First a preview of LSU:

UT on offense: Look for more deep outs and crossing patterns with Ainge under center. His stronger arm allows the Vols to stretch the field a bit more. As important as the QB decision was, a healthy Robert Meachem would mean just as much. He's the go-to guy.

UT will need to throw to set up the run. It's a good thing Gerald Riggs has good vision; many of his runs Saturday will require cutbacks and patience running the stretch.

The Vols re-tooled line will be challenged by arguably the best pair of defensive tackles in the league.

UT on defense: Look for John Chavis to blitz JaMarcus Russell into the ground. Russell is a great athlete, but he panics when he's bottled up in the pocket and is actually more dangerous after the play breaks down. Containment will be big. The Vols defensive line faces one of their toughest challenges, as gap control will be at a premium with LSU's running backs. The Tigers' receivers are also playmakers. UT's safeties will need some sure-handed tackles.

Special teams: No miracles here, and just about anything would be an improvement. Britton Colquitt ranks last in the SEC in net punting, and James Wilhoit is 1-of-3 on field goals.

Did you know: Half of opponents' points have been a direct result of turnovers? UT's defense is tops in the SEC in Red Zone defense, but the offense is last in Red Zone production.

Prediction: Tennessee 27, LSU 20.

Reason: Vols have too much talent to continue to flounder.

Q: This could serve as a letter to the editor. In Coach Fulmer's 14 years, Vol faithful have watched loss after loss in the truly big games, often being the best team, but being unprepared and outcoached.

We saw this again last weekend — a Fulmer team out-coached in prime time, this time by an SEC rookie coach. To have a week off, and fail as our special teams did, is lack of preparation. That falls squarely on the coaching staff's shoulders. And how many times in football lore have we seen a big-time team win a big time game using a two-QB system? Not many.

Last year, Fulmer changed a successful formula going into the Auburn game when he should have left it the same. Auburn won the toss, gave Ainge the ball, and then pummeled him. This year, Rick Clausen never got to add to the ‘Clausen Florida Field Legacy.' He was yanked prematurely, never having the chance to get into the flow of the game. The Fulmer approach to the two-QB system is reactive, not proactive, and always leaves the QB dujour looking over his shoulder instead of down the field. And that leaves the Vol faithful once again wondering "what if..." in the 4th week of September.

BARRETT.MCGRATH@QUINTILES.COM

GRIFF: Interesting, because I thought the two-quarterback system worked pretty good last season. I'm not sure Peyton Manning could have quarterbacked the Vols to a win over Auburn in either meeting last season. The other loss, Notre Dame, came when UT had settled into a one quarterback system by necessity — Brent Schaeffer was hurt. Had Ainge not been injured against the Irish, Rick Clausen probably wouldn't have played.

I'm pretty confident in saying Fulmer was hoping the quarterback situation would settle itself on the field. It never really did. Clausen is somewhat limited in what he can do athletically, such as scrambling and throwing deep outs.

I'd agree there is no excuse for the poor special teams play. It's not a matter of scheme as much as it is the dedication and execution of the players, which goes right back to the coaches.

As for Fulmer being out-coached, there have certainly been times that has occurred. But Fulmer has won his share of big games, too, like last year at Georgia.

Q: I enjoy reading both of your columns about UT football. However, I would like to make a comment (or perhaps ask an implied question) for you to consider concerning the UT-UF game last weekend.

A number of comments have been made by the press about the "botched" pass that Britton Colquitt attempted in the third quarter.

But I think the kid got more flack than he deserved for the incompletion, even given the circumstances. The Florida defender broke toward the ball a second or two before the snap, leaving the UT wide-out clearly wide open. Replays showed that the UF mid-back did not break to be a pass defender until it was really too late if the pass had been a little more accurate or thrown just a little deeper.

Thus, I would describe the play as one of the few imaginative offensive plays in the whole game. It is almost beside the point that if the pass had been thrown a little longer or with a little more zip, you would have had a different story to write, and Coach Fulmer's comments would have been different, I assure you.

RICHARD.PAWEL@COMCAST.NET

GRIFF: Call it imaginative, or what you will, but it sure makes sense to me to throw the ball to a wideout if no one is covering him. The trick is, making sure your punter is capable of making that 20 or 25 yard throw.

I think Fulmer's contention was that sometimes the play is "on,'' meaning the punter has that option, and in this case the play was not "on.''

Q: How can you give the secondary a B+? There were no big plays but there were how many 3rd down conversions, especially in the second half? Why did we stop blitzing in the second half? Why can most of the good teams in the SEC play man and all we can do is play zone (and not that well)? I think it is coaching.

Mike, I really enjoy your columns and I agree with you 99 percent of the time but not on this one.

IM.TRANTHAM@ORACLE.COM

GRIFF: Let's be honest here: If someone told you that Urban Meyer's new offense would manage just 179 yards passing and one touchdown against the Vols, would you have felt good about the outcome?

The Gators had a better than average 8-of-18 third down conversion rate, but Tennessee did record five sacks and nine tackles-for-loss.

The Vols didn't blitz as much because Florida wised up and didn't run as many "empty'' sets, with no backs in the backfield for protection. Give Meyer credit for figuring out that offensive set was not going to work.

Just because a pass was complete doesn't mean it's automatically the fault of a defensive back — many times, the linebackers were responsible as they were in zone coverage.

Not saying UT's secondary was perfect — it wasn't — but it certainly wasn't scorched (longest pass was 24 yards) and it held its own against some pretty talented receivers.

Q: A couple of quick questions please.

No. 1, who is the Vols' special teams coach and is his resume currently being circulated to other schools?

And, No. 2, Does our lack of offensive production so far this year amount to bad luck or bad play calling by Randy "The Genius" Sanders? I'm open to the possibility that it's the players not making plays, save for the fact that we've not had a flashy offense in years.

GRIFF: Steve Caldwell holds the title of special teams coach, but many others contribute, including Pat Washington and Trooper Taylor.

As I said above, it's not the schemes, it's the execution. Caldwell only has so much control over which players he's allowed to pull for special teams duty. Some schools, such as Virginia Tech, use many front-line players.

That sounds like a good idea until somebody crucial gets hurt.

Still, you'd think with all the talent the Vols recruit, there would be some young studs ready to step up and make a difference in the return game.

I'm not putting the Special Teams fiasco on the shoulders of Caldwell — I'm putting it on the team, from Fulmer on down to the players.

As for the offensive problems, it's clear that the timing between the quarterbacks and receivers was off at The Swamp. In the first game, the receivers dropped no less than six passes, many of which would have sustained drives and led to more points on the board.

Blaming Sanders is the easy thing to do, but not necessarily the right thing. Fulmer is ultimately the offensive coordinator and makes many of the personnel decisions, including who plays quarterback.

This was a tough case with two good quarterbacks. Ainge has always been the more talented of the two, but Rick Clausen earned a right to play with his play at the end of last season, his offseason work, performances in scrimmages and leadership ability.

Fulmer did the fair thing, it just didn't turn out to be the right thing.

Or was it? Who's to say Tennessee would have beaten Florida with a one quarterback system? And if not, then you'd be 1-1 without the respect of your players. At the very least, Fulmer proved himself to be a fair man in this case.

Q: What a disappointment. Our defense gets an A. Played good enough to win, but our offense? What's up with that? It appeared we gave up running to the left where we had success and tried to go right where we did not succeed at all and then gave up the run in the third quarter instead of pounding on the Gator d-line. Why continue with a two-QB system. Why not go with the one. At least (good or bad performance) there would be consistency.

Special teams are still pathetic. Is it execution or time for a coaching change at the position? Is it a bad as it looked on TV or just some miscues that could've gone the other way with a good bounce?

KENPOE@CFL.RR.COM

GRIFF: Yeah, tough to see a team that won the battle at the line of scrimmage and had more talent than the opponent lose a game.

One of the reasons UT quit running to the left side is that one of the key players, Cody Douglas, was injured in the second quarter. Douglas plays right guard, but he pulls to the left on the play the Vols were having success with. He was replaced by a talented, yet inexperienced, Ramon Foster. Foster missed a block on a crucial third-and-3 that led to the Vols punting and the Gators driving for a field goal that put the game away.

The execution was shoddy in the passing game, with the quarterbacks and receivers appearing as though they had never met, much less practiced together all summer.

This week, Fulmer has made the call for a one-quarterback system, and that means Ainge getting most all the repetitions and not needing to look over his shoulder. At this point, that's the only decision he could make.

Q: UT football is sick, but the Gators did us a favor. Unfortunately, more teams will help before the 2005 segment is written. If Sanders stays, Fulmer must go. To recruit good athletes and fail to coach is a disgrace. I have not seen a greater disparity between the media blitz and the actual product since the last year of Bill Battle (I respected him greatly as an individual.)

DCLEAR@BELLSOUTH.NET

GRIFF: Wow Mr. Clear, tell me how you really feel! Actually, you're right, Fulmer and Sanders are two peas in a pod. They sit in the offensive meeting room together all week and plot things out together. They are both UT lifers, for all intents and purposes, and most often see things the same way.

There are some who would say there's something to be said for that — especially when you consider Fulmer has won about 80 percent of his games and employs a system that continually brings in top-notch talent.

Of course they won't win every game, and not all of their decisions will be the right ones.

As for the preseason hype, a look at the talented warranted the Vols being picked high in the preseason — the schedule certainly did not.

I think the jury is still out on this team. The Florida loss was a disappointment for the Vols' fans, but how they respond will say much more about the coaching ability of Fulmer and Sanders.

Remember, last year they won 10 games with two true freshman quarterbacks and a walk-on who had been cast off from LSU.

Q: Sounds like Fulmer is sort of put out by Hamilton's lack of action (on the LSU game). The UT President should take issue with the SEC Commissioner and his bias stance on the game's setup as it is right now. He should tell the ol' commish that if the Tennessee fans cannot attend the game because of the difficult conditions that the commish is allowing....well....when LSU comes up here next time, their fans will get 7,000 less tickets......that will make things even....right commish? Hamilton needs to get his butt in gear and earn his keep!

GRIFF: I've talked with Mike Hamilton on more than one occasion about this deal, and I agree UT is at a severe disadvantage. Hamilton has not only spoken up, he's done so much talking on it that the SEC has pretty much given him a muzzle order. Kind of a "Be quiet, this could be a great story for grieving LSU!''

As much as I respect the LSU program, and the contractual power of ESPN to command this be a night game, I think it's a bad idea.

I fail to see how burdening a city with a 92,000-fan event will help hurricane relief efforts. They say it's for the spirit of the community, and maybe for three hours it will be.

But pressing law enforcement and safety workers into extra duty for a football game seems a bit over the top, especially when their efforts could be better suited elsewhere in this time of need.

Q: Dear Mike,You surprised me when you did not place the Oklahoma Sooners in your top 25 collegiate football teams in Sunday's paper.

As a life-long Sooner fan (I am nearly two years old), I have a relatively strong grasp on how good the Sooners will be this season. The wisdom and insight that I have gained during my early years watching Coach Stoops recruit & coach some of the most talented players in the country, taking the Sooners (although unsuccessfully) to a National Championship for every year I have been alive, and having Heisman Trophy runner-up Adrian Peterson (AD) in the starting line up, one would anticipate, if not forecast, that the Sooners clearly rank in the top 10 in most everyone's pre-season poll, less yours.

Nevertheless, you are absolutely entitled to your own opinion for which I respectfully don't agree with. My Mom says that I take the entire thing way to seriously anyhow. I am sure we will have more dialog as the year goes on. However, at the moment my diaper is dirty and I need to get someone to change it before the Wiggles come on TV.

KNICK@MYERS-BROS.COM

GRIFF: Well, I've been holding this E-mail for a few weeks — wish I could say I had the best intentions.

The truth is, I though Oklahoma would be top 25...maybe 15. But when I was doing my poll, I kept sliding them down, sliding them down, and....accidently left them out of the top 20.

I wish I could say I was such a genius, but I'd rather confess and let you know I'm an honest guy.

I still think Oklahoma will end up somewhere in the Top 25. Bob Stoops is a very good coach, but he has a quarterback problem, and that can be tricky.

Vols' fans can surely understand that one.