Pennington: History on UT’s side in two-step to title game

“Here you come again. Just when I’ve begun to get myself together. You waltz right in the door just like you’ve done before and wrap my heart ‘round your little finger.”

– Dolly Parton

Last week I wrote that Tennessee had an opportunity to recreate history. They could defy the statistics. They could toss their defensive rankings out the window.

They could shut down Darren McFadden and Arkansas just as their Big Orange ancestors had shut down Bo Jackson and Auburn in 1985. And if they could pull off that kind of emotional, hard-hitting, surprise performance they could silence their critics and prove their championship mettle.

Mission accomplished. Tennessee slaughtered the Razorbacks and dined on Wildhawg bacon for breakfast the following morning.

Now, they have another opportunity to recreate history. With two games remaining, the 2007 Vols are in position to once more do what their predecessors have done … pound Vanderbilt and Kentucky into dust.

A championship sits on the other side of the Vols’ perennial sparring partners, and you darn well know that Vol Nation is expecting both the Commodores and the Wildcats to provide little more than a tune-up for the main event to be held in Atlanta in three weeks.

The first call on my television show this past Sunday wasn’t about Vandy. It wasn’t about Kentucky. It was about LSU and the Vols’ chances of beating the Tigers.

John Wilkerson of Knoxville’s SportsTalk radio show says that calls on his show have been three-to-one regarding LSU and bowls, as opposed to the Vols’ next two opponents.

Are folks looking down the road a bit? I guess so, but that’s one part human nature, one part knowledge of history. Vandy and Kentucky history to be exact.

The Vols have traditionally knocked out their two closest rivals. How can folks not expect wins today and next Saturday?

Sure, Tennessee has lost to Vanderbilt. Twice since America’s bicentennial. And both times, the Vols were hovering right at .500. Anytime Tennessee has been great, good, decent or slightly better than average they’ve had little trouble slamming the ‘Dores.

A year ago today I wrote a “don’t overlook Vanderbilt” column. The result was a standard 39-10 pasting. That’s the last time I talk up possible trouble from UT’s Nashville neighbors. Over the last decade, Tennessee has averaged a 34-12 win against Vandy.

As for Kentucky, they’ve been an even easier push over than Vanderbilt. The Wildcats haven’t beaten Tennessee at all since 1984. Since 1965 the Vols are 38-4 against them. The average score of their meetings over the last decade has been 40-19.

So there’s reason for optimism here in Big Orange Country. History is on the Vols’ side. As is superior recruiting and facilities. As is a return to old-fashioned Ten-nessee football.

“Here you come again. Just when I’ve begun to get myself together. You waltz right in the door just like you’ve done before and wrap my heart ‘round your little finger.”

– Dolly Parton

Following the loss to Florida, some claimed that Tennessee would lose three or four more games. After the Georgia win, many thought that the Vols would run the table. Following the Alabama loss, predictions flipped back to “a couple more losses.” After the Arkansas win, talk has been “what bowl will we go to if we beat LSU?”

The highs are usually too high and the lows too low, of course. That’s fandom. But there is a reason to believe that this “high” is right where it should be.

Phillip Fulmer and his assistants have clearly decided that now’s the time to get back to playing Vol football. “They remember what you do in November,” is the ral-lying cry and the team has rallied around a more conservative approach.

In their last two games the Vols have focused on running the football and stopping the run (two things that they simply couldn’t do last year).

They haven’t been making mistakes in terms of penalties (third fewest in the SEC) or turnovers (fourth fewest in the SEC). They aren’t being risky with the football (notice how Erik Ainge is more likely to throw the ball away on third down than throw the ball up for grabs).

Just as importantly, the Vols are controlling the clock and keeping their defense off the field for longer stretches of time.

East Tennesseans love the word “conservative” when it describes political candidates, but they aren’t as thrilled when it’s used to describe their football team.

But a conservative approach has led to a lot of wins in Knoxville, fom Neyland to Wyatt to Dickey to Battle to Majors to Fulmer. And now that Fulmer has returned to this philosophy, it looks like at least two more wins are on the horizon in November.

Vandy, as we’ve discussed, is Vandy. 5-7, 4-8, perhaps 6-6, that’s as good as UT gets.

Kentucky, though it started hot, slowly appears to be turning back into Kentucky. The team that beat LSU and fought hard against Florida has been replaced by a squad that was embarrassed at home by Mississippi State and struggled, as usual, with Vandy.

Could either of these teams, in a year of crazy SEC upsets, shock the Vols? Not with a championship on the line. Not with the Vols returning to their physical foot-ball roots.

That’s why this is another opportunity for the Vols to recreate history. Crush Vanderbilt, punish Kentucky, book reservations to Atlanta. It’s a time-honored for-mula.

And it’s a chance to do what Tennessee teams have been doing for decades — delivering brutal body blows to a pair of punching bags named “Vandy” and “Ken-tucky.”