GoVolsXtra’s Mike Griffith reports that he was wrong about a lot of things this season, including Rick Clausen:

Well, I just should have known you can’t count him out. Goodness knows, I’ve written plenty of articles about his older brother’s never-say-die attitude and heroics in the final moments of big games. I’m beginning to think the only way you can kill a Clausen is with a wooden stake to the heart. If nothing else, the brothers have proven they compete like few others.

News flash. Just about everyone (anyone know of an exception?) wrong about some aspect of the Tennessee Volunteer football program this season.

Mark Burgess reflects on Rick Clausen’s career (subscription required) from his life as a backup quarterback for the LSU Tigers to his rollercoaster ride as sometimes-backup, sometimes-MVP quarterback for the Tennessee Volunteers.

Don’t miss the comment by “Birwin,” who speaks for the silent majority.

Meanwhile, John Pennington is thinking about Florida quarterback Chris Leak:

How different would the SEC look right now if UT and Chris Leak (and Papa Curtis) could have worked out their differences 3 years ago?

Leak was expected to be THE QB to replace Casey Clausen. But when everything went South with big brother CJ, Chris (and Papa Curtis) stuck it to the Vols and went to Florida. Florida… a passer’s dream. The Vols’ nightmare. They’d show UT.

Instead, Leak led the Gators to three of their poorest seasons since 1990 in addition to leaving the Vols in a lurch.

UPDATE: Pennington has polished the above post into another excellent column for the main GoVolsXtra site.

Scout.com’s Jeffrey Stewart on the Clausen-to-Briscoe Play-of-the-Game against the Memphis Tigers:

A 39-yard pass completion, in and of itself, hardly seems an unlikely event, but when it’s a team’s longest scoring play of a season that is two weeks from being complete it becomes, at the very least, unusual. Add the fact the team in question was ranked No. 3 in NCAA preseason polls, and that the players who connected on the TD toss are a fifth-year senior and a true freshman, neither of whom started the game, and this touchdown falls into the realm of Ripley’s Believe It Or Not.

* * * *

The against-all-odds alliance of Rick Clausen and Josh Briscoe combined for the touchdown at the 6:25 mark, as Clausen heaved the ball from near midfield and Briscoe laid out for the reception just past the goal line to cap a dynamic three-play, 56-yard drive that put the Vols back in the game.

* * * *

. . . . What made it special — in a season that has been especially bad — is that it was a pass right at the very upper range of Clausen’s arm strength, it went right over the top of the defensive back and right into the outstretched hands of a diving Briscoe.

Some might call it a sling and a pray, but it could just as easily be called synergy of spirit, as two players that weren’t regarded as five star or even four-star prospects coming out of high school, on a roster with little else, demonstrate what can be accomplished with a lot of heart and a little less talent.

Mike Strange has some rare praise for the Tennessee Volunteer wide receiver and special teams units:

That Rick Clausen’s 39-yard heave into the end zone was actually gathered in by a diving Briscoe was initially startling.

It wasn’t a circus catch. No Espy nomination. But it was the kind of difficult catch that has been rare enough to rate the endangered-species list around these parts.

Clausen’s other TD pass, a 15-yard strike to Fayton, was good execution on both ends.

That qualifies as doubly startling in a season when timing between dual quarterbacks and revolving-door receivers has been more elusive than Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.

As for the kicking game, Hefney’s 36-yard return was the headliner. It provided field position for the first scoring drive.

Coverage teams were spot-on. Dustin Colquitt averaged 41.5 yards on six punts and had the directional angle working.

James Wilhoit continues to put kickoffs in the end zone and has quietly gotten in a field-goal groove, hitting eight of his past nine.

John Pennington on Tennessee Volunteer Quarterback Erik Ainge:

I have said for a couple of weeks that UT should turn the season over to Erik Ainge. “Ainge has more upside.” “Ainge will be back next year.” “If UT doesn’t want another QB controversy next year, they’d better see as much of Ainge as they can between now and the end of the season.”

Well, as Gilda Radner used to say, “Nevermind.”

All of the reasons for playing Ainge still hold true. Except for the last one. The coaches, after just 4 passes vs Memphis (and an almost carbon copy of his LSU start) should have already seen enough of Ainge to know what they’re dealing with:

A very fundamentally-flawed headcase.

Poor decisions come with 19-year-old QBs who’ve only started and completed 2 games. That’s part of growing up. Not every Vol QB is going to have Peyton Manning’s learning curve.

But terrible fundamentals on top of the mental errors can’t be accepted. A dumb pass might just be a dumb pass if it’s thrown well. A dumb pass thrown by someone who no longer even tries to set his feet… well, that’s death.

Of Ainge’s 4 passes vs Memphis, three times he failed to set his feet before throwing the ball (this includes the non-interception that was brought back due to a questionable “roughing the passer” call). On the other pass, the long, floating duck-like INT, Ainge had someone laying at his feet. So he couldn’t step into the pass. Rather than realizing this, he relied on that big arm of his and shotput a ball 25 yards down field.

The question remains: Is There Life After Death Valley for Erik Ainge?

Jimmy Hyams says UT must play Rick Clausen, not only in order to win, but to help Ainge recover:

So now what do you do if you’re Fulmer?

You hand the keys to Clausen. He has proven he can beat mediocre teams like Vanderbilt and Kentucky. He did it last year. He did it against Memphis.

You shut down Ainge. If you’ve got the shanks, stay away from the golf course for a few weeks or a few months. Don’t destroy Ainge’s confidence any longer.

Let your new offensive coordinator try to dig Ainge out of his dilemma.

But don’t let Ainge continue to bury himself, his confidence and his team.

But Pennington believes that Clausen won’t be able to beat Vanderbilt or Kentucky unless they’re dumb enough to blitz him.

Indeed, what do you do if you’re Fulmer?

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.

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?

GoVolsXtra’s Mike Strange has a message for Volunteer fans considering bailing out on the season:

You’re the fan. Nobody’s paying you. You can come and go as you like.

No doubt, a lot of folks are ready to bail out on the ’05 Vols after a touchdown-less 6-3 defeat at Alabama on Saturday. Some of you probably beat the rush and bailed two weeks ago after the loss to Georgia.

* * *

I think I’ll stick around. Let’s not spin the Vols’ season as anything other than a major breakdown, but even a breakdown has its fascination.

How will the leaders handle the reality of crushed goals? Which young players will emerge from the rubble?

Now that Alabama has thrown off the yoke, anybody else up to it? And the old standby, Clausen or Ainge?

I’m the type to stay in my seat and watch the final futile shot of a 101-40 basketball game. The verdict is long since over, but the human pageant isn’t.

So I’ll be there when the credits roll on the 2005 Vols.

I’m with Mike. There’s more reason to watch football than just winning. More on that later, hopefully.

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.