Well, the SEC Media Days has come to an end, I think, and the college sports blogosphere is sorting through the rubble. Here’s a couple of shiny objects that have distinguished themselves from the pile, at least from the VFRT perspective:

Yes, the media placed the Vols third in the SEC East. No big surprise there. Although some are picking the Gators as the team most likely to be this year’s Tennessee, the media likes them first in the East with Georgia close behind. The Volunteers were a distant third at that, garnering just five more votes than South Carolina. Whatever happens in the East, Auburn is the absolute favorite to dominate the West and win the championship game.

There were six Volunteers named to the pre-season media All-SEC team. Offensive lineman Arron Sears and defensive tackle Justin Harrell made the first team, running back Arian Foster, defensive back Jonathan Hefney, and kicker James Wilhoit made second team, and cornerback Jonathan Wade made the third team.

The national media is getting into the action as well. CBS Sportsline’s Dennis Dodd weighs in and says expect a little improvement, but not a lot, after last year’s Rocky Flop.

And the ESPN Insider Blue Ribbon preview of Tennessee is absolutely massive and includes bits of information I had not heard elsewhere, such as the fact that a new wide receiver drill involves catching bricks. That should teach you not to drop the ball and to catch with your hands. There’s also this more detailed description of Fulmer’s animated reaming of the team following Marvin Mitchell’s summer arrest:

Dealing with the law [for Mitchell] was easier than dealing with Fulmer, who had grown accustomed to the peace and tranquility afforded him by months of good behavior among his players. Fulmer went bonkers in a team meeting after Mitchell’s skirmish, screaming, throwing things and threatening to kick the next player who caused trouble off the team. True to his word, Fulmer ran off lineman Raymond Henderson a couple of days later after he made an inappropriate comment to a mother and her young daughter at a restaurant.

I guess he does have his stinger out.

It’s official: Offensive tackle Arron Sears, fullback Cory Anderson, and defensive tackles Turk McBride, Tony McDaniel, and Justin Harrell are returning for their senior seasons. Only offensive guard Rob Smith is declaring for the NFL.

GoVolsXtra.com (subscription required) is reporting that Arron Sears is expected to announce his decision to return to the Tennessee Volunteer football team next season rather than declare for the NFL draft.

During tonight’s media opportunity, Justin Harrell, Turk McBride, Tony McDaniel, and Cory Anderson are also expected to discuss their decisions to forego the NFL and return as Volunteers next season.

All-SEC offensive lineman Aaron Sears on his NFL decision:

I’ve already sent in my papers to be evaluated for the NFL. You never want to leave on a bad note, but it’s mixed feelings.

* * * *

It’s really tough. I’m still ticked off about the season we had. It’s hard not to be ticked off about something like that.

We’ll just have to wait and see what happens. Making first team All-SEC really doesn’t have anything to do with the decision.

The 2005 All-SEC team has been announced, and offensive lineman Arron Sears was the only Tennessee Volunteer to make first team.

Second teamers include Jason Hall, Parys Haralson, Justin Harrell, and Kevin Simon.

Jessee Mahelona earned only Honorable Mention.

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.

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.

Here’s a breakdown of the Tennessee Volunteers’ offensive struggles against the Georgia Bulldogs last Saturday:

• Vols’ First Possession. Tennessee’s first play from scrimmage was a 33-yard completion to Bret Smith. Chalk one up for a big play by the receiving corps. On the next play, however, Aaron Sears false starts, and the Vols are suddenly looking at 1st and 15. First and second downs net one yard, and a third down completion to Meachem goes for 11, generally good enough to get another set of downs, but not if you need 15 yards. Punt.
• Vols’ Second Possession. One of the rare, no-penalty drives, this possession began with another big play by a receiver, a completion Chris Hannon for 25 yards. The drive stalled out after a nine-yard completion to Meachem.
• Vols’ Third Possession. After Georgia scored a touchdown (with UT contributing ten yards on two penalties), the Vols returned the kickoff for only 12 yards and was penalized another 6. Starting on the 6 yard line, Tennessee did get one first down on a nice 15-yard run by Riggs, but on the next play, a communication error between Rick Clausen and Gerald Riggs resulted in a five-yard loss, so they were looking at 2nd and 15. On a no-gain second down, the Vols’ offense (Aaron Sears again) got a facemask penalty that Georgia declined. On 3rd down, they got 13, again generally enough for a new set of downs, but not if you need 15.
• Vols’ Fourth Possession. Georgia downs its punt at the Tennessee 2. The Vols play it safe and punt after gaining only one yard on three tries.
• Vols’ Fifth Possession. This possession was the high-water mark for the Vols’ offense, but ended with no points. Starting at the 26, Riggs ripped off runs of 8 yards, 9 yards, 1 yard, and 3 yards before Clausen made two consecutive completions of 23 yards and 11 yards (more big plays by receivers). Riggs then rushed for another 4 yards, and the Vols were threatening at Georgia’s 15. Notice no penalties or mental errors to this point. Alas, Clausen overthrew Bret Smith in the end zone and on the next play threw an interception.
• Vols’ Sixth Possession. Lucas Taylor caught Georgia’s punt at the 11 and ran to the 14, but Tennessee was penalized 6 yards and had to start on the 8 yard line. Still, they stayed ahead on downs, completing passes of 20 yards and eight yards, and drove down to Georgia’s 38 yard line. But then Riggs and the right tackle both give Georgia’s defensive end a straight path to Clausen’s blind side, and Clausen fumbles when he’s hit. A Volunteer offensive lineman falls on the ball, but the referee simply stares at the player cradling the ball on the ground until a Georgia player strips the ball from him, at which time the ref blows the whistle. Georgia converts the comedy of errors into three points.
• Vols’ Seventh Possession. Taylor returns the kickoff to the 26, a tie for the Vols’ best starting position of the game. There were no penalties or errors, but they go three and out.
• Vols’ Eighth Possession. Taylor returns the kickoff to the 26, but Tennessee was penalized 19 yards, so they started at the 7. Again, the receivers make a big play, this time a 28-yarder to Jayson Swain, who simply stole the ball from the defender. They make another first down after that before getting two 5-yard penalties. Yet they overcome those and make another first down with an 18-yard completion to Swain. They then get to 3rd and 1 only to receive a 15-yard penalty. They can’t convert on 3rd and 16, and they punt.
• Vols’ Ninth Possession. Jonathan Wade actually ran his interception on the preceding play in for a touchdown, but the officials ruled him down at the one-yard line. Hey! Good field position! Clausen snuck it in on the first play.
• Vols’ Tenth Possession. Thanks to a forced fumble by Jesse Mahelona recovered by Inky Johnson, the Vols got the ball back on their own 27 yard line. Two mistakes in a row for the Dawgs and the momentum seems to be turning. Clausen throws a 16-yard strike to freshman Josh Briscoe on 3rd and 7, but Briscoe is stripped, and Georgia recovers.
• Vols’ Eleventh Possession. The Vols’ defense held, but Georgia’s punter pinned Tennessee back on the one yard line. Tennessee could only muster eight yards before punting to Georgia, who ran it back for a touchdown.
• Vols’ Twelfth Possession. The game was essentially over at that point. The Vols made one first down and actually got ahead on downs, having a 2nd and five on the Tennessee 40 yard line when Clausen had to fall on a bad snap. That made it 3rd and ten, and they couldn’t convert.
• Vols’ Thirteenth Possession. The last Vol drive doesn’t really count, but they had no penalties or mistakes, and actually made a few big plays, including a 24-yard touchdown completion to Meachem as time ran out.

So the Volunteer offense had 12 meaningful possessions. It started almost half of those possession inside their own ten yard line, two of them inside their own five. Three times, the poor field position was directly attributable to Volunteer penalties.

On 4 of their drives, the Vols got behind on downs, either because of penalties or other mental errors.

Their good drives ended in turnovers.

Coach Fulmer’s assessment (subscription required) appears to be on target:

“We had 63 plays in the game Saturday, and 54 of them were outstanding, well-executed plays,” Fulmer said.

“We had 12 mistakes by different people that ended up costing you down and distance, field position or points.”

Ugh.

But still, if — IF — the Vols can cure their offensive woes, they still have a lot to play for, even after losing to two SEC East rivals.

They’re merely mostly dead.

SPOILER WARNING TO EAST TENNESSE EX-PATS: GAME RESULTS BELOW:

Okay, we can talk about the quarterbacks tomorrow. And the rest of next week. Heck, we may end up talking about them for years.

But this game came down to a decision or failure (which is it?) to hammer UT’s biggest advantage: its running game. UT’s big offensive line greatly outweighed an undersized Gator defensive line, and running back Gerald Riggs enjoyed great success running behind fullback Corey Anderson through holes created by Aaron Sears and Rob Smith on the left side of the line. The Vols, however, only went to this well a few times.

Instead, the Vols attempted pass after pass to receivers who were covered by a good secondary. This, despite the well-published fact that the team who rushes for the most yards in this contest always wins (with the sole exception being the “Gaffney game”). The rule held true tonight, with Florida gaining a paltry 120 yards on the ground, and UT doing even worse with a total of 103.

So we can talk about the decision to rotate the quarterbacks and to stick with Ainge. We can talk about the fact that the difference in points at the end of the game (Florida 16, Tennessee 7) was directly attributable to three field goals that came about as a result of three special teams errors.

But the game came down to UT’s choice not to exploit its greatest advantage.

And there’s not much room for discussion about that.

UPDATE: The rushing yards I mentioned above are gross yards, the net yards were even worse. Tennessee netted only 66 yards, and the Gators had 68. Riggs rushed for a net of 86 compared to Wynn’s net of 58.

UPDATE, II: Countertop Chronicles agrees, and and says poor decision-making is systemic with Coach Fulmer. (Warning: NetNanny Alert!) Countertop makes a good case, and it’s a good post, but I think firing Fulmer would be a gross overreaction. Regrettable decisions are common in life and in football, and in big games there’s little or no margin for error. And Fulmer certainly knows a lot more about football than I do, so it’s quite possible that the decision-making was sound, but just didn’t work.

Anyway, as I say in my most recent post, the season is not over.

UPDATE, III: On that note, GoVolsXtra quotes Coach Fulmer as saying that “Florida had adjusted to UT’s success running behind the left side of its line (Rob Smith, Arron Sears) and thus the Vols tried to go the other way on the third-and-3 that was stopped.” So there’s the explanation. The question wasn’t as simple as (1) do we run to the left where we have great success; or (2) do we run to the right where we don’t have as much success? It was more like (1) do we run to the left where the defense has sent more players; or (2) do we run to the right where there are now fewer defenders?

John Pennington is having waffles for breakfast this morning, vascillating on the results of the upcoming match between the Tennessee Volunteers and the Florida Gators. It appears that his pick is still Florida, assuming UT plays two quarterbacks, but he’s thinking now that it will all come down to the match up between the Vol offensive line and the Gator defensive line.

From what I know about John so far, I think he’s probably right, and it’s key that Rob Smith will be returning to his favored left guard spot. Gerald Riggs should have success running through the holes created by Smith and Aaron Sears.