Watching LSU pound Miami last night in the Peach Bowl, I couldn't help but remember Tennessee's second half comeback in Baton Rouge earlier this season.

Could the football Vols that folks have spent the last month ripping and complaining about been that good?

Answer: Yes.

To close out the 2005 season, I'd like to leave you with my final analysis of UT football.

I've shared it with Phillip Fulmer (he didn't disagree) along with a few other people on my flights to Austin and Oklahoma City to cover UT basketball.

The people on the airplane were a little taken aback. Not just because of the Vols' record, but because I equated Tennessee's 5-6 season to an airplane crash.

For an airplane to crash, I explained, it requires a "cascade'' of events. I think I read that in the book "AirFrame,'' or maybe it was in the "Overcoming Fear of Flying'' book.

Regardless, the analogy makes sense, so follow along.

The series of events that bring down jetliners can include mechanical failures, weather, pilot error or air traffic control errors.

In the case of the Vols football, you had, in order:

* 22 offseason surgeries

* Incomplete spring practice with injured players missing

* Coaching staff chemistry issues brought about by various raises and assigned titles

* 14 players arrested or charged within a one year period, and three players suspended at the start of the year

* A divisive QB controversy crop up in the fall

* A schedule that included an inordinate amount of top 25 teams through the first eight weeks

* Season-ending injuries to arguably the most pivotal players on offense (Gerald Riggs) and defense (Jason Allen)

* Critical errors at the most inopportune times in games with Florida, Alabama and South Carolina

Add all of that up, and you see how Tennessee could go 5-6.

Take one or two of those elements away, and I'd tell you it's likely the Vols would have finished 7-4 and just finished beating Missouri in the Independence Bowl.

Some of the issues could have been avoided, obviously. Others couldn't. That's the way the ball bounces.

But I also believe this 5-6 season will ultimately be a good thing for Tennessee football.

Not because it cost Pat Washington and Jimmy Ray Stephens their jobs. Not because Randy Sanders resigned.

The Vols could have bounced back next season just as easily with all three still employed by UT.

The reason it's a good thing is because it makes the program and the fans hungry again. Starving, really.

Remember when UT couldn't bring 10,000 fans to Orlando for a Citrus Bowl date with Michigan in 2001?

That low attendance cost the Vols trips to better bowl games the next three years. It became a known fact that Tennessee doesn't travel well to bowls, hence, the Vols were ranked in the top 10 a couple of years ago, only to get a return trip to the Peach Bowl, which disappointed everyone included the players.

That won't be the case next year.

Tennessee fans will be back in force ready to get behind the program.

The coaching staff is ready to set aside petty differences to achieve. These men are used to winning and the warm fuzziness of job security.

And the players will be anxious to prove they are not losers. Most all of them were big-time winners in high school and will work harder than ever in the offseason.

The hunted have become the hunters once more, just as they were in Baton Rouge earlier this year.

Time to talk basketball

It must be said that the fall of Tennessee football has benefited Bruce Pearl.

UT fans are anxious to put their football enthusiasm in another place -- for now, at least.

Attendance at Thompson-Boling is up, and there's more excitement around UT basketball than at any time in recent memory.

It's still unlikely these Vols will make the NCAA tournament, their early Top 25 ranking aside.

For all the coaching Pearl does, and the successful system he employs, Tennessee simply might not have the talent to battle through the SEC to an 18-win season.

It would take everything to go right for the Vols to make it to the Big Dance. That's asking a lot.

A more realistic goal is the NIT. If Pearl can manage that, he'll have done more than most anyone expected.

Now, a few questions to close the 2005 version of AskGriff:

Q: I saw where Cedric Houston played four years here with an undiagnosed thyroid condition. That's disturbing. How could that happen?

jlange@houston.rr.com

GRIFF: Houston's offseason conditioning was always a question because he was one of the players who often went home for the summer. Houston did that to help support his daughter back in Arkansas. When he returned, many assumed his conditioning issue was related to him missing offseason workouts.

Houston performed relatively well in the games, however, so there really was no cause for major concern.

Q: I must take issue with the way you began your article about the Vols basketball team. You're assuming/predicting a loss to Texas. How do you think that made the players and Coach Pearl feel when they read that? I think you owe them an apology.

You wouldn't want your fans to be taking a final look at your sportswriting, would you?

helen@denuyl.net

GRIFF: Helen, you're right. I should have waited a few days and written that Vols fans might be getting their last look at an undefeated team before the Oklahoma State game. I promise not to do that again this year. I apologize to my fans, to which you refer. Sorry mom and dad.

Q: I am impressed to say the least. WOW, what a performance. Even Major showed some aggression out there.

Next victim: OSU

vol_freak@yahoo.com

GRIFF: The Vols win over Texas showed how good Tennessee can be when it puts everything together. The comeback against Oklahoma State was impressive, too, even if the Cowboys pulled away in the end.

Q: Should we call it "The Outlandish Trophy". You had to do it again, didn't you?

I'm really trying to understand how a 280-pound walk-on center is better than a 6-9, 339-pound offensive tackle.

Congratulations to Mr. Eslinger, but to vote him over Marcus McNeill is a continual effort to disregard certain players, even when the numbers indicate one player is obviously superior to another.

I'm sure your fact sheet indicates Marcus McNeill hasn't allow a single sack in 41 games. But somehow in "your objective opinion" a 280-pound walk-on center has done something to top that .

So pretty please explain to the college football world exactly what it is.

Tonight's selection is so reminiscent of the 1997 Heisman Trophy fiasco, that it's not even funny.

You know, the year you voted for a part-time KR, SE, DB (Michigan-C. Woodson) over the current NFL best player - (Tennessee- Peyton Manning).

1997: An undeserving Big Ten player (Charles Woodson) wins the Heisman over a more talented and more successful SEC player (PEYTON MANNING). Yeah right! That's obvious even today. See NFL for answer.

2005: An undeserving Big Ten player (Greg Eslinger) wins Outlandish Trophy over a more talent and more successful player SEC player (MARCUS McNEILL).

It's kinda hard to beat no sacks in 41 games in the tough SEC.

The regional bias against the SEC and Auburn Football Players in particular continues to rear its ugly head.

I wonder who the NFL thinks is the Outland Trophy winner?

Now, the truly funny part is you all tried to do the exact same thing in 1985 by attempting to rob another more deserving player for a undeserving Big Ten player....... by voting for Chuck Long over Bo Jackson.

Thank God that injustice never saw the day of light.

Thanks for allowing me to express my views on this unfortunate event.

tygbro@hotmail.com

GRIFF: You're referring to my role as an Outland Trophy voter with the Football Writers Association of America.

Let me just say that I voted for McNeill. In fact, I nominated him after talking to Tennessee coaches and players who faced the giant offensive tackle. They all said he was the best offensive linemen they faced the past two years.

However, there are other voters who have seen other players and they have their reasons for voting as they did, I'm sure.

The FWAA doesn't discriminate against the SEC. I remember when John Henderson won the Outland in 1999 over Nebraska center Dominic Raiola. There was a tiebreak vote needed that season, and Big John got the nod.

But after the tough luck Auburn has had the past two seasons, I can understand your frustrations.