Don’t cry for me, Bloomington.

Indiana taking a $44000 hit to lose to Tennessee in a bowl game isn’t great, but in comparison to this…

#Tennessee pays Georgia State $950k to come and play:

*Georgia State after the game:pic.twitter.com/DjBhethJYi

— Brady McCarter (@bmccarter122) August 31, 2019

… it’s a fucking bargain.

“They (Tennessee) never offered him…”

And in Knoxville.

And lastly, you have three-star Ladd McConkey‍. He earned his offer from the Bulldogs late in the process after head coach Kirby Smart went to watch him play basketball. McConkey took a late visit to Tennessee, his childhood favorite school, but the Vols decided not to extend an offer.

Sources say McConkey took that personally, and the Bulldogs were able to easily secure his commitment after that.

…  “They were pretty forthright with him. They told him that they had a couple of guys ahead of him on their board, and if those guys decided to commit, that there wouldn’t be a spot for him. He left the visit from Tennessee with a sour taste in his mouth. I honestly think that even if they had offered, he would have chosen Georgia. It meant a lot to him that head coach Kirby Smart believed in him enough to offer when he didn’t have any other big options.”

Smart isn’t the only one.

“He’s definitely a prototypical slot for Monken’s style of offense,” Brantley said. “He’s extremely, extremely intelligent. Playing QB will help him identify zones and know what’s going on in the defense. He will be able to get open in a man to man situation against any safety or linebacker, but he will also have the intelligence to know where to sit down in the soft spots in zone coverage.”

A good fit in Georgia’s offense with an Urnge chip on his shoulder?  Gee, that sounds promising.  And cold.  Very cold.

How the East was won

From a David Paschall piece ranking of how SEC programs have fared in cross-divisional regular-season games since their inception come three tidbits, in order of enjoyment.

Good:

… Georgia’s lofty ranking here is largely due to having just three losses to permanent cross-divisional foe Auburn in the last 15 seasons and for having the ability to typically thrash West teams that are struggling.

Better:

Spurrier was 23-7 in cross-divisional games during the regular season, so the Gators actually have a losing record against the West since his magnificent era that yielded six SEC titles in 12 seasons.

Best:

Tennessee’s tremendous run during the back half of the 1990s included 14 consecutive wins over West squads, but it was just the opposite during the 2010s, when instability in Knoxville yielded 15 straight cross-divisional losses.

Explains a lot about the last decade.

How the mighty have fallen.

Sure, it’s been a long time since Tennessee football was relevant, but even I was a little surprised by how bad things have gotten in Urnge Country.

No wonder the Vol faithful are so energized by the end of last season and the early recruiting success of this year.  What else have they got to cling to?

Another ‘rona round up

A few more nuggets, from here and there:

• Your routine reminder that Phil Fulmer is full of shit.
• That being said, he’s right about this.
• “You would like to know who is not playing,” that AD said. “I don’t know if there is anything morally compelling to make us have to do that. Not playing people you know to be sick is the morally compelling part of it.”
• And The Valley Shook’s Poseur thinks we’re not playing college football this year.
• “It’s crazy that no one is seriously talking about playing in the spring right now,” said another Power Five head coach. “We would know so much more six, seven or eight months from now.”
• In a survey conducted last summer, about 19% of college trainers said that a coach opted to play an athlete who had been deemed “medically out of participation,” according to the National Athletic Trainers’ Association.

Grading on the curve

With most coaches, we talk about a second-year bounce if they know what they’re doing, but considering that Jeremy Pruitt’s second season started out 1-4, with losses at home to Georgia Southern State and BYU, and finished with a six-game winning streak against a bunch that included a Sun Belt squad and two P5 schools that played in minor bowl games, it appears the media is willing to give the man a mulligan.

SEC: Tennessee

Odds to win SEC Championship: +10000

Why it’s undervalued: The SEC East has been the Florida-Georgia show as of late. The Bulldogs and Gators have won the last five divisional titles, all while Tennessee has either fallen short or been in rebuild mode. With Florida and Georgia being the favorites out of the East in 2020, don’t overlook Tennessee as a longshot. Whereas Kentucky has overachieved in the past two seasons — a credit to coach Mark Stoops — Tennessee is still looking for its breakout.

Reason for optimism: The talent Coach Jeremy Pruitt has stockpiled is impressive. The Vols have a legit offensive line with a nice mix of proven veterans and young but promising tackles (Wanya Morris and Darnell Wright were SEC All-Freshman selections). The quarterback room is led by Jarrett Guarantano who, despite his ups and downs, has been good enough but there’s more upside behind him with blue-chip freshman Harrison Bailey. If there’s a Year 3 jump, it’s in part because of the guys Pruitt has recruited.

Question mark: Who’s going to be the breakout star? Top receivers Jauan Jennings and Marquez Callaway are gone so there’s a lot of room for a freshman or sophomore to fill the void — and the Vols have a bevy of talent waiting in the wings. Also, can sophomore running back Eric Gray take the next step after a strong finish to last season? There are a lot of possibilities for this offense.

Schedule: It’s hard — the early-season trip to Oklahoma sets the tone — but there are opportunities for the Vols to be a CHAOS TEAM in SEC play. Florida, Missouri, Kentucky and Alabama all come to Knoxville. If Pruitt improves upon last year’s seven-win regular season with Alabama, Florida, Georgia and Oklahoma on the schedule — all four could be vying for playoff spots at the end of the season — that will say a lot about the direction of the program.

I count two “if”s and one “a lot of possibilities” in four paragraphs.  In particular, the “if” in that last sentence is doing some heavy, heavy lifting.  Eh, if it doesn’t work out, that just puts the fourth-year bounce in play.

The meteor recruit

Somebody doesn’t sound overly sure of where he wants to matriculate.

Four-star defensive back Kamar Wilcoxson has committed to the Florida Gators, spurning Tennessee, which he had been committed to since April 27. The commitment on Friday marks the third time the Class of 2021 standout has offered his pledge to the Gators.

Wilcoxson initially committed to coach Dan Mullen’s program on Nov. 3, 2018, when he was a freshman in high school. He decommitted on April 27, 2019, only to recommit three months later. He decommitted again on March 26, 2020 before committing to Tennessee one day later.

Maybe the third time’s a charm, but I’d love to see the kid show a little drama and timing by switching back to the Urnge at halftime of this year’s UF-UT game.

Bubba’s in black

Imagine you’re from Tennessee.  It’s likely you had issues with Colin Kaepernick taking a knee in support of Black Lives Matter.

That was then.  This is now.

#Tennessee HC Jeremy Pruitt announced the #Vols are in discussions to wear black jerseys against #Kentucky this season and the jerseys would then be auctioned off to raise money for Black Lives Matter pic.twitter.com/WB8jG9gy9g

— JDF Sports (@JDFSports) June 18, 2020

Man, I hope Lulu and Junior don’t get whiplash from the sudden change in direction.

Wednesday morning buffet

Please maintain a six-foot distance from your fellow grazers as you read…

• Tennessee, Tier 3. (h/t 81Dog)
• On the other hand, UT is back, baby, in part because… wait for it… they’ve got a chance, playing Georgia in November.
• In case you want a line on the Dawgs’ opening opponent this season, here’s Pete Fiutak’s Virginia preview.  (All I can say is if the Cavs’ offensive line doesn’t step up, it’s gonna be a long day to be a Hoos fan.)
• “With 1.139 million fans attending Georgia games — home, away and neutral site — the Bulldogs were one of a dozen schools to eclipse the million attendance mark in 2019.”
• Louisiana has made it okay for immediate family members of college coaches are now officially allowed to be employed on staff.  I wonder who lobbied for that.
• Another sign of the times:  apparently Southern Cal and Reggie Bush have kissed and made up.
• Groo:  Curating a day of classic Georgia football
• Can I just say this is dumb?

Oh, wait. You were serious about that?

This is some question.

Poll: Would you trade UT's quarterback room (JG, Maurer, Bailey) for Georgia's (Jamie Newman, JT Daniels)?

— Russell Smith (@Russell___Smith) May 28, 2020