All the emotions of a tough weekend poured out of Rick Clausen on Tuesday.

There was anger, but it had nothing to do with Erik Ainge being named Tennessee's starting quarterback going into Saturday's 2:30 p.m. game at No. 8-ranked Notre Dame (TV: WBIR).

There was resentment, and guilt and disappointment, all surrounding the loss of his offensive coordinator Randy Sanders.

"It's unbelievable," Clausen said, reacting to Sanders' resignation as offensive coordinator on Monday. "That's the easiest way to describe it.

"It's a bunch of crap that fans blame coaches and media blames coaches for the fact players can't go out and make plays."

The Vols take a 3-4 record into South Bend searching for optimism to sprout out of recent turmoil and a three-game losing streak.

Clausen has been Tennessee's starting quarterback ever since leading UT to a dramatic second-half comeback victory at LSU on Sept. 24.

Highlights have been few and far between ever since.

The Vols beat Ole Miss in Clausen's first start, but have since lost three in a row to Georgia, Alabama and South Carolina.

"It's just disheartening everyone claims to be in the Tennessee family and the Vol nation, but at the first sign of adversity everybody decides to blame Coach Sanders," Clausen said. "I'm pissed at the whole situation. I'm pissed at everybody. I'm pissed at myself. I feel like I let him down."

There's a certain amount of guilt being felt by the entire UT offense. Clausen just wishes a few plays, a few mistakes, had never taken place.

Maybe then things would be different. Maybe then Sanders would still be offensive coordinator.

"His job, his wife's and daughters' livelihoods, were basically in my hands," he said. "If I go out and don't throw an interception, we probably beat South Carolina.

"If I don't throw an interception against Georgia, we probably beat Georgia. If we don't fumble twice inside the 10-yard line against Alabama, we beat Alabama. And nobody's talking about that right now. That's the most upsetting thing.

"The players have done it. The players have basically forced Coach Sanders to resign, and that's an awful feeling."

UT coach Phillip Fulmer announced Tuesday he would go with Ainge, the sophomore who started the season opener against UAB, as the starter against the eighth-ranked Irish (5-2).

He also said Sanders would make the move to the coaches' booth in the press box to share play-calling duties.

"Erik actually played pretty well in the ball game, made some pretty nice throws," Fulmer said. "The corner route to Jayson (Swain) was just that much (inches) out of bounds, just kind of the story of the season.

"The post route to Chris Hannon was a really well-thrown football. We've just got to keep him coming. Both will be available to play, but Erik will start and we'll see how it goes from there."

Fulmer said there's no way to blame one player, one coach, or one certain position for the recent offensive struggles.

Win as a group; lose as a group.

That's why Clausen doesn't understand the Sanders' situation.

"Coaches don't fumble," he said. "Coaches don't throw interceptions. Coaches don't miss blocks or miss passes.

"You use coaches as scapegoats. Apparently, that's what college football has come to now days. You blame coaches rather than players."

On Monday, Sanders said the offense was his "ship" and things hadn't gone as planned.

The Vols are ranked 108th nationally in scoring offense (16.1 points per game). They lost by three points at No. 5-ranked Alabama (6-3) and by one against South Carolina (16-15).

"He said (Monday) the offense was his ship," Clausen said of Sanders. "Yeah, it's his ship, but I felt like as the quarterback of this football team I was first in command. And I feel like I let him down.

"If people want to blame somebody, then they can blame me."

Clausen emphasized he didn't feel UT's offense had gone "stale" in recent years.

He pointed to success in 1998, in 2001 and last season with two freshmen quarterbacks (Ainge and Brent Schaeffer) at the helm early.

"Players have come and players have gone," Clausen said. "There have been good years and there have been bad years, but the one constant has been the coaching staff.

"They know what to do. They know what a national championship team looks like. They need a little luck along the way."

And luck — at least of the good variety — hasn't been in ample supply in 2005.

Bad luck. Bad vibes. Bad Karma. Whatever it is, the Vols just want it to stop.

"We're the ones people come to watch," Clausen said. "There are 100,000 people in that stadium every Saturday to watch us. They don't watch the coaches make calls.

"They watch us go out and play, and we haven't put on a good show at all this year."

It didn't make it any easier for Clausen when he heard fans chanting "Fire Sanders" at the conclusion of the South Carolina game.

"They should have been saying, 'Take out Rick Clausen,' " he said. "Because I played awful and I ultimately cost that man his job.

"That's a horrible feeling to have. There's not enough I can say, and not enough respect I can show the man."