Many facets help UT football rank No. 1 for setting : govolsxtra.com

Dear AskChuck@knews.com:

I heard something about the University of Tennessee having the best college football fans in the country and just wanted a little bit more information.

It seems to be a very subjective thing, but it sure would be nice to brag about.

Ann Arbor might have a few more seats, but Knoxville has a lot more passion.

GRADY MCDONALD

Knoxville

Matthew Waxman of Sports Illustrated on Campus ranked Tennessee No. 1 for "Best College Football Weekends."

LSU was second, followed by Texas A&M, Florida, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Alabama, Georgia, Wisconsin and West Virginia.

Vols players Dustin Colquitt, Kevin Simon and Derrick Tinsley seem to agree with the ranking in a photo by Jeffery A. Salter.

Such factors as tradition, the Vol Navy, a night game with more than 105,000 fans and the Vol Walk helped Tennessee set the bar.

Speaking of a bar

SI on Campus apparently went undercover in the student section to discover: "Cargo-pocket roulette is a common method for sneaking Tennessee Mash into Orange Nation."

UT also scored heavily in the highly underrated animal mascot category.

"Next up is Georgia and its famous bulldog, Uga," the article read. "Sorry. Compared with Smokey, Tennessee's unflappable bluetick coonhound, Uga looks as cliched as a poker-playing bulldog."

Just in case you're interested, here's the rest of the top 25: Ohio State, Army, Nebraska, Auburn, Texas, Clemson, Oregon, Penn State, Iowa, Florida State, Washington, Ole Miss, South Carolina, Michigan and Montana.

Canine mascots aside, you can rest assured that fans of No. 14 Auburn, No. 20 Florida State and No. 24 Michigan are yelping about these rankings.

Michigan just ahead of Montana. Yikes. Next thing you know, Butte will build a Big House, too.

Where does Fulmer rank? Chuck,

I wish you would set the record straight and settle an argument with a pretty intense Vols fan: Is Phil Fulmer of Tennessee still the winningest active football coach in Division I?

I am fairly certain a three-loss season in '03 knocked him down a peg or two.

The problem with promoting something like that is having to change it somewhere down the line. Go Dawgs.

RANDY DAVIS

Atlanta, Ga.

As UT sports information director Bud Ford likes to say, "there are all kinds of ways to look at the numbers."

Going into this season, Fulmer's winning percentage ranked No. 1 among Division I coaches with at least 12 years of experience. He is third among head coaches with a minimum of five seasons.

Here's the breakdown:

1-Fulmer (12 seasons) 113-28 .801. 2-Bobby Bowden, Florida State (38 seasons) 342-99-4 .773. 3-Joe Paterno, Penn State (38 seasons) 339-109-3 .755. 4-Bill Snyder, Kansas State (15 seasons) 127-55-1 .697. 5-Dennis Franchione (21 seasons) 159-81-2 .661.

The list changes if the criteria becomes a minimum of five seasons:

1. Bob Pruett, Marshall (8 seasons) 88-17 .838. 2-Bob Stoops, Oklahoma (5 seasons) 55-11 .833. 3-Fulmer. 4-Bowden. 5-Lloyd Carr, Michigan (9 seasons) 86-26 .767.

Can U.S. still prevail? Chuck, my man:

Who do you think will win the Ryder Cup this year? With our top three "big dogs" in slumps - Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Davis Love 3 - I don't think we can do it.

While I am thinking of it: that was a good article about the Vol Network's attempt to get the sound on radio to match the picture on TV.

I notice it during Titans games, too.

LEROY ROGERS

Proud resident of Blount County

I noticed the same thing at a Titans game a couple of years ago. The network TV broadcast in the press box was almost five seconds behind the action on the field.

For some reason, this kind of freaked me out and I quit watching the TV (except for replays, of course).

In regards to your Ryder Cup question, I am not sure all of these players are in a slump.

Woods just doesn't seem to handle the team format - and emotionally charged atmosphere - as well as some others. He was just 5-8-2 in three previous Ryder Cups.

Mickelson had that "deer in a headlights look" on Friday and never should have changed to Callaway woods a week before this event. Love just tends to be a streaky putter.

Face it, the U.S. got off to another slow start and the Europeans are far more team oriented. I felt like the U.S. deficit had to be fewer than three points going into 12 singles matches today.

I had the good fortune to play at Oakland Hills in Bloomfield Hills, Mich., in 1996. Donald Ross designed the course, which opened in 1918, and television does not do justice to the mounds and slopes on greens.

The finishing holes are extremely tough, so it promises to be an exciting final day of competition.

Remember: Europe just needs 14 points to retain the cup and the U.S. needs 14 1/2 to reclaim it.

When it's all said and done, Friday's poor start will probably too much for a slightly overrated U.S. team to overcome.

Send questions or comments to AskChuck@knews.com.