People, things are not looking good in Knoxville.

Tennessee, even with improved play from new quarterback Nick Stephens, the Volunteer offense could still manage just 220 yards, 9 first downs and 13 points against Northern Illinois on Saturday night.

Interestingly, many Vol fans claimed “big win” after their team’s hard-fought, 13-9 victory over NIU… which shows just how far the program has fallen.

We’ll get to Auburn in a little bit, and believe me, they’re coming apart at the seams, too, but Tennessee is clearly the SEC team/program that’s headed in the wrong direction right now.  And new offensive coordinator Dave Clawson is beginning to be set-up as the fall guy.



With Tennessee at 2-3 facing a road trip to Georgia this weekend, John Adams of The Knoxville News Sentinel writes that it’s time for Phillip Fulmer to start making more changes in his starting line-up.

Mike Strange, also of The Sentinel, runs through the rest of the Vols’ SEC schedule and finds that every team UT will face has more reason for optimism right now than the Big Orange.  Even Mississippi State… and that’s saying something.



Tennessee still looks pretty good on the injury front as this notes column points out.  It also reveals that Fulmer plans to keep on keeping on with his running back rotation.  “As we’ve done in the past, the hot player will play, the guy that’s running, protecting, doing all those things the best.  But they’ll all play.” 

On Saturday, Arian Foster had 18 carries for 75 yards.  Montario Hardesty has 7 carries for 20 yards.  Lennon Creer didn’t get a carry.



Fulmer was asked on Sunday if this week’s Georgia game was more of a must-in game or a “pride” game.  “It’s all of the above.  It’s not business as usual.  This is a very important time for us as we fight like heck to stay in the championship mix and hope somebody else gets beat.

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