Wow. The difference between a 9-4 season and a 10-3 season looks as wide as The Grand Canyon, doesn't it?

Imagine how big it will look if and when Mike Hamilton announces a contract extension and a pay raise for Tennessee coach Phillip Fulmer as has been rumored.

The Vols showed a lot of improvement in 2006. They set the table for a good run in 2007.

But the 20-10 loss to Penn State is a mood-changer, a buzz kill, and a raise-stopper.

A few years ago, Hamilton caught a lot of flak for giving Fulmer a raise prior to a Peach Bowl loss. What will the reaction be if a raise is announced AFTER an Outback Bowl loss (to an unranked team)?

I'll bet a lot of ticket-buying fans won't be real happy about it.

Especially when ticket prices and donation requests continue to go up.

Especially when the athletic department continues to talk about trying to "break even."

And especially when the Vols' 14-10 record over their last 24 games is taken into consideration. I repeat, 14 wins, 10 losses.

Here are a few other observations from New Year's Day:

* In case you didn't catch the ESPN broadcast of the game, here's what you missed:

Joe Paterno, Bobby Knight, Rose Bowl. Paterno, Knight, Rose Bowl. Repeat.

That about covers it.

* Did Paterno remind anyone else of Phil Hartman's old Admiral Stockdale impression from "Saturday Night Live?" I was waiting for him to shout out, "where am I?"

Paterno is now 22-10-1 in bowl games and his teams have gone 20-5 over the last two seasons, but he sure looked out of place staring down from that coaching box Monday.

* In the end, Paterno did outcoach his counterpart in one area (even without a headset). Penn State routinely gave the ball to its best back. Fulmer has not and did not give the ball to his.

* LaMarcus Coker was easily Tennessee's most productive rusher in 2007. With an offensive line incapable of opening gaping holes, UT fared best this season with Coker slashing and dashing with the football.

Yet Arian Foster and Monterio Hardesty continued to get more than just "change of pace" carries ... throughout the regular season and into the Outback Bowl.

Foster will have to live with his fumble and bobbled reverse pitch. Players "burn the biscuits" as former UT coach John Majors used to say. That's one of the tough things about sports.

But Foster isn't the one being paid two million dollars to put UT's best back on the field in the fourth quarter.

Once Coker stepped onto the field (and out of Fulmer's doghouse), he immediately became the Vols' best hope at the tailback position. Sadly, for Vol fans, his coaches stuck to their "let's give everybody some touches" strategy.

On the season, Coker carried the ball 113 times. Foster was next at 103 and Hardesty carried it 100 times.

When Tennessee's backs were named Charlie Garner, James Stewart and Aaron Hayden, that kind of balance was a good thing.

But those guys haven't been on campus in a decade. Coker is now the Vols' top threat (including his 42-yard touchdown run on Monday).

He should have gotten more carries this season and in Tampa.

At crunch time, Penn State's coaches fed their best back the football. They also have yet another bowl win to show for it (their third over Tennessee and second over Fulmer).

* Aside from a drop of a nicely thrown deep ball (that would have been wiped out by a bad offensive interference call anyway) Robert Meacham had a pretty quiet day.

In the NFL, teams play zones and double-cover star wideouts. Elite players still get open.

In addition, when the New Year's Day performances of wide outs Dwayne Jarrett (Southern Cal) and Calvin Johnson (Georgia Tech) are taken into consideration, it looks as though it might be best for Meacham to get one more year of tutelage on The Hill.

* Might be time for the old "our speed beats their size" arguments to be put to bed. In the last 13 bowl meetings between the SEC and the Big 10, the more athletic SEC has been bested eight times by the big, slow Yankees.

That's not an encouraging sign if you're a Florida fan.

* Despite the bitter taste of Monday's loss, the 2007 Outback Bowl will have exactly zero impact on the 2007 campaign.

A win over Penn State would have had many predicting a national championship next year. No doubt, the loss will have many questioning the direction of the program instead.

But the truth of the matter is Tennessee's 2007 season won't have any more to do with Monday's sorry performance than the sorry 2006 season had to do with the outstanding 2005 Cotton Bowl showing.