Volunteer cornerback Jason Allen answered questions from the media Tuesday regarding the season-ending hip injury he suffered in the Georgia game and the season-ending leg injury suffered by teammate Gerald Riggs last week against Alabama:

I talked to Gerald yesterday and I just told him to keep your head up, take it one day at a time and get better. . . . He’s gotta bounce back, that’s the biggest thing, staying positive and bouncing back.

On whether it’s hard to be positive immediately following a serious injury:

Well the first day is probably the toughest day. For me it was. But after a day, just stay positive, surround myself with positive people and throw all the negative people out the window. I don’t have time to deal with negative people. If you don’t have anything positive to say to encourage me, I really don’t wanna hear it. So I try to encourage Gerald and encourage people that go through things. I talked to D.J. [Shockley] and just wanted to encourage him after he had his injury because he called and the guys down in Georgia called and encouraged me. I mean it’s all about staying positive and keeping the right attitude.

On what people have been saying to encourage him:

Just keep your head up. Bounce back, that’s been the biggest I think, bounce back, and God’s will, I’ll be back stronger and better than ever. Just take it one day at a time. They told me I’m a great player, just keep your head up. Everywhere I go, even when I went to Alabama, this weekend, the Alabama fans came up to me and wished me a speedy recovery, and get well, so I really appreciate that.

When asked if Allen ever asked himself why he got injured, Allen said:

No, I don’t ask why because I don’t ask why things happen when I make a big play and why did this happen, so there’s no need asking why when something like this happens. God has a plan for me and it’s going to work out perfect. At the end, he’s going to get the glory and so it’s all going to be good.

According to GoVolsXtra, Tennessee Volunteer running back Gerald Riggs needs an MRI today before he’ll know the extent of his leg and ankle injuries. They do know that it’s bad enough that he’ll miss the rest of the season.

Gerald Riggs is finished as a Volunteer. UTSports.com is reporting that the “lower leg and ankle injuries” Riggs suffered during the 4th quarter of Tennessee’s loss to Alabama Saturday are serious enough that Riggs will “definitely” miss the remainder of the season.

“I’m going to allow the UT Sports Medicine staff and team of orthopedic surgeons to continue directing my care,” Riggs said. “I think that gives me the best opportunity to return successfully from this injury.”

It’s not yet clear just how severe this injury is and whether it is career-threatening. Ditto the Thoughts and Prayers for Jason Allen post, this time for Gerald.

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.

A few random news items on the Tennessee Volunteers as they prepare for a trip to Tuscaloosa to take on the Alabama Crimson Tide:

• Running backs coach Trooper Taylor plans to use more tailbacks to make sure star back Gerald Riggs is fresh for the fourth quarter.
• Fullback Corey Anderson’s lack of playing time is a direct result of him complaining about lack of playing time while slacking off in practice. He’s apparently corrected on both counts.
• Defensive tackle Jesse Mahelona has been selected as one of 12 semifinalists for the Lombardi Award, given to the top defensive player in the NCAA. Another is Alabama linebacker DeMeco Ryans.
• Recivers C.J. Fayton and Jayson Swain are recovering from their respective injuries and are expected to play Saturday.
• Alabama is looking for revenge against the neighborhood bully. Wallace Gilberry:
  

  It’s one of those things that you carry in the back of your mind as you go to sleep. No matter what you do during the day, when that time comes you’re going to remember it. It’s like when you’re little and one guy keeps picking on you, you’re still going to remember him.

  But the dynamics have changed. It’s a new year. The weakling has grown over the summer, and the bully is looking vulnerable.

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.

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.

John Pennington makes the case for a change in the Tennessee Volunteers’ football philosophy.

Like any good argument, Pennington’s starts by establishing a solid factual premise. The stats, he says, clearly show that the Volunteer football program is on the decline:

• The Johnny Majors Era. From 1985 to 1992, Tennessee got blown out (defined as losing by 13 points or more) only once every season on average.
• The Phillip Fulmer Era, Part I. From 1992 to 2001, the Vols got blown out, on average, once every two and a half seasons.
• The Phillip Fulmer Era, Part II. Since 2002, the Vols are being blown out about twice per season.

Having established the first premise, Pennington sets up the second, that the reason for the decline is a failure to adapt to changing times:

But I do believe that Fulmer needs to realize that the game has “caught up” with him a bit. Since the Vols’ terrible 2nd half vs LSU in 2001 (that cost them a slot in the BCS National Title Game), the Vols have gone from GREAT to GOOD.

In other words, what worked with Manning & Lewis, Martin & Henry and Shuler & Garner… hasn’t worked as well with Clausens, Houstons, and Riggs running many of the same plays. (Those are all good players, but they’re not early-round NFL draft pick-type players).

* * * *

This isn’t a unique phenomenon. Steve Spurrier ruled the SEC roost for nearly a decade, only to see the rest of the league catch up to him around the turn of the century… dropping his Gators to a yearly 9-2 level. (Still quite good, but not a National Title contender.) Rather than adjust, Spurrier fled to the pros. Now that he’s back in the SEC, will he adjust his system to match his talents? We’ll see.

Pennington then concludes that Coach Fulmer should remedy the failure to adapt to the times by reconsidering his football philosophy. Perhaps a “tweak,” sort of like Joe Paterno’s, whose chucking of the I-don’t-play-freshman world view has led to Penn State’s best start in years.

Or perhaps something more drastic, like Bear Bryant’s legendary 1971 scrapping of Alabama’s traditional offensive scheme in favor of the wishbone, which Pennington said “was equivalent to the Mississippi River running backwards.”

Pennington’s conclusion:

The point is this, if a coach isn’t moving forward, he’s moving backward. The coaches with the greatest longevity and success are the ones who are able to re-invent themselves (or at least “tweak” their systems) when there are signs of cracks in the foundation.

I believe the stats above show cracks in the foundation. The SEC and the nation are catching up to Phillip Fulmer. Will he be willing to make some changes? Or will he suffer the consequences of standing still?

Time will tell.

According to College Football News, the three big keys to this Saturday’s contest between the Tennessee Volunteers and the Georgia Bulldogs are:

• The Dawgs’ talented tight ends versus the Vols’ defensive front;
• The passion with which the Vols’ defensive line plays;
• The number of successful carries by Vol running back Gerald Riggs; and
• The home field intangibles.

Their pick? Tennessee 24, Georgia 20.

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.