NCAA Football, Tennessee Volunteers Football NEWS
Big Orange Roundtable Vol(ume) 8
Published by MoonDog on August 27, 2008
We begin the first game week of the season with the eighth edition of the Big Orange Roundtable. Fresh off of his banishment from the MGO Blog Poll for being a “marginal” Tennessee site, our friend Jai at Losers with Socks serves as our host.
Jai has compiled a good list of questions for us this week and I’m confident all of us will have plenty of interesting responses. At the end of the post you’ll find links to the other participating sites so please check back over the next few days to review their answers.
Without further delay, let’s get down to business.
1. In a perfect world, what time would your UCLA Kick-off start?
I love college football so much, anytime is the perfect time for kick off. With the Vols-Bruins contest set to begin at 8:00 p.m. Eastern, I realize most people have to work the next day. Not that I don’t have to work, but I at least get to do it from the comfort of my home.
I imagine the ideal day would have been Saturday and perhaps the same time. It’s a great opportunity to have a few friends over and watch the game.
But considering the game will be nationally televised it will give the Vols a lot of exposure. It will be the showcase game of the day and it culminates the three-day weekend. All in all, this isn’t a bad day or time slot for the Vols to begin their season.
2. Sometimes doing the right thing is tough. Sometimes we have to choose between bad and worse. I have known snipers that get bothered even though what they did was absolutely right. It seems being a coach would have some similar circumstances. Did you think that Coach Fulmer and staff ever lose any sleep over their choices?
Of course. Who among us hasn’t regretted some of the choices we’ve made in life? Being a head coach at a major program like Tennessee is a demanding job and one fraught with potential pitfalls. Recruiting, NCAA rules compliance, fund raising, booster relations and a host of other issues fill a head coach’s day. And oh by the way, there is some x’s and o’s you’ve got to deal with too.
Fulmer has probably regretted many decisions he’s made. Kicking off short against Georgia late in the fourth quarter in 2001 ultimately led to the Vols losing that game – the only regular season game they would lose that year.
He’s probably given a lot of thought to the way he’s handled troublesome players. Some have been dealt with appropriately and others too leniently. There’s a always a fine line each coach has to contend with on a multitude of subjects.
At the end of the day, Fulmer is no different than the rest of us. He takes what he believes is the best course of action and you hope you’ve made the right decision. If you discover that the decision you made was wrong, you learn from it and move along. I call that life.
3. Nick Saban is going to start 10 freshman against Clemson. Why is he doing this and did he just buy another year of grace from the Red Elephant Club?
I’d say Saban is making an effort to justify the nation’s top recruiting class. Either that or the cupboard is bare, which I don’t believe, or he isn’t terribly impressed with the players he had on the roster when he took over and he’s more comfortable using his recruits.
Either way, while the incoming class is very talented it’s a dangerous way to make a living in big time college football. Freshman are going to make mistakes, more often than not they’re going to make mistakes that ultimately cost you a chance of winning the game.
I doubt very strongly that Saban would be fired if he has another sub par season in Tuscaloosa. Of course, a sub par season at Alabama is an 8-4 record, which if the Tide can accomplish that this season, I’d say Alabama had a very successful year.
Taking into account the Tide’s schedule and the number of true freshman on the roster, Alabama is still another year away from being serious contenders to win the SEC championship. But I do believe if there hasn’t been marked improvement by the end of the third season, the grumblings will begin.
Paying $4 million per year for a coach to produce average results isn’t going to cut it at Alabama – or any other big time football program either.
4. Critique Lou Holtz as a ESPN “analyst.” Irish and Cock Homer or scripted live rassler?
Maybe it’s the lisp or perhaps it’s the fact he’s goofy or – I could go on – but Holtz just drives me crazy when I’m watching ESPN’s college football coverage. It’s the whole crew to be honest – Corso, Herbstreit, Fowler, May and Holtz comprise the most dysfunctional cast of characters that could possibly be assembled.
As we’ve come to learn, most of the “analysis” is nothing more than tear-jerk reactions by a bunch of former players and coaches that are so far removed from the game that there isn’t any real insight being offered.
It’s all about hype, pomp and circumstance with the ESPN cast and generally they’re doing more carrying on for the camera or engaging in self-promotion than they are actually reporting the news.
Holtz is definitely a homer when it comes to the Irish but I honestly believe he’s the only genuine personality ESPN has covering college football.
Corso’s act has become tiresome and Mark May sounds like a broken record droning on about nothing. Herbstreit is too busy citing his “sources” and Fowler is clearly biased and has an obvious distaste for the SEC.
It’s reached a point where I don’t even watch the pre-game show because it’s nothing more than a contrived act that offers little to nothing for the educated fan.
Check out the answers from the other participating Volunteer blogs.
Rocky Top Talk
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