Rocky Top Talk: FanPosts

Where is Brandon Warren?

Colonel Corn — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 03:38:38 -0000

Brandon Warren is like a ghost in our offense right now. Where is the guy we worked so hard to get into school at Knoxville? Where is the guy who was a freshman All American at FSU? Why can't we get him the ball? These are just a few questions that I have, and I know many others do as well. One reason I have heard given was that Warren was having a hard time picking up the offense. My response to that is when you have a guy with that much talent, can't you just tell him to run out and get open? Can't you find some way to incorporate him into the offense?

This is a baffling aspect to Tennessee's 2008 season to me. His cumulative stat total in six games is as follows:

Brandon Warren - 6 games played, 5 receptions for 65 yards. That's a 13.0 avg per catch, and a 10.8 avg per game. This is deceiving because one of his five receptions went for 42 yards. He also has two kick returns for 34 yards.

Why did we work so hard to get this guy into school if we aren't going to use him? I don't know, is this bothering anyone else?

We have reason...for hope.

mastershake77 — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 01:51:07 -0000

Yeah, I know cheesy title, but being as this is my first post, I wanted to make a statement.

Annnnyways, I am a longtime reader and first time poster. I have had my moments this season where I have said some things I wish I had not said about the men at the top (eg. "Clawson, Fulmer, Chavis, fire them now! NOW NOW NOW!). It has been justified a bit by the struggles we have had, BUT:

We finally have a SERVICABLE QB, people always said that the first 6 games would be the hard part, and our D has been ballin the first few games (the last 7 minutes of the UCLA game and the first half of UGA not included)

I'm not defending the bad times this year, we should, in my mind, be AT LEAST 4-2 right now, if not better. However, we can't cry. Looking at the rest of our sked, there is only one game I cant see us winning. That, of course, is the Sabanators. After that, I see us going undefeated, maybe.

I'm not gonna say that Fulmer is the best coach ever. We might need a new coach. However, at least the man isn't like Majors and blaming things on everyone but himself.

So, as I said, we have reason for hope.

Cancel the rest of the season!

gili4 — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 12:24:04 -0000

Ugh! This season sucks so bad it should be cancelled altogether so we can and wait 'til next year when Fulmer hopefully will have quit and a new person from East Tennessee will have been chosen as our football coach. Looking over our remaining schedule, I don't really see a team we can beat unless it's maybe Wyoming, but would that really count? Right now all we're doing is adding to the others team's win talley, and I'm not much in favor of that. It sure is rough being the worst team in our conference, and there's no excuse for it other than the coach. When he began getting multimillion dollars of salary, he lost his hunger to win games. Now all he has to do is set back and collect that money. It would be different if he was earning it. It seems our whole football program is so flushed with money we can set on our laurels and put out excuses week to week, and the fans will continue to go to the games and support a losing team and pay exorbitant prices for the tickets. I hope the fans will show their disdain by not showing up at the stadium. That is the only way I see to get attention that something's wrong with our football team.

First loss to Georgia

The Vol Abroad — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 08:59:49 -0000

Poor little feller, you've got a lifetime ahead of you to see the Vols crush our enemies. But you've got to take the good with the bad. You're just gonna have to learn some Sundays in the Fall, Mommy will mutter and curse under her breath

Sorry son, we can't always beat Georgia. At least, this year I didn't make a wager to dress you in red and black if we lost.

It's still great to be a Tennessee Vol.

'85 Sugar Vols Team Roster

fan-o-the-orange — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 06:22:31 -0000

So I've been spending about half my adult life searching for a team roster for the 1985 squad. Can anyone out there offer suggestions on where I might be able to come across one?

So disappointed after todays game, though the hit Berry put on Georgia's heisman hopeful was amazing. The season seems like it was over before it even started, and i think i can speak for most everyone when i say we need someone new at the helm.

here's too 2009

Thank you, Seniors on Offense (or Offensive Seniors)

wvvol — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 00:16:53 -0000

Now, find a comfortable place on the bench so UT can get some experience for next year's team.

Sorry, Arian, but you won't break the UT career rushing record (although a cocaine kingpin might not be a good representative). Montario Hardesty and Lennon Creer deserve an honest chance to display their talents. Nick Stephens should be a quality QB with some more time behind the wheel. He's shown that he can throw the ball down the field, and he's not afraid to throw into traffic and let his teammates make some plays. With the experience of 6 more games this year, he ought to break out next year.

My unsolicited advice: Use these next 6 games as a live audition for next year's team.

Right! The Right Elbow!

hooper — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 01:48:04 -0000

If you happened to catch the replay of Joel's podcast with T. Kyle King of Dawg Sports, you might have caught me wondering which elbow was injured on Knowshon Moreno. It was his right elbow. It might not have any impact in the game, but at least you know. Even if you don't care.

cool calendars

suziecoleman22 — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 14:33:19 -0000

i made my LSU calendar but they have other schools too. you can also make fan books. what is really great is that you can upload your own pics or choose from their studio. take a look!

http://www.dstear.lulu.com/en/products/collegiate_images/lsu/

the website says this...

Choose from a variety of licensed LSU sports templates
Arrange the templates in any order
Drag and drop your personal images
Choose licensed images from the LSU Tigers collection

Boom! You've just created the ultimate Louisiana State University gift. It's that simple.

WR Catch Percentages

hooper — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 02:08:46 -0000

In response to my post on UT's offensive stats this morning, rblakeh asked: what do the receiver catch rates look like? Here they are:

There's not a whole lot to say because context is so important here. An incompletion could be the fault of the receiver, of the QB, or of both. Or it could be tipped. Or intercepted. You get the idea. Still:

RBs usually have higher completion percentages due to things like screen passes and passes to the flat. They're easier to catch.
10 passes did not have intended targets listed in the NCAA stats, and are noted above under "?".
I went ahead and included the QB sacks since they occurred on pass plays. This means that the only pass plays I don't have listed are QB scrambles. But hey, that would have been a lot of effort.
This does include Gerald Jones's pass attempts.
Cooper is quietly having a nice season as a fullback.
Jones and Warren have the most eye-catching negatives there. Any thoughts on that? Are they the targets of INTs, bad passes, etc.? Or are they butterfingers?
Sorta ditto for Rogers, but a slightly smaller sample size than Warren - just enough to make me skittish about drawing conclusions.

Stick With Nick

NO1UTVF — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 02:30:51 -0000

A win is a win. I excpected more of an offense but Nick played a fairly good game. He didn't seem rushed on the plays and had a few catchable balls dropped that should have been caught. Crompton is a good QB and seeing that he is not the only one on the team that can run the show might open up his eyes that he is going to have a hard fight on his hands to start again. And if, and when, he does start again you will see a different QB than the first 4games. I think the coach made the right call and and I thiink he will stick with Nick for tha Ga, game. Hats off to UNI, they played a good game. And a BIG kudo to the defense again. They won the game.

GO VOLS !

BOUT TIME!

NO1UTVF — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 14:49:47 -0000

This is what I've been waiting on all season...Hope it's not a disappointment! I do believe that Nick is better suited for the Clawfense than John is. If nothing else maybe if will give John the boost that he needs to start playing up to his potential, He is really a very good QB but I think he has been trying to hard to live up to Erick and there for not playing his on game. It seems that his thoughts on the field is a play ahead instead of the play at hand. Seen Nick in the Orange aand white game and thought he was a lot more relaxed than John was and to me he had a better game. He is a lot more mobil and that is what the Clawfense is all about. Trivia question When was the last time a season starting QB was was replaced by his back up.

GO VOLS !

Mechelle Voepel's New Blog

Stat_Girl — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 23:25:42 -0000

ESPN.com sportswriter Mechelle Voepel has a new women's hoops blog.

Check it out: voepel.wordpress.com.

Voepel writes about women's hoops for EPSN.com, covering the WNBA, many of the big games in women's college hoops, and Team USA in the Beijing Summer Olympics. Her new blog gives a new forum for her to interact with her readers and talk about hoops in ways she won't talk about them on ESPN.com. In covering women's hoops, she is one of the clearest and most objective voice around, and truly one of the most knowledgeable. If you love basketball and consider yourself knowledgeable about women's hoops, don't miss her blog.

God Bless Alabama

rblakeh — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 04:57:42 -0000

I went down to Auburn, Alabama with my cousin last Saturday to see the Tennessee Vols and the Auburn Tigers clash. More thoughts on the game later, if I get around to writing them.

After driving through northeastern Alabama for an hour or so, well, first let me say, wow. I’ve never been in a more depressing, isolated place. Some of the areas we drove through made Irving College (itty bitty community in my home county of Warren) look like The Big City. We consistently only picked up about 8 FM radio stations, and one of those was from across the border in Georgia. There was nothing, and I mean nothing. So, after driving through this abyss for about an hour or so, my cousin decided we needed a pit stop. I pulled into the first service station we came across. There was a Weigel’s across the street, but I went with my gut and chose this one, and I’m glad I did.

This service station was like something out of a movie that was written for the sole purpose of making fun of Alabama. The bathrooms were out of order, you could barely find a section of drinks that were non-alcoholic, (Seriously… it was tucked away in the back of the store. Plenty of liquor and cheap wine, though), and the, er, contraceptive supply that for some strange reason was right next to the chapstick (the need of which is one of the reasons we stopped) was quite extensive. Although, I must admit I’m not sure if this is the typical location for stock such as that or not, so that could be normal. And, I should also say that I’m glad they had such a large selection; as you will see, inbreeding can have some devastating consequences. But I digress. The point is, this place was scary. I was sporting a bright orange UT shirt, so I was skeered and fearin’ for my life.

All of the above is just a teaser though. Because the clientele, oh, the clientele. Now, though Alabamans are people, too, (and I’m sure there are some good ones mixed in), I have to say that there were definitely some specimens present at this service station. My favorite was this guy, of whom my cousin happened to snap a picture…

Notice the jorts that expose a little too much up top. I also think that the cowboy boots are a nice touch. Unfortunately (fortunately?) this picture does not capture the most disgusting (and simultaneously intriguing) beer belly I have ever seen in my life. It did not resemble the more typical beer belly (round protruding object sticking out from an otherwise skinny person), but was instead more similar to this…

And, to top it all off, he rode off into the sunset in the passenger seat of his comrade’s silver Ford Mustang. Not really that big of a deal until you consider that he had a custom license plate that read P CHOP1. So awesome. Mothers and fathers beware, P CHOP1 and his copilot JRT MAN2 are on the prowl.

Start Crompton

rblakeh — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 04:45:45 -0000

Unless you want to run a high risk of destroying the confidence of both Jonathon Crompton and Nick Stephens in one fell swoop, you've got to give Crompton the start on Saturday versus NIU.

Here's why.

(Note: This point is moot if either Crompton or Stephens has far and away outperformed the other this week in practice)

If you don't start Crompton on Saturday, I think any possibility of him developing and becoming a good quarterback for the University of Tennessee will be gone. If Stephens gets the start, what little confidence Crompton has will be shot. And, if Stephens plays poorly, the message to Crompton is, "Well, you're going back in, but only because the backup is worse than you are!"

If Stephens starts and makes a few early mistakes, he will have to be pulled before he has a chance to get in any sort of rhythm. He needs to play meaningful snaps, but I don't think it is in his best interest (or in the best interest of UT football) for him to have to win the game. And, as mentioned above, this won't do much for Crompton's confidence either. You want to be "The Guy" because you're the best, not because the other guy sucks more than you.

Give Crompton the chance to prove himself. If he falls short again, let the Nick Stephens era begin.

*Gulp*

Poll

Who do you think should get the start versus NIU?

hooper seizes control of the Guessing Game

Joel — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 00:15:36 -0000

Here are the current standings for the RTT Guessing Game:

	W1	W2	W3	W4	T
hooper	2	2	2	2	8
wvvol	1	3	2	0	6
rustytanton	2	0	2	2	6
Joel	1	2	1	1	5
Aerobab	1	2	1		4
CornFromAJar	0	0	3	1	4
CT4UT	3	0	0		3
Getoffmyvols	3	0	0		3
LOUtheMETSfan	1	2	0	0	3
jacksonian	0	2	1	0	3
birdjam	0	1	2	0	3
G.M.U. Vol	2	0	0	1	3
volfan5216	2	0	0	1	3
BloodSpite	1	0	0	2	3
jacksonian	2	0	0		2
jazordrick	1	0	0		1
XRayVol	1	0	0	0	1
ExpatVol	1	0	0		1
gramsey712	0	1	0		1
thetennesseethumper	0	1	0	0	1
Vol Navy				1	1
InBruceWeTrust				1	1
coach799				0	0

The roll call for the two in-game comment threads:

Name	# of Posts
hooper	243
Joel	107
bobo_the_vol	106
BloodSpite	101
LOUtheMETSfan	80
wvvol	78
Holly	77
XRayVol	37
thetennesseethumper	27
Muhler	10
fusion94	1
The Vol Abroad	1

Point to hooper for the most comments. The point for the best in-game comment goes to BloodSpite for demonstrating how to shoot yourself in the foot in multiple programming languages. Also, rustytanton and InBruceWeTrust each get a point for their Hail Mary Haikus this week.

The answers to the Guessing Game questions, which were:

How many touchdowns will Tennessee score today against Auburn?
Of receiving, rushing, passing, and special teams, how many facets of the game will Gerald Jones get involved in?
How many tackles will Eric Berry get today?

were 1, 4, and 3.

cnyvol and mmmjtx win week five, accsecblog remains in the lead overal in the RTT pick 'em game

Joel — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 23:18:05 -0000

Why is it that I can't seem to get beyond 24th in this thing? And what in the world did cnyvol do to go 9-6 and still end up in first? What was your upset, huh?

Rank	Selection	W-L	Pts
Standings for Week 5
1	cnyvol's picks	9-6	91
1	mmmjtx's picks	11-4	91
3	Volorado's picks	10-5	88
4	accsecblog's picks	10-5	87
4	techmaster234's picks	10-5	87
6	lawvol's picks	10-5	85
7	Aerobab's picks	9-6	84
8	RoboVol	10-5	83
9	rebeltime's picks	8-7	79
10	hooper	9-6	77

Rank	Selection	W-L	Pts
Overall Standings Through Week 5
1	accsecblog's picks	47-15	354
2	RoboVol	49-13	350
3	hooper	47-15	345
4	mmmjtx's picks	46-16	339
5	Vol in Mississippi	47-15	337
6	DeerParkBoy's picks	47-15	336
7	cnyvol's picks	44-18	334
8	Sledgehammer	47-15	333
9	BZACHARY's picks	44-18	327
9	corn blight's picks	45-17	327

Complete results.

Working with the Enemy(ies): This is a bad week to work in Alabama....

MeytonPanning — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 18:29:59 -0000

Everyday I commute from southern Tennessee and drive to work in Huntsville, Alabama. I do this because the money is better in Huntsville and I love living in Tennessee. The best of both worlds....right? Maybe not. So far Auburn fans and Bammer fans are really pushing the limits of my willingness to continue to let them breath.

Seriously.

I. Am. About. To. Crack.

The Auburn fans can't talk crap right now to Bama fans, so to compensate they have decided to talk smack to the UT fans. The Bama fans, who apparently won the National Championship this past Saturday, are talking crap to everyone. Here is a not so random sample of the things I've heard so far. Immediately following is the painful voice over thingy I hear in my head....sometimes louder than usual. It has to be a voice over because I'd probably get fired if I said the things I really wanted to say to these jerks.

1. The "I-have-an-Auburn-Sticker-on-my-Car-Yay-War-Eagle" Guy said to me, "Man, Muschamp really shut UT down this past Saturday! What, Muschamp is at Texas? No way, I'm gonna check that, I think you are lying. (Checks Auburn website) HOLY CRAP, he is! [Voice Over] You moron. Yes Muschamp is at Texas. Where have you been? Do you even like Auburn? Or do you just have the sticker and wear the clothes becuase all the cool kids do. Did you watch the game? Because if you did, statistically you should have blundered into the information that Tommy Tuberville goes through assistants faster than he goes through a Family-Pack of Q-Tips. Which is to say....really really fast. I bet you watched the pre game but got distracted when you noticed the Battlestar Galactica marathon was on Sci-Fi. LEAVE ME ALONE, MAN, I CAN'T TALK FOOTBALL WITH YOU. I know more about Auburn that YOU do and I don't even like them.......Yes, I would like one of the cookies your wife made. Thank you.

2. The "God, Crimson Tide, Family" Guy said to me, "God, it's really hilarious to see how bad Tennessee is. You all are still living in the past with 1998 season." [Voice Over] Seriously? A Bama fan talking to me about living in the past? Are you serious?? {looks up at the ceiling with angry fist and shouts, UNIVERSE YOU WIN AGAIN!!!!} Win your first four games and now you can't shut up. I remember last year when you called in sick on Monday after the Louisiana Monroe Game. I remember when you finally came back to work three days later you said that you had been busy helping your Mom move and you hadn't been able to catch the game. Oh sure Mr. I've-Never-Missed-A-Home-Game-Since-I-Was-8. Oddly enough, that streak was somehow still alive when you brought it up a couple of weeks ago. When I called you out on it, you said you had to leave the game early to help her move. Dear Lord, Please don't let me lose it and punch him in the Face. Dear Lord, What is the capital of Thailan-------NOOOO don't do it, you need this job!

3. The "I was a Bama Band Sousaphone Player So I Get the Inside Scoop Every Week" Guy said to me, "Its absolute crap that Oklahoma is number 1. Look at how they choke during BCS bowl games. They will never finish the year unbeaten. Bama has the inside track to Miami." [Voice Over] Ah yes, beat two top ten teams and go ahead and give the Championship to Ala-freakin-Bama. Oklahoma has no shot. Its not like they've done anything lately. What has Bob Stoops got on Nick Saban? Its not like Oklahoma has gone to the Independence Bowl twice in the past two years......wait a minute....which team did that? Stop wearing your band polo to work. Nobody is impressed that you hefted a Sousaphone in college. What the hell is a Sousaphone anyways??

4. The "Lone Georgia Fan in the Office" Guy said to me, Nothing! For once since last year's Sugar Bowl, this guy has had suprisingy little to say on Monday! [Voice Over] What a lovely German term, Schadenfreude....I kind of wish it had been South Carolina, but heck sometimes you takes what you gets. Even if it is delivered in a ghastly crimson package.

5. The "Actually Reasonable Auburn Fan Who Follows the Rest of College Football" Guy said to me, "Man, both our offenses are horrible, dude. It's going to be long season for both of us......And please, somebody has got to do something about Bama...." [Voice Over] You are the only person I like in this office.

There are much more of these incidents to come. It's a cubicle farm so there is bound to be more college football talk this week. Will keep RTT posted.

Defeat of Crompton Bailout, Stock Slides

Vol Navy — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 00:22:24 -0000

KNOXVILLE, TN – Jonathan Crompton's, (JCR, Tennessee 11) stock was in a freefall today, a move precipitated when his coaching staff rejected his bailout plan. The move was caused by news Sunday night that Philip Fulmer (head coach of the University of Tennessee) planned on splitting practice time between Crompton and Nick Stephens (NST, Tennessee 2-Deep). Crompton subsequently stated, “I'm still going to be the guy,” which did nothing to quell the fear of the sellers early Monday morning when the market opened.

The fall in the stock price can be tied to the failure of Fulmer to remove Crompton's bad passes from the game book. Removing these bad passes from Crompton's balance sheet should have the effect easing fears of his ability to quarterback the University of Tennessee. However, Fulmer said that he just could not allow this cost to be passed on to Tennessee investors. Crompton's argument was that if you just remove his 15 incompletions from Saturday's game versus Auburn, his stats would be 8-8 for 67 yards, a respectable average of over 8 yards per attempt for the game. Fulmer responded by saying this would be more respectable if it was a quarterly total.

Coach Fulmer would not say if Crompton's stock had dropped below that of Stephen's, but that they were virtually equivalent options and the rest of the week would show who had better command of the “mental part of the game.”

The leader of this Crompton Bear Market, Gary Danielson (a CBS Analyst), has used such words as “ugh” to describe Crompton's stock's dismal performance. He went on to say that Crompton's stock is doing extremely well, “if what he's supposed to do is miss a wide-open touchdown in the endzone.”

Coach Fulmer stated, “I am not for sure that Crompton's stock can recover, but we are going to work like heck to make sure that we can get the most value possible from our quarterback position.”

Good news, maybe, from a new guy!

jhughes5 — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 17:34:44 -0000

Hey guys! I'm new here sort of. I have been reading, but haven't gotten involved in a long time. Just wanted to share that according to ESPN Fulmer has opened up the quarterback position this week. A little competition could be good.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=3615093

Anyways, got to run to class.I'm an Auburn student so wish me luck as I go to face the music!

Overdue Thanks

hooper — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 16:11:59 -0000

I would like to say thanks to everybody who's been reading and contributing on RTT for making this site a very fun place for me. Most of the joy in blogging comes in the conversation and feedback that we get with other people. Even during the disagreements we've had, I've appreciated every discourse and every comment I've read. [Except for the invitation to the gambling sites; those I can do without. ;) ] But even though I tend to be a stats-first guy, it really helps me to see non-numbers perspectives (e.g. Old Smokey, or whatever SBNation 2.0 calls you now). Otherwise, football would devolve into some Matrix-style raining-numbers-on-a-football-field thing, and nobody wants that.

I also want to give a particular welcome and thanks to those who have made their first comments / FanPosts over the last few weeks. I've tried to thank each commenter personally when you write for the first time, but I'm sure I've missed a few. I haven't read a new comment yet that I didn't appreciate, and I hope all of you stick around.

So what I'm trying to say is: thanks. Watching the team struggle may not be fun, but I've still had a terrific time blogging because of you all. I just want you to know that.

(Oh, and I wanted to be clear that this is not a prelude to departure. After proofing it, I realized it read kinda like a farewell speech. That's not at all the case; like it or not, you're stuck with me.)