Tennessee finally won on Saturday, 20-10 over Vanderbilt.  But their quarterback play was so bad, that it’s clear to most media covering the team that UT should NOT throw a SINGLE pass against Kentucky this weekend.

When your best weapons are your defense (safety Eric Berry) and your punter, you use them.  When your biggest flaw is the passing game (where you consistently throw interceptions that are returned for touchdowns), you hide it.

Tennessee should run into the line on every down against UK on Phillip Fulmer Day this weekend.  It would be a salute to the old school tactics of Robert Neyland (left).

Third and eight?  Run the ball.  Forced to punt?  You’ve got the SEC’s best punter, flip the field with a punt.  Force the other team to move down the field error-free to score. 

If you think I’m kidding, you’re wrong.  Tennessee would have beaten Wyoming and would have beaten Vandy more soundly if they had never tried to pass.  Even Fulmer forced his offensive coordinator’s hand after Dave Clawson called for a pass that was intercepted and returned for Vandy’s only touchdown.

“No more pass plays,” was the directive.  And that should be the gameplan versus the Wildcats.

Tennessee has no idea who will start at quarterback on Saturday.  (Also in this notes column — Fulmer says plenty of nice things about UK quarterback and East Tennessee native Randall Cobb.)

Here’s more on the Vols’ QB situation, plus word on how Fulmer is dealing with the emotions of his final week as Tennessee’s coach.

John Adams of The Knoxville News Sentinel believes that while there’s no clear answer to UT’s quarterback issues, those issues are clearly the reason that Tennessee has failed this year (and they led to Fulmer’s ouster).

If there was a playoff for the Tennessee head coaching job, Brian Kelly had a big night on Saturday, while Mike Leach and Butch Davis suffered set-backs.  Of course, anyone hiring a coach based on one-game isn’t very smart to begin with.

This entry was posted on Monday, November 24th, 2008 at 8:25 am and is filed under Homepage, News . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.