Audio:
- Dave Hooker interviews Phillip Fulmer
- Dave Hooker interviews offensive coordinator David Cutcliffe
- Dave Hooker interviews DT coach Dan Brooks
- Dave Hooker interviews DB coach Larry Slade
- Dave Hooker interviews QB Erik Ainge
- Dave Hooker interviews LB Ryan Karl
- Dave Hooker interviews DE Xavier Mitchell
- Dave Hooker interviews DT Dan Williams
Tennessee Stat Book
Event Details
- What: Tennessee vs. Southern Mississippi
- When: Saturday, Sept. 8, 2007, 7 p.m.
- Where: Neyland Stadium
- Cost: Not available
- Age limit: All ages
Tennessee quarterback Erik Ainge had to fight through pain to start the season opener against Cal. Then, he had to fight again just to stay in the game.
The senior was nearly pulled from last Saturday’s 45-31 loss to Cal after taking a hard hit on the sideline in the fourth quarter, offensive coordinator David Cutcliffe said on Tuesday.
“My intention was to take him out,” Cutcliffe said, “then he waved us off.”
In retrospect, Cutcliffe said he should have taken Ainge out for sophomore Jonathan Crompton.
When Ainge rolled out near the sideline, he took a staggering hit.
Cutcliffe said it was a “dumb hit” because Ainge should have thrown the ball away. Ainge banged up his shoulder and his broken right pinky finger on his throwing hand. It was the same finger that caused a stir leading up to preparations for the game.
On the next play, Cutcliffe called a downfield pass. Instead of following the directive, Ainge dumped the ball off into the flat. Cutcliffe knew right away that Ainge was hurting. On the next play, UT was forced to punt.
Ainge said tests revealed no further damage to the pinkie. Ainge participated, albeit cautiously, in Tuesday’s practice.
Cutcliffe certainly didn’t begrudge Ainge for wanting to stay in the game.
“The right kind aren’t going to back off,” Cutcliffe said. “They’re going to try to go out there with one arm cut off.”
Ainge said he would have remained on the bench had UT’s offense been immediately called to the field. Instead, Ainge had the five or 10 minutes he needed to allow the pain to pass.
Ainge said the key to avoiding pain in his pinkie is to be fundamentally sound.
“If my feet are set and I’m throwing the ball, then I couldn’t even tell that anything is wrong with me,” he said.
However, that piece of advice won’t help Ainge on the run when he can’t set his feet to throw.
Ainge said he readjusted his hands to accept snaps from the center, in order to have the ball make contact with the region of his palm closest to the ring and middle finger, not the pinkie.
Ainge said he was a bit overly conscious of the injury early in the game, which caused him to throw off balance.
Ainge chose not to comment when asked if he was receiving any pain injections to numb the finger. He also said he needed some practice this week for Saturday’s game against Southern Miss, but didn’t specify how much.
“I need to practice,’ Ainge said. “I could just go play, but that’s not ideal.”
Cutcliffe said Ainge’s injury has certainly affected his play calling.
“I had to think a little bit more,” Cutcliffe said. “I had about ten notes in front of me that I kept to remember.”
Encouraged by his finger’s progress, Ainge said, “It doesn’t feel any worse.”
Said Cutcliffe, “He looks much better than he did when he just freshly did it last week (on Monday).”
Cut Cuts: Cutcliffe said the most disappointing aspect of the Cal game was how the Vols finished the game.
“If we do something special, we might win the game,” he said. “We didn’t do anything special.”
Cutcliffe also said UT planned to control the ball, keeping it away from Cal’s explosive offense. That might have worked, had UT been able to convert on key third downs.
“It blew up in our face,” Cutcliffe said. “Had we played well offensively, we could have scored a lot of points.”
UT scored 31, but Cutcliffe said the total could have been much higher.
“I don’t think they’ll be one of the best defenses we play and that’s no disrespect to Cal,” he said.
Too Fast: Ryan Karl had a theory as to why the Vols missed several tackles on Saturday against Cal.
“We were just flying around too fast, out of control and missing tackles,” the senior linebacker said. “It’s not just a physical game. You can’t just be fast and not have the mental part to it. You have to know when to breakdown and when you can make that big hit.”
The concept of being too fast didn’t seem like that should be a problem for UT’s defense, which is predicated on speed.
“You want to be a fast defense,” Karl said. “You can still fly around but at the point of contact, you have to be under control. I just think a lot of times, we weren’t under control.”
Asking Ainge: Ainge said he expected UT’s defensive tackling to improve greatly this week. Part of the missed tackles, Ainge said, had to do with Cal as much as UT.
“We have a lot of good players on our team but we have different kinds of players,” he said. “We don’t have a guy like (Cal receiver) DeSean Jackson, who’s hopping left and right and left and right and making guys miss.”
Injury Report: Senior Xavier Mitchell only ran on the sidelines as he overcomes a concussion suffered against Cal. Mitchell was not wearing shoulder pads and is being evaluated daily to determine if he can play Saturday.
Freshman defensive end Ben Martin ran alongside Mitchell as he rehabilitates a bone bruise in his left knee he suffered in UT’s final preseason scrimmage on Aug. 18. Martin was only expected to miss two to four weeks meaning he could return later this month.
Junior punter Britton Colquitt did not practice. Colquitt and Fulmer spent the afternoon working with backup freshman punter Chad Cunningham.
Hill’s Climb: Ryan Hill, a lifelong UT fan from Kingston High School, recalled what went through his mind as he was inserted into the Cal game.
“I can’t believe it’s finally here,” Hill said.
Hill, a walk-on junior, played three plays in UT’s goal line package.
Phillip Fulmer through the years
Barbara Dooley and Pat Summitt Go Red…
Tyler Summitt through the years
Scripps Interactive Newspapers Group
Comments » 44
VolinUtah writes:
I have a ton of respect for Erik Ainge. I know the first big hit (spearing) was tough on him, but I thought the one where he fell on his shoulder (and hand) was even more painful. I watched him grab and rub his pinkie and thought that might be it for him. The next time people want to question Mr. Ainge's toughness, look back at this game and reassess that claim. Not only did he tough it out, he played at an extremely high level. Good enough to win, in my opinion.
DadwasaVol writes:
Ainge says he was "overly conscious of the injury early in the game, which caused him to throw off balance." He started the game freakin 10 for 10! I believe Ainge is a helluva quarterback and believe he will lead the Vols to some important high scoring wins.
vol4good#206163 writes:
I also believe that Ainge will end up being one hell of a QB this season. I do wish he would check out of a 3 yard pass when it is 3 and 11. I also think he has to be a little more aggressive. I felt like he was trying to be too perfect, when we needed him to be a little more risk taking. I know that is a bad set of words, but I couldnt think of a word for what I was trying to say.
GreerVol22 writes:
You guys are nuts to think Ainge will have a great year and lead us to great things. He would have to miss the next three games, no snaps or passes to get that pinky to heal correctly. At the very least he needs this week off and maybe he will have a shot at UF.
utwick writes:
Compliments to eVOLution on the stats, but the bottom line is what? That we don't recruit well enough to rate with these other teams or that we don't develop the talent that we get? It would be interesting to see how many 4 or 5 stars we had leading up to the '98 season. Some teams like Notre Dame can recruit year after year on their tradition/history. Other teams recruit by winning in the previous years. It also helps to have great facilities in which to showcase your talents. The Vols have the facilities. They did a decent job recruiting following the debacle of the 2005 season. I live in Texas now (42 years in Chattanooga) and Mack Brown (another good ole boy) recruits this talent rich state of Texas year in and year out. They are always in the top 5 recruiting classes in the nation and yet they barely got by Arkansas State this past weekend. Believe me that the Longhorn fans are regulary calling for the heads of the coaches any time they can't win the national championship. I think we get good talent, better than a lot, but I don't know that we develop it as well or figure out how to use it to our best advantage. the first year that Bob Stoops was at Oklahoma, he won the championship with the "leftovers" from the previous staff. He and his coaches made the most of his teams talents and put some of the defensive guys on offense and vice versa. Tennessee seems to recruit a lot of "atheletes" and players who play both ways in high school. Maybe we need to switch some of these guys around to utilize their skills to our best advantage. Also, you have to be careful with stats because they are open to so many interpretations
BleedOrange writes:
Why does everyone want to debate how good Ainge is? Does it even freakin' matter if you give up 45 points? You're looking at the wrong side of the ball.
scvols writes:
I was very disappointed to how the offense ended the game. It was about the same way they played Penn State the whole game. After Ainge took the hit we stopped moving the ball. And PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE take the play out of the playbook on throwing to the RB out of the backfield where he is running sideways looking over his body trying to catch the pass. At least throw the ball in front of him so he will be running downhill when (if) he catches it.
Ironcity writes:
I love Coach Cutt but I was disappointed in how we ended the game also. Its hard to do something special when you punt the ball with the game still in reach. If Ainge was not ready to let the ball loose, there would have been no shame in getting Crompton on the field. Additionally Cutt said we wanted to keep Cal. off the field and we did this by what? Using a no huddle offense the entire game and passing 3 out of every four plays. Like I said I love Cut but sometimes there is a time to pound the ball and this was one of those times. One other thing, Its time to move Hardesty to defense. His injuries do not allow him to be effective. Maybe he can be a linebacker or a strong safety
CoverOrange writes:
Maybe what it says, eVol, is that USC, Fla, and LSU should be monsters and we just lost to a team that barely gets anybody. Don't know if ya can really say that without more data from alot more teams to correlate performence with recruiting.
BIGEJ writes:
Ainge is injury prone; then pull him and let the other QBs get experience; is that not why we have 2nd string for cases like this; I had a kid last week who got his "bell rung" and could not count to ten; his dad wanted me to put the kid back in; after the T/O and a evaluation, we sidelined him; again, this article is one of the Monday morning arm chair QB syndrome on Coach Cutt and all of us, including me; the coulda, woulda, shoulda; learn from this and go "run" the table. Gotta believe....GO VOLS
utbaby#215635 writes:
Bleedorange, you hit the nail on the head. If we had this year's offense with the 2005 defense, we'd have the SEC wrapped up. If we had any kind of offense in 2005, we finsih the year with 10 or 11 wins. We can't seem to get a strong Off & Def in the same year, but then again most schools don't. I'm not ready to give up on this year. I still think we have a chance to win the SEC. It's a two game season from here (Florida and Georgia) If we win those two and even lose another SEC game, we won't be talking about Cal. We'll be in Atlanta playing for a chance at a BCS game. If Cal wins 10 games we won't be worried about this loss.
rockytop#413695 writes:
Just watched the game again and I watched for the holding penalties and pass interference calls. No disrespect to Cal, who has a very good team, and no excuses for Tennessee's poor tackling and poor decisions or play calling on third down late in the game... but the refs were horrible. Cal was holding on almost every long run they broke. When you pause and zoom in you can see the arms either hooking or extended on several critical plays. On the fumble of course we all saw the spearing that was not called. You cannot lead with the helmet period! There was no pass interference on the call late in the game that gave Cal a first down and there was definitely pass interference on the pass over the middle that would have been an easy touchdown for the Vols. Why am I bringing all this up? After further review.... I don't think we played as badly as a lot of you guys are saying. A few calls our way and we are the one's celebrating. Ainge and the offense were great, even though we couldn't throw downfield. The young receivers will change that soon. Unlike last year's game, this game was closer than the score indicates. I feel much better after watching the film very closely. We made a ton of mistakes but this team has the talent to be special.
BigUn writes:
Imagine how good Ainge would have been if Cutcliff had been his coach for 4 years instead of 2. Would have rivaled Peyton's passing records.
andy112382#209793 writes:
Hey, eVOLution, you left off a few teams for twists in there that would be interesting to see like Appalachian St., Boise St., West Virginia, Rutgers, and TCU. I would say Hawaii, but they certainly do not play anybody, though they are a top 25 team. The star ratings are accurate to an extent, but not enough to base the complete success of a program on, the coaches don't just sit at home and look at rivals.com or scout.com and phone up the kids that are in the top 30 at any given position, much more to it than that, including things that are not factored into those ratings like police records for instance.
BigUn - hard not to wonder that about if Ainge had Cutcliffe for longer, or heck, how about Casey Clausen, he was a good QB, I think he could have taken it a step further with Cutcliffe teaching him. We certainly got as much out of Tee Martin as anyone could have hoped! Well, ok another title would have been nice in 1999, haha.
Ainge certainly is one tough guy out there, and at least Karl saw what we have been saying on here about the defense having plenty of speed but just not using it correctly, not including the mental aspect to maxamize what they do with that speed and athelticism.
Hey, one quick question, who knows the best place for me to be able to listen or watch the game this weekend online? I need something cheap, I DID indeed get offerred a job today, but I do not start until the 17th, so need something I can afford to listen to, it'd kill me not to listen to the game at all, though!!!
GO VOLS!!!
txsvol#372416 writes:
eVOLution, don't you have anything else to do? Great stuff! Do you have any information about how many of the ***** are still with us? In 2004, Jesse Mahelona and Albert Toeiana were the 5 star prospects, but we had Albert only two years; the same with DeMo from 2005--couldn't keep him with the program, but we still have Crompton and Coker. It might be fun for somebody with the time and interest to compare how many of our vs. our competitors' top prospects actually produce(d) for 3-4 years. You used rivals and not scout, right? The ratings of the two services rate some players differently. SAVol
DougGottliebsCreditCard writes:
andy112382,
You can listen to the game on wivk.com, right? They had a listen live option that I used when I lived in Memphis.
DaveVol writes:
Andy, when I lived in Indiana I had to listen through yahoo sports. This is what the UT website will direct you to. I think a season package is like $5?? I think the wivk and wnml (99.1) feeds over the net get cutoff when the game starts. Congratulations on the new job, hope all things work out well for you.
vol4jesus writes:
I'm sorry to report games will be aired for free this year. Utsports.com is going to air for free. Go to multimedia and click on audio/video and you will be there. Read the article to see free this year.
waterskier3#226480 writes:
the bottom line is that coach cut makes the call on ainge but on that critical 3rd and long call where ainge dropped the ball into the flat he should have chewed his butt. we were down only 7 points and after that punt call scored two more times... if the qb is not going to following directions and especially if the receiver was open then ainge should be jerked. the team is more important than ainge playing for his family in callie..... that 3rd dwn play that ainge didn't follow directions on cost us the mo that the team had fought to get.......
I'm glad coach cut talked about that play because i was pissed that on 3rd and long at that point in the game coach would call such a BS play.. Makes me feel a little better about him.
Ironcity writes:
marc our running backs did averaged 6.8 yards per carry. In college sports rushing yards include sacks. It can create a deceptive stat. We never tried to establish the run when the game was in reach. It could be that coach Cut is still worried that Foster will fumble the ball if he carries it to often. In any case our backs need to touch the ball more often the 20 times a game.
Basketball_Jones writes:
I admire Eric for playing hurt but I question Cuts thought process for letting Eric make the decision to stay in. I mean if he couldn't throw down field then that limited our play calling, especially on 3rd and long. Cut should have told Eric to take a breather and let Crompton play till he saw Eric could throw longer than 10 yards.
I am pretty sure we will have our way with S. Miss but that doesn't make us world beaters, after we play the Gators and Ga we'll see how good we actually are.
pastor_VOLSfan writes:
vol4jesus- thanks for the info about the free broadcasts. I had been using yahoo but will look into canceling now.
sjt18 - I agree, I felt we were running well enough to slow the pace of the game down and keep there offense off the field
Think we bounce back this week.
TN 37
SoMiss 24
andy112382#209793 writes:
Thanks DaveVol and mmize1, I will check out those sites, I had forgotten about the yahoo sports package. Following it on the ESPN gametracker just wasn't going to cut it! GO VOLS!!!
TNvolunteer writes:
Congrats to Ainge for playing hurt..he did a great job.throwing for nearly 300 yards and 3 scores....The young receivers played well also...backs ran good...line blocked well except the missed block where Ainge took a shot and fumbled...The Offense played pretty dang good...But you all should know that " you win as a team, lose as a team." Defense may not be the strong point this year. We are only one game in. Yes we need to get more pressure on the QB's with some kind of end pressure and blitz's. The big thing that i noticed most from the Cal game was that our DB's were playing to soft of coverage on Cal's wide outs....There was some 5-7 yard cushion there...You dont have to throw a 10 yard pass when there is that much space... a one step drop and throw could easily turn into a 20, 30, or 50 yard pass very easily...Look at us last year...Meachem turned 2 passes like that into big gains( 1 of em for a score.) There is not enough time to get a rush when there is quick passes like that. Also the tackling was just plain awful. Seen better tackling at pee-wee football games...Cal does have great play-makers in Jackson, Hawkins, and Jordan..but Forsett should not have ran on our defense like that...He is 5'9 maybe and was giving guys twice his size stiff arms...Keep the DB's within 2-3 yards from LOS and walk the backers up a little closer and dont be afraid to send the house a time or two...Heck Cal did and we could barely get the ball from the center to the qb...Just a few thoughts that could improve our D....Keep up the good work offense! Go Vols!!!!!
Dirtdobber writes:
marc_ash- not sure about the Fulmer and the coaching staff knowing about their other players-dont think it would have mattered- we would have played the same defense against KY and Vandy- if we dont get after Nixon for Vandy and Woodson for Kentucky- chalk up 2 more losses. If you have a team that has good receivers and qb- lack of pressure will get you beat most of the time. Until UT gets out of the conservative mode on defense- they are going to suffer and so will the fans. Maybe with Berry at safety now- maybe he can be the saftey valve deep- if we dont get to the qb with blitz, stunts or whatever other name you want to call it- he can run them down if someone gets loose on a breakaway.
Marc_ash- do you think the coaches run the mustang package(prevent, nickel, zone) because it makes the fans mad as hell? probably, but with the lack of success the defense has when they dont get pressue- one would wonder! I deplore to the Vol Nation- NO MORE MUSTANG!
utnutt writes:
It is the same problem it has been for several years. We have a coach(fulmer) that does less with more talent than any coach in the country. He recruits very good but he is only a fair coach. The game has changed, there are to many coaches out there that can recruit and coach. Cals coach is one of them.Its time for a coaching change the only question is who is available and who can we hire. FIRE FULMER AT THE END OF THIS SEASON. START LOOKING FOR A COACH NOW!
Dirtdobber writes:
Hey- bigEJ- maybe i missed something here, but do you think another qb could have done better against Cal?(maybe Peyton) Lets be honest here- ainge played great- broken finger or not!
rockytop make a good point about the spearing on the fumble- that was blatent!
GRVOL- not sure what was wrong with the dink and dunk- if you dont have the dink and dunk you dont get the 6.8 yard of rush! Joe Montana and SF49ers did a lot of dink and dunking- if teams kept them under or around 5 yards a catch- they felt like they had done something- Montana said by the time defense figured out it wasnt working - they had won 3 superbowls. not comparing montana to ainge but the dink and dunk works- especially if you are not able to do what all UT fans seemed to be enamoured with - "smash mouth football" we tried that for the last half of the season last year and it didnt work- not even against bad teams. Hey- there is nothing sissy about finese football- Spurrier does it/ louisville does it/ Urban Meyer at Florida/ Boise State/ Appl State/ Colts/ southern cal etc...
pj_ladyvolnMI writes:
Vol4jesus, I don't see an article about seeing games for free where you sent us to look. Did you mean "hear" games for free, or am I missing something? Rockytop, I agree about the poor playcalling against Cal. I was upset about several bad calls the first time around, and I'm sure the second time would be much worse. We have an LSU grad living with us for a few months, so I'm anxious to beat Florida in a couple of weeks to make for some lively conversation! Go Vols! pj
wyomingvol writes:
FYI Cutciffe, This one is one YOU!
Dirtdobber writes:
sjt18- finally somebody else gets it! Your last post was dead on! thats what happenned in the 2nd half of Nebraska game in 97 orange bowl not to mention several other key games over the last few years. If you can get to the back before he kicks into 4.3 -4.5 40 speed- better chance to make the stop- otherwise once he gets into open field- look out!
pjhaddix- how can we get a post on an LSU site- want to make sure Sat. night they get some payback for the SEC against VA Tech- Musburger kept calling out Les miles, LSU and the SEC. Big deal that the PAC 10 for once in a blue moon gets 2 guys on one team that can run! They didnt care to mention that our quickest back was out due to weed!
Lets all agree that the first game problem was due to defense scheme and not the offense! Grant it the coaches cant make the tackles but can get the players in a better position to make a stop.
Dirtdobber writes:
what do you consider down the field? more than 5 yards? Most of the passes that were thrown were across the line of scrimage- thus down the field? again- if you are moving the ball- regardless of running or passing- 4 yards a down- your offense is going to be successful. Now if its less than 4- i agree- we have a problem but If you still think that our offense play Sat. night was problem, then maybe you ought to root for Vanderbilt- No interceptions and one fumble due to a miss block and a spear on Cal? Not sure if offense had a penalty? 31 points? the only bad play calling was when we didnt get in on goal line on 4th down. I would like to see the deep ball to, but if you are throwing into 2 safetys- not sure how smart that is? Cal set out the night defensively not get beat deep- they got beat short.
vol4jesus writes:
pjhaddix..sorry... can listen for free all year. Thought I specified that. Guess I did in another article because PastorVol thanked me for the info. Sorry for misinformation gentlemen. GO VOLS!!!
Dirtdobber writes:
shout out to DALE JONES at APP State- Def. Line Backer Coach.
Dirtdobber writes:
shout out to DALE JONES at APP State- Def. Line Backer Coach.
Dirtdobber writes:
What is spotted ape?
Volfantm writes:
Is the Colquitt injury worse than reported? See end of article. Makes me wonder if he will be able to go this weekend.
Dirtdobber writes:
Is he the transfer from FSU? Thanks for clarifying.
Dirtdobber writes:
marc_ash- I agree with you- dont think all out blitz will work all the time either- we did it last year against cal and it worked like a dream- tried it the next week against air force and it didnt work. no prediction from me either- but I will say it again- at least if we are going to get beat- lets go down swinging and take somebody with us! Long road ahead for this team-- florida, georgia, arkansas and even KY and Vandy- I believe pressure on all except arkansas- not sure how to stop the heisman trophy. may need to put 11 in the box?
I know one thing though...lets send the mustang package to the glue factory!
pj_ladyvolnMI writes:
Dirtdobber...my guest is out of town for the week, but if I find out any LSU posting info I'll pass it on. pj
wyomingvol writes:
Coach Cut is trying for the next Peyton, not worrying about Foster fumbling........
Dirtdobber writes:
sjt118- you need to make that call to kick off call in show saturday night. you make great points-about the problems with the Cal game. Tim Priest seems to think Mustang package is way to go... I know you can blitz out of that package- big deal! send the line backers- most of the time they just stand around covering dead air- ie last drive against LSU last year- tight end was wide open- no rush. i may not be a coach, but i have enough common sense to see what is working and what is not- might be the high def tv i have at home? when we rush we do good- when we dont we do bad! if we are getting killed and what we are doing is not working...then by all means blitz- rush what ever it takes to shake things up. What works best - defense this year against cal? defense last year against cAL?
DannyVol writes:
Ryan Karl talking about being "too fast" is like Ralph Friegen talking about being "too skinny".
imnotwithphil writes:
Ainge won't make it through the So. Cal game... hope Crompton improved this summer...
RangerForSix writes:
Ainge helped lead the VOLS to 31 points on the road, against a highly ranked team. We just need to keep scoring I guess. That's the first time in four years that Ainge was the losing QB, when U.T. put 30+ points on the board.
Our "defense was terrible" and there is no other way to say it! We had 17 sacks in 13 games last year, pathetic. We had zero sacks Saturday...
All QB's with time will tear you apart. This was embarrassing...No sacks, no knock downs, no hits on their QB?? terrible...We gave up 45 points, with the worst tackling I've seen, in the last 5-6 years!
"We've got to run blitz and pass blitz much more often with this crew, so we can put REAL pressure on our opponents QB...If we don't 'pressure the opponents QB', we're in for a long season...Unless the offense can just out-score everyone.
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