replay of the UT-Wyoming football game this past Saturday, that the football team is as demoralized as the fan base. While many of the fans are angry, many have accepted reality and simply very dissapointed. When I first saw the results of the game late Saturday night, a 13-7 loss, I was not surprised.


With Coach Phillip Fulmer's announcement on November 3rd, that he is being forced out after 17 years as Tennessee's head coach, it is not surprising that the team morale would be low, and with two remaining games, Vanderbilt away, and a resurgent Kentucky team at home, this team is in jeopardy of losing more games in a single season than any Tennessee team in a history that spans more than one hundred years.


What went wrong this year? How could this have happened to a team that was a preseason top 25 team (14th), which some predicted would exceed the expectations. The wide open offense that was expected never materialized, in fact, almost no offense materialized. The offensive line, returning almost intact, had been one of the best in the nation last year. The question marks for the season were supposed to be the defense and how well the new quarterback would perform. Only the defense has performed.


An opening loss to UCLA can be blamed heavily on the kicking game, but critical mistakes and a failure to execute offensively were responsible for most of this year's losses! Why? In my opinion, as simply a fan and not a football expert, the following factors weighed heavily:

- Neither of the two quarterbacks, Jon Crompton or Nick Stephens performed well enough to win in the SEC. They could not consistently hit open receivers, and could not make proper reads at critical times in the game.

- The offensive line and the running backs could not adjust to the new system brought in by the new offensive coordinator, Dave Clawson.


- The coaching staff often failed to make timely adjustments during a game, when things just were not working out. Second half adjustments had been a strong point of Tennessee coaching over the years, but not this year. As the season progressed, and it was obvious there was something terribly wrong with the offense, from the outside it appears there was a lack of innovation/new plays/adjustments to try to turn things around.

In Phillip Fulmer's defense, he lost his offensive coordinator to Duke, and his starting QB to the NFL. Some expected him to struggle a little, some expected his new offensive coordinator and new starting QB to light up the scoreboard, but nobody expected this kind of season. Die-hard UT fans are hurting, but I am sure Coach Fulmer is hurting more than we are.

Many older UT fans believe Fulmer stabbed Johnny Majors in the back and stole his job while Majors was out for heart surgery. I am not sure if anybody knows the whole story, but the bottom line is that Athelitic Director, Doug Dickey, a former Vol head coach, made a decision that Fulmer would be better for UT football in the long run, and decided not to renew Major's contract. At the time, there were a considerable number of rabid fans who were disilusioned with Johnny Major's teams, which were very good, but seldom were considered great. These fans were sure Fulmer would, bring the program to new heights, and for the next few years. Helped with his excellent recruiting skills, for awhile he did.

But things changed. New coaches came into the SEC. Coaches who knew how to win, and how to recruit in their own talent rich states. UT could no longer go into Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana and South Carolina, and recruit the cream of the crop. Most four and 5 star recruits were staying home. Also, these new coaches brought innovative offensive schemes which brought explosive offenses, while the Vols pretty much continued with their traditional run first and pass when necessary. UT's winning percentage against the upper echelon teams in the SEC began to drop.

So, in some ways like the decision Doug Dickey had to make, Athletic Director Mike Hamilton made a decision which he believed best for UT football in the long run. As painful as it may be to many in the UT family and on the current team, many fans believe he made the right decision.
But, we should not expect an immediate turn around. A Nick Saban-like two year miracle is too much to ask for.

I believe Coach Fulmer deserves out thanks and respect for what he has done for UT football. From what many who know him much better than we know him have said, he has made a difference in the lives of many who have played for him. He has avoided painful NCAA sanctions which can cripple a football program. In meeting him once, on the first day of practice at the Fiesta Bowl during the 1998 National Championship season, he was a very nice and humble man, taking time to talk to me one-on-one, as the Arizona and national press corp waited to interview him.

Let's hope he can find some way to inspire the team to win these final two games. Nothing can erase the bad memories of this painful season, but these two wins would certainly ease the pain for Coach Fulmer, the team and the fans.

GO VOLS!

The Hope of a Tennessee Football Fan

You are anxious to get home and sit down before the Television, push the record button on recorder and see the Big Orange take on South Carolina in Columbia. You are aware than many UT football fans are so upset with how this years season has gone, that they are loosing interest, and may not be watching. Your team handled Mississippi State 34-6 two weeks ago, and lost 29-9 to Alabama last week.

But as a loyal Vol football fan since the age of 6, having traveled many miles while in the Army to see the Vols play in Knoxville and other places, how could you not watch, and hope. Yes, you realize that the confidence you have had in the past, has dissolved to desperate hope, even against South Carolina, which could almost always be a certain W in an otherwise disappointing season.

This years game pits Coach Phillip Fulmer against his old nemesis, Steve Spurrier. In days of old, Spurrier VS Fulmer was almost always for the championship of the SEC East when Spurrier was the coach at Florida. Not his year. Your coach of 17 years, having won 150 games at Tennessee, is having more than his share of misfortune and losses.

You are aware that the fan base is divided, between running Phillip Fulmer off, or hanging on to give him the opportunity to bring the Vols back to glory days. Few have doubted that he is a good recruiter, but many have began to doubt that he is the motivator who can get the most from the many Blue chip recruits who come to Tennessee. They are looking around and seeing what others are doing at Alabama and Georgia, and wishing " we had a coach like that". Words from the athletic director, obviously concerned of the growing concerns of not only the fans but of the growing number of disgruntled the boosters with deep pockets as well, have not always been 100% supportive.

As with the last weeks game against Alabama, you are hopeful this will be the breakout win which will turn the season around and save the coaches job. After all, the Vols did play better against Alabama than they had against others, and just could not measure up to the Crimson Tide, who were highly motivated by one of those coaches "like we would like to have".

As you watch South Carolina intercept a ball and run it back to the one yard line, and return a fumble and run to our 4 yard, line and score on both opportunities, you wonder why you don't feel the deep disappointment you felt in other games this year. Are you getting numb? Are you accepting the fact that this year is lost? Even a minor Bowl bid may be out of reach.....how could this be? You still hold on to the hope that the Vols will come back in the second half, and when Ut's best football player by far, Sophomore Eric Berry returns a spectacular interception, leaving two Gamecocks on down on the turf in pain, your hope spikes.....Yes we can come back!

But we did not. Some questionable calls, and failures to get first downs on critical third and fourth down plays, and a very good south Carolina defense which covered our receivers very well using mostly one on one coverage, and stacking the line on a young QB who they knew could not beat them by passing, saw to it that we did not come back. Our defense played well, but as in so many of the games this year, mistakes by the offense accounted for most of South Carolina's points.

With three games left, and the possibility of only one or possibly none of UT's three remaining games to be televised on a national or regional network, you realize that you have probably seen your last Vol game of the year, and you certainly won't be traveling to see one in person. But you hope they win all three and you hope the Vols get a Bowl bid.

You can only hope that by next year, the Vols have ironed out the problems with the offense and that the mistakes that have plagued this years team are somehow eliminated. You know it is too much to hope for, that Tennessee could go out to a junior college somewhere and find a decent QB, and wonder how in the world the Vols failed to recruit one of the thirty or so excellent QB's around the nation this year who are making names for their selves.

Of yes, and one last hope!!! You hope they give Fulmer one more year to turn it around.