It’s money that I love.

ESPN’s Chris Low is reporting that Rodney Garner is up in Knoxville today interviewing.

It’s hard to say for what position, but it can’t be for a coordinator slot, since both have been hired and it can’t be for recruiting coordinator, assistant head coach or d-line coach, since Orgeron already fills the bill on those.

That only leaves one other consideration.

Damon Evans better be opening the checkbook.  They are throwing some serious money around at UT.

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UPDATE: Low spoke with Garner after the interviewing process concluded.  Here’s the meat of what he heard:

… If he decides to return to Tennessee, there’s a chance he would return to the offensive side of the ball, possibly as some type of running game coordinator.

“It’s best that Coach Kiffin talk about all that, but it’s something I think could definitely enhance my career,” said Garner, who played on the offensive line at Auburn. “I’m comfortable on either side of the ball.”

Garner earned $253,000 this season at Georgia. His salary at Tennessee, if he takes the job, could approach the $400,000 figure.

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Why not Utah?

I went to bed last night wondering if there was any way I couldn’t vote Utah #1 on my last Mumme Poll ballot.  The only thing I can come up with that might give me pause for thought would be the unlikely scenario in which Oklahoma kicks the everlovin’ crap out of Florida in the BCS title game.

Otherwise, consider that

• The Utes finish the season as the only undefeated team in D-1;
• They played a credible schedule, with wins over three ranked teams and two other BCS conference schools (and only played one 1-AA school); and
• They were more dominant against ‘Bama than Florida was, never trailing in the game and winning by a greater margin.

As for those whining about Texas and Southern Cal getting screwed by the BCS, the former looks diminished in the wake of Texas Tech’s loss to the fourth best team in the SEC and the latter lost to a school that Utah beat.

Right now, I don’t see anybody with a better resume than Utah.

As for the game last night, quite simply, Nick Saban got outcoached.  It was clear early on that his team wasn’t prepared for Utah’s overall speed on both sides of the ball and by the time the Tide started adjusting on defense, Alabama was in a 21-point hole that it could never quite dig out from.  On the other side of the ball, Utah took to heart something that I wish Willie Martinez had realized – the key to beating Alabama is making John Parker Wilson ordinary with relentless pressure.  ‘Bama’s offensive line woes made that job easier, true, but Utah deserves credit for going there to start with.

Stewart Mandel wrote a stupendously stupid column after Boise State’s win over Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl about how that game changed college football forever.  That was an entertaining game, but not a paradigm changer, as Hawai’i showed a year later.  Last night’s game, on the other hand, has the feel of something different.  It wasn’t fluky.  It wasn’t driven by a bunch of trick plays that offset a large talent gap.  Utah belonged.

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UPDATE: Mark May really should quit trying to predict Sugar Bowl outcomes (h/t The Wiz of Odds).