Tennessee Vols coaching candidate Scott Frost

As Tennessee embarks on its fourth coaching search in ten years, here’s a quick look at Vols coaching candidate Scott Frost.

Scott Frost’s coaching experience (42 years old)

Elite option quarterback at Nebraska. Began playing career at Stanford; also played in NFL. College assistant at Nebraska, Kansas State, Northern Iowa and offensive coordinator for national runner up Oregon. Assistant 2002-15. Head coach at Central Florida the past two seasons.

GRT college football coach taxonomy: Up and Comer.

Why the Tennessee Vols might want Scott Frost

His coaching pedigree is as good as any coach’s around, from Bill Walsh to Tom Osbourne to Mike Tomlin to Chip Kelly. He took an 0-12 Knights team to a bowl game their first year and an undefeated record so far this year. He’s a rising star and an alpha personality the fan base could get behind. The fans may not love him at first because he doesn’t have a huge body of work. He’s got an explosive offense with ties all over the country. Beyond Gruden, he’s the favorite option of all three Gameday on Rocky Top authors. You need upside when the pool of coaches isn’t deep. He’s got the highest of them all.

Why the Tennessee Vols might not want Scott Frost

It doesn’t matter about UCF. You can outbid the Knights, but if they remain undefeated, there’s no way you can publicly lure him until after the early signing period. Also, with his alma mater maybe coming open, would he go back to Lincoln? Would he hold out for a Florida school with the Gators actively searching and the Seminoles reeling?

Tennessee Vols coaching candidate Jon Gruden

As Tennessee embarks on its fourth coaching search in ten years, here’s a quick look at Vols coaching candidate Jon Gruden, the white whale on Rocky Top.

Jon Gruden’s coaching experience (54 years old)

Vols graduate assistant, 1986-87. College assistant at Southeast Missouri State and Pacific 1988-89. NFL assistant 1990-97, including offensive coordinator at Philadelphia. NFL head coach 1998-2008 at Oakland and Tampa Bay.

GRT college football coach taxonomy: Pro, On Hiatus.

Why the Tennessee Vols might want Jon Gruden

Gruden is the Holy Gru-l of Tennessee coaching searches. His name has come up in each of the past two searches that yielded Derek Dooley and Butch Jones. He’s basically the guy who could completely unify the fan base. He is a former graduate assistant at UT under Johnny Majors, his wife is a former Tennessee cheerleader, his son is a UT student, he owns land in Jefferson County. HIS WIFE WANTS TO BE CLOSE TO FAMILY! HE LOVES THE VOLS! [By now, you’ve heard it all]. He’d give Tennessee that instant-credibility hire that could make the Vols a national story again. In a good way.

Why the Tennessee Vols might not want Jon Gruden

Of course, UT would love to have the Super Bowl winning head coach and current Monday Night Football analyst, but how serious is he about coaching? He makes a ton of money as one of ESPN’s leading analysts, and he has a cushy, stress-free job. He doesn’t know anything about coaching in college, recruiting, or compliance, so he’d have to beef up his support staff in those areas. Plus, he really loves Tennessee. Would he want to take the chance of the highs and lows of rebuilding UT to a powerhouse? That’s a major question.

Butch Jones OUT as Tennessee’s Head Coach

The Knoxville nightmare is over.

Following Missouri’s 50-17 domination of Tennessee on Saturday night, athletic director John Currie has fired fifth-year head coach Butch Jones, according to multiple reports. FOXSports’ Bruce Feldman was the first to report Jones notified his staff this morning.

The ouster is effective immediately, and defensive line coach and associate head coach Brady Hoke will assume coaching responsibilities for the remainder of this woeful season.

The Vols are 0-6 in the SEC with games remaining against LSU and Vanderbilt at Neyland Stadium. After consecutive nine-win seasons under Jones, 2017 has been forgettable as UT has fallen apart. It’s arguable that this is worse than at any time during the Derek Dooley era.

What’s even more frustrating is lack of competitiveness. When you couple that to all the infighting, the embarrassment of Jones’ public comments, a losing streak against every single SEC program currently and the lack of player development, it was a no-brainer to part ways with Jones.

Controversies such as the Brett Kendrick concussion fiasco and Vol For Life coordinator Antone Davis’ not-so-quiet departure only contributed to the dysfunction in the final few weeks.

When asked by VolQuest.com’s Jesse Simonton on Saturday night if he still believed he had the full support of Currie, Jones quipped that at least Simonton was consistent in his questioning before his answer:

“The message is the same. We have two games left,” he said.

“It’s all about this football team and how we finish. We work exceptionally hard every single day. It’s very disappointing when you invest the way you invest each and every day to win on Saturdays.

“That’s what it’s all about. It’s about these seniors. It’s about these players. It ain’t about the coach. It ain’t about nothing but nothing else. It’s about our players and it’s about our seniors. Again, how do we finish? We have a great challenge Saturday night in Neyland against LSU. What a great opportunity.”

Jones was 34-27 in five seasons at Tennessee, but he finished 1-4 against Florida, despite being arguably better than the Gators in at least four of those years. He never sniffed Alabama in a game, either. The Jones era was characterized by baffling coaching decisions [consult the “chart”, anyone?], Butchisms such as “Champions for Life” and “Five-Star Hearts” that made Tennessee a national laughingstock, and that dumb garbage can that became is “Opportunity is NowHere” moment. There were also bizarre things such as Jalen Hurd quitting in the middle of last season and Shy Tuttle mysteriously “falling on a helmet.”

His ouster was met with some vitriol from people who knew and covered him. Knoxville radio personality and former UT player Jayson Swain tweeted this:

“My 1st reaction is not happiness. My thoughts immediately go to the former staff members, assts, & former players of Butch Jones. They had their world turned upside down & careers negatively impacted by probably one of the worst Human beings I’ve encountered In a long time.”

Former UT player Andrew Butcher tweeted a scene from “Elf” with Will Ferrell waving: “BYE!”

It was a frustrating affair with the media and fans, to say the least; one that turned nasty this year.

But there also were good things. Consecutive nine-win seasons hadn’t been accomplished at Tennessee since the Phillip Fulmer era. He was excellent for the grade-point average of the student-athletes, and he consistently put together top-15 recruiting classes.

But he failed to develop those players into championship-caliber athletes. Then, when quarterback Joshua Dobbs, cornerback Cameron Sutton, running back Alvin Kamara, defensive end Derek Barnett and others left, the program fell apart on the field.

That’s ultimately led to Jones’ undoing.

When it became evident that mediocrity may be the ceiling under Jones and that the lowest-lows of 2017 could occur often, Currie had to cut bait. He did, and now, the Vols are looking for their fifth coach since 2008.

Finally, there was some recruiting fallout, as expected. Instate receiver Alontae Taylor will look around, he told Rivals.com’s Woody Wommack. He’s looking at schools such as Georgia, Georgia Tech and Wake Forest, among others. Also, receiver Shocky Jacques-Louis decommitted, and 4-star safety Trey Dean said he would “probably” decommit.

That’s not surprising; there’s always going to be recruiting fallout. But as the decommitment from 5-star offensive tackle Cade Mays proved last week, it already was falling apart. It’ll be interesting to see if and how the next coach can put together a solid class. The bottom line is that the Vols weren’t developing those players as well as they needed to with Jones, so if the ’18 class is a sacrifice, it’s a necessary one.

Keep it right here for updates, hot board candidates and columns throughout the day.

Tennessee Basketball Begins: Chips, Anyone?

Admiral Schofield looks like a linebacker on the basketball court; in Friday night’s 88-53 season-opening win over Presbyterian, he played like one, barreling with reckless abandon over, around and through Blue Hose.

John Fulkerson’s slam dunks (and even missed tomahawk) were thrown down with a little more anger. Ahead by what seemed like 100 in the first half, coach Rick Barnes blazed a hole through the official in a fiery conversation.

Get ready for the season, Tennessee fans. It may be a fun one.

Though you can’t read too much into a win like this one over a horrible team that went 5-27 a year ago and may actually be worse this season, there are plenty of reasons for excitement. Perhaps the biggest is the fact that UT was picked 13th out of 14 SEC teams in the preseason picks.

That couldn’t have sat well. At all.

“We definitely play hard and with a chip on our shoulder,” Fulkerson said, according to the Knoxville News Sentinel‘s Dan Fleser, “but not because of where we’re picked. We want to set a standard.”

If this Tennessee team is No. 13 out of 14 league institutions, I’ll fit into size 32 blue jeans. If that’s the case, Grant Williams is 6’10”. If UT is that bad, I’ll eat the team’s sneakers. That’s just crazy.

The Vols have everything you could want in what looks like the first year Barnes’ vision of Tennessee’s program is taking shape. This team is big, long, lanky and athletic. Though UT won’t be mistaken for Kentucky out there, they can go 6’11”, 6’10”, 6’9″, 6’7″ if they want. Kyle Alexander has added bulk, and Williams has worked on his athleticism. Fulkerson is healthy and playing hard, fast and relentlessly when he’s on the court. The Vols can go big and physical, and freshmen Derrick Walker and Zach Kent played some important minutes in the post.

They also can go quick and guard-oriented. Jordan Bowden was feeling it Friday night, getting in a nice groove shooting. The Vols have other shooters, too, and that was without Lamonte Turner playing a huge role and taking just two shots. Jordan Bone only had nine, and you know those two kids will play bigger offensive occupations for UT this season. Chris Darrington is a smooth player who will score once he gets his ankle right, and James Daniel — the Howard University transfer who led the nation with more than 27 points per game two years ago — took a single shot.

Finally, the Vols have two dependable big swingmen who look dependable. Everybody knows what to expect from Williams, who is 6’7″, but plays more like 6’9″. The super sophomore is a second-team All-SEC player, and he had a quiet 14 points and seven rebounds against the Blue Hose.

Then there’s Schofield. Early last season, he was noticeably absent. Perhaps he got in Barnes’ doghouse, but he wasn’t the player everybody expected he’d become after an impressive freshman season. As the season progressed, he turned into one of the best sixth men in the SEC and wound up the team’s third-leading scorer in SEC play.

On Friday, he looked like the unequivocal team leader who could become the best scorer. Williams is the best all-around player, but it’s obvious Schofield worked on his shot in the offseason. Given his size and athleticism, he can play on both ends of the court. Against Presbyterian, he poured in 22 points in 20 minutes.

The Vols will have plenty of ups and downs this year; they’ve got too much youth not to. But they are talented and can match up well with whatever lineup they play against this season. If they can find a couple of consistent perimeter scorers (Bowden looked like he’d be one, for one night at least) it could be a big year.

This team may not make the NCAA tournament, but it’s a whole lot closer to that than the 13th-ranked team in the SEC, I’ll guarantee that. Just sit back, support this team and watch them grow.

Where they wind up may surprise us all.

88-53 Presbyterian Blue Hose

Locks & Keys Week 11: What to do about Mizzou

Man, it sure is a good thing the Locks & Keys were out of town last weekend. Because while the Vols may have (finally) won, we sure didn’t when it came to predicting games. Better to keep that debauchery out of the public eye.

All we need to know is it was bad. Real bad.

Meanwhile, Tennessee is on a one-game winning streak! Let’s hope that doesn’t end this weekend, but it likely will against a Missouri team that has found its stride and annihilated Florida 45-16 last weekend. It isn’t like the Tigers are that good, but I’m not sure if you’ve been watching or not, but the Vols aren’t, either.

There’s no reason to visit the pre-Kentucky L&K from two weeks ago. I mean, the Vols lost, so you know they didn’t do very well with the keys. Things aren’t pretty on Rocky Top, so the Vols will travel all the way to Columbia, Missouri, this weekend and hope their misfortunate doesn’t follow them there.

Wake me up when there’s a new coach, amirite? Let’s take a look at the keys to beating Mizzou.

KEYS

Rekindle Rush Magic

The strength and conditioning woes helped ruin Jones’ career, and in no place have those shortcomings been more evident than on the offensive line.

With Brett Kendrick and Drew Richmond out again this week, it’s going to be slim pickings on the line again for the Vols. The good news for UT is Mizzou hasn’t been good against the run, allowing 181 yards on the ground per game. The Tigers also are giving up 33.8 points per game, though the Vols won’t approach that number.

If Will McBride is the quarterback, UT is going to have to run the ball successfully to win. That means a healthy dosage of John Kelly and Ty Chandler, both of which are capable of taking over games with just a little bit of blocking up front. It’s vital Tennessee has the run-first, run-often game plan and utilizes it to perfection if it’s going to win.

SLOW DOWN!

In building off the theme above, Tennessee must run the ball, control the clock, convert third downs and stay on the field.

The less Lock has the ball, the better for the Vols. UT’s secondary has been stout against the pass this year, leading the SEC allowing just 150 yards per game. But that number is deceptive. After all, why would any team ever pass the ball on Tennessee when you can straight-up run down its throat?

Mizzou will pass the ball, and it will have success doing so. That’s why the Vols need to play a 60-minute game of keep-away. Sustain drives, get first downs, score touchdowns. That’s the only way to win.

Ride McBride

After Butch Jones called Jarrett Guarantano “probable” earlier this week, he later said the redshirt freshman is a game-time decision. That means it could be true freshman McBride’s game.

That’s scary news, yeah. Though McBride entered the Southern Miss game and didn’t bat an eye, he wasn’t exactly effective. Now, he could be leading a putrid offense in a game where the Vols absolutely must score points to hang with the high-flying passing attack of the Tigers. Can McBride throw the ball downfield? If he can, do the Vols have anybody who can catch it?

Mizzou has the league’s 13th-rated pass defense. They’re awful. UT must find a way to display some sort of vertical game.

Opportunity is now here

Say what you want about Bob Shoop’s tenure at Tennessee, but the defense has done its part in the past two games. It looks like things are finally beginning to click on that side. Not only are the Vols playing well, they’re getting the football back for their offense, too.

Though they lost 29-26 to Kentucky, they forced four Wildcats turnovers (which makes it even more inexplicable that they found a way to lose). Against Southern Miss, UT got two more turnovers, turning both into touchdowns. In those two games, the Vols didn’t have a single turnover.

Tennessee must turn Mizzou over to win this game. The Tigers have youth running the ball and will try to advance the ball downfield through the air. That’s where UT will have to bait Lock and get some big plays. If they do, they can win.

Remember who you freaking are

Saw a crazy tweet today that underlines just how deep-rooted Tennessee’s player development issues are. In the past four recruiting classes, UT has seven 5-star players and Mizzou has zero. The Vols have 48 4-stars, and the Tigers have 11. Mizzou has 20 2-star players, and the Vols have just 3.

Yet Mizzou is favored by 11 points.

Ouch.

Forget that Jones is the coach; this UT team is more talented than Mizzou. And Vanderbilt later this year. The Vols were more talented than Kentucky, but that didn’t matter. It needs to start mattering.

Play like you’re Tenne-freaking-ssee.

LOCKS

I guess we can’t really call them “locks” anymore after the past two weeks. Even though you can’t see last week’s results, trust me, they were awful. I need to get off the schneid. They were just as bad two weeks ago, when we did log them. I went 2-6 to spiral my record to 32-33-1 on the season.

I desperately need a good week again. Right now, we’re down (fictitious) money. Let’s revisit the carnage.

First of all, I thought two terrible offenses in Tennessee and Kentucky wouldn’t approach 46, but UK wound up winning 29-26 as the Vols somehow found a way to cross the goal line multiple times when they hadn’t for 14 quarters. Who knew?

I wish we could just forget about two of the games I picked, but, alas, we couldn’t I actually picked Louisville to win by a lot over Wake Forest though it was just 2.5 point favorites. The Cardinals were embarrassed. So was Arizona State, who lost 48-17 against USC. I guess after the wins over Arizona and Arizona State the past two weeks, the Trojans finally have woken up. How in the world did Appalachian State not beat UMass by more than three??? The Minutemen actually won 30-27. Kansas didn’t beat Kansas State, but the Jayhawks only lost 30-20, easily covering a 24.5-point spread. And I picked Texas A&M over Mississippi State at home. The Aggies didn’t.

The wins are a lot easier to cover because there were only two of them. Arizona was a three-point underdog to Washington State, but the Cougars had no answer for Khalil Tate in a 58-37 Wildcats win. Also, the fighting Lane Kiffins were 6.5-point favorites over Western Kentucky and won 42-28.

Let’s try to win some pride back this week.

UConn +40 against Central Florida: I know that Connecticut isn’t a very good football team. But the Huskies are a FORTY-point underdog against UCF. Maybe that’s going to happen, and yes, I know UConn’s defense is bad. But Rhett Lashlee’s offense averages 25 points a game. I don’t see this being 65-25. It’ll be ugly, but not 40 points ugly.
Florida-South Carolina under 45.5: Florida can’t score a lick. Last week, the Gators managed just 16 points against an awful Missouri defense. Now, they play against a South Carolina team that is quietly pretty good. This game will wind up 27-14 or something like that.
Michigan State +16.5 over Ohio State: Michigan State gets zero respect. A week after beating Penn State, the Spartans must play Ohio State. The Buckeyes will win and represent the division in the Big Ten Championship Game, but it’ll be close.
Texas Tech-Baylor over 72.5: This has 85 points written all over it. Just bet the over, sit back and enjoy all the scoring.
Florida Atlantic -6.5 over Louisiana Tech: Lane Kiffin is a volatile personality, and he shoved it to bettors last week by having his punter run out of the back of the end zone for a safety that cost the Owls the cover. But FAU also scores points, and La Tech hasn’t been good at it this year. The Owls will win and cover.
Notre Dame -3 over Miami: I don’t know why I don’t believe in the Hurricanes. I know by now I should. But I believe Notre Dame wins this game in South Bend and keeps churning forward.
Tennessee-Missouri under 61.5: Well, the last time I picked an under, UT and UK reached it easily. But there’s no way the Vols are contributing to getting that combined score to 62. No way.
West Virginia +1.5 over Kansas State: Early this season, I rode West Virginia. I know this is a road game in Manhattan where wacky things happen, but I’m rolling with Will Grier again.

Tennessee 24, Southern Miss 10: Finally, a Win

None of Tennessee’s off-field drama carried over between the lines in Saturday night’s 24-10 homecoming win over Southern Mississippi.

So much for the #EmptyNeyland campaign, too. There were more than 95,000 people in Neyland Stadium to watch the Vols beat the Mustard Buzzards, er, Golden Eagles. Yes, it was just a two-touchdown win over a Conference USA Team, but any win for a 4-5 team should feel good.

It isn’t going to change any of the lingering big-picture frustrations, and, given Missouri’s 45-16 win at home over Florida on Saturday prior to hosting the Vols next week, it may not change the ultimate fruitless outcome of the season, but a win is a win is a win.

The best fans in the country were treated to a victory. That’s all that needs to be said tonight. Save the grumpiness for tomorrow.

A skeleton crew of Vols who were down to five scholarship offensive linemen after a few injuries during the game and who were forced to rip the redshirt off once fourth-string quarterback Will McBride reached deep down and pulled out a strong defensive performance to get their first win since a 17-13 escape over UMass back on September 23 that felt like a loss.

Thank goodness.

Listen: Everybody deals with adversity in different ways. For me, it’s snark, as you’ve probably seen on my Twitter account the past few weeks in trying to cope with the baffling fifth season of the Butch Jones tenure. Some people quit [as we know all too well at UT]. Others go extreme and pull for losses. Still, others elect to give up or lash out with meanness that is unnecessary.

Whatever is going to happen with the Jones tenure is going to happen. Most likely, the decision already has been made. Regardless, your 140 characters won’t make a difference. In reality, a win over Southern Miss likely won’t make much of one, either, but it may delay the inevitable another week.

It may not, depending on investigations and nasty endings and witch hunts and reasons to look for cause.

Ultimately, that’s none of our decisions to make.

But for the players remaining on the field Saturday night, they responded to adversity with a victory. They sang Rocky Top. A few players even did backflips. These kids didn’t care that they beat a team they were supposed to beat. They won again. That’s all that mattered. Good for them with all the crap they’ve had to endure.

There were more than a few smiles on the sideline, which was nice to see after a week filled with the Brett Kendrick concussion drama and the abrupt departure of Vol for Life coordinator Antone Davis, who inserted his own parting shots at Jones on his way out the door.

The players deserve better than what they’ve endured this year, and the fans deserve better, too. Saturday was better. Even if it only meant going from three wins to four wins and inching closer to bowl eligibility with games remaining against Missouri, LSU and Vanderbilt.

None of those games look easy, and UT should probably be underdogs in all three. If you’re in the camp of wanting the Vols to lose to force Jones’ ouster, well, first of all, shame on you. Secondly, you’ll probably still get your wish. So, let those of us who pull for Tennessee to win every game be happy for a night.

What happened on the field against the Golden Eagles didn’t change anything. The Vols are still bad; possibly the worst team in the SEC. They are still 0-5 in the league, which is still unacceptable. Though the defense looked better, it was against a C-USA team that has been far from prolific. Though Vols quarterback Jarrett Guarantano looked OK while he was in there, an ankle injury forced him out and McBride in. The true freshman backup looked about like you’d expect him to.

McBride finished 1-of-8 passing for 13 yards. He had four carries for 7 yards. Tennessee couldn’t manufacture first downs with him in there and limped out the win, which probably was only possible because the defense made some momentum-swinging plays like an Emmanuel Moseley interception and a Darrell Taylor-forced fumble recovered by Rashaan Gaulden.

If you’re a football dermatologist looking for the team’s warts, there are still plenty. The only thing the game against USM did was give us that old time feeling of winning again, and on homecoming, no less.

I don’t know how Tennessee is going to even field a team over the next few weeks, there are so many injuries. The SEC Network reported that Evan Berry was carted off the field at halftime [But, hey! At least we got to see him return one last kick to near midfield to set up a game-opening touchdown!]. Jonathan Kongbo was suspended for a violation of team rules, and, in this day and age of endless Tennessee drama, who knows what he did? Guarantano didn’t return in the second half after trying to play, and the offensive line was forced to ask for numerous snaps from a 275-pound converted tight end in Devante Brooks who hadn’t played a snap of organized football in a game since his sophomore year of high school.

It isn’t so much raining in Knoxville as coming a tornado with neck-deep water already on the ground.

Now, they’ve got to travel to Columbia to take on a Mizzou team that left the ranks of the winless in conference play on Saturday by throwing up 45 on a Gators team that, even though they beat the Vols, are in the same boat as the Vols.

After that, an LSU team that played hard in Tuscaloosa before predictably succumbing. Then, the Vols will play Vanderbilt, and let’s all hope they can find a way to win that one.

There’s no reason to think anything about a rosy future even though Tennessee won Saturday night. There are too many remnants of what we currently are to change anybody’s long-term thoughts about the direction of the program under Jones.

But Saturday night was about winning another football game. It was about McBride’s redshirt not being burned in vain. It was about Brooks playing well though he’s far from in SEC shape yet. It was about the much-maligned Moseley getting an important interception to win a game during his senior year. It was about John Kelly coming back from a one-game suspension to rush for a pair of touchdowns.

For some of you, it’s about Jones failing to coach great and seize the win as much as Southern Miss giving the Vols the game with mistakes. For others, it’s about you [rightly] questioning offensive coordinator Larry Scott failing to give Ty Chandler more than 11 touches after answering “God, yes” when asked if he needed to get his hands on the ball more. [In Scott’s defense, Chandler struggled behind the makeshift offensive line with just 15 yards]. For others still, it’s about potentially keeping Jones for yet another week when you just want finality to his era.

I understand all that. I’m in both camps. I’m happy with the win but mad about the season. I’m encouraged about the response from the remnants of an SEC team with the knowledge that this team likely isn’t going to win an SEC game unless it plays much better than it has over the past month-plus. I want another coach and another direction, but I still can’t help but root for Jones to make the right calls from the sideline while he’s on the sideline and for the kids to make the plays to win the game.

Saturday night, they won the game. Weeping remains in this dreadful 2017 season. So does gnashing of teeth. For a night, just be happy.

Kentucky 29, Tennessee 26: The Final Straw?

Jarrett Guarantano grimaced in pain, trotting onto the field after a Kentucky timeout set up the final play of the game. He took the snap, unleashed a bomb downfield that was caught by senior receiver Jeff George.

Three yards short.

On a Hail Mary that was supposed to be caught to win the game. Like the rest of the season, it simply fell short.

Now, we all wonder how long we’ll have to wait on what seems like inevitable news on coach Butch Jones, who surely can’t survive this, can he? When George was tackled, UT’s record dropped to 3-5. The Vols are 0-5 in the conference now.

That’s even more painful than whatever injury Guarantano battled through.

Did the strong-armed Guarantano’s pain prevent him from getting it all the way there? If so, that would be Tennessee’s luck. We saw the Vols fall victim to their own cruel Vol-dom all night. This is the same team that saw a ridiculous blanket unsportsmanlike conduct penalty called at the first of the game on both teams that ultimately cost them two of their best defenders in Daniel Bituli and Rashaan Gaulden.

[Gaulden will miss the first half of next week’s game against Southern Miss, too. Seriously, has that ever been called? Only SEC officials, man. What kind of idiocy was that?]

Regardless, it was only the beginning of Tennessee finding a way to mess up the game. On the play before Kentucky took the final lead with under a minute remaining on quarterback Stephen Johnson’s designed run, Johnson threw a ball that was tipped in the air and into the arms of Nigel Warrior.

It would have been a difficult interception as he rolled to the end zone turf, but if you catch it, the game is over. He didn’t. One play later, UT was losing.

That was only the worst of the luck that came all night. Senior receiver Josh Smith was carted off the field. The Vols again saw a false start penalty on the goal line keep them from six points in what ultimately became a field goal. Later in the game, freshman Brent Cimaglia missed two field goals that could have given the Vols an insurmountable lead.

Instead, UT kept handing the game to Kentucky despite getting four turnovers, scoring touchdowns and actually looking like a decent team for snippets of the night.

These Vols keep finding ways to lose, and time is running out for Jones and his staff. The Vols — you have to figure — can’t beat LSU. That means they must beat Southern Miss, Vanderbilt and Missouri just to make a bowl game.

That isn’t happening the way things are right now.

As prized recruit Cade Mays visited Clemson and watched the Tigers beat Georgia Tech on Saturday night, UT was losing to Kentucky for just the second time in 33 years. The last time it happened, it signified the beginning of the end for Derek Dooley. It may usher in the end for Jones.

Time is wasting now. You may ask what can be done at this point of the season? The answer is salvaging some hope for the future, giving these players in limbo a direction, even if it may not be the direction they want or even if it means losing recruits in the process.

If Butch coaches against Southern Miss next week, there may not be 50,000 people in Neyland Stadium. Unfortunately, there may not be anyway.

Nobody wants to hear about all the good things Jones did for this program right now, and that’s a shame. It’s the nature of college football, but there were some good things; there were some good times. The talent level and the overall program are in better shape than the program he inherited.

But when you get right down to the bottom of the barrel, the end of a tenure, the only thing that really matters right now is this: Jones came to a Tennessee program that couldn’t make a bowl game, and this 2017 version of the Vols looks like it won’t make one, either.

A long line of blunders, off-the-field frustrations and futility have led to what we’re seeing on the field this season. Maybe it all started when the major red flag began flying in the middle of last year, when a supposed team leader, junior running back Jalen Hurd, who was about to become the school’s all-time leading rusher, simply quit the team.

Back then, we searched and scrambled, looking for an answer. We didn’t want to believe that it was the latest in a pattern, that the “brick-by-brick” class that saw so many defections was maybe just not what we all thought it would be.

Instead, we should have known that when the first ever Jones commit, the kid who began to help Jones build — receiver Vic Wharton — transferred to California, followed by the Hurd situation, this was deeper than we could even realize.

You know what they say about hindsight.

Now, fast-forward to this season, and you see unkept promises that are leading to a divided locker room, you see the holes on the roster, you see the infighting, you see the recruits dropping. Above all else, you see the offensive futility, the coaching blunders, the bad hires and the losses piling up. You see Georgia bursting onto national scene in Year 2 of Kirby Smart. You see Alabama embarrassing you on the field, weeks after the Dawgs did.

We’re about to see Florida enter the coaching market, a team with deep pockets, fertile grounds and bragging rights on the Vols. That’s another reason why the difficult decision must be made.

I pulled for the Vols every single step of the way tonight. But this was an 18-wheeler we all saw coming from a mile away, and we were stuck in the intersection with nowhere to go. You could feel that UT was going to lose this game. You just knew the Vols would find a way.

And that simple fact right there is why a change needs to happen now more than ever. You expect Tennessee to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. You expect them to find a way to fail. Despite the solid performances of Guarantano, running backs Ty Chandler and Carlin Fils-aime and a few others, you just knew there would be players put in a position to lose the game because we’ve seen exactly that too often under Butch Jones.

Here we are. Back again. Another mediocre hire that we’d hope would mature stayed stuck in neutral until it started rolling back down the hill from where it came. This program is not in shambles, but this team is. If you don’t do something now — right now — you run the risk of everything falling apart. Again.

We’re all out of bricks.

Tennessee’s Locks & Keys Week 9: The Kentucky Cure?

It has been 14 quarters since Tennessee’s offense crossed the goal line. That was more than a month ago in a narrow win over UMass that marks the last time this Vols team won a football game.

Now, Tennessee has released a statement this week that its only offensive star — running back John Kelly — is suspended for Saturday night’s game against Kentucky after being cited alongside freshman linebacker Will Ignont for possession.

Only once in the past 32 years have the Kentucky Wildcats found a winning formula against the Vols. This year, they’re 5-2 and playing against a team that is struggling so badly that fans are just counting down the moments left in coach Butch Jones’ tenure as Tennessee’s head coach.

These are rocky times on Rocky Top. But there have been fewer welcome sights in the history of Tennessee football than the sight of Kentucky coming up on the schedule. The Wildcats are a better team than Tennessee right now, but they’ve been anything but world-beaters themselves. Last weekend, UK took to the road to play Mississippi State and limped away with the same 45-7 deficit UT suffered against once-rival Alabama.

It was similarly ugly.

Now, the Wildcats are home in Lexington against a 3-4 Tennessee team that looks like a bowl game is anything but a guarantee. What’s going to happen? We’ll talk about that in a little bit, but first of all, let’s take a look back at last week’s keys and why UT lost to Alabama.

Petition the SEC to let UT play 14 players at once on both sides: Obviously, this didn’t happen. The Vols played with 11 on both sides, and Alabama’s 11 were much, much, much, much [insert infinity here], much better. FAIL.
Hurts (not) so good: Jalen Hurts didn’t have the best game of his career, but he was more than good enough, going 13-for-21 passing for 198 yards and a touchdown. He played a little more than a half. FAIL.
Four turnovers: The Vols got two, scored off one and nearly scored off the other. Was far from enough. FAIL.
Berry merry return game: He didn’t play. FAIL.
Game of their life: Naw. Alabama out-gained UT on offense 604-108. If this was the game of the Vols’ lives, the rest of the season is going to be hideous. FAIL.

KEYS

Put Snell in a shell

The Wildcats are a paltry 10th in the SEC in rush offense, and after such a promising freshman season, Benny Snell Jr. is averaging barely more than 4 yards per carry. That’s not good. The Vols have been awful against the run this season but very, very good against the pass.

That’s going to pit strength-vs.-strength with Stephen Johnson and UK’s passing game. But Snell is a major key. He’s good enough to dominate a game if the Vols let him, and so defensive coordinator Bob Shoop must find a way to shut him down. In the second half of the South Carolina game — a game that should have been a UT win — Gamecocks third-string running back A.J. Turner took over the game and led Carolina to a win. So, yeah, it’s happened.

Get Guarantano Going

There aren’t enough negative adjectives in the universe to describe Tennessee’s offense. It’s like if Dave Clawson’s 2008 Vols offense played every game against the 1985 Chicago Bears.

But if there’s ever going to be a game where redshirt freshman quarterback Jarrett Guarantano gets going, it’s going to be against the SEC’s worst pass defense. That comes this weekend, and if the Vols can’t take advantage of it, they may not score an offensive touchdown the rest of the year.

Game-changers

We talked about it last week, and we’ll continue to talk about it until the Vols actually do something productive on offense: Tennessee absolutely must get game-breaking plays on defense and special teams. Last weekend, Daniel Bituli had a 97-yard interception return for a touchdown in the Vols only score of the game. They got another fumble recovery on a fumble on a punt return, and UT took it down to the 1-inch line before failing to get across the goal line.

Is dynamic returner Evan Berry going to play? We all thought he would against Alabama, and it didn’t happen. If he does, it would be nice for UT if he took one to the house. The Vols need to get some turnovers and turn them into touchdowns to pull out a road win.

The Tim and Ty Show

There weren’t many bright spots at all against Alabama, but the Vols looked like freshmen running backs Ty Chandler and Tim Jordan had the speed to be difference-makers in any offense that didn’t just run sideways and go out of bounds.

With Kelly out, both will get their share of touches this weekend. The Vols need them to get to the second level and beyond. Kentucky’s defense isn’t awful, but it isn’t fast. This could be one of those games where Chandler or Jordan breaks free to the second level and is gone.

Vaca

Let’s face it: The Vols haven’t been in friendly confines in a while. Last weekend, UT spent a terrible time in Tuscaloosa. With all the buzz around Jones’ job security, Knoxville probably hasn’t been rosy, either.

Few hate the Vols like they do in Lexington, but Tennessee is probably going to be happy to be away from the glare of the spotlight of negativity in Knoxville. They need to band together and play up to their capabilities.

LOCKS

Last week was a little disappointing. I felt great about six games, and OK about two. When the smoke cleared, I went 4-4, including two frustrating stunners. West Virginia absolutely collapsed at Baylor and was fortune to beat the Bears 38-36 after allowing 25 unanswered points. That cost me a sure cover. SMU pooped its pants in a narrow win over Cincinnati where it easily should have covered if not for all the mistakes.

The other two losses were just flat-out losses. Oklahoma didn’t cover 12.5 against Kansas State and was fortunate to win. Purdue went from being sure money all week to getting outright beat by Rutgers 14-12.

The wins were solid. Syracuse easily covered 17 points in a loss to Miami, Central Florida took care of business against Navy, South Florida handled Tulane and Georgia Tech walloped Wake Forest. So, we stayed three games over .500 and now sit at 30-27-1.

It’s gonna be better this week. Guaranteed.

Tennessee/Kentucky under 46: I feel as good [bad?] about this one as I have all season. The Vols are worse than they’ve ever been on offense, and the defense is playing pretty well. This game has 20-14 written all over it.
Louisville -2.5 over Wake Forest: You never know which Cardinals team is going to show up, but the Demon Deacons can’t do anything with Lamar Jackson. They aren’t fast enough.
Appalachian State -3 over UMass. The Minutemen are going to have to do more than hang with the Vols and destroy lowly Georgia Southern to impress me. ASU coach Scott Satterfield always has his team up to play, and the Minutemen can’t ever hang with teams that have winning records.
Arizona State +3 over USC: This line surprises me. The Trojans aren’t playing well, this game is in Tempe and Arizona State is playing very good football lately. Bet the money line here; the Sun Devils win outright.
Arizona +3 over Washington State: Again, I was so totally wrong about the Wildcats. Who could envision quarterback Khalil Tate coming in and transforming this offense into being elite? This game in Tucson is going to be fun.
Florida Atlantic -6.5 over Western Kentucky: The way Lane Kiffin has this Owls offense going, I’m riding them, even against a great quarterback like Mike White.
Kansas State -24.5 over Kansas: Always bet against the Jayhawks. Always.
Texas A&M Pickem vs. Mississippi State: The Bulldogs have been a much different team away from Davis Wade. I believe in what Kevin Sumlin is doing with the Aggies. They’ll win at home.

Alabama 45, Tennessee 7: This is Not OK

Remember when there was such a thing as Tennessee Pride?

Now, it’s just sausage.

Our hopes have been ground up yet again. We were reduced to hoping for moral victories against Alabama, just wanting the Vols to cover the spread. Or, in some extreme cases, wanting a lopsided margin “for the betterment of the program” that results in head coach Butch Jones getting fired. It’s not the way you want to spend a season.

What we got Saturday was embarrassment yet again in a spread-covering, lopsided 45-7 win by Alabama that saw them rest starting quarterback Jalen Hurts for almost the entire second half.

They didn’t need him. Tennessee’s offense wasn’t scoring a single touchdown, much less overcoming what was then a 28-0 deficit.

Ho-hum. The only thing that happened was what was expected all along.

The only threat for a marquee opponent playing UT these days is a potential injury. The Vols have been reduced to back-page news.

There was once a time, seems like centuries ago, when Tennessee and Alabama played to epic duals. Legends were forged under the haze of cigar smoke on the Third Saturday in October. The nation tuned in. Polls were affected. Championships won.

That’s still happening these days. Unfortunately for the Vols, it’s only happening for Nick Saban and the Crimson Tide.

What was once considered a rivalry is now just another speed bump on the highway to More Important Games for UA. There are plenty of those these days for Alabama, which is now on an 11-game winning streak over a Tennessee team that, again in Year 5 of Butch Jones’ tenure, looks like a helicopter dropped it right back in the wilderness where the Vols wandered for years in the final few of Phillip Fulmer, the eventful-but-unfruitful 2009 hiccup of Lane Kiffin and the entire Derek Dooley era.

When the Vols seemingly punched in the football for a John Kelly touchdown to make it look a tiny bit more respectable in the fourth quarter against the Tide on Saturday, there was at least a glimmer of something upon which to build. Instead, replays showed Kelly was short. Then Trey Smith jumped for a false start, Kelly ran for a short gain and Jarrett Guarantano threw an interception.

Ladies and gentlemen, your 2017 Tennessee Volunteers!

They’ve still not scored an offensive touchdown now in 14 quarters dating back to the second 15 minutes of the UMass game. That was 28 days ago. The only blip on the scoreboard against the Tide was a 97-yard interception return by backup linebacker Daniel Bituli.

That made the score 28-7. And, guess what? You cheered. You maybe even stood up. It was exciting. I did.

That’s just sad.

I live in Alabama, and I care more about this game than any other game in any other sport, and I can’t get excited for it anymore. You can talk all you want to about Saban’s dominance and all the championships the Tide have won and the machine that has been built in Tuscaloosa. All of that is viable and true.

But it isn’t the reason why Tennessee is now a laughingstock.

The day started with Tim Tebow — TIM FREAKING TEBOW — giving the Vols a back-handed pep talk on a morning college football show. Listening to Gary Danielson and Brad Nessler attempt to pay UT compliments on national television sound like trying to judge Charlie Weis in a beauty contest.

It isn’t OK what this program now is in Jones’ fifth year. Something has to change. I’m not sure about how much money Tennessee saves depending on when the timing of the decision is, but every single weekend, we have to sit in our chairs, turn on college football shows and hear every single commentator talk about how bad Tennessee is, how Butch has lost the team and how the Vols have to make a change.

None of us WANTED this, but then we watch the Vols play actual football [or something vaguely resembling it] and you see that it really has to happen. You can’t worry about recruiting, because, now, the only things that truly matter are player development and game day coaching. Neither of which are happening the way they should within the program right now.

There are two elite teams in the SEC: Alabama and Georgia. Tennessee has lost to those teams a combined 86-7. That isn’t getting closer to being competitive. It’s simply called regression.

There are two other mid-level teams the Vols have played within their division, and they lost to Florida and South Carolina on the final plays of the game. As the rest of the season unfolds, there will be more losses. So, it’s a matter of when you make the ultimate decision and how much money the powers that be will spend to make this program great again.

For those who didn’t watch this game or are just seeing the scores run across the bottom of the screen, Saturday’s 45-7 loss to Alabama looks like the embarrassing blowout that it indeed was. But there are players at UT; there are puzzle pieces who just need to be molded, coached, developed, disciplined.

Shawn Shamburger hasn’t hardly played at all this year, and he looked aggressive on Saturday in his first career start, getting beat his share of times but flashing a lot, too. Bituli still can’t stay on the field all the time even though UT’s defense is so much better with him on it. We still have him three more years. Somebody just needs to help him realize the unlimited, NFL potential he has.

John Kelly is a warrior. Guarantano has so many exciting, raw skills even though he hasn’t come close to putting everything together yet. You can see it there, but it’s just under the surface, needing somebody to unlock it.

Nobody ever gave Tennessee a chance on Saturday. The No. 1 reason is because nobody had any confidence that Butch Jones and his coaching staff could put the Vols in a position to win. This offense is broken, and it cannot be fixed. It can’t be successful in the SEC.

Recruits are dropping. Players are fighting. Other players are leaving. And the losses are piling up. They’re coming in all shapes and sizes, with increasing levels of frustration and futility.

I’m proud to be a Tennessee Vol. I’m proud of my program, proud of my school, proud of the players, proud of the stadium and proud of the traditions. But you know what traditions are? They’re things that happened in the past.

I need to be proud of the product that’s put on the field week in and week out, and I’m not. This is a shadow of what Tennessee football is supposed to be.

Somebody fix it.

Tennessee’s Locks & Keys Week 8: The Bloodbath

There’s really nothing that can be said by now that hasn’t already been said, and there’s not much we can do about this weekend, either.

More than likely, unless Tennessee pulls off one of the biggest upsets in school history, the Vols are going to be 3-4 with an embarrassing loss at the hands of the hated Alabama Crimson Tide. UT is a 37-point underdog, which pretty much tells you all you know about what this coaching regime has become.

Now, head coach Butch Jones will try to have his team pull off the improbable and take him from lame-duck status to an up-in-the-air, tenuous situation at best. With the way the fans have responded to UT’s fifth-year coach in the past few weeks, it’s difficult to see any scenario where he is the coach next year. The timing of when that happens is anybody’s guess.

But, for now, Jones is the head coach of our Vols. It would be great if we could all treat him as such and pull for this team this weekend against the top-ranked team in the country. If you’re a fan, you’re a fan through thick and thin. And it hasn’t been this thin in a while, dating back to Jones’ first year and the season-ending, losing year-clinching loss to Vanderbilt.

Last weekend, UT fell to .500 with a 15-9 loss at home to a bad South Carolina team that was missing its top receiver and was running its third-string running back. Yet, Brandon Johnson couldn’t catch a rifled fourth-down pass by Jarrett Guarantano as time expired, and the Vols expired. Again.

A big reason is because only one of my keys was met, and even that is debatable. Let’s look.

Put Guarantano in position to be successful: Again, the first two games of offensive coordinator Larry Scott’s tenure was extremely misleading. He’s been bad since. Really bad. In Jarrett Guarantano’s first career start, he had just 133 passing yards and -2 rushing yards. They didn’t roll him out of the pocket enough. They didn’t do quick-hitters enough. They didn’t use the middle of the field enough. A lot of that is UT’s receivers look uncoached. But the whole offense is discombobulated. FAIL.
Block out the noise: Tennessee seemed to respond very well to start the game, coming out of the gates playing with passion. The offense has deep-rooted problems unrelated to all the buzz off the field, but they’re a major reason why there’s buzz in the first place. Still, this team looked largely unaffected. SUCCESS!
Find some heroes: Johnson had the chance to be one. So did Johnson. So did a defensive line that got to face A.J. Turner as SCAR’s RB instead of Rico Dowdle. Exactly nobody stepped up. FAIL.
Play a full game: After an inspired start, the Vols made zero halftime adjustments. Before the final drive, they had -7 total yards. The defense couldn’t stop the cutback on the inside zone. It’s just a poorly coached team all the way around. FAIL
Get to Bentley: UT sacked him once. Ho-hum. FAIL

When it came to the locks, we’re back on track. We went 6-2 last week and after that atrocious 1-7 week where we were horrid, we’ve gone 11-5 in the last two weeks. That’s SKRONG, as Jameis Winston would say.

But before we get to this week’s hot picks, let’s look at the keys to beating Alabama.

KEYS

Now, we have to move onto Alabama. God help us all. It’s going to get ugly, and it’s probably going to get there quickly. If you’re a Tennessee fan, pretty much the only thing to root for is for the Vols to beat the spread, and then for what you want to happen — whatever that is — after the game.

Petition the SEC to play 14 players on both sides at once

This is the No. 9 scoring offense and the 15th-ranked overall offense in the country the Vols are facing this week, and Alabama would be even better if it kept its starters in the game longer than three quarters.

The Tide don’t have to.

Defensively, there’s more speed and talent all over the field than any team in the country.

This is going to be bad for the Vols. I really don’t see any way it isn’t. If Tennessee plays its best game and Alabama plays its worst, it’s still a double-digit loss without some game-changing plays. Obviously, you have to play 11-on-11. It’s just hard seeing the Vols have a chance to win if they have to play by the rules, which, unfortunately, they will.

Only Alabama gets away with breaking the rules in Tuscaloosa.

(See what I did there? Man, that’s a good setup…)

Hurts (Not) So Good

Everybody loves to talk about the ways Jalen Hurts struggles. There aren’t a lot of people who talk about just what kind of next-level dimension the sophomore signal-caller brings to an offense that was already very good.

First-year coordinator Brian Daboll has done a good job of putting Hurts in position to make plays, and a lot of times, when plays aren’t there, Hurts creates them with his feet. The Vols have to make him be a dropback passer, spy him and take away the run. Nobody else has been successful doing it, and UT has been anything but disciplined in its run lanes this year. But the Vols have to find something in this game.

Or Hurts will crush them. He did last year as a true freshman.

Four Turnovers

Tennessee is next-to-last in the league in turnover differential and tied for ninth in takeaways. That’s terrible. The Vols need to somehow turn into an opportunistic unit and get FOUR turnovers to have a chance to win this game.

Yes, that’s a tall order. It’s going to take some tall orders for the Vols to win this game. They’ve got to do some crazy things. Whatever it takes. They have to create extra possessions and take advantage of those possessions. They also have to play a clean, mistake-free game themselves. Then, maybe it can happen.

Maybe.

Berry Merry Return Game

He hasn’t played since the season opener, but Tennessee dynamic returner Evan Berry may play against the Crimson Tide. That’s a huge X-factor for the Vols.

It doesn’t matter who they play, Berry is capable of taking kicks to the house. Given how horrible the Vols offense has been, Tennessee needs to generate points in other ways. Berry taking one back for six would be a great manufactured touchdown. If there’s any way possible he can play, Butch Jones needs to get Berry on the field.

He’s a difference-maker in a game where the Vols simply don’t have many.

Game of their Life

Hey, stranger things have happened, right?

I mean, not much stranger. But there have been some strange things happen.

The team we’ve watched this year in orange were fortunate to beat UMass. They’re 3-4, and they’re about to fire their coach. That team may lose 70-0 to Alabama.

But this UT team is better than the UT team we’ve seen. There comes a point in time when it becomes more than a game. It’s about pride. Whether the Vols play for Jones, play for each other or play to prove everybody wrong, it’s time they played for something. They’ve got to play the best game imaginable to beat Alabama in this game.

Go make a memory.

LOCKS

Hey! Break up the me’s! I’m awesome! 11-5 in the past two weeks, and all of a sudden, I’m 26-23-1 on the year. That’s pretty good. We’ve rallied after that 1-7 week, and now, we’re back on track.

For the most part, we were really seeing things well last week. The bad loss was picking UCLA to beat Arizona, and the Bruins lost 47-30. So, yeah, that sucked. But the other loss was Michigan State, who were 4.5 favorites over Minnesota and won 30-27. The Spartans were dominating that game and allowed 17 unanswered points to close the game. Man, that one should have been a win.

Other than that — SKRONG. West Virginia covered against Texas Tech, North Carolina State handled Pitt to cover 11.5, TCU hammered Kansas State on the road, Navy and Memphis were waaaaaaay under 75.5, and we got lucky in the UCLA under as that covered by a half a point in a barn burner. There you have it. 6-2.

We’re winning money. You know, if it were legal and all. At the very least, we’re helping you make your picks in your fantasy college football leagues. Let’s keep it up, shall we?

Purdue -9 over Rutgers. All Purdue does is win money. It’s like Vegas still doesn’t respect Jeff Brohm and the Boilermakers. I sure do, and I’m riding them to the bank every week. They covered easily against Wisconsin last week in a loss, and they will this week in a win.
Syracuse +17 over Miami. I don’t get this at all. The Orange aren’t bad. They aren’t as good as they were when they upset Clemson last Friday night. But the Hurricanes are the worst undefeated team out there. Dino Babers will have his team ready. It will lose, but it’ll be close.
UCF -7.5 over Navy. This is my favorite BY FAR of the week. Navy couldn’t stop Memphis last weekend, and UCF’s offense is a lot better than the Tigers. UCF’s defense is better, too. This will be a double-digit win.
SMU -8.5 over Cincinnati. Luke Fickell is going to turn around the Bearcats, but it isn’t this year. Chad Morris is doing a good job in Dallas, and the Mustangs score too many points for the Bearcats to hang. It won’t be as bad as the UCF game, but SMU will win by double digits.
South Florida -12.5 over Tulane. The Green Wave is having a nice return-to-respectability season. But Charlie Strong has the Bulls playing well. Tulane won’t have an answer for Quinton Flowers and Co.
West Virginia -9 over Baylor. Much like Purdue, all the Mountaineers do is win money. Now, they’re playing winless Baylor and not even getting 10 points. I don’t get it.
Georgia Tech -5.5 over Wake Forest. Wake isn’t offensively inept like it has been in the past, but I’m not sure the Demon Deacons will have an answer for the option. This GT team should have beaten Miami. It will take out its frustrations against the Deacs.
Oklahoma -12.5 over Kansas State. The Wildcats get too much respect for a mediocre team. The Sooners are much better, and they’ll win by more than two touchdowns on the road. Book it.