After totally botching the headline yesterday, I had no choice but to come with a variation on the theme and actually get it right this time. But it isn't a headline for the sake of a headline. I am definitely feeling a lot better today about the events from Saturday (Will's article certainly helped). I believe that the way the team reacts on Saturday will tell us a lot about our new coach. The LSU game sucked mightily for anybody and everybody who digs on the unique -- and delightful -- shade of orange that represents our fine institution. It probably sucked the very most for Derek Dooley.
If Coach Dooley is able to exhibit the needed skill of having a short memory when it comes to tough losses, put the suckitude behind him, and lead by example in establishing a locker room attitude this week that translates into gutty, gritty, confident play on Saturday....well then you'd have to think we have ourselves a good one.
Speaking of precious, here is the transcript from yesterday's presser. I highly recommend reading the entire thing -- golden nuggets sprinkled throughout the whole thing. For example, Dooley replies to a question about whether there was any communication between him and the other coaches about there being 13 guys on the field with this:
"No. Not to me. Because my headset is off. Boom, snap. It was chaotic."
Dooley had good things to say about the offensive line. You know, like there are still two or three of them that are healthy. That's a positive, right?
Papa Dooley will not be in Sanford Stadium on Saturday.
A.J. Green will be in Sanford Stadium and he is definitely better than you at football.
The good doctor has some sympathy for our fearless leader.
And, finally, after the jump, some general info and a couple of historical nuggets that will certainly have no bearing on the outcome of Saturday's contest.
Saturday's away game at Georgia will be televised by the SEC Network -- which I'm pretty sure means that I won't be getting it -- and will kick off at 12:21 p.m. EST.
This is the 40th meeting between the Tennessee Volunteers and the Georgia Bulldogs. Tennessee prevailed 45-19 in last year's game, which you probably remember as the "is that really Jonathan Crompton?" game. The Vols are presently 13 point underdogs for contest, which is a little bit embarrassing, truth be told. However, it should be noted that in the Vols' last three victories against Georgia (over four years) -- the 2006 4th quarter explosion game in Athens that landed us an SI cover; the 2007 first half explosion game that few saw coming; and the aforementioned 2009 Crompton-as-Peyton game -- the Bulldogs were favored in each instance.
In the era of modern college football -- which I will use my SEC arrogance to define as 1992+ -- the Vols are 12-6 against Georgia.