Rocky Top Talk, a Tennessee Volunteers community

[Nickell Robey is] planning to visit Southern Cal next week. Monte Kiffin has been very persistent. He’s probably been in here more than is legal. Of course they don’t pay attention to the rules.

It’s hard to imagine things getting much worse for the Tennessee Volunteers.

This week, they learned coach Phillip Fulmer was being forced out of his job at the end of the season. Then, with bowl eligibility on the line, they lost Saturday’s homecoming game against Wyoming 13-7.

With Vanderbilt and Kentucky still ahead, the Vols (3-7, 1-5 SEC) could still reach a new low. They’re one loss away from piling up the most losses in the program’s more than 100-year history. Before this season, Tennessee had lost seven games only once, in 1977.

Aside from tying Tennessee’s record for losses, this team holds several other distinctions.

It’s the first in program history to lose to a Mountain West opponent. And averaging just 16 points per game, it’s become the least productive since the 1964 squad, which averaged eight per game.

The Vols have 47 bowl appearances, the second most in NCAA history. But for the second time in four years, they won’t be making a postseason appearance.

The Tennessee players really stepped up for their old coach: I hope you can pick up the sarcasm in that sentence. The Volunteers showed their anger and indignation at Phillip Fulmer’s press conference last week and spoke of the injustice of asking Fulmer to step down with football left to play on the schedule. But when it came time to play Saturday against a bad Wyoming team, the Volunteers did not live up to their name. Granted, everyone now has to admit that Tennessee just isn’t a very good team. But we’re talking Wyoming, who lost to BYU, Utah, and TCU by a combined score of 138-14. What the players did, unknowingly, was validate the decision of the administration. Fairburn’s Eric Berry has been a warrior on that team all season. He is a real football player. But I don’t know about the rest of those guys. The next coach at Tennessee, whoever he is, is going to have some work to do with this group of players. There may be a bunch of four-star talent up there, but I don’t see a whole lot of four-star hearts.