Topical thoughts and random ruminations sung to the beat of many different drummers.

"Darlin' let's turn back the years and go back to yesterday. Let's pretend that time has stopped and I didn't go away." - Waylon Jennings.

Does David Cutcliffe have experience? Plenty of it, both in Tennessee's system and as a head coach in the SEC.

Does he get along with Phillip Fulmer? Swimmingly. Is he well thought of in the coaching fraternity? Ask Charlie Weis.

There's no question that the hiring of Cutcliffe was the safest bet Fulmer could have made, considering he needs to quickly turn around the Vols' football fortunes.

Cutcliffe was the popular choice, an almost "sure thing" according to many folks. Heck, in addition to fixing the offense, he's even being called upon to bring discipline back to the program. (What's the head coach for?)

But there's still one concern. How many successful coaches have left a program, then returned to it and duplicated their previous success? Not too many.

That said, Cutcliffe's track record suggests that he'll be the exception to the rule.

"Baby write this down, take a little note." - George Strait.

Fulmer's e-mail to 38,000 Vol donors and fans was a nice touch. Sure, they're only words until actions back them up, but the e-mail was a step that most coaches wouldn't have taken. And it was a step instigated by UT athletic director Mike Hamilton.

UT ADs aren't very popular men. They ask for your money, they always seem to support coaches you don't like, and they always fire coaches you do like. For a well-paying job, those things still make it pretty thankless.

But even if you're among the Hamilton-bashers, you must admit that he has clearly taken note of the fact that his predecessor was seen as a PR nightmare (fair or not) and he has tried to take things 100 percent in the opposite direction.

Fulmer's e-mail was just further proof that Hamilton knows that fan and donor opinions count for something. He deserves credit for that.

"When I get to the bottom I go back to the top of the slide. Where I stop and I turn and I go for a ride. Till I get to the bottom and I see you again." - The Beatles.

If Cutcliffe and Fulmer are successful in turning things around in '06, it will have more to do with scheming and strategy than talent. Studying recent records, it's easy to see that talent is now more evenly distributed across the SEC than it was during the duo's super run of the 1990s.

Just comparing SEC records from 1994-99 with the records from 2000-05, you can see a real shift in power among the league's top seven programs.

From '94-99, Florida (43-5) and Tennessee (40-8) were far ahead of Alabama (32-16), Georgia (26-22), Auburn (24-24), LSU (22-26) and woeful South Carolina (13-35). Two teams had more than 40 wins in that six-year span. Most of the other "good" programs were around .500 or worse. The difference between the best of those teams and the worst was an enormous 30 wins.

But look at the stretch from 2000-05 Auburn (36-12), LSU (35-13), Georgia (35-13), Florida (34-14) and Tennessee (33-15) are all separated by just three wins over a six-year span. And while Alabama (like Florida and UT) has fallen back to the pack (24-24), South Carolina has shown a huge improvement (24-24).

In this century, the top seven teams in the SEC are all over .500. While none has more than 36 conference wins. And the difference from best to worst among the SEC's competitive programs is just 12 wins over that span. There's no debating that the top of the league is more balanced than ever.

Many fans hold Fulmer responsible for the ups and downs of the UT program. They should: the buck stops with the head coach.

But they can't blame him for the ups and downs of other programs. And the rest of the SEC has caught up to Florida and Tennessee. There will be no more days of "out-talenting" the other good SEC teams. Strategy, scheming, and in-game coaching have become the most important factors when it comes to beating the Big 7.

"It's fake, that's what it be. Don't believe the hype." - Public Enemy.

Last year's Cotton Bowl thumping of Texas A&M was the catalyst for UT's predicted SEC championship and their No. 3 national ranking in the preseason. It was the pebble that started the landslide.

But did anyone notice that this year's Texas A&M squad, like the Vols, finished 5-6? Reminds me of the "re-birth" of Clemson football following its whupping of the Vols in the Peach Bowl a few years back. That didn't materialize, either.

The Lesson? This year's bowl doesn't have much to do with next year's team. We should try to remember that the next time UT goes bowling.

John Pennington hosts Hall's Salvage Sports Source on Saturday at 11 a.m. on UPN Knoxville. He also writes a blog at govolsxtra.com.