My impression Saturday afternoon was that Erik Ainge looked pretty darn sharp throwing the football around Neyland Stadium.

Come September, he'd better be pretty darn sharp.

I say that because of another impression I came away with earlier in the day.

It was a pie chart, one prepared for the morning meeting of the University of Tennessee's athletics board.

This particular chart showed where the revenue comes from, the revenue that fuels the annual $72 million enterprise that the UT athletic department has become.

Virtually half the pie -- 49 percent -- comes from football.

The next biggest chunk, 23 percent, comes from your donations. Your donations are primarily tied to football.

Nothing else comes close. Men's basketball had a banner season. Great, that's 9 percent of the pie.

"We have to be successful in football,'' men's AD Mike Hamilton said.

To everyone's surprise, Tennessee was not successful in football in 2005. The Vols began at No. 3 in the preseason polls and deteriorated to 5-6.

One bad year can be digested, distasteful as it might be. It happens to even the best of 'em, sooner or later and head coach Phillip Fulmer has been among the best of 'em.

What about two bad years?

Does a $72 million business survive two bad years without serious, ahem, consequences?

Hamilton wouldn't go there. He spoke of a "breaking point" but wouldn't pinpoint its timing.

"You guys can speculate on that,'' he said.

"But football is the engine driving the train. From a financial standpoint, from an emotional standpoint, from a community-support level, we need to be successful in football.''

Fulmer doesn't need to be hit in the face with a pie chart to understand that.

He knows he's not coaching field hockey at Swarthmore. He knows the heat is on in 2006 in a way that seemed unthinkable when the 2005 season kicked off.

And yet, following his post-spring practice state of the union address Saturday, he indicated any debate about when the breaking point comes is moot.

"I think we'll be right back in the championship picture next year,'' Fulmer said. "We're not that far away.''

That's the battle cry.

"It's just the small things,'' linebacker Marvin Mitchell said Saturday, "so we'll go in and tighten the screws and, hopefully, change things around.''

Tealeaves are hard to read in April, but optimism hasn't left the building. Hamilton said UT donors are not only staying the course, but exceeding last year's pace.

"The lion's share of those donations occur between Dec. 15 and March 15,'' he said, "so I think you might be able to make an argument there's been separation from the season and now people are ready to move on and get ready for next season.''

Between Dec. 15 and March 15, Bruce Pearl's basketball team was no doubt loosening a few wallets, but Hamilton believes UT's fan base is expressing faith in football's recuperative powers.

"The next watermark in that regard,'' he said, "is season tickets sales and those applications go out next week.''

Anything coming out of the Orange & White Game isn't likely to either sell any tickets or cancel any orders.

The skewered parameters of the game make it largely irrelevant as a crystal ball for 2006.

Still, Ainge's day at quarterback was encouraging and that's the area to which UT fans look for encouragement more than any other.

"One of the biggest things about spring is the football team has confidence in me right now,'' Ainge said, "and I have confidence in myself.''

He spoke those words in an interview room beneath the stadium. The last time the Vols faced the media in that room was to digest the shock of losing to Vanderbilt.

"Sometimes,'' said Fulmer, "before you really appreciate the peaks, and we've been on a lot of peaks, you've got to go into the valley.

"We're doing everything we can to fight and scratch and work ... to get ourselves back to where we want to be and that's at the peak.''

It's the only place Tennessee football can be. The engine driving the train can't afford to run in the valley.