Big Orange Roundtable - The Deep Breath Before the Plunge

We continue on at The Roundtable, undeterred by the Vols' 0-1 start. We're not the only ones in town who're making additions to their roster: The Roundtable has added Curveballs for Jesus (which makes two Major League references in two posts on this blog), and Gate 21 is the new home for Patrick from The View From The Hill...he has the honors this week, and away we go:

1. So we’re all still pissed off from losing to a UCLA team we would without a doubt beat at worst eight times out of 10, and now a pretty bad UAB team comes to Knoxville before the epic showdown with Florida and the rest of the SEC gauntlet - the deep breath before the plunge, if you will. What I simply want to know is what do YOU want to see from the Vols this Saturday?

This is an odd game to go with an odd week - you pack a summer's worth of failed expectation into sixty minutes of head-through-the-wall frustration against UCLA, then you have to wait a week and sit with it, and now you play the worst team on your schedule. So while winning 70-0 will make us feel a little better, of course, it may not tell you anything definitive about this football team. On the contrary, any success UAB has against us on either side of the ball will further the head-through-the-wall syndrome. This is an almost no-win Saturday for the Vols in what many have already dubbed a "don't get anybody hurt!" game.

What I want to see is something, anything to give me hope that the Vols will commit to running the football against Florida.

If the Vols throw it 42 times and beat Florida, I will gleefully tell you what an idiot I am next Sunday. And I've got my moments of idiocy to begin with. But this isn't one of them.

I'm sure there'll be no correlation between what the Vols do Saturday against UAB and the definitive gameplan for the Gators. But I don't want to see Crompton go 19 of 42 again. I want Foster, Hardesty and the offensive line to be in the best possible shape to pound Florida and own the rushing battle, and not put the weight of the game on Crompton's shoulder the way it was placed there against UCLA. And hopefully Clawson is smart enough to disguise his true Gator intentions. Still...give me something, Dave. Give me something to sit down in front of this computer screen on Monday and believe.

2. Flashback to Saturday night in Gainesville: up 23-3, Florida gets a good punt return by Brandon James inside the Miami 20. With 1:56 left, Urban Meyer sends Tim Tebow back in, and, after a screen pass, a throw into the endzone, and a lost-yardage run, Florida kicks a sand-in-the-face field goal with :25 left, prompting a death stare from Cane coach Randy Shannon and eventually a “handshake” at midfield after the game. Thoughts?

Since we're all so familiar with the Gators scoring more points in a game where the outcome is already decided, here's my expertise:

If you're getting the score run up on you, in perception or reality, you say nothing.

It's more important for players, coaches, administration and fans to deal with why your team got it run up on them than the motives of the other coach who did it. Maybe Urban Meyer is a jerk. More like probably. But our problem isn't that he's a jerk, is what his football team is capable of doing to ours.

If I was Randy Shannon, I'd put the death stare away, I wouldn't try to make it a point of emphasis after the game to media or to potential recruits, and I'd store it all away. If I'm a player, you don't say things like "We'll remember that."

But you do remember it.

And then next season, behind closed doors and closed doors only, you remind a team that shouldn't need to be reminded of what they did. And you take it out on them in violent fashion. On the field. And if you get the opportunity, you absolutely run it up on them.

The only time it's okay to comment on getting the score run up on you is the following season, after you've beaten that team. Otherwise...you shut up and use the loss to make you better.

3. And finally, a question that I’m not sure has been so directly asked in the course of the Roundtable, but one that needs answering: the “woo” in Rocky Top…do you “woo” and why do/don’t you “woo”?

I will absolutely default to the highly entertaining and 80s/early 90s music filled response (and comments) from Third Saturday, and will only say that I do enjoy the "wooing!" (in no small part thanks to Ric Flair, who's also mentioned by Your Mom and Wilt this week). And that Huey Lewis & The News are the undisputed kings of "horrible songs" that get stuck in your head.

Go read the other guys this week, including...

- Gate 21 (Patrick hosting this week)

- Third Saturday in Blogtober

- YMSWWC