SB Nation User Blog: CornFromAJar

Dodd: "Tennessee coaching news"

CornFromAJar — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 21:22:32 -0000

Dodd: "Tennessee coaching news"

When is news not news? When it comes from Dennis Dodd, natch.

Neyland Stadium: 'like standing next to the starting line at a drag race...for four hours'

CornFromAJar — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 13:32:22 -0000

Long time, no see, y'all...

Over at Gerogia Sports Blog, Paul Westerdawg has an interview with former UGa All-American o-lineman Matt Stinchcomb that would be of absolutely no interest to a Tennessee fan if not for the following part of the Q&A:

PWD: What was the worst or toughest place to play?
MS: Tennessee is a really tough place to play as an opponent. I think fans in general don't realize the impact they have on the game, but the fans in Knoxville know their role. Everything at Neyland is enclosed, and you feel like you're inside a tin can. The crowd noise is like standing next to the starting line at a drag race...for four hours. It's painfully, oppressively loud. The only place I played as loud as Neyland Stadium was the Metrodome in Minnesota, and that place has a roof to keep the sound in.

Now if we could just get the whole stadium to make noise... oh, and that double-wave thingy that Joel was talking about, that would be sweet.

Tennessee Football Depth By Class, Take 1

CornFromAJar — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 19:09:47 -0000

With spring practice starting next week, I thought it would be interesting to look at Tennessee's roster for the 2008 season, formated here by class and position. I think this is pretty accurate, though the projected starters are totally a guess right now. That's especially so at defensive back, where I'd only bet on three things: Eric Berry, Brent Vinson, and Eric Berry.

TENNESSEE FOOTBALL DEPTH BY CLASS 2008
Position	Incoming (c/o 2012)	Freshmen (c/o 2012)	Sophomores (c/o 2011)	Juniors (c/o 2010)	Seniors (c/o 2009)
QB	C. Kelly	BJ. Coleman	N. Stephens	J. Crompton
RB	T. Poole B. Bartholomew	D. Vareen J. Hawkins	L. Creer	M. Hardesty	A. Foster
WR	EJ. Abrams-Ward R. Wilkes S. Fowlkes	A. Paige T. Campbell T. Maples	D. Moore G. Jones	A. Rogers Q. Hancock	L. Taylor J. Briscoe K. O'Neal
TE	A. Douglas		L. Stocker K. Cooper	J. Cottam
OL	P. Bailey D. Thomas C. Anderson	D. Sawtelle W. Brimfield	R. Johnson	J. McNeil C. Scott J. McClendon V. Richard	R. Foster A. Parker
DT	M. Hughes	D. Langley C. Pope	V. Thomas	D. Williams C. Nelson	D. Bolden W. Fisher
DE	W. Bohannon		B. Martin C. Walker	W. Brown G. Williams	R. Ayers
LB	M. Walls A. Johnson H. Lathers	C. Donald	L. Thompson S. Fraizer N. Reveiz	R. McCoy	E. Wilson N. McKenzie A. Myers-White
DB	S. Raines P. Waggner	A. Evans A. Anderson CJ. Fleming	E. Berry B. Vinson D. Rogan	M. Johnson R. Kemp	D. Willingham A. Gaines
P/K			D. Lincolin C. Cuningham		B. Colquitt
returning starters in bold, projected starters in italics

Two things I take from this:

I really like our offense. A lot. The only two things that can slow this offense are total ineptness at QB or some doofus move by Clawson that involves Kenny O'Neal under center. Oh, and o-line injuries. They could hurt.
Want to gaze straight into the cold, deep eyes of the reaper? Cover up the junior and senior columns and glance at the offensive and defensive lines, if you dare. In two years we're guaranteed to be relying on linemen that are either young or terrible, or both.

How about y'all? See anything of note? Oh, and I'm sure the chart as I've presented it is rife with incorrectness. Please shout out any mistakes you catch.

They Keep Using the Word 'Blog' But I Don't Think It Means What They Think It Means

CornFromAJar — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 19:11:12 -0000

Two items came across my feed reader yesterday that nearly sent me into full Fisk mode again, both of them being more cheap shots and undue criticism of Phil Fulmer. After some consideration I've decided that neither Ron Higgin's latest salvo in his personal war against The Papa, nor this rambling and indirect narrative from Roy Exum are worthy of much deconstruction other than to say "they're here, they're dumb, get used to it."

But I have a hard time resisting the low-hanging fruit, so I will say that of Exum's column, outside of the fact that it's hard to tell whether he's criticizing or supporting Fulmer, he feels it necessary to take shots at blogs for creating an atmosphere in which coaches receive more criticism than ever before. He even finds a way to equate blogs with the KKK. We're straight evil, y'all.

If you're not familiar with Roy Exum, he and his family are former newspaper magnates in Chattanooga. I understand the resentment that many old newspaper types have for bloggers... but because I understand doesn't mean they're right. It's a misunderstanding between what the old-school journalist thinks a blog is and what a blog really is. Too often, the newspaper folks think blogs are trying to replace them; most often though, we're not.

Look at the blogs nominated or winning the College Football Blogger Awards. For the most part, they're not trying to practice journalism. But that's the misconception, that bloggers are amateur journalists. If bloggers are amateur anything, it's along the lines of amateur critics. More than that, though, blogs are about continuing a discussion among fans that used to be limited to the folks immediately around you in coffee shops, barber chairs, and dive bars; but can now be carried on around the world. BTW, that conversation usually starts in the local paper. So when an old newspaper guy like Exum starts by calling out "faceless blogs" and continues

But the Internet, with all these rah-rah sites where you can post any lie you wish, is still unfathomable to me and, to the hatemongers who walk among us, it is better than the day South Central Bell connected the KKK to a party line.

The most unbelievable part of the whole thing is these people are today the very same ones who are gleefully pushing a picture of their own coach, superimposed in police garb, across the Internet with the words "Fulmer for Sheriff" and the vow, "So He Can Be Near His Players."

There is even a national competition on a website called "fulmercup.com" where college football teams across the country are awarded points when players are arrested for off the field incidents. At the end of the season that site, too, names a somewhat dubious national champion.

...it's even more difficult to understand. It's also hard to understand how I've now seen at least three instances of "print media" giving the wrong internet address credit for creating and maintaining the Fulmer Cup; you'd think Real Journalists would do a little fact checking. Also interesting is that Exum's column is posted on Chattanoogan.com, which last time I checked, resides on teh intranets that Exum hates so much. Irony, word.

So, I'm probably not saying anything that hasn't been said before, but maybe needs to be said more often: those of us who "get" blogs and how blogging brings fans together in new and clever ways should be thankful that we have the open mindedness or pure brain capacity or whatever it is that allows us to enjoy new media without thinking that the heat death of the universe will be caused by digital ink being spilled.

And I figure the two-day Stroking of Blogger Egofest is as good a time as any to say it... so there it is.

Sportsline's Mike Freeman: Moron or Cowardly Moron? You Decide...

CornFromAJar — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 20:04:37 -0000

Ain't no Fisking like a Rocky Top Fisking 'cause a Rocky Top Fisking don't stop!

On Monday, CBS Sportsline's Mike Freeman wrote an article titled "Cuffs click, cell doors slam shut and Fulmer skates by," which outright calls Fulmer the kingpin of the "rottenest, most dastardly [program] ever... an historic abomination."

I can't deny we've had some problems on Rocky Top, I've shared my disappointment over Gerald Jones' pot charge and Joel's voiced his with Britton Colquitt's DUI. Still, I'd characterize these incidents more as "young people doing stupid things" (really stupid things in the case of DUI) more than rotten or dastardly. And "historic abomination?" Bit strong, yes?

For my part, the egregious nature of Freeman's article will not stand. Not because it trots out opinion dressed as fact (which it does) or because it comes to the party way late (calling out Fulmer for basically the same stuff Adams did last week, and making charges that Fulmer has already defended himself against before Freeman ever sat down to drivel out this tripe). The point of the article was at least in part to be so incendiary that it can't be ignored. And it is. In fact, that's the only thing Freeman did right.

Ok, maybe that's not fair, Freeman does demonstrate ability to use a thesaurus, at different points characterizing the behavior of Tennessee players as "scrofulous ruthlessness" and "scabrous acts." I fully plan on using "scrofulous" at my earliest opportunity.

However, the biggest error made by Freeman is in trying to be relevant and funny... and failing miserably in both. Want bad pop culture references and weak, played-out jokes? Freeman's got 'em:

So let me get this straight. The NCAA is the catalyst behind the firing of Indiana's Kelvin Sampson for making too many phone calls but does little to stop the felony-riddled reign of Phil "Chancellor Palpatine" Fulmer...

For the record, the Palpatine line wouldn't have been so bad, but Freeman went to it twice, shredding it's already paper-thin relevance. We continue...

[Of Britton Colquitt's DUI hit-and run:] The punter allegedly bolted from the accident. Who says punters aren't real athletes? Probably ran so fast the police put out an APB for Deion Sanders.

I can't imagine what it takes for Fulmer to toss someone off the team. A meeting with the Taliban? Eating someone's liver with fava beans?

Over the weekend, Darren McFadden ran a 4.27 at the NFL Combine. Freeman's article published Monday. The most current fast-guy he could come up with was Deion Sanders? Has this Freeman watched sports in the last ten years? (or, like, the news? or a movie?)

Fulmer's track record in this area is extensive. He leaves a trail of player arrests, DUIs and serious crimes in his ample wake yet suffers no significant penalty for running the 21st-century version of The Mean Machine.

Guess not! Nice fat joke, too. I thought "journalists" were supposed to be above that sort of thing? But we haven't seen the masterstroke yet:

The motto of the Tennessee football program: If the players commit, Fulmer will acquit.

He went OJ on us! Seriously, Holmes... OJ? Weaksauce.

Look, if you want to make fun of the legal problems Tennessee has had, go ahead -- lord knows we've earned it. Just, if you're going to do it, make it funnier than the Fulmer Cup (good luck). At least what Orson concocted objectively points out what we already know: that lots of programs have lots of kids doing things they shouldn't do.

But to straight-faced state that what's happening in Knoxville is worse than what's happening at many other schools, or what's happened in the past, or that it's being ignored at best and orchestrated at worst by the head coach (a man I'd wager Freeman hasn't talked to for five minutes in his life) is utter folly. And to regurgitate and hyperbolate police blotter into The Worst Thing That Ever Happened is borderline lazy.

The last clue that this Freeman cat is disconnected from anything resembling current reality is one of his closing lines:

Where are the Tennessee professors and administrators? Why aren't they raising bloody hell over what's happening at their school?

Simple: because they know what's happening at their school is no different that what's happening at every other school. And I'm not talking about athletes getting in trouble. Fightin', smokin', and drankin' are all pretty common -- and relatively accepted -- on college campuses in the student body at large. Freeman wants the NCAA to step in and try to control the behavior of student-athletes, but what about the student-students? Should they skate on "scrofulous ruthlessness" and "scabrous acts" because they can't clock a decent 40 time?

What Freeman really wants here, I suppose, is a change in the culture of college campuses. A noble request to be sure, but one that is both unlikely and difficult to construct a reasonable argument for. So instead, he takes the easy and highly clickable route of taking potshots at Fulmer. Unoriginal, unfunny, lazy potshots.

Two words, Freeman: Epic fail.

Update [2008-2-26 20:22:15 by CornFromAJar]: Turns out SMQ wrote this first and wrote it better; read it here. Orson also had his say. Keep it coming, any hatchet thrown at Freeman shall not be thrown in vain.

Jumping Thru Hoops: Vols See Same Ol' Vandy, Brand New Buckeyes

CornFromAJar — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 18:41:15 -0000

Oooh, logo. Hey, it only took a little more than a month to do another one of these; that's progress, baby!

Inane Basketball Commentary

In the first two weeks of conference play, Tennessee has seen and beaten the two teams most likely to challenge them for SEC supremacy (Ole Miss and Vandy). They've done it without Chris Lofton looking like the Discombobulator he was last year. They've done it while breaking in new faces in new places. They've done without chemistry being a deterrent, despite going 9 or 10 deep and rotating lineups. In fact, chemistry seems to be great with this bunch -- perhaps because this team plays so fast, everybody gets their touches?

But that's the good news. The bad news, if you want to look for some, is that SEC play is a long road. What if the chemistry sours? What if egos start popping up? What will happen when this team goes to Rupp and Memorial and the O-Dome and the Hump? There are a lot of challenges ahead of this squad, and how they hold together through those challenges over the next few weeks will tell a lot about them.

As for right now, I'm still enjoying Thursday's beatdown of Vanderbilt and looking forward to Saturday's game against Ohio State, in part because I'm going (it will be my only trip to Thompson-Boling this year) and in part because I want avengement for last year's losses to the Bucks. For anybody lucky enough to have forgotten, last March's loss to Ohio State ended something like this:

And even though this isn't the Greg Oden-Mike Conley version of tOSU, maybe the chance to see scarlet and gray will help these guys Remember the Alomodome.

Prediction vs. Reality

Measuring how the Vols have fared in the last five games against how some really smart computers (Sagarin, Pomeroy) thought they'd do, and what the really smart computers think about the next five. Chartage:

Overachiving. mostly, and predicted wins in the next five games (at this point, the only team Tennessee won't be favored against is Memphis). Good things, no?

Bruce Pearl's Guide to Style

With Thursday's beatdown of Vandy, Bruce Pearl is now 6-3 in the Orange Blazer.

Yes, coach, that's six wins.

Discombobulation Watch and Fancy New Blender

We've been waiting all year for a Discombobulatory performance from Chris Lofton, and although he hasn't reached that level yet this season, we do have another nickname torch that has been passed on.

During Thursday night's beatdown of Vandy (I just like typing that), ESPN's Jimmy Dykes labeled Tyler Smith as Tennessee's "blender" as the one who shakes things up and makes it come out smooth -- the same title he gave to Dane Bradshaw a year ago. There were many other comparisons between Bradshaw and Tyler throughout the game, and I can see it, though T. Smith is way more talented (and I don't mean that as a slight on Dane).

So, yeah, from now on, Tyler Smith is our fancy new orange blender, like the one pictured at right. BTW, I totally want one of those.

Miscellany...

If you're a fan of the circus, you may want to check out the post-beatdown varying levels of dismay over at Vanderbilt Sports Line, I'm pretty sure all the stages of grief are in the comments there ... The BruceBall Blog points out UT's defensive efficiency, including how the Vols held the SEC's second-highest scoring team to just 60 points ... tOSU previews at The O-Zone and College Hoops Net, also use this Google search link for more as the game approaches ... last but not least, Go Vols!

On the Prospects of Mike Debord as UT's Next Coordinator

CornFromAJar — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 20:03:11 -0000

There is scuttlebutt out there that former Michigan offensive coordinator Mike DeBord will be interviewing with Fulmer for the same post at Tennessee. My first reaction is "yikes!", because this guy was pretty roundly hated by Michigan fans while he was in Ann Arbor. For example, look no farther than Brian's sentiments from when DeBord was hired to be Michigan's OC for the second time:

On the surface, DeBord is a ridiculous choice for offensive coordinator. He was unimpressive during his first three years; he failed at CMU; he is not particularly exciting. But there are extenuating circumstances that provide hope that the second time will be better. Loeffler is more heavily involved with the game planning ever year. Lloyd Carr is adapting to college football's offensive renaissance -- with painful slowness at times, granted. The defense is not a rock to fall back upon. DeBord's made some noises in interviews the echo these sentiments, but we won't have a clear idea how meaningful those noises are until the Notre Dame game.

And more of Brian's thoughts, from mid-2007 when it was obvious what was wrong with the Michigan program:

When Mike Debord plays rock-paper-scissors, he always picks rock.

Rock totally beats scissors. Why would anyone pick anything else? Sure, occasionally someone will throw his own rock, but this is Michigan. We can out-execute their rock. And there are rumors of this thing called "paper". Apparently it beats rock, which seems darned unsporting, but Mike Debord will believe that when Mike Debord sees it. We can probably out-execute paper, too. Some people will hypothesize that the potential existence of paper warrants the occasional scissors throw, but only three things can happen when you throw scissors and two of them are bad. The idea of throwing "paper" is to be regarded with naught but scorn. Oooh, a Snickers bar! Mike Debord likes Snickers and will let pet monkey Bonzo call a series as he enjoys a candy bar.

Hey, Bonzo scored a touchdown. Now we're ahead. Let's go back to rock. Rock beats scissors.

Rock, rock. Definitely rock. Rock. Judge Wapner's on at ten.

In between there are few kind words for DeBord that I can find (though there are references to DeBord as "Capitan Failure" and a little-used but telling post tag "loldebord") but you can look for yourself here. I think it's safe to say that Brian's pretty well on the pulse of Michigan football. So while getting a former Michigan coordinator might be a big deal to some, any news that DeBord has done anything but interview with UT will be met with a roll of the eyes from yours truly, FWIW.

However, there are a couple of good points about a potential DeBord hire if it comes to that -- and at this point we don't even know if he has or is going to interview for sure -- but Michigan football looks a lot like Tennessee football, so there would probably be a natural comfort level. DeBord was in charge of M's special teams for a couple of years before his second stint as OC, and I'd love to see Fulmer hire someone to coordinate special teams full-time (though I'm doubtful anyone would go from offensive coordinator at a major school to special-teams coordinator at another major school without seeing it as a major demotion).

Another thing, DeBord would potentially bring QB coach Scot Loeffler with him, a guy who is a top recruiter and by all accounts a very good position coach who should be a coordinator himself one day. There are pretty strong rumors that VHT and Michigan's part-time starting QB in 2007 Ryan Mallett will follow Loeffler wherever he ends up. Are gaining Mallett and Loeffler worth putting up with DeBord? Maybe, but from what I've read I'd rather have Richmond's Dave Clawson, who we know has interviewed.

Go Vols

AN ACTUAL THING THAT'S HAPPENING: Fulmer to Interview Clemson's Rob Spence

CornFromAJar — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 04:45:19 -0000

Amid all the speculation of what Fulmer may do about finding a new offensive coordinator, here's something he will, in fact, do: interview Clemson OC Rob Spence. So, who is this guy?

Well, judging by his picture, he's not Trooper Taylor. GVX says...

Spence turned down an offer to become offensive coordinator at Minnesota last year to remain at Clemson. He also talked with the NFL's Oakland Raiders last offseason and Alabama about possibly joining Nick Saban's staff.

This season, Spence led an offense that ranked second in the ACC in rushing offense (158.8 yards per game, 50th nationally), passing offense (253.6 yards per game, 41st nationally) and total offense (412.4 yards per game, 47th nationally). The Tigers' 34.2 points per game ranked first in the ACC and 23rd nationally.

Sounds pretty good, and Brent Hubbs (who broke the story[$]) says Spence is "highly respected in the coaching world."

So all that sounds good, but what does the guy's offense look like? FWIW, here's a quick Clemson highlight reel:

And here's two charts, one detailing what Spence's offenses have done while he's been an offensive coordinator, the second what Tennessee's offense has done in the same time span:

The strength of schedule is thrown in there to see what kind of competition the guy has faced, though to be fair it's not really a measure of the kind of defenses his teams have gone up against. Also, the stats at Toledo should probably be compared to the MAC, because the Rockets aren't really competing on a national scale (but they did have some great offenses while Spence was there... against crappy competition. Hmm.)

Other things to consider: what other coaches will this guy bring with him? What's his track record on recruiting? What does he think about orange pants?

Is this an interview that interests y'all as Vol fans? And is anybody as surprised as I am that Fulmer went outside the UT family for his first interview?

Recruiting Board Semi-update

CornFromAJar — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 18:38:49 -0000

The 2008 Recruiting Board has been updated, sorta. The board went straight to the bottom of my blogging priorities after the Florida game, when I was convinced Tennessee would be looking for a new head coach in December, rendering any recruiting done by the current coaches pretty much moot (my bad). Even in late November I wasn't sure Phil & Co. were going to be around, and now that "& Co." is in flux, I'm not sure how much to read into the current recruiting landscape.

I do know that Tennessee isn't likely to get a quarterback -- this after having a shot at the nation's #1 QB -- though that could change depending on who the new coordinator is. Actually, a lot will change depending on who the new coordinator is, especially if it is someone from outside the family.

So what has been done in this update:

Players who have dropped UT or committed elsewhere have been dropped from the board
Players who have committed since the last update have been added or identified as commits, though new additions have no extra info yet.

In other words, there's no new news, mostly just some maintenance. A meatier update hopefully coming in the not-too distant future, along with some much overdue recruiting woo!s.

Go Vols

Jumping Through Hoops: A Look at Vols Basketball So Far

CornFromAJar — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 12:34:10 -0000

The latest of a series of good intentions, Jumping Through Hoops is intended to be a regular feature that looks at various aspects of Tennessee basketball. I say intended because I've started other projects around here that were supposed to be regular features, only to see them gathering dust over in some corner of cyberspace (note to self: update recruiting board).

But this one I plan on sticking with. No, really.

Prediction vs. Reality

Our first stop is a look at what Tennessee should have done against past opponents and what they should do against future ones. Below is a chart of what the Sagarin ratings (dark blue line) say Tennessee's margin of victory (or defeat, in a couple of cases) should have been against the first nine opponents. The orange line is how they actually fared (the huge spike up is the 59-point win against Lil' Middle). Problematic: the Sagarin numbers are applied retroactively, and Sagarin says his ratings are predictive of future games, so I'm not using them here 100% properly. I will be tracking the numbers ahead of time from now on, so they should be more accurate.

You'll see that after the orange line ends, the Sagarin line continues. This is the current Sagarin prediction for the rest of the month. Another line also picks up, this is prediction for the remaining December games based on Ken Pomeroy's ratings system. I don't have the numbers for Pomeroy's early-season ratings, I suppose I could go back and figure them retroactively like with the Sagarin numbers, but Pomeroy requires more math to do that and I ain't that smart.

Anyway, on with the chartage:

The good news is that, outside of the awful showing against Texas, Tennessee has mostly performed above prediction (five of eight games). The bad news is that they're kind of all over the place, making the Vols look unsurprisingly inconsistent. Pomeroy even has a statistic for consistency (dude has a stat for everything), which he describes:

Consistency is basically the standard deviation of scoring difference by game for a team. Again, it's not included in the ratings calculation. It can be an aid in determining which teams are overrated by my system. Highly rated teams that are inconsistent tend to look beatable more often.

It shouldn't be a shock to anybody who's been following the Vols so far, but Tennessee's consistency rank is #334 (that's out of 341 total teams; UT's overall ranking in Pomeroy's system is 28).

More bad news: both Sagarin and Pomeroy have the Vols as underdogs in December's final two games against Xavier and Gonzaga. Plus, Saturday night's opponent, Western Kentucky, is pretty good, too (the Hilltoppers have beaten Michigan and Nebraska and lost by three to Gonzaga).

Bruce Pearl's Guide to Style

I have long felt that Tennessee's success on the court is directly, um... tied to Bruce Pearl's neckwear. Evidence? In three of UT's better showings this year (below, from left to right, Temple, NC A&T, and UL-Laf), Bruce wore predominantly orange ties:

But against Prairie View, Pearl wore this:

The tie! It's barely orange at all! C'mon coach, you're killing us!

Discombobulation Watch:

A year ago, Joel and I (mostly Joel) dubbed Chris Lofton the Discombobulator for his tendency to have a big game in big games. Lofton has yet to discombobulate anybody yet this year, obvs, but it will happen. While we wait, more charts! Woo visual representation!

That 17 points and seven rebounds against MTSU is a near-discombobulatory performance, but considering the opponent, meh. We'll wait.

Miscellany...

Tennessee recently signed a home-and-home basketball deal with Kansas, with the first game to come next December. I have a lot of family from Kansas, so I've always followed the Jayhawks and consider them my "other" team. It's never been a problem because UT and KU never play each other in anything. However, for Tennessee to go somplace like Phog Allen Fieldhouse and beat Kansas would be much bigger than vice-versa, so I'll have no trouble singing Rocky Top over chanting Rock Chalk Jayhawk when the two meet ... Bruce is working ion the team's toughness, and the players reportedly like it ... UT is still hot on the trail ($) of Rivals #9 prospect Scotty Hopson, who did not sign with Mississippi State in the early signing period despite being committed to the Bulldogs ... Also check out the BruceBall Blog, a basketball-centric blog devoted to UT. They do good work, and they're also devoted to the Pomeroy statistical stuff ... last but not least, Go Vols!