Tennessee Volunteer quarterback Rick Clausen had strong words for the media concerning the resignation of Offensive Coordinator Randy Sanders:

It’s unbelievable. That’s the easiest way to describe it.

* * * *

It’s a bunch of crap that fans blame coaches and media blames coaches for the fact players can’t go out and make plays.

* * * *

It’s just disheartening everyone claims to be in the Tennessee family and the Vol nation, but at the first sign of adversity everybody decides to blame Coach Sanders. I’m pissed at the whole situation. I’m pissed at everybody. I’m pissed at myself. I feel like I let him down.

* * * *

His job, his wife’s and daughters’ livelihoods, were basically in my hands. If I go out and don’t throw an interception, we probably beat South Carolina.

* * * *

If I don’t throw an interception against Georgia, we probably beat Georgia. If we don’t fumble twice inside the 10-yard line against Alabama, we beat Alabama. And nobody’s talking about that right now. That’s the most upsetting thing.

The players have done it. The players have basically forced Coach Sanders to resign, and that’s an awful feeling.

* * * *

Coaches don’t fumble. Coaches don’t throw interceptions. Coaches don’t miss blocks or miss passes.

* * * *

You use coaches as scapegoats. Apparently, that’s what college football has come to now days. You blame coaches rather than players.

* * * *

He said the offense was his ship. Yeah, it’s his ship, but I felt like as the quarterback of this football team I was first in command. And I feel like I let him down.

If people want to blame somebody, then they can blame me.

* * * *

Players have come and players have gone. There have been good years and there have been bad years, but the one constant has been the coaching staff.

They know what to do. They know what a national championship team looks like. They need a little luck along the way.

* * * *

We’re the ones people come to watch. There are 100,000 people in that stadium every Saturday to watch us. They don’t watch the coaches make calls.

They watch us go out and play, and we haven’t put on a good show at all this year.

* * * *

[The crowd at Saturday night's game] should have been saying, “Take out Rick Clausen,” [instead of "Fire Randy Sanders."] Because I played awful and I ultimately cost that man his job.

* * * *

That’s a horrible feeling to have. There’s not enough I can say, and not enough respect I can show the man.

Following the Tennessee Volunteers’ tough loss to South Carolina, the student section was chanting “Fire Sanders.” SportsAnimal99 reported that fans were throwing objects at the players as they left the field.

On his radio show yesterday, Jimmy Hyams told listeners that, based on his observation of Sanders’ interaction with his wife and two daughters following the game, he believed that Sanders’ decision yesterday to resign was primarily due to the impact of all of this on Sanders’ family.

Sanders did, however, downplay the significance of public criticism, saying, “It’s not a response to any criticism. It’s a response to what I see. I’m trying to be accountable for how we have played.”

Hear Hyams’ re-telling of Sanders’ emotional meeting with his family, Sanders’ press conference, and Fulmer’s press conference for yourself.

Here’s a quick roundup of news and bloggers’ posts:

Voluminous has several posts, including transcripts of portions of the audio linked to above and a picture of The Rock on the UT campus, which recently had the painted message, “Fire Randy Sanders, Please.”

Countertop Chronicles, who’s been advocating for Fulmer’s termination, says it’s a start.

UTSports.com has the official word.

GoVolsXtra.com (subscription required) cites an unnamed source as saying that “former UT offensive coordinator David Cutcliffe has been contacted to replace Sanders,” but also reports that “Cutcliffe said he has not been offered a job by UT and is more concerned with Sanders, who is a close friend.”

There’s also this, from the same article:

Sanders said he would have actually benefited monetarily had he been fired and not resigned.

“I’m not trying to beat him to the punch,” Sanders said, referring to Fulmer. “I’m not resigning to keep from getting fired.”

Some people will probably criticize Sanders even for this, saying he failed to recognize and capitalize on his financial incentive to be fired rather than resign. I say he’s a true Volunteer.

John Pennington has the scuttlebutt on the rumors of other imminent coaching changes that are yet to be confirmed, and, in another post, says they got the wrong guy:

From radio hosts to sportswriters to TV guys, the consensus seems to be that there are bigger problems that must be corrected before UT can right the ship. Sanders wasn’t one of them, at least not according to the majority of folks who cover the team.

John Adams echoes that sentiment.

UT players — and their parents — are shocked:

“I’d heard two or three people say Coach (Randy) Sanders was resigning, and I was like, nahh, that’s wrong,” Sears said. “I didn’t believe it because Coach Sanders doesn’t deserve this. He didn’t fumble, he didn’t miss a block or drop a pass.”

The news was so shocking that receiver Bret Smith broke his three-year self-imposed media silence Monday night.

“I was surprised; I didn’t understand why he did it,” Smith said. “We were disappointed. There’s nothing we can do about it now … hopefully something good can come out of all this.”

Some have said that getting Cutcliffe on board would drastically improve Tennessee’s chances at getting coveted quarterback Jimmy Clausen, the younger brother of Casey and Rick, to Tennessee, but here’s what their father has to say about that:

“I’m sure they’ll come at us with (David) Cutcliffe, if they get him, and say he’s all the things Randy wasn’t,” Clausen said. “But you look at how some things have been handled. Really, what will be different for Jimmy?”

Big time college football is a tough business.

The Tennesseean is citing a source within the Tennessee Volunteer football program as saying that Head Coach Phillip Fulmer and Offensive Coordinator Randy Sanders have had ongoing discussions about Sanders’ future with the Volunteers.

With Tennessee’s offense in its worst funk of the Phillip Fulmer era, Randy Sanders could be on his way out as offensive coordinator.

A source within the UT football program told The Tennessean yesterday that Fulmer and Sanders have had ongoing discussions centering around Sanders giving up his coordinator duties.

The source emphasized that nothing had been finalized, and it was unclear whether Sanders would step aside immediately or finish out the season.

Sanders first spoke to Fulmer late Saturday about the possibility of resigning following Tennessee’s 16-15 loss to South Carolina. They talked again yesterday.

Everyone’s talking about the fact that former offensive coordinator David Cutcliffe, who developed both Peyton and Eli Manning, is back healthy and living in Knoxville. He’s said, though, that he will not return to the Vols at the expense of Randy Sanders, with whom he is good friends. I’ve wondered for a couple of weeks whether Athletic Director Mike Hamilton might be working quietly behind the scenes to coordinate a graceful exit for Sanders that would make Cutcliffe feel more comfortable about returning. It sounds like it might be happening.

More later.

GoVolsXtra coverage (subscription required) of last night’s game between the Tennessee Volunteers and Steve Spurrier’s South Carolina Gamecocks:

Mike Strange’s game recap begins:

How low can it go?

Alabama. South Carolina. Who’s next?

Tennessee’s disappointing football season took another hit Saturday night and nobody saw this one coming.

South Carolina ended a 12-year losing streak to the Vols with a stunning 16-15 upset at Neyland Stadium.

. . . and ends with this interesting tidbit:

“We’ll make whatever tough decisions need to be made,’’ Fulmer said. “We will get this back on track.’’

In his post-game post, Spring Forward, FALL BACK… to the Pack, blogger John Pennington says there will be coaching staff changes:

One coach is as good as gone now. Another, who uncharacteristically insulted a reporter to his face a couple of weeks ago, will probably be leaving on his own. And if things continue to go South (can they?), a third coach might leave or be re-assigned.

Pennington had this to say about the Volunteer offense:

(Insert sound of crickets here.) What offense?

* * * *

So what happened vs USC? ZERO playmakers. And terrible gaffes at the worst times.

UT left 2 sure touchdowns out on the turf (which would have meant a sure win). Arian Foster, who looks to have an “I can make you miss” quality that Gerald Riggs lacked, once again fumbled (as he did vs Alabama). This week, it was HIS turn to fumble into the end zone. If he doesn’t drop the ball at the goal line, Sanders’ offense gets the TD.

Then there’s Chris Hannon. I believed Hannon to be the best receiver on the team going into the season. So much for that belief. I was disappointed to see him shake his head and show up Erik Ainge after an incompletion early in the game. How funny, then, that Hannon dropped a SURE touchdown on a perfectly thrown ball later in the game? Perhaps Ainge should have shook his head and shown up Hannon.

Either way, that’s 2 TDs that were ABSOLUTELY there if UT’s “playmakers” could actually make plays.

On attendance for the game:

Tennessee fans call themselves “die hard.” Well, judging from the thousands of empty seats around Neyland Stadium (and the mass exodus at halftime), there are apparently a lot of folks around here that are already dead.

Drew Edwards has the Best and Worst feature and the article Spurrier Leads Gamecocks Over Huge Hump.

Mike Griffith does the impossible and finds the silver lining: special teams improvement, and his Report Card gives the first failing grade I remember seeing: an F for the coaching. Overall, he gave the team a D, and summarized the effort this way:

Tennessee had more talent, more opportunities, and a fired-up home crowd. Phillip Fulmer was the first to admit his team failed, calling the performance “unacceptable.’’ Coaching changes appear imminent, some at the hand of Fulmer, others possibly leaving on their own accord.

Mark Burgess says the Volunteer quarterbacks looked dazed, glassy-eyed, and exasperated, and he quotes quarterback Erik Ainge:

“I heard some of our student section start chanting ‘Fire (offensive coordinator Randy) Sanders’ after the game,” Ainge said. “Coach Sanders didn’t throw an interception, or drop a ball in the end zone, or miss two open receivers on third down like I did.

“It’s not play calling. Guys are open and we put that on us. It’s Rick and I and the offense in general.”

Dave Hooker writes on the Vols’ running back and fumbling woes.

And John Adams has a must-read column on the extent of the Vols’ offensive futility. Just one excerpt:

You can’t comprehend the magnitude of the loss unless you know a little something about the winners.

South Carolina lost by 23 points to Alabama and by 41 to Auburn. It ranks 111th in the country in rushing and 85th in rushing defense.

There’s more.

The Gamecocks start two walk-ons on offense. They lost arguably their best player, wide receiver/quarterback/running back Syvelle Newton, to a season-ending injury last week.

Their injury situation only got worse against the Vols. They lost two more wide receivers — Carlos Thomas and Noah Whiteside — to game-ending injuries in the first half.

With all that stacked against them, the Gamecocks would have to play a mistake-free game to have a chance, right?

Not hardly. They lost two fumbles and threw an interception in the first half. They were penalized 10 times.

It doesn’t get much worse.

Does it?

Dave Hooker has a nice introductory piece on Tennessee Volunteer running back Arian Foster, who will get his first start in place of injured back Gerald Riggs tomorrow night against the South Carolina Gamecocks.

Randy Sanders couldn’t believe what he saw.

Tennessee’s offensive coordinator was in San Diego to recruit quarterback Richard Kovalcheck. The Vols were in desperate need for a quarterback in the 2003 class.

The field was loaded with talent. Kovalcheck’s teammate was tailback Reggie Bush, who is a Heisman candidate this year with Southern Cal.

Sanders, however, couldn’t take his eyes off the junior tailback on the opposing team from Mission Bay High School.

“I had no clue that there were any other prospects on the field,” Sanders said. “The way Arian played and the way he ran that night, it was pretty obvious that he was a good football player.”

On the one hand, it’s a bit disturbing to hear that Sanders had no clue that Reggie Bush was a prospect (he probably didn’t mean that), but on the other hand, it sure is encouraging to think that Foster might have the same potential as Bush.

GoVolsXtra’s Mike Griffith captures the misery of the Vols’ game-losing drive:

“First-and-goal inside the 5, and it was going good,” UT left tackle Arron Sears said. “We definitely could have got it in.”

On first down at the 3, tight end Justin Reed raised out of his stance early. The penalty led to a spot at the 9, still first down.

Arian Foster was dropped a yard behind the line of scrimmage on the next play, setting up a second-and-goal.

Rick Clausen, scrambling right, appeared to have enough room to run close to the end zone, if not in it. Instead, Clausen chose to throw the ball away – from beyond the line of scrimmage – and UT was penalized another 5 yards and a loss of down.

Facing third-and-goal at the 15, offensive coordinator Randy Sanders called for a screen to fullback Cory Anderson. Anderson sprinted hard for the end zone, but Alabama linebacker Roman Harper got his helmet on the ball. Anderson fell forward as the ball squirted out of his hands and out of the back of the end zone, giving the Tide the ball back at the 20.

Meanwhile, left guard Rob Smith lay writhing on the ground with a rib contusion. The severity of the injury is not known.

“It was like a series of bad dreams,” Sears said.

John Pennington says enough talk about “all of the talent” of this year’s Tennessee Volunteer football team:

For anyone out there who wants to continue to talk about “all the talent on offense,” please, take it somewhere else. ‘Cause you happen to be living out an old John Conlee song…

“These rose colored glasses, that I’m looking through. Show ooo-nly the beauty, and they hide all the truth.”

The playmakers aren’t there. The execution’s not there. (Reminds me of the famous John McKay quote: “What do you think about your team’s execution?” “I’m all for it,” he answered.)

No playmakers + no execution = the talent’s not there. If it were it would show up on Saturdays.

Gerald Riggs wouldn’t routinely be tripped up by the first man to touch him.

Opposing defenses wouldn’t laugh at the idea of a UT QB completing a pass more than 15 yards down the field.

A wide receiver might actually take a 5 or 10 yard pass, break a tackle, make a man miss and go 30 yards with it.

But that doesn’t happen. And if it doesn’t show up on Saturday, well, then all you can say is that all those Parade All-Americans look like Tarzan, but they play like Jane.

Pennington’s other points include:

• Wide receiver Jayson Swain is this team’s only playmaker.
• Fullback Cory Anderson may have had the game’s most costly fumble, but if you’re placing blame, but every running back and a punt returner had a fumble, and there were several very costly penalties as well.
• Whether the offensive coaches are developing players may be a legitimate question, but Randy Sanders called a good game.
• The defense had one bad play in the entire game.
• “The QB situation has been butchered from the get-go.”
• Linebacker Kevin Simon may have learned that while you might be able to guarantee your own performance, it’s dangerous business to guarantee the performance of others.
• Running back Arian Foster had a better game — and is more apt to make defenders miss — than did starter Gerald Riggs.

John Pennington’s random thoughts for the day:

• Is there a happy medium between a Johnny Majors-esque live-in-fear-for-your-job mentality with respect to assistant coaches and the Fulmer-ish we-are-all-a-family approach?
• Ohio State fans handle disappointment better than Tennessee fans.

OSU is a mirror of UT in almost EVERY way this season. But their fans packed the stadium and were IN the game from start to finish. Even when Michigan State was capitalizing on OSU special teams fumbles… the fans would immediately re-charge their batteries and begin screaming again with the ensuing kickoff.

That’s what Neyland Stadium USED to be. Personally, I think Vol fans grew spoiled during the Manning Era (and the immediate aftermath) and now they look at the game as they would a film or an opera. “Entertain me!” Sure that’s a fair assessment.

But Vol fans used to look at the games as THEIR chance to get involved. They seemed to believe that they were as important a part of a Vol victory as the team was. And that’s a far cry from, “Entertain me!”

• An outsider’s perspective on Neyland Stadium:

“The most uncomfortable stadium in America.” The seats are too small from side-to-side and there’s very little room front-to-back, either (according to [Pennington's friend]). If you’re not driving your knees into someone’s back, then somebody else has theirs in yours.

• Volunteer bowl projections look disappointing.
• You know any Kentucky football coach has his work cut out for him when the local media has pre-game coverage of a basketball practice during football season.
• Calls to replace Randy Sanders with Trooper Taylor because Trooper offers a lot of excitement is like “choosing a doctor because he’s got good hair.”
• Gerald Riggs is “Cedric Houston Part 2.” Good, but not great.
• The guy who created firerandysanders.com (intentionally not a link) deserves the same treatment. Go read Pennington’s suggestions here.
• Tennessee might have been able to beat Alabama last week, but now that the Crimson Tide has had their wake-up call, it’s much more difficult to call.

Pennington, as always, is full of insight. Today’s blog is lengthy, but worth the read.

For years, Tennessee Vol fans have been clamoring for some unpredictability on offense.

• “They always run the same plays.”
• “They’re so predictable!”
• “If I know what plays they’re going to run, don’t you think a million dollar coach on the other side knows, too?”

Well, be careful what you ask for.

Everyone from Joe Vol Fan on the corner of Cumberland Avenue to the national pre-season pollsters predicted UT’s offense would light it up this year. Even Head Coach Phillip Fulmer got into the act, saying, “I don’t know who the quarterback will be, but I know it will be a good one.”

Well, maybe this was all just part of Offensive Coordinator Randy Sanders’ diabolical scheme. Just when he had everyone thinking the Vol offense would score on every play, he threw us a curve.

The Vols’ offense against UAB stunk. Receivers dropped balls, running backs and quarterbacks fumbled. They stuttered and sputtered.

Well, that was just a fluke. Surely.

But Game 2 against Florida was more of the same, and the first half of the LSU game was the absolute pinnacle of futility.

And just when we were all finally convinced that our beloved Volunteer offense wasn’t as we predicted, Sanders threw us a change-up. Rick Clausen, Gerald Riggs, and the rest of the offensive unit tore it up, torching LSU for 30 second-half (and overtime) points.

So which Volunteer offense will take the field against Ole Miss this Saturday afternoon? And will it play the whole game, or just a half?

Who knows? But Vol fans finally have the unpredictability that they’ve been craving for for years.

I’ll say it again: Be careful what you ask for.

It should be safe to say that this week has not been the best of Tennessee Volunteer quarterback Erik Ainge’s life. The week before was not the best of weeks for quarterback Rick Clausen.

What would be worse, having the starting job unfairly taken from you despite earning it with years and years of persistent hard work and better overall performance than the other guy (the reason for Rick’s bad week) or losing the starting the job with a series of mistakes with the world watching (the reason for Erik’s bad week)?

There really should be no debate about who the Vols’ starting quarterback should be after last Monday night’s incredible come-from-behind victory in the second half versus the LSU Tigers in the Bayou. This is Rick Clausen’s team, and it shows.

But is there life after Death Valley for Erik Ainge?

Sure, if he and his coaches can identify the challenges ahead. Here are a few candidates:

• Improve Decision-Making. One of the big differences between this year and last is that last year, Offensive Coordinator Randy Sanders was making all of the pre-snap decisions for the quarterbacks from the sidelines. How many times last year did we see the offense line up only to all stand together and look for the signals from Sanders? It seems like 80-90% of the time, Sanders called the formation, read the defense, signaled the coverages, and called the plays with a series of cryptic pantomimes from the sidelines. Press go, and the team executes. We’ve hardly seen that at all this year. The coaches are entrusting more of the decision-making to the quarterbacks, and Clausen has simply done a better job than Ainge of picking up blitzes, checking out of bad plays into good plays, and making other sound, quick decisions. But Ainge can learn.
• Forget Last Year’s Injury. A caller to Knoxville talk radio this week suggested that Ainge has not mentally recovered from last year’s season-ending injury. Remember that it happened when an errant shotgun exchange got past Ainge, and when he tried to scoop it up he was intead sacked by Notre Dame defenders and thrown awkwardly to the ground. The play is burned into the minds of Vol fans, and it’s surely imprinted on Ainge’s psyche as well. Could this explain his reaction to Monday night’s pressure in the end zone, just trying to get rid of the ball at all costs?
• Develop Chemistry. It’s been widely reported this week that Clausen is the team’s choice for quarterback. They like him. They respect him. The team just seems to click better when he’s at the helm. The bottom line is that Clausen’s leadership spawns team chemistry. That’s not to say that Ainge does not have these qualities — he may have them, but just not to the degree that Clausen has them now. I’ve seen a few images during the games that make it look like he’s arguing with teammates, but I’ve also seen him keep himself involved in the offense when he’s on the sideline and applaud Clausen’s success.

Ainge can weather this storm. He’s already getting good advice (subscription required) from the right people. His father, a coach and a teacher, has said to Erik, “Be patient. Your time will come again.”

Ainge will have his own chance at a comeback, a chance at life after Death Valley.