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Tennessee Fan Dies After Falling From Upper Level At Georgia Dome

2012-09-01T14:58:45Z

Isaac Grubb, the 20-year-old fan who fell from the upper level of the Georgia Dome seating during Friday night's Tennessee vs. NC State game has died, according to a report from the Associated Press.

The 20-year-old fan fell about 35 feet from the upper deck and landed on another fan sitting in the mezzanine area. The young man of Lenoir City, Tenn. was pronounced dead at the hospital shortly before midnight.

Grubb fell from the front row of section 311, a Tennessee student seating section. According to eyewittnesses, he was celebrating the Volunteers' second touchdown and fell over the railing around 8:30 p.m. The fan he fell upon was treated at an Atlanta hospital and released, with no details available about their identity.

For more on Tennessee, check out Rocky Top Talk and for more on N.C. State, head over to Backing the Pack. For more news, notes and analysis from around the country, visit SB Nation's college football news hub.

Tyler Bray, The Quarterback With No Memory, Is Just What Tennessee Needs

2012-09-01T13:30:10Z

Tyler Bray may be America's most inept goal-line running back.

At the end of the first half of Tennessee's game against North Carolina State in Atlanta on Friday night, Bray received the snap a foot shy of the goal line from under center. What Bray was supposed to do was fall in a gap, just lurch forward with the ball, and then allow gravity and his 6'6 frame to complete the easy carry. Play tree, you can hear Derek Dooley saying to him, because Derek Dooley is the kind of coach who would totally say something this weird.

Tyler Bray may also be America's worst falling tree.

Rather than simply smash forward, Bray instead rose, half-stumbled, and then, in a moment somewhere between fugue state and stimulus response, he extended the ball forward and into the swatting hands of Wolfpack defenders. It popped loose, N.C. State recovered, and, on the way to the locker room with a 22-14 lead, Bray did what any failed goal-line back would do: crack his helmet against the side of his head in frustration, and remind youngsters by negative example of improper helmet-smashing technique.*

*Like Owen Schmitt, West Virginia's legendary fullback: across the front of the head to minimize brain rattle and maximize blood. I told you Tyler Bray was horrible at this.

Tyler Bray is, however, a really good quarterback, and a very specific kind of good quarterback. On Friday night in the Georgia Dome, a lesser Tennessee quarterback might notice the surroundings: a building where Tennessee last won in its title year of 1998, where Erik Ainge ended his cursed monkey's paw of a career by throwing a game-killing INT directly into the hands of an LSU defender. There are dead bluetick hounds in the rafters only Tennessee fans can see.

This would terrify someone with a memory. Luckily, Tyler Bray doesn't even remember what we were just talking about here.

"That's the best part about Bray," Dooley twanged in the postgame press conference. "He don't care."

He don't care, or maybe he has no memory, but be clear on this: Bray may be the closest living football thing to Dory the Fish from Finding Nemo. Justin Hunter runs the wrong route? Bray blinks and throws to him for a first down. A horrendous wormburner of a throw on second down, wide of everything but the hash marks? BLIP. A hard reboot later, and Bray tosses casually for a first down.

It may not have even been personal, or at least as impersonal as the repeated incinerations of N.C. State cornerback David Amerson could have been. Bray might not even have remembered heaving a deep ball on a double move to Cordarrelle Patterson, who burst into the light in his own way, and then going after him again, and again.

It may have just been that, on every play that Bray took the snap, he looked Patterson's way and said, "Hey, that dude's relationship status with football tonight is 'it's complicated.'" And then out flew the ball, and onward moved the chains, and click went the cameras taking the goofy shots of Tyler Bray wearing the leather helmet of victory Chick-Fil-A makes players pose in during the postgame grip-and-grins with sponsors.

NC State as a football has problems--turnovers being issue number one, with Mike Glennon throwing four INTs on the night. Based on the one game data set you have it would be wise not to get too enthused about running roughshod over a non-conference opponent in a netural site game. It would be wise to not get too excited since Bray--who did not throw an INT tonight--has in the past turned that complete lack of memory into a liability, forgetting that throwing to the other team is bad on multiple occasions. Tennessee has a defense, and it gave up over 200 yards in the first half. They have a running game, and it goes sideways more than it should.

You might also remember that deep ball to Patterson, the JUCO replacement for the jettisoned Da'Rick Rogers. On a bombshot worthy of Rex Grossman or Ryan Mallett, the ball left Bray's hand almost casually, thrown the way you might heave a beer to friend across a room, with just a hint of three-quarter delivery. It landed on target and on schedule, softly, and just a half-step ahead of Patterson, the ball falling into the receiver's hands with its own strange magnetism.

You should remember that when thinking about how good (and how utterly entertaining) this team could be. You should also remember it for Tyler Bray, because he forgot it happened seconds after it landed, and then kept on forgetting until he had two TDs and 333 yards passing on the night, and Tennessee had a 35-21 win. He remains a terrible goal-line running back and is a failure of a falling tree, but neither of those is what Tennessee needs in 2012.

What these Vols need is a brilliant amnesiac quarterback, and, fortunately, they have one.

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For more on Vols football, visit Tennessee blog Rocky Top Talk, plus SEC blog Team Speed Kills.

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Tennessee Vs. N.C. State Final Score: Volunteers Open Season With 35-21 Victory

2012-09-01T03:09:24Z

Tennessee Volunteers fans can officially put the Da'Rick Rogers saga behind them. The Volunteers defeated the North Carolina State Wolfpack 35-to-21 in Atlanta on Friday night, in a game where Tennessee wide receiver Cordarrelle Patterson's star was born. Patterson, a JUCO transfer who has assumed Rogers' spot in the Vols starting lineup, scored touchdowns of 41 yards (reception) and 67 yards (rush) in the first half of Friday night's game.

On the first of those touchdowns, Patterson burned N.C. State's preseason All-American corner David Amerson. Amerson also got beat on Tennessee quarterback Tyler Bray's second touchdown of the night, which went to receiver Zach Rogers. Bray had it easy for most of the night, finishing 27-of-41 for 332 yards to go along with two touchdowns and no interceptions. He was helped considerably by a rejuvenated Vols running game, which racked up 194 yards on 37 carries.

Wolfpack quarterback Mike Glennon, a preseason All-ACC pick, did not have as nice a night. Glennon finished 26-of-44 for 284 yards and a touchdown, but was picked off three times. Wolfpack receiver Quintin Payton had the breakout game for N.C. State, going for 129 yards on only four catches.

The Wolfpack will take on the Connecticut Huskies next Saturday, Sept. 8, while the Vols will host the Georgia State Panthers.

Fan Falls From Upper Level At Georgia Dome During Tennessee Vs. N.C. State

2012-09-01T02:39:53Z

A fan fell at the NC State game against Tennessee, falling 35 feet from the upper level seating in the Georgia Dome on Friday night, according to a report from WSBTV. The fan, a 20-year-old male, fell from the seating above the end zone and landed on another person sitting in the mezzanine area below. Both people were taken to Atlanta Medical Center for examiniation.

A person on the scene gave a description of the incident to WSBTV:

"It looked like [the man who fell] was doing a fist pump, and then he was gone over the top," said William Coates, Tennessee fan from Arkansas. "He wasn't moving. His chest was moving a little."

"He was just laying there [in the section below] between rows. It took like 15 minutes for the medical workers to get there."

Mark Schlabach investigated the scene of the incident further, finding it to be "the first row of a Tennessee student area in Section 311."

Police were investigating the incident.

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PHOTO: Tyler Bray Definitely Either Scored A Touchdown Or Didn't

2012-09-01T01:24:44Z

Tennessee had a chance to go up by a really awkward 15 points just before the half against N.C. State, but Tyler Bray fumbled the ball away on the goal line during a catch-'em-sleepin' sneak attempt. Like, literally on the goal line. Like, ON on the goal line. This play was reviewed and determined to be a fumble, but ... looks like a touchdown to me.

Vols fans watching the replay were very convinced it was a touchdown (of course), making far more celebratory noises during replays than Wolfpack fans were. All that really matters is who was doing the cheering after the ruling, though.

What does it look like to you?

Via @cjzero:

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Say, What's Da'Rick Rogers Up To This Weekend?

2012-08-31T23:52:40Z

Remember when we sort of thought Tennessee's frightening passing game was sunk due to the loss of Da'Rick Rogers? His replacement, four-star JUCO transfer Cordarelle Patterson, just screamed past N.C. State's talented secondary for a 41-yard touchdown.

Meanwhile, at the Ohio Valley Conference's Tennessee Tech:

Da'Rick Rogers caught three passes for 75 yards, including a 17-yard touchdown from Tre Lamb with 4.6 seconds left in the first half that gave the Golden Eagles a commanding 31-7 halftime lead.

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Tennessee Vs. N.C. State Game Time, TV Schedule And More

2012-08-31T12:01:21Z

The Tennessee Volunteers and North Carolina State Wolfpack open the 2012 season Friday night at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta in a matchup of two of the nation's most intriguing teams.

Tennessee enters the third year of the Derek Dooley era, and fans are demanding visible improvement. Dooley is 11-14 in his first two years with the Vols, and Tennessee's 1-7 mark in the SEC last season was the program's worst conference record since joining the Southeastern Conference in 1933. Quarterback Tyler Bray enters his third season as a starter, but will have to play the Wolfpack without star receiver Da'Rick Rogers, who was suspended indefinitely last week.

N.C. State enters the fifth season of the Tom O'Brien Experience. The team went 8-5 in 2011 with a win in the Belk Bowl over Louisville and returns seven starters on each side of the ball. One of those returning starters, quarterback Mike Glennon, threw 31 touchdowns last season and completed 62 percent of his pass attempts. The majority of a defense that forced 39 turnovers also returns.

Game time, TV channel: 7:30 p.m. ET, ESPNU

Complete 2012 Tennessee schedule

Complete 2012 N.C. State schedule

Point spread: Tennessee -3.5

For news, discussion and more: For more on Wolfpack football, visit N.C. State blog Backing The Pack. For more on Vols football, visit Tennessee blog Rocky Top Talk, plus SEC blog Team Speed Kills.

Video: Can the Vols surprise this year? Dan Rubenstein analyzes for SB Nation Studios:

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