The Vols aren’t hot, but their fan base is.

This is too good to post as a mere quote of the day.  From Chris Low’s blog at ESPN.com:

Tennessee’s running game: Geez, 1 yard in 15 rushing attempts? I understand there was some sack yardage computed into that total last Saturday in the 26-14 loss to Georgia. But as one livid Vols’ donor told me this week, “I could fall over and get a [expletive] yard.”

Writing checks with your mouth that your butt can’t cash.

There’s something eerily reminiscent about this quote from Tommy Bowden:

Axed Clemson coach Tommy Bowden sealed his own fate five months before the season even started.

In an interview last spring, Bowden told me — as he did others — that “on paper, since I’ve been at Clemson, this [season] is my best opportunity” to win the school’s first ACC title since 1991.

What is it?… I can’t quite put my finger on it… oh, yeah.

Summer 2000: Donnan, speaking at a Bulldog Touchdown Club Meeting, makes the most infamous statement of his career: “I’ve been waiting 55 years to be the head coach of a football team that has this much potential, and I guarantee you that we’re going to get it done.”

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UPDATE: Why in God’s name would Rich Rodriguez’ agent feel the need to deny that his client has any interest in the Clemmins job?

First thoughts on Vandy

You know, a funny thing happened on the way to this post.  I was going to start out with a simple question:  given the stats, if Georgia stops the run and keeps turnover margin close, is there anything else to worry about with Vanderbilt?

But it looks like Bobby Johnson is thinking along those same lines as well.

Bobby Johnson wants to wring more production out of Vanderbilt’s offense, so he is switching quarterbacks following the 22nd-ranked Commodores’ first loss of the season.

Mackenzi Adams, who came off the bench and rallied Vandy to a win over Auburn on Oct. 4, will start Saturday at No. 10 Georgia unless something unusual happens. But Johnson said Adams will get most of the work in practice this week instead of Chris Nickson and hopefully give a fresh start to the offense.

“Mackenzi has demonstrated he can sit in the pocket and figure things out and see who’s open and do a good job of hitting them,” Johnson said Monday.

If you look at the statistical story for both teams, the move makes sense.  Vandy is last in the SEC in total offense, mainly because the passing game with Nickson has been abysmal (an incredible 90.3 ypg).  Georgia, on the other hand, is fourth in total defense, but when you break that down, the Dawgs are stellar against the run (2nd in the conference, at 52.2 ypg) and not so stellar against the pass (11th in the conference, at 221.7 ypg).  So Johnson is trying to stack the odds a little more in his favor by playing Adams.  It also means that Martinez has to adjust his game plan to account for the change at QB.

Mumme Poll, Week 7

We lost three more voters this week.  I’m hoping that’s not a trend.

I thought that with all the losses at the top we’d see a greater number of schools receive votes this week, but that wasn’t the case.  Here’s how things stand now (top five votes in parenthesis):

MUMME POLL STANDINGS – WEEK SEVEN

1.    Texas (56)

2.    Alabama (54)

2.    Penn State (54)

4.    Oklahoma (34)

5.    Southern Cal (22)

6.    Florida

6.    Georgia

8.    Oklahoma State

9.    Texas Tech

10.  Missouri

11.  BYU

12.  Ohio State

13.  LSU

14.  Utah

15.  Boise State

16.  Michigan State

17.  Virginia Tech

18.  Kansas

18.  North Carolina

20.  Tulsa

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COMMENTS

• The tie at 6 is a little misleading.  Florida actually received more top five votes than Southern Cal did, but one voter left the Gators off his ballot.  Georgia got a few top five votes, but nowhere near the number that Florida did.
• To answer your next question, here’s the list of schools that received top five votes, but did not appear on all of the ballots:  Texas Tech, BYU, Florida, Georgia, Oklahoma State, LSU (!) and Boise State.
• The average time spent on the ballots this week was similar to last week.  Almost everyone took 20-45 minutes to construct their votes.
• Biggest nose-holders this week:  Texas Tech in general, Florida in the top five.
• Lots of you struggled with that twelfth team this week.  For that matter, lots of you struggled with the fifth team this week.
• Probably because of that, I had a lot of appreciative comments about how much easier it is to put together a ballot by groupings like we do, as opposed to individually ranking the teams.  (Personally speaking, I agree.)
• It’s pretty amazing to see no votes cast for any team in a BCS conference.  Way to go, Big East.
• It’s funny how many of you thought your vote for Oklahoma to remain in the top five would be unusual.  As you can see from the final results, each of you had a lot of company.
• Blogs that posted about the Mumme Poll:  The Connecticut Yankee; A Bulldog in Exile; The College Football Review; Picture Me Rollin; Lucid Idiocy (nice Groucho Marx vibe, by the way).